Everyone has a Journey… here’s mine.

My love of theatre started as a performer from a young age growing up in Bay City, Michigan.  Determined to be the next Broadway Musical Theatre Star, I moved to New York on my 18^th Birthday to obtain a BFA in Theatre Performance from Hofstra University.

Sophomore year in college, I had an internship as assistant stage manager at Baystreet Regional Theatre.  My plan at the time was to earn my equity card as a stage manager, then begin my auditioning endeavors.  The PSM at my internship looked me straight in the eye and said “you’re too natural at this not to do it, I’ll make a ‘techie’ out of you yet.”

Slowly, I fell in love with a side of theatre I never knew really existed.  At Baystreet’s internship program, I learned the basics of electrics and carpentry (not to mention having the opportunity to be an ASM & PA for shows starring greats such as Julie Andrews & Mercedes Ruehl, and working with directors like Marcia Milgrom-Dodge, & Diane Paulus).  Skills obtained there led to a crew position at Queens Theatre in the Park after graduating from Hofstra in 2008.  I still work at good ol’ QTIP, keeping my arms in good shape from over-use of my C-Wrench and my tech skills remain sharp.

The connections I made at Baystreet earned me the opportunity to obtain my equity card.  I got a call the day before I got married (literally, I was on the way to pick up my dress), a contact asking me “what are you up to in two weeks?”  Before I knew it, I kissed my new and amazingly understanding husband goodbye and packed up to Stage Manage the National Tour of Artspower’s My Heart in a Suitcase from September ’08-June ’09. I got to come home every couple of weeks, so that made it easier.  Touring is the best, especially in a situation where you can come home every couple of weeks.  I highly recommend everyone do it at least once.  The cities you see, people you meet, and memories you make will last a lifetime.  For example, the cane-wielding, thick southern accent, 19-year-old, toothless Audio Engineer named “Daddio” will forever stick out in my memory.

Now happily married and living in Queens, my husband and I are the proud owners of Dreamcatcher Theatreworks, where I serve as Artistic Director, and have been playwright of 2 of the 5 plays we have produced thus far (not to mention I’m sharpening up 2 of my works for our upcoming season).   Starting up your own theatre company isn’t as hard as climbing Mount Everest… but it has to be pretty damn close.  Mistakes are made, losses happen, over-zealous promises are broken, but there’s nothing better than making the curtain speech to a full house of paid patrons before an extremely experimental original piece you co-wrote and directed.

A classically trained actress,  I have embraced that my “place” in the theatre is in the background.  I could never stop seeing the big picture.  When I was on stage, my thought process had been something similar to “the table should have been positioned in a different way to optimize the power of the playing space…” or “how come every time the actor switched the channel on the TV, the same sound cue plays over…” or “how the piece would be more interesting had it taken on a different concept…” or… “wait, it’s quiet…was that my cue?”  Yeah… I just wasn’t cut out to be an actor.

If you asked me when I was 5 what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have answered enthusiastically “I’m gonna be a Cartoonist for Walt Disney Studios.”  I didn’t even know what a playwright was, let alone an artistic director or stage manager.  Dreams change, but the root was there.  I knew that I had to live in the “creative clouds” to fully be alive.  I wouldn’t survive as a 9-5 cubical occupant.

What did you want to be “when you grew up?” What did you end up doing?