Okay faithful readers, I am back at the keyboard after my move to Hawaii. I haven’t offically started my job yet, but thanks to the help and support of the theatre staff, I have been able to use the office to store my shipped stuff and call around for apartments. I am in an apartment and making the usual arrangements to get phone, cable and electric hooked up.
One interesting observation I have made already is that the theatre is organized under the Office of Continuing Education rather than fine or liberal arts. This shows the orientation and focus of the theatre right off. The building is a tool for community outreach first and then a place where performances occur. From talking informally with the director of continuing education (he actually put me up in his apartment for a week while I was searching for a place to live) I have found him to be incredibly supportive of the people in his department and eager to empower them to do interesting things. He absolutely wants financial accountability, but he also wants to provide his charges with a great experience and the freedom to do a little experimentation. A lot of administrators say that, but are really more conservative in practice. I honestly think I may end up being too reserved for his vision.
It will be interesting to see how things develop. I hope not to end up working so hard I can’t write at all. I do expect I won’t be able to write as extensively as I did while unemployed. Some of the research and writing I did involved 3-5 hours of my time. On the other hand, I will be able to offer advice from a more practical stand point now.
