Company Member.

My day started at 8 AM with a meeting that included all of the different FAIR participants from this part of the season. There were 9 of us present and I think I understand that there will be 12 of us eventually. 3 Director's assistants, two stage management assistants (me included), a props assistant, the Richard Hay Design Fellow and two lighting assistants. We will meet every Thursday as a group to discuss, engage, support, listen, learn and grow as artists beginning April 11th. It is part of our FAIR Experience - we numbered into groups of three and our first assignment is to bake cookies for our next FAIR meeting. Should be interesting - not sure yet how it is relevant but if I find out specifically I'll let you all know. After our meeting we were taken on a tour of the many places we may find ourselves in the coming weeks. We walked all over the OSF campus and went through doors and hallways I've often seen but never been granted access. I saw the costume shop, the props department/construction, the scene shop, all three trap rooms in the theaters and we walked across stages and no one told us to get off or don't step there. There was a moment I had standing center stage on the Angus Bowmer Theatre stage. I found myself looking out over the 600 empty seats and I thought to myself "I'm finally on the other side."

Nearly 3 hours later I would find myself back in those seats amongst hundreds of others attending my first OSF company meeting. It was one of the most endearing moments I've personally experienced at the festival so far. The very first thing we did was go around and introduce all the new people. From FAIR apprentices to actors just beginning their season this year to ushers to custodians to board members - EVERYONE was introduced. It is a wonder to behold that such an amazing place is as amazing on the inside as it is on the outside.  I stood up in front of the entire company and shared my name, the show I was working on and in what capacity and where I came from and now long I had been with the festival. It was probably one of the most nerve wracking experiences of my theatre career. It lasted not longer than 15 seconds and a few people hollered about MT - will be interesting to see if they reveal themselves to me ever - and the introductions continued on down the row. The important thing to take away from my 15 seconds is that I think people actually cared and were invested in each one of us introducing ourselves. I have met so many people today and have so many more to meet tomorrow at our first rehearsal that I think my head might explode from trying to remember everything.

Between the tour and the company meeting I met with the Assistant Stage Manager I'll be working with on Robbin Hood. We started moving things into our rehearsal space, copying scripts and chatting about expectations. It sounds like my responsibilities will be similar to those that I held at SCR except that I am not expected to be at everything all the time unless I want to - why wouldn't a person in this position want to? I can't fathom why you would hear the entire experience as opportunity knocking...

I ended my day on campus watching The Unfortunates to borrow from the OSF website: "A musical pilgrimage through uniquely American genres delivers five prisoners to salvation — or at least keeps the terror at bay. Facing an uncertain end, they bring to life the story of Big Joe, a tough bartender who risks everything to save the armless courtesan Rae from a deadly plague. Combining the heat of a gospel revival with the sweet sorrow of the blues, "The Unfortunates" convinces us that any great challenge can be faced with dignity, grace, and compassion." It was amazing and a perfect reminder of why I love theatre and why I love being a part of theatre. We have the unbelievable capacity to tell stories that mean something, that make people feel and that make people think.

Lastly, as I looked through the tickets of shows past that I have seen here at OSF I found the ticket from the fist show I saw which was "Lorca in a Green Dress" which was staged in the Thomas Theatre (then the New Theatre) which happened to also be where the Unfortunates was staged. It was a bit of a 10 years ago I sat in this space and dreamed I might be here and now, well now I have a key card and responsibilities. The adventure officially begins tomorrow with our first rehearsal.