Theatre = Community

Yesterday, one of the local theatres, NoExit, announced that they were giving away some of their store of props, furniture, flats, platforms, etc., and asked if anyone would like to take them off their hands. So I went yesterday and took a look around. While there, I got a chance to talk with Beverly Roche about a lot of the history of the company and their site-specific work. She helped me sort through a lot of furniture, costumes, etc.  Beverly is so warm and generous — it was lovely. I managed to get some benches in my minivan and a few rolling platforms, promising to return the next day to get more — including some stairs that wouldn’t fit into my car. 

Later, I made a reservation for a Uhaul box truck for the next day, and I realized that there would be way more space in the Uhaul than I needed. So I sent a message to Catalyst Repertory‘s Artistic Director, Casey Ross, and asked her if she wanted to check out the warehouse with me. She said she’d love to tag along, so I picked her up, and we went treasure hunting. 

Beverly was there again, as was NoExit’s Artistic Director, Ryan Mullins, and a couple of folks from Monument Theatre Company: Maverick Schmit and Kiara Dowell. Ryan and Maverick helped put the massive, heavy staircase into our truck. Ryan sorted through tons of costumes and props to help me find things for my Seneca play. Casey, Ryan, and I got flats and platforms into the truck together. We found lots of buried treasure. 

The point of the post, though, is that we were all there to help each other out. It wasn’t a competition. There were four local theatre companies being represented in that room today, but instead of jealously hoarding our things, we worked together to find items that would add luster to our shows. Ryan helped us pack up even more, then offered some other things that I might not have thought about — stage weights, a curtain, a large window mounted with wheels. It was fantastic. Casey and I rode off with a lot of wonderful pieces, and then, after we dropped off her finds at her house, she let me use her tweezers to get a massive splinter out of my hand! All told, today was the very definition of community. 

I feel really lucky to have met these generous, kind, and experienced theatre pros! I’m learning so much from them every minute. One of the most important lessons is that we aren’t in competition — we’re a community. Sharing our stories is important; sharing our treasures? Priceless.