The Crescendo of Sorrento – Visual Arts Student Spotlight

This week our spotlight falls on Natalie Sorrento, an Entertainment Technologies Major here at Gulf Coast State College. Even though she is lined up to graduate this Spring—in just 2 weeks—that does not mean that her work load has slowed down.

On the contrary, Natalie’s final semester has been extremely busy, but she doesn’t mind it, in fact she embraces it. She is trying her best to remain content in his final weeks of her Associate of Arts degree before moving on past GCSC this Summer, and that includes her extremely hectic schedule.

This graphic belongs to Gulf Coast State College and Chelsea Spiers, 2019

On top of her regular assignments and responsibilities, Natalie was on the crew for this year’s big Spring Musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which just wrapped up this past weekend.

Even though she wasn’t taking part in some of the more glamorous roles associated with theater production, Natalie was as busy as a beaver behind the stage.

She was responsible with helping the onstage talent with their quick changes, which can be some of the tensest and highly stressful jobs someone can get backstage. Thankfully Natalie was on her game during the 2-weekend run of the musical, and things went off without a hitch.

After all the hustle and hubbub from the musical’s extensive set building and design, it is now time to focus on tearing everything apart. It can be difficult sometimes to spend so long building a set and then watch it be torn down, said Natalie, but that is all part of the theater production lifestyle I suppose.

This particular set, which consisted of 3 large houses that took up the entire stage and took about 4 weeks to construct fully, is proving to take extensive effort to break down. When I arrived in the theater building to interview Natalie, there were pieces of boards and screws littering the floor, making it a very dangerous area for anyone who was not prepared for it.

Natalie also shared with me that usually take down of the sets only takes a day or 2, but this one was especially large and needed to be stable for safety reasons, and therefore takes twice the effort to take down than their usual set designs.

Natalie has greatly enjoyed her time here at Gulf Coast, and she feels very attached to her chosen degree program. She loves what she has learned here, and she feels that it truly equips people for a life of working in the real world of theatre production.

“I think it’s a great program that really prepares aspiring young technicians for the theatre workforce,” Natalie stated. She went on to say that she particularly feels truly ready for her life as a theatre technician after school, especially with “designing and assisting.”

In order to prove herself and her newfound skills, Natalie has a paid internship lined up this Summer at Valdosta State University. She is very excited about this opportunity to showcase her talents, and she is confident in her ability to impress her superiors.

Also, during the Summer Natalie is planning on making connections past her internship, both for jobs and for future academic purposes. Currently, the is looking at continuing her education at Valdosta.

Natalie took the time to brag on their theatre program, which includes performance, stage management, seating design, and musical theatre. These programs are almost irresistible for any theatre lover, and especially to Natalie. But where she will gain her bachelor’s degree there is still uncertain.

She knows that she will feel a push to continue her education there while attending her internship this Summer, and no doubt it will be echoed by the director of the Spring musical here at Gulf Coast, who is an alum of Valdosta State University.

Natalie is trying to remain unbiased still, and is also considering the University of South Florida, as well as the University of Central Florida in her prospective colleges. Natalie is extremely thankful for all the resources Gulf Coast has provided to her, especially the trip to the Southeastern Theatre Conference in Knoxville, Tennessee. She went to several different booths at the job fair during the conference, and that is where she was offered her position at Valdosta. She credits all her success to GCSC, and especially their help with getting her the first real job offer in the real world of theatre.

Not only did Natalie attend the job fair at the theatre conference, but she also attended a few workshops as well. From what I have been told, most students either chose to attend the job fair or the workshops, and Natalie is the first student who I have talked to that attended both. She said that it was difficult, but it is easy to see that this is one of the many reasons why so many people see potential in her. She is obviously dedicated to her craft. I know that Natalie will go far in her career as a theatre technician, and when the time comes for her to begin her academic career once again, I know that she was succeed, and that is because of how dedicated she is to make it in theatre.

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