Wednesday, June 07, 2006

management 101

first i should say it's kind of silly what i did on that last entry-- said "sprint, don't run," when the material has been out there for almost twenty years... but if you haven't been exposed to the dynamics of tomlin and wagner, you really should check it out.
i'm embroiled in a theatricality of my own. a couple months ago, one of my ex-students e-mailed me asking me to direct two plays this summer in san antonio. i considered it and wrote back to him saying i would love to direct, but wanted nothing to do with anything else-- venue searches, management, finances, etc.. he said fine, let's do it.
today i found myself in my second meeting with the artistic director of the church bistro and theatre on south alamo street downtown. what did i find myself doing? oh, negotiating venues. managing. discussing finances.
it seems like this is one of my lessons to learn in life-- how to expand my idea of myself. last summer it was "but i can't be a teacher!" and there were various viable yet lame reasons to back up this assertion. not till i somehow embraced the idea of being a teacher as appropriate and acceptable did i actually enjoy and succeed in that capacity. similarly, not till i embrace the idea of the business side of theatre (which i never did while in our theatre company, KITUS) will i ever succeed in that capacity.
negotiations are going well. it's all quite positive, pleasant, and even empowering. i'm not so bad at this!

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