I try to follow different blogs. I have a few cooking ones I enjoy and I have two friends from school that are travelling on Semester at Sea this semester, so I'm keeping up with them (shout out to F and J - still on my shit list J ;-) ). I also follow one by this guy named Chad Bauman, who is the Director of Communications at Arena Stage about Arts Marketing. Because that's what I want to do. Arts and marketing. And sometimes I forget that.
Since I've moved to this city, I've worked on three shows - well, really two and a half. I jumped into my first show two weeks before the show actually went up. Their stage manager had quit and C, who was the costume designer, was going to have me dress it anyway, so then she volunteered me to be the stage manager when they needed me. No big deal; it was a crash course in reading music, Italian, and Puccini (I was a theatre major and she is totally into opera. By like totally, I mean she wants to be the next Maria Callas [whoever that is] and I'm more Idina Menzal).
Then I went back to the company and did The Marriage of Figaro for them, which I had kind of talked about before. But here's the thing: it wasn't fun for me towards the end. Between three people (the adorable assistant director M and my fabulous assistant, K) we were doing pretty much the work of 15 people. On a huge show. At some point during this production, each of us had a meltdown. Mine happened multiple times, and thankfully, M was there each time to hand me a tissue, help me off the floor, give me a hug, and smack my ass on the way back to work (the last part is figurative, but you get the point). Those two girls made doing the show worthwhile, but only to an extent.
Chad makes an excellent point in his last post about re-centering yourself and realizing why you're doing what you're doing. And that's honestly what I had to sit and do. Why was I spending all this time and energy and stressing myself out for this one production? But it wasn't for that one production, it was so I can have the experience and I can look at another company who will make my time worthwhile and say "I've totally got this and here's why."
I love theatre. I love seeing it come together over 3 months or 3 weeks. Hell, I've seen some really great shows come together in 24 hours (no lie, it was about explosive diarrhea and it was HILARIOUS. That's right - that show deserves bold face, italics, and underlines). And I remember having so much fun being part of the Three Witches in Macbeth (can I type that, does it still cause bad luck, do I have to turn around counter clockwise three times, spit over my left shoulder, and swear now?) and having a blast with my girls because we were the Dream Girls of Scotland. At least that's what we considered ourselves. I also love knowing that when I'm the stage manager, I rule this shit. That it's my responsibility to make sure it goes up without a hitch. To some people, that may be terrifying, but I've been told by many people that I'm fucking good stage manager (sorry, that was actually a direct quote by my best friend). And I love that.
So, Chad, thank you for help to remind me of why I do what I do. To quote a family friend, some are for the meal and some are for the reel. And most nights, especially when I'm at rehearsal, they're for the reel.
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