Interview Day!

Today was my interview at the Battersea Arts Centre.  Making my way to Battersea was a bit of a challenge, but now that I have figured out a route, I doubt that I will have any real problems.  (I've decided that the best way to learn about a city is to get lost in it for a while, and since I ended up on the furthest end of Putney, I have certainly accomplished that.)  

At BAC, I met Luke Girling, the production manager, who conducted the interview.  (He is another former actor who found that his heart was actually in Stage Management.)  I felt at home as soon as I walked in the door...the building is gorgeous (it was originally the Battersea Town Hall when it opened in 1893) and there are so many different performance spaces.  I was actually told that every room in the building has the potential to be a performance space, hence the astronomical number of performances every year.  (Abby and Joe, I thought of you when I saw a tiny blackbox theatre that is actually set up just as a playing space for lighting designers to test out new equipment or see how a specific idea would look in reality.)  The interview went really well, and was extremely casual...it actually took place in the cafe within the building, and as soon as Luke introduced himself, he offered me tea.  (All of my nerves were immediately calmed when he returned with a mug with a pig on it...it's definitely a casual atmosphere, and I felt incredibly comfortable.)  After the interview, I had a brief tour of some of the performance spaces, backstage storage, offices, etc, but I will have a more detailed tour next week.

I'm set to start working next Tuesday (Monday is a Bank Holiday), when I will become better oriented to the building and develop a more set schedule.  Right now, they're working on Burst, which is one of the festivals that they host every year, so I have been warned that my first week or so will be a bit crazy (just like home!).  I believe that at least two shows are doing load-in on Tuesday, so I'll be able to jump right into the festival.  Also, I was warned that one of the shows includes a great deal of nudity...I knew that The Full Monty was just a gateway show!  :)  I'm really excited to start working, and I definitely think that this is a great fit for me.

Also, I found out that there Battersea hosts a program called YPT (Young People's Theatre) which develops original productions with different groups ranging in age from 12 to 25.  If everything works out, I will be stage managing one of the three groups in addition to my other work.  Very exciting news for me!  :)

Fun fact:  Across the road that runs along the side of Battersea is a vacant lot and a relatively new housing development.  Apparently, a theatre specializing in Shakespeare stood there until it was destroyed in the bombings during WWII.  However, it's legacy remains in the street name: Theatre Street.  A rather ironic location for BAC to end up, in my opinion.