click on the photo to be taken to the Arts at Bryn Mawr schedule!

This weekend I was working for the Arts department at the Trisha Brown Dance Company, the first performance of the season!

It was a really wonderful show, and there were so many different elements to it.

including a dressing/undressing component called Floor of the Forest

My favorite part, though, might just be being back in the Arts office! I have been there since freshman year when my freshman year “roommate” Maya volunteered at the Arts office and told me to try to get one there too. Three years later, I am still there, working as House Manager, and Maya is now a Theatre major so……..

managing my little theatre house

For the Trisha Brown Dance Company, my friend Noor and I, because we are both the House Managers for this season, were working two different days. I was working on the Saturday, which included the Floor of the Forest segment (shown above, aforementioned dressing/undressing performance), a trip to the exhibit in Canaday library, as well as the performance at the McPherson Auditorium at Goodhart Hall, where we were expecting around 400 people.

I always forget to take photos so let’s pretend this is what Goodhart looked like on Saturday night – expect Goodhart totally has better seats.

I was there at 4:30, where my flats, which I would have only been wearing for the third time, felt tight, my socks had a run in them, and my shoes were falling apart. This day was already off to a great start!

yep, that’s scotch tape on my shoe.

But shows are usually always stressful, and there’s a lot that people don’t see, or don’t think takes time, which actually does.

Tickets, for example, which are a killer. Here is Angela Dowdy, the Arts Administrator, powering through the tickets while we were all on the verge of a breakdown.

But, I repeat, things like that work out. We, being me, the Arts department, the ushers, everyone, will be panicking until the last second, and then the box office opens, and lights are dimming and the doors are shut and all of a sudden you actually have a show that’s going off… maybe not completely without a hitch, but going on well enough that you can comfortably sit back and enjoy the show.

It also helps, of course, when you your boss orders pizza for you and the other ushers as more incentive to get through the 7 hour work shift and a way to keep warm after standing outside and guiding people to the exhibit at Canaday Library (which will still be there if you’d like to check it out!).

Thanks Zesto’s, thanks Angela, thanks Coke.

I was really lucky that a few of the ushers who were working during my shift had worked the night before, and new what the expect and what the show would be like. The House has been swept and the set was being broken (proper terminology? I think?) by 10 o’clock.

exclusive sneak pic

Following that, I got to help a little with a reception for the performers and special guests. In this context, help means eat dessert and occasionally help clean the tables, and finally kicking off my shoes.

Working at the Arts department is a lot of work, but it is always ridiculously fun, and you usually get to enjoy the show, unless you’re one of the few ushers who has to remain outside to help guide any stragglers! And even then, you’re still probably going to watch part of the show!

The show went well, the performers were great, the ushers did a fabulous job, and at the end of the day, while we were cleaning up the reception area, Lisa Kraus gave me one of the flower centerpieces to take home so I am really happy.

have a beautiful week everyone! <3

For a review of the show, please check Miranda Canilang’s blog HERE! She gives her thoughts on the show and is more diligent than I am about taking photos!