The Humana Festival Trains the Next Generation of Working Actors

www.backstage.com: The loudest applause at the 37th Humana Festival of New American Plays did not go to shows’ stars. During a performance of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Appropriate,” shouts sounded for a swarm of stagehands flooding the stage for a scene change. These are the apprentices—a group of 21 actors who spend nine months in Louisville for a professional training program. “They are the lifeblood of this organization,” says Zan Sawyer-Dailey, casting director for the Actors Theatre of Louisville, which programs the festival. “We’re looking for people who are really hungry, not just hungry to be actors but to know the theater.”