Although on a pre-med track studying cognitive science, neuroscience, and sociology, what Trisha Bheemanathini really loves is comedy.
The rising third-year student from Birmingham, Alabama, was a writer for the student troupe Bloomers Comedy last year at Penn, so, when she was looking for internships, her first choice was 1812 Productions, a comedy theater in Center City Philadelphia.
“We always hear that laughter is the best medicine, and I feel that way when I’m volunteering, or shadowing doctors, or talking to patients, or talking to other people who want to be doctors. Having charisma and being able to make people laugh is such an important part of that job,” Bheemanathini says. “If I’m able to help people through comedy and laughter, I think that could be beneficial for me later on in my professional career as a doctor.”
Jaime Konowal, 1812’s general manager, says “Trisha is so enthusiastic. She’s always so game to do anything, even if it is organizing headshots. She’s great.”
The internship is through RealArts@Penn, which partners with creative businesses across the country and provides a stipend for students to have summer internship opportunities in theater, film, music, journalism, advertising, and museums, says Mingo Reynolds, who manages the RealArts program as director of administration for Penn’s Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing.
This is the 10th summer that 1812 has brought on a summer intern through RealArts. “It’s always really benefited us. Everyone we’ve had from Penn has been fantastic,” Konowal says. “Our interns have been so helpful for us throughout the years. As a nonprofit theater company, we’re always very, very busy and there’s always something to do.”
Bheemanathini’s interest in comedy started when a friend asked to go to the free show offered by Mask and Wig and Bloomers at the start of her second year at Penn. “They were talking about auditions, and something happened to me,” she says. “I realized I really like this kind of entertainment. I really like making people laugh. This just seems like something I’d be really interested in.”
She auditioned to write the comedy skits and was accepted. “I think that’s been one of my favorite activities, and the best group that I’ve been able to hang out with on campus, and it really made me love comedy so much more and have an appreciation for it,” Bheemanathini says. “I wanted to explore that realm, so I looked at internships through RealArts.”
On the first day, the 1812 staff asked her what she wanted to work on during the summer. “I am really keen on education. I wanted to do outreach to schools,” she says, like helping with curriculum to include improv for children, “that creative empowerment, so that they feel more comfortable.”
One of 1812’s partners is Philadelphia’s Widener Memorial School for children with disabilities. Bheemanathini took part in 1812’s “improv camp” for the students. “We talked to them about improv, did a lot of fun activities, and taught them a little bit about how to make your own scene when there’s no script,” she says. She has helped with a talent show put on at South Philadelphia High School, where 1812 artists teach classes during the school year.
A cognitive science, neuroscience, and sociology triple-major in the College of Arts and Sciences, Bheemanathini is also a member of the student club Penn Neuroscience Society and is the incoming president. She is also a volunteer at the Jefferson Moss-Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Center City this summer, chatting with patients and running bingo games.
Now Bheemanathini is working to combine her two summer experiences in a collaboration, working to create comedy therapy or improv therapy sessions, “something fun for the patients to do while they’re there.”
She’s also involved in the day-to-day operations at 1812, including preparations for the upcoming fall season, reading scripts, attending casting sessions, and helping with fundraising projects. “I get to meet the actors and see the whole process of auditioning and then the deliberations and even a bit of the rehearsals,” she says.
Bheemanathini will participate in a weeklong writing workshop in August with writers and actors from the Philadelphia area as they prepare for the season’s first show, the annual “This Is The Week That Is: Election Special.” The show delivers sharp satire and content that changes with the headlines, with musical parodies, improvised comedy, and original sketches, described as a mix of Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show and The Carol Burnett Show.
“All of our internships try to have a hand in every department so you’re learning everything, even if you’re not on stage,” Konowal says.
Penn alum Nick Seymour was an intern at 1812 in the summer of 2018 and worked there part-time after he graduated in 2019. “I stayed in touch,” he says, even as he worked in jobs at Penn’s Kelly Writers House and Platt Student Performing Arts House, and Philadelphia’s Inis Nua Theatre Company.
Last year Seymour, who was a communications major and theatre minor at Penn, was hired fulltime as 1812’s production manager.
That summer internship five years ago “very impactful on my trajectory,” says Seymour. He was thinking about political science and law school but then gravitated toward communications. He did theater for fun, taking a couple of courses, and as a member of Mask and Wig.
“I never thought about committing to theater as a career path until I did the RealArts internship and spent the summer at 1812 doing this at a professional level, which made me realize this is something I could do, and I would really like to do,” says Seymour, who is currently on the Mask and Wig board of governors. “The potential for it being a real career for me started that summer.”
While Bheemanathini says she still not sure on whether she wants to be on the stage or work in theater as a career, she is sure she would like to pursue something in the comedy realm, even as a volunteer.
“I really like this environment, and I would want to be a part of it,” she says. “I want to work in education, working with kids. And I feel like being able to work on myself and my comedic abilities, being able to talk to people all different ages and in different stages of their lives. I feel like being able to be funny is such an important way to communicate.”
