arts&life

theater

Jenn Jacobs at work

Getting To
Know You

A West Bloomfi eld

native returns home

as stage manager of

a touring production

of The King and I.

RONELLE GRIER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

INSET PHOTO: Laura Michelle
Kelly as Anna with the Royal
Children in The King and I.

details

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s
The King and I will play at
Detroit’s Fox Theatre May 8-13.
$35-$75. (800) 745-3000;
311presents.com.

38

May 3 • 2018

A

s a young child seeing
The Lion King for the
first time, Jenn Jacobs
literally screamed with delight
as the procession of life-sized
gazelles, giraffes and other exot-
ic jungle beasts paraded past her
aisle seat. It was the beginning
of Jacobs’ lasting passion for
the theater and the start of her
dream to someday turn that pas-
sion into a career.
Today, Jacobs, who grew up
in West Bloomfield, is living
her dream. She is the assistant
stage manager for the national
tour of the Lincoln Center
Theater Production of Rodgers
& Hammerstein’s The King and I,
which comes to the Fox Theatre
May 8–13.
On a Tuesday in March, the
New York-based Jacobs, 25,
received word that a last-minute
position with the touring com-
pany had become available. By
Saturday, she was in California,
ready to begin work.
“In that time, I packed every-
thing I needed into two suitcas-

jn

es, put the rest of my belongings
into a storage unit, moved out of
my apartment — and here I am
on the road!” Jacobs says.
While actors get the spotlight
and the applause, Jacobs was
always drawn to the less-visible
but important work that goes on
behind the scenes.
“From a young age I knew that
I loved theater and wanted to be
a part of it, but also knew that I
had no desire to act,” she says.
This is Jacobs’ first perma-
nent job on a national tour;
she served as a substitute stage
manager during a national tour
of The Color Purple. In New York,
she has worked on stage man-
agement teams for shows play-
ing off-off-off-Broadway to her
first Broadway musical, School
of Rock.
Jacobs feels lucky to have
attended West Bloomfield High
School because of its compre-
hensive theater program. It was
there she realized her talent for
stage management and lighting
design. Participating in a timed

theater competition between
other Michigan schools provid-
ed the opportunity to hone the
skills she uses today.
“That experience taught me
time management skills which
are essential to what I do now,”
she says. “I’m basically doing the
same thing I did in high school
but on a larger scale.”
After high school, Jacobs
attended the University of
Michigan School of Music,
Theatre & Dance. While major-
ing in lighting and stage man-
agement, she decided stage
management was a better fit
and decided to focus her profes-
sion goals there. Jacobs looks
back fondly on her U-M experi-
ence, where she learned every-
thing from stagecraft to drafting
a floor plan to how to do her
income tax returns.
“My professors not only taught
me how to do the job but how
to be a professional. They really
instilled in us that this wasn’t
just a career but a lifestyle.
When I graduated from U-M, I
felt immensely prepared to enter
the workforce,” Jacobs says.
Another beneficial aspect of
the program was shadowing the
stage management teams for the
touring productions that came
to the Detroit area. During a
local run of the Book of Mormon,
Jacobs met a member of the
show’s stage management team,
who later helped her make the
connections that led to her job
with School of Rock.
After graduation and a sum-
mer in Massachusetts at the
Williamstown Theater Festival,
Jacobs made the big move to

New York. As a newcomer to the
city, finding theater work was
a challenge. While looking for
theater jobs, she did everything
from babysitting to temping to
working at the front desk of a
yoga studio.
“Getting jobs is unique for
stage managers in that it’s typi-
cally based on who you know.
It’s all about connections,”
Jacobs explains. “I was able to
make it work somehow, and
each year I meet more and more
people and am able to form rela-
tionships with other stage man-
agers, directors, producers, etc.”
According to Jacobs, stage
managers function as a central
communications hub, dis-
persing information from the
director to the cast and crew.
The stage manager serves as
the director’s right hand dur-
ing rehearsals; keeping track of
blocking, props, costume chang-
es, scene transitions and sound
and lighting cues.
“It’s basically a stage manag-
er’s job to know everything that’s
happening with a production,”
Jacobs says.
The most gratifying part of
her work is being part of some-
thing bigger than herself.
“It’s a group of people coming
together to create something
new,” she says. “The teamwork
involved in that is really remark-
able.”
Set in Bangkok in the 1860s,
The King and I tells the story of
the unconventional and tempes-
tuous relationship that develops
between the authoritarian King
of Siam and British school-
teacher Anna Leonowens. The
show features such classic songs
as “Shall We Dance,” “Getting to
Know You” and “Hello, Young
Lovers.” Called “sumptuous” by
the New York Times and “too
beautiful to miss” by New York
magazine, The King and I, direct-
ed by Tony-winning Bartlett
Sher, won four Tony Awards in
2015.
“Our production really stays
true to how the show was
originally written,” says Jacobs.
“The choreography is all based
on Jerome Robbins’ original
choreography. Our technology
has certainly been updated, but
everything that Rodgers and
Hammerstein wrote is extremely
topical and relevant in today’s
day and age.” •