A look back with the new kid at SCT

From Kanani in the Ticket Office:

Wow! What a year! As we wrap up our 2008-2009 season and begin work on 2009-2010, I am celebrating the anniversary of my first year out of college. My first year on the work force was a big year for SCT. We had an unprecedented nine show season, which was trying for all of us, including you (trying to fit in the time to see all our great shows was hard work!). We started the season with three shows (Bluenose, The Green Sheep, and Night of the Living Dead) all playing at the same time. Some days we would have as many as seven performances in one day!

With the winter came The Wizard of Oz and of course the awful snow. I missed several days of work and the one day I made it in, I had to walk home 3.5 miles (in the snow, uphill- both ways!) We had to cancel shows and reschedule a huge number of people for January. More people didn’t even get to see the show, which was a terrible shame, because it was such an amazing production. Not being in school, it was my first year without a three week vacation for the holidays. Spirits were low, but I kept on trudging.

In the early months of the new year we brought you Tomas and the Library Lady and Pharaoh Serket and the Lost Stone of Fire. These two shows ran almost the same dates, which made scheduling hard for some of our busy subscribers. I celebrated my 23rd birthday dressed as a zombie in the middle of February. I was dumped the day before my birthday, so the “My Bloody Valentine” theme seemed appropriate.

After this, things settled down a little bit at the theatre. This allowed me some free time to do more enjoyable things, like get my wisdom teeth pulled out. I wasn’t able to fully open my mouth for over a month (not common in most recoveries), so performing my job, which mostly consists of answering phones, was very difficult. Luckily, we were only showing one play at the time, A Tale of Two Cities, so the number of calls coming in wasn’t as high as usual.

Now, of course we are showing Goodnight Moon and I Was a Rat, and we have begun taking subscription orders for the 2009-2010 season (Hint: Renewing subscribers get a lower price and a free ticket if they renew by May 31st.) I can’t wait for next season! Thanks to the great leadership of our new Managing Director, Tim Jennings, the season is much less frantic in terms of scheduling. We will have less overlap of shows, which will allow for extensions with our more popular shows. We’ve also gone to full general admission seating, instead of A and B sections, which will make life a lot easier for me, and I think will make life easier for ticket holders too. The shows I am most looking forward to are Getting Near to Baby and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

Next weekend is Memorial Day weekend and all of SCT will get a well deserved vacation. This might be sad for some of you, as we will have no shows, but most of us are pretty excited. I, along with two of my coworkers/friends in the ticket office will be going on an adventure to the Olympic National Park, with stops at Elwha Hot Springs, Hoh Rainforest, and Forks, WA (be jealous, Twilight fans). I hope you enjoy your weekend as much as I will! And thanks for making my first year a great one!