What does your position entail?
I oversee the technical and logistical support for all of our Essential Series performances, Broadway, rentals, concerts and other booked events, and all the people who do those things. And I manage the scheduling of all of our venues.
I tell people whether it’s possible to do something and how much it’s going to cost to do something. And then it’s my job to make sure all the things get done so that it goes well. Then, depending on what kind of show it is, making sure people get billed the right amount for it.
How long have you worked at TPA?
I started in 2004, so almost thirteen years. I started here as a stage manager and then I was like, “You guys need help in the events office and I can do that job!” So I started working in the office, and then the woman who was the event manager left so I became one of the event managers. I then became the “boss” event manager, after that I became the technical director, and then they decided my title should be Assistant Director.
What is your favorite part about your job?
I have two favorite parts. My most favorite part is making the shows happen and knowing that people came and they enjoyed it— both the artists and the audience. My other favorite part of the job is all the people I work with here. I wouldn’t want to be doing this, necessarily, with a different team of people. I like our team.
Why are the performing arts important to you?
I think artistic expression is important to me because it allows me, personally, to process ideas and emotions. I think that the performing arts, the presentation of that artistic expression, is important because it allows artists and people to communicate about complex ideas and emotions in a way that’s more basic than language.
The experiential nature of music or dance or theater or performance or visual art affects us on a level that’s deeper than the way we talk to each other every day. I feel that emotional communication can really bring people together and it can really challenge our ideas of what makes us happy, or sad, or angry and why and whether it should.
Do you have a hidden talent or interesting fact about yourself that people might not know?
I came to technical theater through dance. I was a dancer who learned how to be a stage manager, so I stage managed lots of people and ended up here. I still dance even though I haven’t performed in a while. I do ecstatic dance which is improvisational, free form, community dancing. So you just do whatever you want! I don’t like structure anymore.