SUNY Delhi event management major Sydney Wunder '20 is putting theory into practice this summer as an intern for Glimmerglass, an opera company producing world-class opera and musical theater performances throughout the summer season in beautiful venues around Cooperstown, NY. Read about her exciting experiences organizing special events for noteworthy guests and the lessons she's learned along the way.

What do your duties at Glimmerglass consist of? I do a variety of different things, including designing spaces for events, working closely with caterers, and setting up so events flow flawlessly. This includes setting up tables and chairs and create diagrams to see what tables will work best in the space since it is always changing for different events. I attend to guests during events and clear the tables afterwards. I hold weekly meetings with other department heads and help my boss order linens – which can be difficult because there are so many different events!

What have been some of your most exciting experiences so far? My favorite part of the internship is getting to see the events come together and attending the event to make sure all goes smoothly. Recently, we had an opening night party for the cast of Showboat, and the entire venue was filled with people. There was a lot of room for things to go wrong, but luckily it all went smoothly! One of the most thrilling experiences was hosting an event that was attended by Broadway actress Christine Ebersole (who has won Tony awards for the musicals 42nd Street and Grey Gardens). A lot of the young artists, directors, and designers at Glimmerglass have worked on Broadway. Being surrounded by so much talent and creativity every day is extremely exciting to me. I’d love to work with a theater company again as theater is one of my biggest passions. There are about 70 interns from all over the country working here in different departments. I’ve met people from Florida, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and even someone from Yorkshire, England! I’m the only intern who is a hospitality major instead of a theater major.

What challenges have you faced and how have you dealt with them? The most difficult part of the job is executing events and making sure everything is correct. We are constantly asking questions to try to figure things out. A lot of details come up that you wouldn’t normally think of, like reserving tables for special guests such as our General Director Francesca Zambello. I go with the flow, run around a lot, and consult people who have helped with these events before. Almost everything takes place outdoors so we have to make sure to keep an eye out for rain or unexpected visitors such as a frog jumping into our building during a rainstorm at an Intermissions Club event. I couldn’t do it without the help of Zoe, another events intern. We’ve become really good friends in the past 4 weeks.

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