Stage Left Theater is founded on the belief that live theater provides a mechanism for interpersonal interaction not provided by television and movies, that it should be a force for political, intellectual and social stimulation, and should be relevant to the daily lives of the audience and the players. We seek to broaden the involvement of the general population by engaging issues of topical value and stimulating the analysis and discussion of the structure and goals of society.
Today I am working on a grant proposal for Stage Left. It seems really fitting that my first blog post should be about a project for this theater. Even though this is my main job and not a freelance project, it's the support and encouragement I've gained here that has given me the encouragement to start my freelance career. My boss at Stage Left, the incomparable Jeremy, took a chance on me only shortly after meeting me. I am young, I look even younger, and my resume is impressive but undeniably short. He saw past those things, and instead, he saw my potential, my passion, and my availability to start right away (haha).
I have been with Stage Left for a year now and have gone from managing the box office and concession counter to managing the entire front-of-house, developing new programs, writing grants and funding proposals, and learning whatever skills that I have the opportunity to learn. Even before the pandemic, I was blessed with the ability to do so on my own time, with the flexibility and freedom to put my health first. For perhaps the first time in my professional career, the only thing that mattered was my ability to do good work, and not my ability to be beholden to a timeclock. It has been a life-changing revelation.
So here I am, a year later, writing this blog post instead of working on my funding proposal. I'll get back to it in a minute, I promise! I won't be sharing explicit details of grants I'm writing, because they typically include details about projects we're developing that haven't been released to the public yet, but I started this blog to share updates on my work, my life, and my health while I learn to live with my new normal and continue trying to change my tiny piece of the world along the way. This particular proposal would open up some amazing new doors for the theater, and I can't wait to share more with you when it's appropriate to do so!
I also hope that beyond just telling you about my life, my keeping a blog will be able to offer something to others. I don't quite know what that might be yet, but nothing in this world would make me happier than offering some amount of inspiration or motivation to others who are struggling. In the meantime, I'm going to keep plugging away at it. Thanks for reading my first blog post. Talk to you soon!
Joy