Carleton actress part of Williamstown theatre festival

What do Paul Newman, Sigourney Weaver, Gwyneth Paltrow, Campbell Scott and Carleton College senior Meg Higgins have in common?

All of them, along with a host of other theater celebrities, participated in the Williamstown Theater Festival. The festival, held each year in Williamstown, Mass., brings together countless theater professionals each summer to produce several performances each week. It is considered one of the most prestigious theater festivals in the country.

Higgins, chosen from a pool of 800 applicants, was one of 85 apprentices at the festival. As an apprentice, she was involved in all aspects of theater
production, dividing her time between drama classes and working for the shows the festival produced each week. While her classes ranged from yoga to master classes taught by theater celebrities, her theater duties included theater management and constructing sets with Broadway designers.

“Working with so many incredible artists was an amazing experience-it’s a completely unique community of creative professionals,” Higgins said. “It was also really valuable to learn about all aspects of theater, not just acting. I never knew that light designers could get as fanatic about lights as I get about acting.”

Among the many exciting moments of Higgins’ summer, perhaps the most memorable was meeting and talking with Christopher Reeve at a cast party he hosted at his home. Reeve has been a favorite of Higgins since her childhood- not just for his role as Superman, but also for his appearance on the Muppet Show, where Higgins remembers him in a humorous sketch of Hamlet, a recollection Reeve found very amusing. Like Higgins, Reeve also worked as an apprentice at the Williamstown festival before launching his acting career.

In addition to learning from the best in the business, Higgins also used her experience at the festival to determine whether she really wants to pursue a career in theater.

“I went into the festival wanting to find out if I really like the professional theater world, and if I can hack it. Now, I know that’s what I want to do and I think I can do it. They say that if you can survive this festival, the rest is easy. We’ll see what happens.”

But for Higgins, plenty has already happened. She has played leading roles in Carleton productions since her freshman year and is currently working on her role as Gertrude in Carleton’s upcoming production of “Hamlet.” She cites her education at Carleton as one of her strongest assets in pursuing a theater career.

“I wouldn’t trade my Carleton education for anything. Having a well-rounded education is a valuable background in this business. For instance, if I’m doing Chekov, I can tell you what’s happening in Russia and the rest of the world at the time. That’s crucial in understanding your character and it’s made me really value my education here versus a conservatory program.”

And taking further advantage her Carleton education, Higgins, along with fellow Carleton senior and theater major Nick O’Donnell, hope to direct and
produce a theater production in the Twin Cities for their senior comprehensive exercise.

“It’s going to be a lot like doing field research. We’re going to invite critics to the show and see what they think of our work. We really want to see what the real thing feels like.”