Each year, countless students graduate from Baldwin Wallace and enter the workforce. Whether they are going into a lab, a studio, or a stage, they will begin to put what they learned from their years on campus to good use. One such case comes from Alli St. John, a 2014 music theatre graduate who has now found work as a casting director for Children’s Theatre Company.
As a BW student, St. John had multiple opportunities within the theater program to explore how to apply her education in a career setting. In addition to her acting classes and performances, she had mentorship from faculty in directing and assisted classes, which allowed her to explore “different avenues of theater.”
“I think what was critical to my growth as an artist outside of BW was the opportunity to assistant direct on productions … and seeing the process from [the director’s] perspective,” St. John said. “Having my hand in that set me up to be able to go outside of BW and then direct my own shows.”
St. John said that with the holistic approach to theater in the Theatre: Acting & Directing program helped her develop essential communication skills. By taking stage management and design classes, she gained the skills to effectively communicate with people who do this work.
“Having that experience was really beneficial to me in communicating with people who do that work,” St. John said. “When I graduated, I went right into teaching theater for young people, so I felt really set up to do that and enter the industry and the field because of my time at BW.”
After graduating from BW, St. John went west; however, her time there didn’t last long, and she soon found herself back in the Midwest.
“In 2019 I moved to Arizona to do my MFA in theater for youth and community at Arizona State University,” stated St. John. “As I was wrapping up my time there, my husband, who’s also a BW grad from the theater program, he and I were like, ‘We’re done living in Arizona, let’s go back to the Midwest.'”
When looking for opportunities within their field, they considered a lot of different places; however, they ended up landing in the Twin Cities area, leading to their involvement with the Children’s Theater Company.
“Children’s Theater Company has been on my radar for a long time,” St. John said. “They’re one of the leading theaters for young companies in North America, and they had a job posting for a teaching artist.”
As time went on, St. John continued to gain experience with CTC. What started as a temporary summer teaching gig later became a whole new experience.
“I interviewed with their education director, and they offered me some summer teaching work,” St. John said. “I moved to Minneapolis and started teaching summer camps for them, and then I had an opportunity to assistant direct ‘Dr. Seuss: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical’ and assist their art director.”
While she was working with CTC, she also gained other opportunities, including one with the Guthrie Theater.
“I then got a job at the Guthrie Theater, one of the largest regional theaters in the country as their education program manager,” St. John said, “so I did that full time, and then was able to pick up small teaching opportunities with CTC on the side. Then, over the summer, the casting director position opened up, and I applied.”
With her newly acquired position, St. John also has a lot of new responsibilities to look after.
“My main job responsibilities are to lead auditions for our adult and student actors and work in collaboration with the directing and creative team to assemble the casts and understudy casts for each show,” St. John said. “We also have a large play development program, so I will be assisting to cast those workshops and play readings as well.”
Alongside the casting duties, she is also responsible for contracting, actors’ equity and seasons planning.
In addition to her responsibilities as casting director, St. John is also an intimacy coordinator. She said she first became interested in this topic while at BW, thinking about, “How are we caring for actors in the rehearsal room and in performance, and what role does consent and boundaries play in the creative process?”
St. John said that this topic of intimacy coordination and “building cultures of consent in educational theater spaces” later became the focus of her graduate school research. Since then, she has worked with universities, community spaces and high schools to implement intimacy direction techniques into their culture.
Looking back at her time at BW, St. John said she would give her younger self this advice: don’t hold too tightly to the plan.
“Life happens,” St. John said. “Things have happened that have shifted me off course, but I always have found my way back or discovered something new along the way.”
