Company Class - A Prologue

I work in a theatre that has one of the most unique modes of operation – the artist/administrator model. Everyone in the company is essentially an artist and an administrator. The bulk of my job involves working on the marketing team. I do a lot of social media marketing (Twitter and Facebook). I manage the company’s blog (which has been a lot of fun). I send out press releases, arrange interviews with the media. It’s an extensive job that requires flexibility. I’ve been stretching a lot of muscles and reading a lot on arts marketing. I’d say of the many blogs in my Google reader, one-third relate to theatre/arts marketing.

Needless to say, I’m stretching and working a lot of marketing and communications muscles. I have lots to learn. There is a lot of art to it all. I work with design and writing frequently. I’ve been learning as I go, and I think I’m pretty good at my job.

That being said, my artist-as-actor muscles are kind of suffering. Yes, I’m acting regularly. This year has been great for me artistically. I’ve explored medieval text and played Death, I worked on my first Ibsen production with a world premier adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher, and then I poured over the works of Steve Martin for the three minutes’ worth of Schmendiman. Throughout each of these processes, I’ve met some wonderful theatre-makers and have learned quite a bit. It has stretched me.

Recently, however, I’ve felt a bit…stagnant? Not sure if that’s quite the word. I’ve been eager to get my feet wet a bit more. That doesn’t happen so much anymore. The advent of all has put a refreshing spring in my step. I love this cooler weather. I’ve always enjoyed the beginning of the school year. There’s so much possibility with this season. I’m starting to get used to the whole “not-going-to-school” thing. But it’s a bit sad.

Once Picasso closes in less than two weeks, I won’t have much going on as an actor with the company I work with. I knew this would be a bit of a dry spell from the very beginning of the year, but now it’s starting to hit me.

ENTER: COMPANY CLASS

Yesterday, a theatre professional held a two-hour company acting class. He’s a professor and director at a University in the southeast. He’s got loads of training and experience in film and theatre. He’s not famous.

We had a small assignment: work on a scene from the provided sides with a partner. It need only be one minute long – nothing major. I freaked out a bit. But I met with J-Yo a couple times as we worked on this “mermaid” scene from a 5-minute play by John Patrick Shanley. We didn’t drill it too hard, just enough to get the words down.

The day of the class, I was buzzed. Seriously, I was bouncing off the walls in excitement for this class. I got quite a bit of work done in the morning. I was in this giddy mood and I know it was directly related to the afternoon’s class.

Later on, I'll post details of the class. Each element/exercise was quite informative and produced fascinating results--even in the two short hours we were there.