Why I Do What I Do

So, whilst taking a break at our rehearsal a couple nights ago a cast member of mine asked me a very interesting question:

"Why do you stage manage?" He asked, "you get almost no recognition, you work more than everyone else, and while you're in school you don't even get paid for it."

And, instead of blowing it off like I normally do when someone asks me that question, I actually stopped and thought about it.

Why do I stage manage? It is a hard, and sometimes thankless job. It's like adding a second job that I don't get paid for onto my schedule. It's frustrating at times, exhausting at times, and it's genuinely hard to do. So why do I keep on doing it??

"Because" a tiny little voice said to me "because of those exact reasons!"

I stage manage because of the emotional connection that theater gives to people. I love being right in the center of that. I love knowing that I played a part in making people laugh, or cry, or understand a concept that they failed to realize before.

Yes, my job is hard, but since when is anything worth having easy? Why would I do anything that's easy? Easy doesn't get you anywhere. We weren't sent to this earth to take the easy road, that's not the point of our existence.

Stage managing doesn't come easy to me. I feel like I fail at is as often as I succeed. But I love doing what I do so much that I'm willing to keep pushing myself to be better.

So, I guess you could say that I stage manage because it's hard. And because easy is boring.