Act I

these are a few of my favorite things

I’ve been a creative person since I was a little kid, and that passion has only grown as I’ve come into adulthood. My happy place is with a paintbrush in my hand and ABBA blasting in my headphones. I’ve always been creative, but I didn’t really find my niche until I discovered theater. When I was in high school, someone  on my academic quiz bowl team (yes, I was that nerdy) told me I should join set crew with her. I was a freshman and she was a junior and therefore infinitely cooler than me, so of course I went. The show was High School Musical and it was a chaotic production with one of the biggest casts I’ve ever worked with. I got to hang out with my friends and paint, and from that first show I was hooked. Four years of high school theater led to pursuing a scenic design degree in college where I fell even more in love with the magic of live theater. Watching shows is great, but there isn’t anything like being in the wings and getting to be a part of the action. College had me working on larger scale pieces and bigger budget productions. In my eyes it still meant that I got to hang out with my friends and paint, so I was all in.

Fast forward another couple of years and I’m back in my hometown doing community theater. It was definitely an adjustment going from professional level theaters back to small town scale, but it felt like stepping back into my comfort zone. All my professors always said the theater mantra was “you can get it done fast, cheap, or good, and you can only pick two.” Community theater is more like “you have to do all three and you also have to work another full time job while you do it.” This may sound like I’m complaining, but I honestly thrive in that challenge of making it all work with what you’ve got. Getting to solve the puzzle of a set design or custom mix a color palette from somebody’s old house paint are some of my favorite parts of the job. Another is getting to watch other people fall in love with theater. I worked with several people on my last show, both adults and kids, who had never done a show before and left on our last day with a brand new passion. Watching them go from being nervous and unsure to confident, capable artists is the coolest thing.

Theater has also introduced me to most of my favorite people in the world. Some of those friends are actors, some designers or technicians, but all of them will have a very strong opinion on the musical Cats if you ask. Getting to share the thing I love most in the world with people that I love is without a doubt my favorite part. If you’re a part of the #shrekcrewforever, Shrek Squad, Whoopi Chat, or any of my other strangely named theater people group chats, just know that you’re the best part of all this. I’m so grateful that I’ve gotten to spend the last decade making magic with incredible people, and I hope that I get to spend many more decades doing the same.