In Memoria

I started my theater career because I broke up with my boyfriend at the time. A good friend of mine got tired of me moping around and encouraged (threatened) me to go to a meeting of the theater department which had just formed. My first job in theater was running a portable light board (I use the term light board loosely. It was a bunch of rheostats lined up in a wooden box with a fan to keep it from over heating) for a very ambitious version of Everyman. The audience went from place to place to see the next part of the action. It started in the chapel and ending at the theater with stops at the business school, the nursing school, the school of theology, the library and the main classroom building. There I met Gregg Wallace who became a great friend and encouraged me to continue working at the theater. The second show I work on I was the assistant stage manager then on the third show I became the stage manager for “Hecuba” after the 2nd stage manager had a nervous breakdown. Rumor had it that it was due to the director, but I think there was more than that. It was at “Hecuba” I met John Purcell who became my theatrical big brother. John gave me my St. Genesius medal when I went to Yale. He had it blessed and wore it when he played Dogberry at the Georgia Shakespeare Festival. John and Greg encourage me to continue my theatrical career. They both saw that I was a good stage manager with the right sense of humor and discipline. I also was a quick thinker on my feet.

I thought early on that it would be a good idea to do everything one does in theater once just to have some sort of sense of what everyone else was facing in their jobs. I also found out what I did and didn’t like about various theater jobs. I have the greatest respect to the front of house people especially when they have to deal with those bitchy theater patrons who feel that if they give ANY money for the theater, then they deserve things that are against the rules. I learned a lot of my costuming tricks working with other costumers. I even hung lights . (I have a great fear of heights that was apparently justified since I fell 16 feet to a marble floor during my first lighting hang). I ran sound and lights. I liked lights better than sound especially after we got the computer board. I did a lot of props. I directed. I even have an award for the first show I directed for a one act contest. But when all was said and done, I liked stage managing. I even went to graduate school in stage management.

I have used the skills I learned in my theater career in many other parts of my life. I am glad for each and every experience I have had so far during my career. I write this in memory of John Purcell who passed away 8 years ago. If he hadn’t encourage me to follow my dreams, I wouldn’t be where I am today.