College Light opera companyI spent the summer of 2011 on Cape Cod at the College Light Opera Company (CLOC). I was hired to be a stitcher/dresser for nine shows over the course of ten weeks. That means we did approximately a show every week with only a couple day turn around. That’s about as difficult a schedule as a theater can undertake. We had seven people in our costume shop and everybody had substantial projects for each show. Summer theaters across the country are referred to as “Summerstock” and all theater professionals will work in summerstock at some point in their life. This internship was meant to merely be a stepping-stone to becoming a costume designer. However, it became so much more.
Our designer was responsible for all nine shows. The rest of us worked under her to help create her vision. For personal and professional reasons, she was let go somewhere around week six. That left our shop with three and a half shows left to complete. |
At that point, she had also spent the season’s entire budget and had left us no idea about how to complete the rest of the shows. While we were already bonded as a shop, there’s nothing really like being thrown in the trenches to cement those bonds. Our shop manager/lead draper got bumped up to designer and I bumped up to lead draper. For the rest of the summer, I assisted the rest of the shop on their builds offering suggestions and assisting in fittings. When I was applying for the position, I didn’t think I was qualified to lead a team building costumes. But things happen and once I was forced to do it, I realized I really knew much more than I thought. I was able to take on a significant leadership role in the shop and was largely responsible for costumes being completed at a high standard. Part of what makes theater exciting is its constant ability to force problem solving. For the seven of us, we were faced with the challenge of a lifetime and we overcame it. Being a leader means stepping up even in the face of what seems impossible. I think we all became leaders that summer and I know now exactly what I can handle when faced with the impossible.
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