Well. It happened today. After a month and a half of watching company after company cancel, the company I was supposed to spend the summer with canceled their season. It's not surprising. It's absolutely the right call. But the lack of creating and income for 3 months still hurts.
I'm not sure what hit harder - the cancellation of the world premiere opera about a bunny that the entire company was psyched about, or losing my chance to finally call Sweeney Todd and step into the world of Production Management at the same time. Both projects were hard. I don't know the last time I worked harder on a show than I did on Edward Tulane, and Production Managing a 5 show rotating rep company while also serving as Stage Manager for 1 of those 5 shows would have been so much work....but both projects were incredibly exciting.
We knew Tulane tech was going to be huge, ridiculous amounts of work, and I was ready.
I know the schedule demanded of serving double duty would have had me in exhausted heaps some days, and I was chomping at the bit to get started.
And now, both are gone.
I'm not sure what the point of this post is, really, but it seemed important to write it.
This feels like an impossible time to be in the arts, but I know we'll come out on the other side, because what is the alternative? A world without art isn't a world worth living in, so we'll be there when it opens up again.
Until then, I'm hunkering down, kept company by my plant named after a Shakespearean king, a duck with a clipboard and headset, and all the wonderful people I'm lucky enough to virtually connect with. I'm passing the days helping manage the supply chain and warehouse workings of the Minnesota Opera Mask Force, attending virtual play readings, Facetiming with family & dear friends, and stage managing an open mic night once a week on Zoom (or more accurately wrangling the Zoom demons).
It doesn't feel like enough after 70 hour work weeks and barely enough sleep, but it will have to do for a while.
I'm not sure what hit harder - the cancellation of the world premiere opera about a bunny that the entire company was psyched about, or losing my chance to finally call Sweeney Todd and step into the world of Production Management at the same time. Both projects were hard. I don't know the last time I worked harder on a show than I did on Edward Tulane, and Production Managing a 5 show rotating rep company while also serving as Stage Manager for 1 of those 5 shows would have been so much work....but both projects were incredibly exciting.
We knew Tulane tech was going to be huge, ridiculous amounts of work, and I was ready.
I know the schedule demanded of serving double duty would have had me in exhausted heaps some days, and I was chomping at the bit to get started.
And now, both are gone.
I'm not sure what the point of this post is, really, but it seemed important to write it.
This feels like an impossible time to be in the arts, but I know we'll come out on the other side, because what is the alternative? A world without art isn't a world worth living in, so we'll be there when it opens up again.
Until then, I'm hunkering down, kept company by my plant named after a Shakespearean king, a duck with a clipboard and headset, and all the wonderful people I'm lucky enough to virtually connect with. I'm passing the days helping manage the supply chain and warehouse workings of the Minnesota Opera Mask Force, attending virtual play readings, Facetiming with family & dear friends, and stage managing an open mic night once a week on Zoom (or more accurately wrangling the Zoom demons).
It doesn't feel like enough after 70 hour work weeks and barely enough sleep, but it will have to do for a while.