A Different Kind of Stage Manager

Working at the Goodman Theatre as the Young Performer Supervisor was an incredible experience. It was definitely one of the more exhausting jobs I have ever had but I had so much fun!

A different kind of stage manager's kit.
Coloring books, colored pencils, activity books, games, cards, books, the whole nine yards. 

I felt so official when I had to flash my ID to the Security Guards so I could walk back stage. It's the small things in life that make you feel like a total bad ass. 

"Oh Hey... Yeah I work here!"

A lot of days we had two shows, which was exhausting for everyone but doubly exhausting for the children who were confined to their tiny dressing rooms for endless hours. The kids would get very snippy and easily get on each other's nerves. Many days they would get picked up by their parents for dinner but sometimes I would have to take them to get dinner. So one day I started an Emily mandated quiet time between shows when they had to hang around the theatre. They were opposed to the idea from the beginning and fought me on it for a while, but eventually they conceded anyway (they didn't have much of a choice). We went up to the actor's lounge and they all sat quietly doing their own thing for about 45 minutes and whether or not it helped them all calm down and relax doesn't even matter because it was so glorious for me!

Ahhh peace and quiet! 

Throughout the process of this show the kids had brought to the theatre and also received as gifts a plethora of stuff. Between the dressing decorating contest, Secret Santa, and wanting to show off their new Christmas gifts their dressing rooms were full to the brim with unnecessary stuff. We needed to get all that stuff out by closing night and if it wasn't already hard enough to get them to focus on getting dressed it was even harder to get them to focus on cleaning up all their stuff and throwing everything away. So I wrote up a To Do list for both the boys dressing room and girls. 

Despite how rowdy, loud, and crazy these kids were I had so much fun hanging out with them and being a part of their experience in the theatre. I love to see kids who have been introduced to and appreciate the arts. If given the opportunity to do this again I would love to give it a try from the beginning and be a part of the whole process and not just thrown into the last two weeks of a production. 

I learned so much! Made connections with professionals in the "biz" and I think I did a pretty good job. Hopefully people even noticed that I did a good job and will keep me in mind in the future for this position or similar ones. 

"Say Scrooge!"