Week 9:
Theater is a BLAST

August 1, 2017

This week was especially unique! I was part of planning a special event for the community called The Paul Stone Olympics. Paul Stone was an important person in the community before he passed away last year. He wasn’t the mayor or the CRT executive director. He was a local guy who would shoot random stuff out of cannons! He was known for his crazy shenanigans and blowing things up. So in his honor, CRT bowled with a flaming bowling ball, stuck a brick in a washing machine, and shot a six pack cannon (shown in the featured photo). It was so fun to be able to set up this ridiculous event. I got to use a little bit more of the stage management side of my brain because it was more of a production. It had to be organized and planned and we needed to make sure we had all the right people and equipment.

Remember the super cool awesome improv group at CRT, Boomtown? I had been participating in their open practices because I wanted to keep up with my improv skills and have some fun. I was recently invited to perform in an actual show with them. I was told I was a skilled improvisor and good at acting on my instincts and they wanted to have me in one of their shows! This is such an honor to be invited because they are a really talented bunch of people who perform for a very devoted audience. I never thought I would be considered with these professionals. My hard work training with The Freelance Cosmonauts, my improv group at Cornell, is really paying off.

The Development office, AKA me and my supervisor Graham, is developing a new fundraising campaign. We call it “Raindrops on Roses” (like from The Sound of Music) because we are calling for our donors to include some of their “favorite things” or memories about CRT along with their donation. I have especially enjoyed telling people about this campaign because I get to hear how CRT has affected so many people in this community and outside of it. One couple was celebrating their anniversary and instead of getting each other gifts decided to donate to the theater instead as their gift to each other because they had had so many good times here. When so many critics may say that live theater is dyin, it warms my heart to hear how theater actually affects people in a real, positive way, which is proof that it is still alive and kicking!

My work load was lulling a bit so they assigned me to help Rhonda practice lines for her one woman show going up in a couple weeks called Red Hot Patriot. At first I was a little nervous because she is a well-known actress her from Denver and I was afraid of making mistakes. But it was such a good time! It did not feel like work because we just hung out and ran lines and I got to be a part of this moving show. Which was good because I was going to leave for Cornell before it opened. I am getting a wide array of experiences here. Much more than I had planned.