We’re shining a spotlight on some of the incredible interns who have passed through the Cincinnati Opera offices!
These days Samantha Reno is an accomplished scenic designer, and we had the pleasure of knowing her when she was just starting out. Samantha joined Cincinnati Opera as an intern in the props and paint department in 2007, and in this interview she describes what she learned in our scene shop, the ways her career has flourished since then, and what she can tell you about nearly a thousand years of genealogy.
Samantha Reno
What university did you attend, and what was your major?
I attended Northern Kentucky University as a double BFA major in graphic design and scenic design from 2002-2008. When I began, it had been my intention to pursue graphic design as my main career path, with theatre being something I did as a side hustle, but by the time I was in my third or fourth year, I had realized that I loved working in a scene shop with my hands and a plethora of materials rather than sitting at a computer all day.
Even so, I don't think I would be as successful without my graphic design background, and so I simply refocused my studies on exhibition and environmental design, which largely complimented what I was doing in scenic design. Studying both gave me an arsenal of tools and skills at my disposal, no matter what the project. For that I am grateful and can honestly say I use both my degrees every day in some capacity.
When did you intern for Cincinnati Opera, and for what department?
I interned for CO the summer of 2007 in the props and paint department, it was one of the best jobs I ever had. I felt like a fish out of water because grand opera is a lot like theatre on steroids, but just having the privilege of watching the process and being a small cog in a huge machine proved invaluable. The internship began to train my eyes to be more sensitive as an artist and refine my choices as a designer — you just don't know how it's going to shape you until just the right amount of time has passed. It has been a journey since then, but I always credit my time at CO as some of my most formative years.
How did you learn about the internship at Cincinnati Opera?
I had a friend who did an arts administration internship a couple of years before me. She invited us to one of the public dress rehearsals, and I was instantly smitten with Music Hall and the mystique of the culture surrounding opera.
Were you interested in opera before interning?
Yes, but no one in my circle growing up had any connection with opera, so in some ways I was lucky to “fall into it.” I had a very minimal background in music (I certainly couldn't tell the difference between Puccini and Verdi back then) but I knew that I liked what I heard! I was very aware that I didn't know much about opera, just that the aesthetics of the art form were up my alley.
What was the first opera you saw?
The first opera I saw was a double bill: The Emperor of Atlantis and The Maids.
What is the first opera you worked on?
The first opera production I worked on was Faust. It is still one of my favorites.
What is your favorite opera?
It's a tie between a classic opera and a contemporary one. My favorite classic is La Traviata and my favorite contemporary opera has to be Florencia en el Amazonas. In both cases the final arias are just heart-stopping! Combined with the lighting, scenery, and the singers' staging, it is pure magic.
What’s your favorite show to work on that’s not opera?
Probably anything Shakespeare, although as a designer my strengths are in children's theatre because of the inherent freedoms to play with color, composition, and some old-fashioned theatre magic. However, like opera, Shakespearian productions have a way of reinventing themselves; you can arrive at multiple solutions that look vastly different all for the same production.
Do you have a favorite memory as an intern?
I don't have a specific favorite memory, just that I loved the camaraderie between the crew of the paint and props departments, including the practical jokes and harmless pranks we played on one another. One was played on me involving a fake wooden eye; and trust me, it is still hysterical thirteen years later. Everyone's ability to maintain their sense of humor even at the busiest points of the season took the edge off and made for a fantastic summer with my supervisor and coworkers. I was pretty shy, but I very much appreciated meeting everyone in different departments and becoming at ease with my own role.
What was the most challenging moment of your internship, and what did you learn from it?
Staying in my lane. Everyone who gathers at Music Hall is a world class professional with multiple lifetimes' worth of experiences, and while everyone comes to theatre in their own way and has their own skill set, it was important for me to stay back, observe, and learn when my impulse was to jump into everything. There was a time to speak up and contribute with my own knowledge, but mostly it was time to sit at the feet of teachers. Asking for help, never making assumptions, and expressing gratitude never hurt either!
Tell us about your career following the internship.
Following my graduation from undergrad in 2008, I resumed freelancing in scenic design and scenic artistry, which I had been doing throughout college, and kept myself busy and happily employed. Then I decided I wanted to travel and do theatre outside of Cincinnati. I have been fortunate enough to do both Summerstock in beautiful Colorado as well as a scenic design internship at the B Street Theatre in Sacramento, California. B Street offered me a resident design position at my internship's conclusion, and after a brief stint home where I lived a bit of life and got married, my husband and I moved to Sacramento in 2012 so I could do just that.
I ended up designing somewhere in the realm of 75 productions of varying scales and budgets in California, all the while maintaining ties to a handful of theatre companies in Cincinnati. At one point I was doing between 18-22 productions a year between the two states, and even had the opportunity to teach and mentor both recent college grads and high school students who wanted to pursue technical theatre professionally.
We moved back to Cincinnati in December 2019 for family, but I remain an associate designer for B Street Theatre and travel on occasion to Northern California for work in Sacramento and nearby University of California, Davis. In the meantime I intended to go back to freelancing here, but I took a wonderful opportunity to be a designer-in-residence for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, which I am looking forward to this year, as well as getting reacquainted with the theatre community in this city! I have lots of projects in the works!
What advice would you give to students going into the workplace?
First, you can take responsibility and forgive yourself for your mistakes at the same time. Second, it is just as important to figure out who you do not want to be as it is for you to figure out who you do want to be. Third, find the joy in what you do and make a point to share it with everyone, especially with those who know nothing about theatre or opera.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
I have traced a portion of my family history back to the Battle of Hastings and the French-Norman invasion of 1066 under William the Conqueror.