Success!

I survived Week 1 of wrangling the kids, and I have to say it's been very successful so far!  I did manage to discover that the last supervisor was in fact fired because he was too much of a disciplinarian (as the Supervisor I am mainly charged with making sure the young performers are where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there, and that they are safe - I can tell them to be quiet and remind them not to run in the halls and backstage, but discipline is to be left up to stage management and the parents).  The kids have all raved about me to their parents, which they tell me almost every day, and the parents are all very appreciative.  

What I noticed right away is that the kids are all smart and professional.  All I have to do is be friendly with them and respect them.  Then when I ask them to do something or not to do something, they generally do it without question.  They know that I respect them and have their best interests and safety in mind.

As for between shows activities, it really helps that there are a couple parents that get very involved.  They take kids out to get food so that I can stay in with kids who already have food, and they come into the lounge where we hang out which allows me to go to the bathroom without worrying about leaving the kids alone.  It also takes a lot of pressure off me having the parents there because they have no trouble reining in their kid or any of the other kids, and I can relax and have fun with them.

So yeah, I feel really lucky.  I've been wanting to be involved with Christmas Carol for several years, and this seems to be the perfect way for me to participate.  I think I'm enjoying myself more than I would had I just gotten hired for a run crew position.

Wrangling

So I managed to land a job for the month of December, which I'd been really afraid wasn't going to happen.  The Goodman Theatre jettisoned their Young Performer Supervisor on Christmas Carol for reasons unknown (or perhaps he quit?) and I got a call on Monday asking me to go in for an interview Tuesday afternoon.  The interview turned out to be "come in so we can run a background check and then hire you."  Which worked great for me.

So then I reported for work yesterday.  Without ever having seen the show.  I basically got thrown into the deep end and told to swim.  But I'm a good swimmer, so everything went fine.  Helps that the ASM is walking the track with me this week until I can really get on my feet.  The kids are all pros, they've all been in shows before and know where they need to be when.  The biggest challenge of course is keeping up with them and reminding them to be quiet and respectful.  But they're pretty good kids and I don't think the coming month will too bad.  I'm just going to have to come up with a good plan for those two show days...