From the Army to Stage Management: An Apprentice’s Story

The Juilliard Professional Apprentice Program has been an integral part of the school since its founding.

The Internship in Production for the Performing Arts was created in 1977 to enlarge the production staff while providing professional experience. Transformed into the Juilliard Professional Apprentice Program in 2016, it offers orchestra and stage management, administration, assistant design, and technical theater apprenticeships.

Recent stage management apprentice Deanna Crawford spoke with Jennifer Linn Wilcox, the director of the program, about her nontraditional path to it.

By Jennifer Linn Wilcox

A single mother and army veteran, Deanna Crawford was one of 33 people to take part in Juilliard’s Professional Apprentice Program in the 2022–23 academic year. “The decision to apply was a leap of faith,” Crawford said.

It was also quite a leap from her first career. Crawford had been a reservist reporting to Third U.S. Army and Central Command in the Middle East when the September 11 attacks occurred, and she was deployed to Egypt. When her enlistment was up, she decided to start a family and took a civilian job as a middle school special education teacher in Georgia.

Having always loved theater, she was soon piloting the school’s first drama program. But after the pandemic hit, she decided it was time for another career change, so she quit her teaching job and moved to New York City to get a master’s in educational theater at NYU. “I knew that by moving to New York, I could also provide opportunities my children wouldn’t get in Georgia.”

Although she took a risk in applying for Juilliard’s apprentice program (and not immediately looking for a full-time job) once she’d finished her master’s, Crawford realized it was a logical step in her career path. As part of the program, each apprentice receives formal and informal networking opportunities, professional development workshops, one-on-one coaching sessions, and a professional headshot to help them look and feel ready for next steps in their career.

While being a stage manager can be stressful and involve long hours, Crawford enjoys the new path she’s taken. “Until you’re backstage handling all of it, the average person doesn’t know what it takes to keep every aspect in place,” she said. “Being a part of the process is very satisfying.”

Each stage management apprentice takes part in Juilliard events, and even though it was a new experience, Crawford took easily to running recitals and high-profile events. “I was inspired by how seamlessly all the teams worked together and grateful to have help realizing the visions” of each project, she said.

Typically, the apprentice program attracts applicants either straight from or just a year out of college. While Crawford admits to occasional feelings of doubt because she was older than her apprentice program cohort, she said, “Everyone I work with is young, but we’re all artists. I’m as energetic as they are, and we all learn from each other, no matter our age.” In fact, the pandemic has brought a rise in career-changing worldwide, and the program hopes to continue to embrace that trend.

For Crawford, the seemingly daunting move to New York City has reaped lots of benefits. While her adult daughter has remained in Georgia, Crawford’s two teenage sons moved with her to New York City, where she’s found “so many opportunities now for my son with autism in regards to the services available to him,” she said. “I’d always fought for him, but here, everyone is helping, and I couldn’t be more thankful.” And her other son “is part of a work study program that wouldn’t have been available in Georgia,” Crawford said. “This is a hero’s journey,” she added. “I can’t go back to where I started; I need to keep moving forward.”

Jennifer Linn Wilcox is the director of the Professional Apprentice Program