Getting over myself: Lesson #672

The Fringe show I’m stage managing is a collective creation project. More on that to come. And while we don’t yet have a full show, we do have a clever little song. And our wonderful director has a vision about how that song should be performed. This vision includes a verse sung from the booth…and the person in the booth would be…me. Right.

Apparently I neglected to mention that singing in public is not in my contract (and I would sooner die).

The lovely assistant director came to my defence, to which the response was: “Oh please, she went to theatre school at NYU, I think she can handle it…”

Touché. Ok, Director, you win this round.

And really, it’s more talking than singing. I think I can handle it, too. But way to foil the plan, silly NYU theatre education, you have officially invalidated any excuse I will ever manage to come up with to not do anything for the rest of my theatrical career/life…geez.

Be gentle, it’s my first time.

The combination of alcohol and a hot tub can make doing just about anything seem like a good idea. No, not that, not what you’re thinking…get your mind out of the gutter! Seriously…So whilst I was relaxing in the wilds of Utah and enjoying a cocktail or two in the bubbles, I agreed to stage manage a Fringe show.

And I have no idea what I’m doing.

(Let’s just say “Spring Break” and leave it at that…)

But I was told that all I needed to do was keep them organized and bring a binder and some paper. I figured I could handle that.

Really, this all came about because I sent an apparently well-timed thank you email with an offer to help out in any way if it was needed. The response: “Straight up. We need a stage manager.” If you’re going to offer your help, you should probably be ready for anything.

And so far so good.

Although now that I’m back and actually doing things, I am a little curious as to what exactly I was thinking when I agreed to this gig (I blame the booze and the bubbles). I have a lot going on for the next few weeks and I’ve just had to accept that some things are falling by the wayside as a result (I’ll try not to let blogging become one of them, but I make no guarantees). Nothing majorly important has been sacrificed, just things I wanted to do and will now not be able to (like helping in the prep for the summer camp that used to be my June-August home). 

Of course, instead of doing those things, I am stage managing. And in addition to just showing up with my binder and paper (or computer, since I believe in technology), I’m getting to use my brain, which sadly does not happen as frequently as I would like.  I’m also getting to hang around with some incredibly intelligent, seriously hilarious, and very talented theatre people. And I get to be part of a very interesting creative process. So while I find this all kind of scary really intimidating, I think it’s also exactly what I need.  This is a fairly large step outside my comfort zone, but it doesn’t feel that uncomfortable. Although I may change my story when tech rolls around. In two weeks.

In short, I’m getting over myself.

Oh, and by the way, I’m also a Fringe virgin…