For me, theater is about community; the coming together to create and inspire, to give and receive, to build from the ground up and then deconstruct. Theater is deeply personal and yet it necessitates collaboration. This is why I do theater. I love being part of a team of artists and watching how everyone’s contributions work together to create a cohesive product of momentary splendor. As a thespian of many talents, I’ve had a different experience depending on if I was an actor, a designer, or a stage manager. Each experience gave me a different perspective and an appreciation for the many different roles and talents necessary to breathe life into a production. For this reason, I a firm believer everyone who has been onstage should try working behind the scenes and vice versa. It will give you a further appreciation and understanding of the craft. Whether I am acting, designing, or managing, I believe that we should adhere to the advice given to us as children: treat people the way you want to be treated. I’ve worked with a myriad of personalities on and offstage and I’ve concluded that positive reinforcement will have positive results and produce good morale. We must recognize that we are all (at times) sensitive artists and respect each other, ourselves, and our collective ideas. While we may aim to challenge our audience as we challenge ourselves, the theater must be kept a safe space. Over the years I’ve collected a number of artistic beliefs passed on from impressionable mentors. The first is that art is about blood, sweat, and tears. Anyone who has done theater knows just how true this is. You leave it all on the stage--- no matter what your role is. The second is to “run and have fun.” This was a piece of advice given to me by my high school chorus teacher; he wanted us to not be afraid of crashing and burning as we performed, but to push through and to remember to have fun. This statement has stuck with me ever since. When times are tough, it reminds me that theater is playful and an outlet for expression. Yes, we may be creating high drama at times, but it’s important to explore, to accept crashing and burning as an option, but to keep trying; keep having fun. When I stage manage it is important that I am the most level-headed and approachable person involved in the production. Tensions will run high. People will reach their breaking point. Things will go awry. As the stage manager, it is my job to find solutions--- especially during tech week. A few years ago I started doing themed days for tech week, enabling a bonding experience between cast and crew that sometimes gets overlooked because of our different positions within the production. It unified people and reminded everyone we were working as a team toward a shared goal. It was also just a silly, frivolous way to “run and have fun” while we put our blood, sweat, and tears into the most stressful days of the production. Once upon a time I was told as an actor to leave all my personal baggage at the door of the theater. While I whole-heartedly believe this applies to anyone involved, as an actor it is especially important. Energy is easily influenced and transferable. As an actor, you are emoting, vocalizing, and feeding from and to the theater’s energy. Drama will beget more drama. I, personally, don’t have time for backstage drama. I want to save that kind of energy for the stage. For that reason I try to stay open, approachable, and aware; aware of my feelings, my surroundings, and the other influences around me. Not only does this lead to more authentic and dynamic performances, it creates a sense of reliability that my director and fellow actors can depend on.