After college I was doing the actor-waitress-thing. That thing is exhausting, and unless one lives in NYC, rarely very profitable. Although I've lived in NYC (and LOVED it!), I didn't feel compelled to move back. A sweet living situation wasn't worth leaving, but my student loans were about to kick in. Have you felt that about-to-kick-in feeling? Its a BAD feeling- overwhelming, and when one is all but unemployed, especially so. A friend was working at the Y and mentioned that the big guy in charge was interested in starting theatre programming. Bold and blind, I emailed him my resume and a letter- a silly and naive letter- explaining what I could do for the Y. Oh, I was bold. Little did I know how quickly I was about to dive in deep over my unexperienced little head.
I met with that big guy in charge and after 45 minutes drinking coffee at this place he offered me a job. Well, more like he offered me an opportunity. There wasn't a job to offer because there was no theatre programming. An association of 6 Ys, serving over 30,000 people, and for some reason I thought, "sure, why wouldn't I be qualified to start this?" So I said that I was most definitely in, and that big guy liked my courage.
A few months later we advertised auditions for our first production. I was hoping for 50 kids. We had over 240. WHAT!?! Remember that deep dive I mentioned a few lines ago? Thinking back on that, I'm most struck by my blind courage. Oh, I was overwhelmed by the masses, sure, but never did I question that this was going to WORK. Somehow I knew that this was good, that this was the right step. I knew with complete confidence that I had been placed in this position, had been brought to this place, and that the One who knows the plans for my life had prepared this work for my hands. Phew. That's crazy stuff. Crazier to look back and realize now what I knew intrinsically (far from consciously!) then.
I cast 2 complete productions- 140 kids total- and worked every day from auditions to the final performance 4 months later. I worked hard- I still work hard, but not crazy hard like I had to then- and the show was a rousing success. I was a mere 22 years old. A month after the final performance I went full time as Performing Arts Director. Bah! How ridiculous and under-qualified I am! None-the-less, since that first production we've put up 8 more full-scale shows, 7 camp productions, and now have classes running in 4 local Ys consistently. Sheesh. My favorite part of the whole thing is that now I also have awesome STAFF working for the Theatre Company (we're a Theatre Company now- there are pamphlets and websites and everything). They are dedicated, thoughtful, funny, hard working people. And let me tell you- working in a big dark theatre early in the morning to late at night is much more fun with people who laugh and cry right along side you. I'm so dependent on my staff, my friends really. We do good work and I am so proud of what we create and teach together.
I hope this doesn't sound too brag-ish. Its how it all went down, really, and I know that not for a minute could I have done any of it without the people in my life supporting me, and the will of God behind me. Seriously. I'm SO thankful for my job and it has taught me LOTS. Crazy amounts. Such crazy amounts that I started this blog so that I won't lose all that I'm learning in the life-shuffle.
Anyways...like I said in the beginning, today was a good day of work, so its a good day to write about work because, there are definitely bad days- very bad days, like call home to my mom sobbing days, or call my fiance in the middle of rehearsal sobbing days, or leave angry messages on my boss' voicemail days. Bad, bad days. Days I'm more weary than I ever thought possible. Those days are, well, bad. But today was fun. It was the last day of a 2 week camp and the kids were excited, the parents were happy, and the show was quite darling. Who wouldn't love a little french boy pretending to be Toad (in A Year With Frog and Toad)? My goodness, he was good- he actually had little moments of beautiful sincerity on stage...as a Toad! Thats good stuff. :) And if it was legal, I'd even share a clip of it.
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