First Days

Most of you read this know that I've just started a new job. I'm just going to call it my Theater Job. It's part time. And half of it will consist of working as the House Manager, which means interacting with volunteers and probably refilling a lot of toilet paper. (Seriously, the keys for toilet paper and paper towels are a hilarious non traditional takes on keys.) It's an extroverted job. Not to say that you have to be an extrovert to do it, (for I am not) but it's a job that consists mainly of interacting with the public. I have learned so many names in the past 48 hours that my brain feels like that full bowl of water you're trying to walk across the room, and you think if you just go slowly enough it it won't spill. And that's always about the point it spills.



So my brain is really full. But my heart- and this is cheesy to say- but my heart is really light. So far the experience has been amazing. It's challenging in the right ways. It has the right mix of organization and interaction. It's a job where you become the person who is in charge of this small corner of a world that has many moving parts. That is much of what I want in a job. To have my own thing that's in my control but to be part of something bigger.

It is odd though being a new person in such a tight knit community. The woman I'm replacing was there for six years. Those are very big solidly defined shoes.

But so much in theater shifts. People are used to change because their lives all transform massively from season to season depending the show run, depending on the classes, and depending which organizations are renting the space. So I believe them when they say I'm not kicking out the young woman who was using the desk I'm assigned to. (Although I still feel bad.) And I have no qualms about keeping my work email password the generic one so that my supervisor can get in it if ever needed. It's just the feel of the place. It's inviting and open without being creepy.

It's also really interesting to see it in comparison to my time with community theater. It feels magical at times when I realize people are getting paid to do all of this. First observations tell me that the founders set it up the right way and then expanded when the time was right. That is a delicate art in non profit and for profit industries.

So this space may be a fair amount of work related stuff as I move forward with a whole set of new experiences. Because, you know, this is my first new job in six years.