Although she has only been on the job for two weeks, senior Christina Richardson knew going into her internship that she would be working alongside quite the cast of characters.
Richardson, a broadcasting major, makes her way to Lincoln Center twice a week to intern with the long-running children's program "Sesame Street" as the crew prepares for the program's 45th season.
Richardson said they are currently in pre-production, so her role involves the "behind-the-scenes" aspects rather than the actual filming.
Still, Richardson said, the company does an excellent job of keeping her tasks directly related to the program.
"I've had internships where it's like go get coffee or go get this person," Richard- son said "Here I haven't gone on one run yet that hasn't been for the show. So everything I have done has been directly related to 'Sesame Street,' helping them in some way."
Some of the duties of Richardson's internship include attending staff and films meetings where she is part of the critiquing process, organizing pitches and setting up puppeteer monitors.
Other responsibilities include making the 30-minute trip to the Jim Henson Co., named after the creator of The Muppets, in order to retrieve the necessary characters for the day.
Richardson transports the muppets to and from the studio using duffle bags.
One such trip occurred during last week's blizzard, resulting in a five-hour journey to the Jim Henson Co. and back.
While spending so much time in the taxi, Richardson couldn't help sneaking a look at one of the famed characters lying in the bag.
"At first I didn't want to open the bag, because I was just like nervous," said Richardson. "But when you're sitting there for 2 ? hours you're like 'let me just peek' and it's just funny because they're just like sitting in a bag; it's cool."
Sesame's Street 45th season is set to start filming in the spring and to premiere in September 2014.
Clayton Collier can be reached at clayton. collier@student.shu.edu.
