What is a recovering stage manager?

Someone who thought she found the right career path, but realized fairly quickly in the thick of it that it wasn’t right for her.

Like many, I first started working backstage in high school, and it quickly became part of my identity. I was a stage manager. I was a badass. I had a Leatherman!

Fast forward 7 years, and I was fresh out of college with a theatre degree and a killer internship, ready to take on anything and everything. Work insane hours for art’s sake? Barely pay bills? Promise to never sell out? Yes, yes, and yes!

While these are lovely, idealistic notions, they didn’t pan out in practice. Like many folks, I started to miss weddings, funerals, birthdays – basically anything that wasn’t on a Monday. And that bothered me.

I think my mentor could see it before I did. One day, mid-season and during a particularly hard week, he looked at me and said, “Only stage manage if you absolutely have to, if you can’t possibly do anything else.”

Thus started the slippery slope that was me falling out of lust with stage management. I realized there was a wonderful world that was just beyond 70+ hour work weeks, Excel spreadsheets, and black clothing. And, boy, did I want it for myself.

Am I still coming to terms with this? Yes! I’m a “recovering” stage manager after all.

Do I regret being a stage manager? Never! I met the majority of my friends in theatre, including many other stage managers. I met my husband backstage. I gained amazing, varied, and unique career experience. And the stories are pretty swell, too.

Do I still stage manage? Sometimes, though not in a traditional sense these days.  I have grown to love stage management for the bastard that it is, and we only get together every now and then just for old times sake. I mostly event manage these days – but more on that later.

This blog is about everything I’ve learned and enjoyed while stage managing, event managing, and living the world beyond working 70+ hour work weeks, Excel spreadsheets, and black clothing.