While I was growing up in small town Ontario, I was always quite the performer. As a kid, I took piano lessons and dance lessons. In high school I auditioned for the school plays. My school did not have a drama program, so these plays were my only chance to act. I decided that I wanted to be an actor, and looked into drama programs at various universities.
I auditioned for Ryerson and York. I never got the results of my auditions. I was terrified of the possibility of rejection and cancelled my applications. Being one of the only students from my hometown who was serious about theatre, I had never been turned down for an audition before. I didn't think I could handle the rejection that I was sure was coming.
I landed at the University of Guelph, where my major was psychology for about a month before I switched to a major in theatre studies and a minor in English.
During my second semester I auditioned for the student directed one act plays. My audition went really well, and I ended up with the role of Abby Nash in Norm Foster's The Long Weekend, directed by fourth year student Jon Nelson. The festival of plays was called "Famous Last Words" and the directors' projects were to direct the last 20 minutes of a full length play. My success at landing this role reignited my confidence.
However, over the course of my four and a half years at the University of Guelph, I made the transition from considering myself an acting student, to considering myself a technical student.
My first involvement in technical theatre was a required course during my second year, introduction to technical theatre, where I participated in building the set for Romeo and Juliet. This sparked my interest in the technical side of the theatre.
While I was involved with Romeo and Juliet, I was also stage managing for the first time on a student directed one act play. I had auditioned for the one acts, but didn't get a role. I still really wanted to be involved. I ended up stage managing for Matt Rush, who I had acted alongside in my first year. I was not entirely certain what would be required of me, but learned the process as I went along. I found I had an easy rapport with Matt and the actors. I learned how influential the stage manager is to ensuring the cheerfulness of everyone involved, as well as maintaining the director’s vision and keeping everything running smoothly.
The very next semester, in my third year, I stage managed for the one acts once more. This time, I was stage managing for a director who was unsure of what my role entailed. Together, he and I came up with our own arrangement for how best to work harmoniously. I learned that I was capable of adapting to what the director required of me.
I wanted to do more stage managing! But the following semester I was disappointed to learn that there would be no one acts. Instead I found Curtain Call Productions, a student run organization which independently stages a musical every year. Curtain Call gave me my first experience as an assistant stage manager. Although I enjoyed the experience, I knew that I preferred the full responsibility of being a stage manager.
That summer, I achieved my first paid position in the theatre by stage managing for Sky Gilbert’s The Shakespeare Experiment. Sky's experiment was to show a few scenes from a Shakespeare play done three different ways, what he called Elizabethan, contemporary and queer. The project would run for three summers, with different scenes each year. I worked with an experienced mentor, Kevin Bowers, who provided helpful tips, guidance and advice. My director was Moynan King, for the contemporary scene of As You Like It. I made connections with directors, actors and writers in the Toronto theatre community and it was around this time that I realized that I want to stage manage professionally. The following summer, after fourth year, I stage managed The Shakespeare Experiment once more, with a different mentor, Sandy Plunkett, and director, Ed Roy. That time around I got to do the Elizabethan scene of A Winter's Tale.
During my fourth year, I finally got to wear the director's hat for the student directed one act plays. I directed Rob Kraszewski and Megan Verhey in the play Organic Divide by Robin Fulford. It was a great experience and I truly loved doing it. I hope to direct more in the future.
Also in my fourth year I participated in the ensemble project, which was a new class required for theatre studies majors. Twenty-six of us came together five times a week to create an original piece. The end result was a play titled Surviving Fantomina, created by The Bedroom Ensemble.
Although I could have graduated in the Spring of my fourth year, I decided to return to school for one more semester in order to stage manage the main stage production of Unity (1918). The main stage production is directed and designed by professors, but all other responsibilities fall to the students. I was the primary communicator between over eighty people, professors and students alike. There was a department for each technical aspect: lights, costumes, sound, sets and props. I lead the production meetings, kept rehearsals running on schedule, and called the show. It was a fantastic experience. I learned a lot and met new people.
Now I'm out here in the real world, trying to figure out what to do next.
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