by Victoria Montecillo
Hey there Fountain family! My name is Victoria Montecillo and I am the Development Intern at The Fountain this summer. I am a recent graduate of Scripps College, where I got a double degree in Theatre and Media Studies. Aside from theatre, I love music (making it and listening to it!), reading (now that I’m done with college, I actually have time to read again), and spending time with the people I love. I was born in New York, but my family moved to Hong Kong before I turned two, so I grew up in Hong Kong before coming back to the United States for college.
In my experiences in theatre, I’ve done a little bit of everything – I found my passion as a performer, and I explored working in sound, lights, and directing. I found that although my heart initially was only with performing, I loved being involved in theatre in any way I could. I loved being a part of the work, and helping create that final product. In college, I became so much more aware of the power of theatre; the power of giving voices to untold stories, and of reaching out to audiences through stories of the human experience.
At the same time, I was beginning to better understand my own identity as a first-generation Filipino-American who grew up abroad. This year, I went to see a play written by a professor of mine about Filipina immigrant women in the United States. The script was a mix of English and Tagalog, with supertitles projected onto the set. It was the first time I had seen a piece of original theatre with people onstage who looked like me, and talking like my family. Each of their stories were powerful, real, and resonated with me in a way I didn’t expect. That’s when I realized the true power of theatre, and I understood my compulsion to work in theatre. I wanted to have a hand in the stories that are told onstage, and I wanted to be able to help create theatre that reached out to all kinds of audiences, to make them feel heard and understood.
I am so incredibly thrilled to be here at the Fountain this summer – not only do I admire the work that they produce, I am just so honored to be welcomed to the family and community here. Community is such an essential aspect of theatre and creating art, and I am so excited to do my part to contribute and further the work done here.
Our thanks to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles County Arts Internship Program for making this summer internship possible.
