in a way, it all started in middle school. but not quite how you'd think.
i was in choir in middle school, mostly because all of my friends were in it. i have an awful voice. always have. i just decided that i didn't care. 8th grade year, again because of friends, i wanted to be involved with the musical (a HORRIFIC show called "Frankenstein Unbound") i didn't want to be in the show (acting never appealed to me in the slightest) so i asked the director what else i could do. tehcnically my title was Asst Director, but in practice, i was sort of an ASM (even though there was no SM) and i hated it. i mean, spending the time with friends was good. but i hated it. i officially wrote off theatre entirely.
jump ahead to the top of sophomore year of high school. "i should take the Theatre Arts class - that will be an easy 'A' " so i took the class. first of all, let me say that in my high school, Theatre Arts is NOT an easy 'A'. at all. anyways, the teacher was also the main director of the program (he was either Director or TD on every production) and constantly tried to recruit us to get involved in the program. and i thought "what the hell. why not?" and found myself painting Little Shop of Horrors & ended up being a dresser during the show. the show closed and work started on the next one. and before i knew it, i found myself in the shop every day again.
at my high school, no matter what title you have for a show (Deck Manager, Light Board Op, SM, etc.), you still have to build it, paint it, light it, clothe it, prop it and make it sound pretty. i loved learning all about the different facets. to a certain degree, i still miss the constant variety. but if there's one thing we get in SM'ing, it's variety. anyways. all of sophomore year was devoted to theatre: wake up at 5am, go to school, skip lunch & study hall to work in the shop. have a quick smoke after school. work til 1-2am in the shop. repeat.
junior year followed the same pattern. throughout all of that time, i was climbing the ranks. build crew, backstage crew, deck manager, spot op, light board op, sound board op. the way our program works is that only seniors get to stage manage, and only once. and it was seen as the holy grail of positions. everyone wanted to be the SM. the Director at this point, was one of my closest friends. i was his personal assistant in both theatre & teaching. we hung out on occasional weekend, etc. anyways, imagine my surprise mid-junior year when the director asked me to SM "Fame". i was excited because it was really cool to be asked to do it. not really because of the job per se. little did i know...
the SM at my high school didn't have any of the rehearsal responsibilities. instead, the time was spent in the shop & catwalk & booth. the SM doesn't become important until tech, which is when the fun began. the previously described director was the TD on this one, so the director was this insane woman who worked in the office (this was not normal for us, but stranger things have happened.) well, she was really a terrible director, and she was also completely unable to discuss tech stuff in any way. awesome.
because of her inability to communicate, i didn't get my light cues until right before Final Dress. (and that's because I literally trapped her in the booth, so she and i could cue the show - the SM & Director always cued the show at my school. which she knew before this all started.) now, i could have handled this situation. but at the time i was completely freaked out. i mean, i'd never called a cue in my life and i was being asked to get them all right in one day.
well, among other rediculousness in the show, there were 3 pyros at the end of the show (2 smaller ones, and one bigger one) these 3 cues were the bane of my existance. i just couldn't seem to get em right. didn't get that close during tech. got em better (but not right) on opening & the second performance. the third performance night, i nailed em. and on that last beat of music/pyro, i knew that this was what i wanted to do.
shortly after, i started looking for colleges where i could major in stage management. i eventually got my BFA in Stage Management at Webster University. since the end of school, i've moved out to Chicago and have been SM'ing all over the place. i'm non-Eq, so it's lots of little to mid-sized shows, which to me, is almost more fun than "big theatre". i'm loving life & having a great time.
(wow - sorry that was so long
)