Yeah, the most boringest of boring titles. Sometimes that’s just how things go…

Lots of different shifts and movements in areas of my life, and instead of trying to do the grand interweaving thing right now, I’m just going to scatter out some news and work on any “deeper understanding” some other night.

So, as expected, I was not invited for callbacks, nor was I offered a part in that local Sondheim production. Considering that, on reflection, I’ve decided this is probably the worst audition I’ve ever done in my life, none of that is a shocker. Maybe if I was a known entity to the company, they would have been able to hear behind the froggy throat to know what I was capable of. But here’s the truth. I’m new in town,* they have no idea what I’m able to do, and so why on earth would they take that kind of chance when they had such a large batch of successful auditioners?!?

So: no surprises in the story so far.

What was surprising is that the company board president/show producer emailed me last night saying she and the director had noticed on my audition form that I’d expressed willingness in helping out with stage management things, so would I consider being the stage manager for this show?

And that is a much larger backstage role than I’d expected to be asked to fill.

Now, I’ve been stage manager for a couple other productions before–and that information was also on my audition form. So the request wasn’t 100% out of left field. And, quite frankly, stage manager is a role I’ve really enjoyed doing in the past. I mean, you’re helping steward the director’s artistic vision, right in the thick of things, keeping operations moving smoothly through meticulous note-taking and being a general organizational ninja. What’s not to like?**

Still, I am feeling very excited and very grateful to have this chance. Because I know how good I was when I previously stage managed, and I know how hard I’m willing to work to make sure I do right by this show and these people. But (like I said a few paragraphs up), I’m an unknown quantity, so the company doesn’t know any of that about me.

And yet here I am. (I said yes, of course!) About to go very quickly from feeling like someone “outside the club” to being very much in the midst of the action.

I think this is gonna be fun.

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Of course, almost every action has its bouquet of associated unintended consequences. Here’s a few:

Adding my show rehearsal responsibilities to my community choir commitment means I am now booked 4 nights of the week. That will most assuredly limit my blogging, and even though I’m not going to officially withdraw from Blogging 101, I’m guessing I might be doing more of a “C-” job on it for the rest of the assignments. I’ll do the ones I can and let the rest of them go for the time being. Luckily, they’re all archived online, so I can always backtrack and do them independently outside of the class’s official timeline.

I may very well wipe out of the Coursera course I’m currently taking. (Yes, I have another one of those going. When do I not?) Again, I’m not going to drop the class. I’ll just keep up as best as I can. Either I’ll do well enough to get a “passing grade” or I won’t. No real stakes either way.

And, finally, it turns out that one of our scheduled rehearsal nights conflicts with the night for the local book club. So that plan of overlapping my face to face book club with my 2015 Reading Challenge and the virtual book club we’ve built up around it? On hold till May, once the Sondheim production is completed.

All consequences to juggle, but totally worth it.

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I’d said I wasn’t going to do much in the way of seeking deeper understanding of all this tonight. And I’m certainly not going to weave this elaborate tapestry that brings this unexpected opportunity and its unintended consequences all into some tight interpretive picture.

But just looking at the unexpected stage managing opportunity on its own? Such an amazing reminder of the power of following the signs life gives you, listening to that moment when your body says “yes” to something. I felt that as soon as I saw the audition notice last Wednesday. I had no idea this would be the precise result of that choice, but I’m very grateful it was.

* Relatively speaking.

** Okay: what’s not to love?!?

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Image credit: stage manager by Flickr user Victor Jeg. Unaltered. Licensed via a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.