I have spent the majority of my summer in sunny Osoyoos, working part-time remotely for Theatre NorthWest doing some seasonal work during our offseason. While I’ve been fortunate to enjoy the country’s warmest lake and juiciest peaches, I’ve been missing Prince George and I am eager to return soon and start back in my position at the theatre.
This will be my first normal season at TNW, since I started my position at the beginning of the year when no plays were being produced. And while I’m certainly looking forward to the excitement of being surrounded by theatrical artists designing, rehearsing, directing to prepare for a show, I am also finding myself looking forward to the challenges that come with being thrown into something new and a little scary. I will be wearing a lot of hats this season (I’m mostly speaking figuratively, but there are a lot of fun ones to try on in our secret hat room). I will be overseeing our box office and our front of house, gathering and designing props, and assisting with whatever other tasks need to be done around the office. And while I have gone through much training and know how to carry out all my responsibilities on paper, I soberly recognize that I still have a lot of learning ahead of me.
So I’m a bit anxious, a bit intimidated. But more than that I’m excited to tackle the challenges ahead and to grow both professionally and personally. I’m ready to embrace the chaos that is bound to come when a theatre puts on a play for the first time in a year and a half. And I’m ready to do my part in the team effort of transforming that chaos into something resembling order.
I think there’s always some amount of chaos in worthy endeavours. Weddings are a good example. And marriages, for that matter, though I’m not exactly an authority on the subject. As for theatre, I doubt there has ever been a play produced without a little unbridled panic somewhere along the line. But maybe chaos is just the raw material of great things – an indicator of potential. Maybe chaos is just what we encounter when we step beyond ourselves and onto the fertile soil of unknown territory.
I’m reminded of the first play I acted in back in high school, and how unprepared I and the rest of the cast felt in the weeks leading up to our performances. Granted, this was probably largely because we spent most of our rehearsal time goofing around instead of, you know, rehearsing – I’ll never forget the time we made our poor director cry from stress as opening night approached. But it all worked out in the end.
Well, except for the fact that we accidentally skipped almost a third of the script during the first performance. So maybe that wasn’t the best example. What was I saying again? Oh, yes, chaos. I’m all out of inspiring aphorisms, but I would like to say that we have a very exciting season planned. And if you find yourself, despite its opportunities for growth, in need of an escape from chaos in the coming months, come visit us and enjoy one of our mainstage plays or our stage readings starting in September. Enjoy the rest of your summer, get some of that sweet vitamin D, and we’ll see you soon!
