Week 3:
We fight for Glory, Honor, and Mailing Lists

June 19, 2017

As we get deeper into the summer people are getting some well deserved R&R, going on a vacation, visiting new places. But not CRT! This is becoming the busiest time of year for us. For me, that means sending out hundreds of invite letters to people. Some of them are giving great thanks to people who have donated and some are asking people who have donated in the past to donate again. I have begun writing drafts of these letters and I am learning the art of being generic so that they can apply to hundreds of different people but at the same time being personal enough so that they know we truly appreciate their contribution. Through Graham, my supervisor and mentor, I have learned that it’s the little things that count. Like writing a personal thank you at the end of the letter in blue pen so that they know it was hand-written or calling up individual people to make sure they got our invitation and know that we remember their name and face. That’s a lot of work to put into a lot of different people but the personal touch adds to the community that is built around CRT. Unlike some theaters of our level, we also have our actors greet the audience after every show before getting out of costume. It’s the opportunity for audience members to express their appreciation to the faces of the show and that’s what makes us special.

The other side of my job is working in box office selling tickets. This is the job a lot of my colleagues are intimidated by because you are often working directly with unhappy or confused patrons. We answer questions and sell tickets to anyone who walks in the theater or calls us. Most of the time people ask about what shows are happening when and wondering what they are about and if they would like them. But sometimes it’s patrons who are upset with a mistake made by them, box office workers, or just the computer system we use to sell tickets. At these times it’s a choice between helping them as best we can along with trying to keep them happy or if it’s something we just can’t do like giving last minute refund to shows. We always have to do it with a smile on our face. We truly want to help them but just like in other retail sometimes people forget to empathize with us and understand that we are trying our best. I have really bonded working with the other Front of House staff in supporting each other in difficult situations and working together to be as efficient as possible

This week I got to meet and help set up for Bill Bowers: All Over the Map. He is an amazing mime and actor who has traveled all over the world teaching and performing. He came here to tell his story through a one man show. This was one of our fundraising events that we were so excited for and I got to help set up food for him and make sure we were prepared to have him perform. Then at the end of the day I got to sit back and watch his story unfold.

Then we have “dark day”. In theater “dark day” means a day when the theater is completely closed and there are no ticket sales, no rehearsal, no shows, and we all have the day off. Most of us used our day off to get together for a party we call The Barbarian Moot. We all dressed as fictional barbarians and held a tournament of fights with foam swords. Then we ended with eating chicken with our bare hands and watched Conan the Barbarian. After the long week it was nice to have fun with my fellow theater artists and just beat each other with sticks.