it's a mystery
Jan. 7th, 2014 11:40 pm
Today I made a bunch of fake sandwiches and a giant salt shaker. My life is weird.
This segues nicely into one of the remaining prompts from the no-longer-December meme.
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pocky_slash prompted: How you got into theatre or what it means to you or...something. Like that.
Fucked if I know how I got into theatre. It's just one of those things that happens. I'm a little obsessed with storytelling, as you might have noticed, what with the fandom thing and all, and live theatre is my very favorite because of the intimate relationship between performers and audience. I can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't in love with the theatre. My parents started taking me to plays from around when I could walk and talk -- first children's theatre, then Broadway -- and I started doing school plays in, like, first grade. I don't think I ever really expected to become an actress -- sure, I fantasized about it sometimes, but I'm way too much of a pragmatist to really believe in that. In high school, I started doing some directing, which I loved, and though I briefly clung to the notion that I would major in something useful in college -- like, y'know, English Lit -- I wound up declaring a Theater & Performance Studies major by the end of my freshman year. I just couldn't imagine doing anything else. My focus in college was on directing. I spent every summer interning at some theater or another -- all-purpose internships in small theaters, basically, doing all sorts of odd jobs and getting to know the business of running a theater beyond the productions themselves -- and got some steady work in house management on the side.
One of my first professional gigs in the year after graduation was as assistant director at a tiny theater in Chicago, and their usual stage manager had to drop out before rehearsals started, so the director asked if I could SM, too. I said yes, of course, because you ALWAYS say yes to a gig when you're just starting out, and then panicked because I'd never done any stage management in school at ALL. But I'd worked with plenty of good SMs, so I just tried to mimic what I remembered them doing, and...well, fake it 'till you make it, right? I discovered I enjoyed running shows, despite the stress. And once I moved to Washington and started working in admin at a large-ish Equity theater, I realized that no, I really needed to be in production, not administration. (I still think maybe someday I could land in the education department of a big theater and be content there, because I have very strong feelings about arts education, but it's not my true love.) While searching for production gigs around town, I discovered very quickly that no one really wants an AD, nor will they pay one much, but EVERYONE needs a good ASM and are willing to pay for one. So I fell face-first into stage management and haven't come up for air since. And now that's the only thing I do.
It's been six years this month since my first SM gig. Where I am now is not quite what I'd ever expected or planned growing up, but it suits me -- I'm a bit too pragmatic to ever be a great artist, but I derive a huge amount of satisfaction from the work I do, and I get to work in a theater every day. There have been good shows and bad shows, and some truly shitty work experiences -- I'm not too thrilled with my current situation, for example -- but I still just can't imagine doing anything else. Calling a show is like being the conductor of an orchestra, and requires just as much finesse and, yes, artistry, and I love it. ♥
And for the record: the sandwiches were cut out of mattress foam with a bit of brown paint around the edges for crust, and the giant salt shaker made out of a large styrofoam cone, clear packing tape, and aluminum foil. In case you ever need to make your own.
This segues nicely into one of the remaining prompts from the no-longer-December meme.
pocky_slash prompted: How you got into theatre or what it means to you or...something. Like that.Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.
Fennyman: So what do we do?
Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.
Fennyman: How?
Henslowe: I don't know. It's a mystery.
-Shakespeare in Love, written by Tom Stoppard (yup, the Arcadia guy)
Fucked if I know how I got into theatre. It's just one of those things that happens. I'm a little obsessed with storytelling, as you might have noticed, what with the fandom thing and all, and live theatre is my very favorite because of the intimate relationship between performers and audience. I can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't in love with the theatre. My parents started taking me to plays from around when I could walk and talk -- first children's theatre, then Broadway -- and I started doing school plays in, like, first grade. I don't think I ever really expected to become an actress -- sure, I fantasized about it sometimes, but I'm way too much of a pragmatist to really believe in that. In high school, I started doing some directing, which I loved, and though I briefly clung to the notion that I would major in something useful in college -- like, y'know, English Lit -- I wound up declaring a Theater & Performance Studies major by the end of my freshman year. I just couldn't imagine doing anything else. My focus in college was on directing. I spent every summer interning at some theater or another -- all-purpose internships in small theaters, basically, doing all sorts of odd jobs and getting to know the business of running a theater beyond the productions themselves -- and got some steady work in house management on the side.
One of my first professional gigs in the year after graduation was as assistant director at a tiny theater in Chicago, and their usual stage manager had to drop out before rehearsals started, so the director asked if I could SM, too. I said yes, of course, because you ALWAYS say yes to a gig when you're just starting out, and then panicked because I'd never done any stage management in school at ALL. But I'd worked with plenty of good SMs, so I just tried to mimic what I remembered them doing, and...well, fake it 'till you make it, right? I discovered I enjoyed running shows, despite the stress. And once I moved to Washington and started working in admin at a large-ish Equity theater, I realized that no, I really needed to be in production, not administration. (I still think maybe someday I could land in the education department of a big theater and be content there, because I have very strong feelings about arts education, but it's not my true love.) While searching for production gigs around town, I discovered very quickly that no one really wants an AD, nor will they pay one much, but EVERYONE needs a good ASM and are willing to pay for one. So I fell face-first into stage management and haven't come up for air since. And now that's the only thing I do.
It's been six years this month since my first SM gig. Where I am now is not quite what I'd ever expected or planned growing up, but it suits me -- I'm a bit too pragmatic to ever be a great artist, but I derive a huge amount of satisfaction from the work I do, and I get to work in a theater every day. There have been good shows and bad shows, and some truly shitty work experiences -- I'm not too thrilled with my current situation, for example -- but I still just can't imagine doing anything else. Calling a show is like being the conductor of an orchestra, and requires just as much finesse and, yes, artistry, and I love it. ♥
And for the record: the sandwiches were cut out of mattress foam with a bit of brown paint around the edges for crust, and the giant salt shaker made out of a large styrofoam cone, clear packing tape, and aluminum foil. In case you ever need to make your own.
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