"Tell Me and I'll Forget"

"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand."

Two weeks ago, a wise lighting designer at HSRT shared this Native American proverb with us at a company meeting, and it has stuck with me ever since that morning. I had had a revelation:  truly the most beneficial way to learn is to be involved.

I don’t use this quote to discredit the value of gaining knowledge through listening and observation – these are two of the most important tools in learning – or to say that I am an unreliable person (please, please, please don’t believe that!). Instead, I use this quote to further validate the significance of productivity. In my eyes, active learning is the best way to solidify a new skill set and overcome a new challenge.

I am constantly told of better ways to command a rehearsal space or run a performance; I am always shown different styles of stage management documents. But there is no way to prove that I’ve taken this advice to heart unless I get involved and do it myself. If someone else does it for me, then how can I learn?

After all, theatre is an art; the arts are interactive. It is not enough for budding artists to sit in a lecture hall and learn about design technique and the great artists before them (which, of course, we do when studying arts in school). Knowledge of execution and history is important, yes, but to be a true artist you must execute – demonstrate the knowledge that you’ve gained by creating art yourself.

Action, involvement, execution are what being employed in the arts (and anywhere else, for that matter) is all about. Even the job selection process is involved; when a theatre artist goes in for an interview or audition we present work that we have done and can do – auditions, portfolios, prompt scripts, or even actual props or costumes pieces we created – all physical demonstrations of the talent and work we put into a previous project. Managing directors do not hire employees on the sole basis of their knowledge about their theatre or season of plays, but on the skills and quality of work they have to offer to the company. In an interview we present our capabilities, but when hired we must follow through. Landing the job doesn’t always mean you keep the job.

As terrifying as that thought may be, that fact just instills determination in me to put my best foot forward on every production I am involved with. And if I stumble, I have a fierce drive to remedy any mistake immediately. Following my debrief meeting with the theatre department last semester, I told my director that all I ever wanted to do was give him a good production – something that he could be proud of. I’ll say that I was the most disappointed in the room that I was not able to live up to full expectation last semester. But I am taking this disappointment as a challenge to remedy the past and be better than myself in the future.

This same director recently sent me an email as I began gearing my mind toward New York City. He reminded me, “that these people are not teachers in the conventional sense; they don't take people on unless they can be assured it will be worth it for them.  I have heard several sponsors say that they cannot stay in business without interns (aka ‘free labor’).  In return they allow Interns to participate in a professional situation, to observe and learn by doing.” I really take this advice to heart and I agree completely. Professionals in the theatre world of New York City are not there to baby-step interns into the business. They mean business from the get-go. If accepted into this program, I’m going to be thrown head-long into an existing and thriving theatre company, and am going to be expected to keep up.

Luckily, that prospect is incredibly exciting for me! I’m ready to take on that change of pace – even if it’s a rapid one. And perhaps admitting that I had a difficult few months with a production isn’t the best career move, but honesty is my number one value. So I won’t lie. I’m not perfect and I still have much to learn and experience. I’m also not going to dwell on the negative, but move forward and keep my eyes set on the positive. With inspiration from my mentors in my mind, I am taking these next several months focusing intently on the execution of my work – making every moment an opportunity to “learn by doing”. If I’m going to make it in New York, I have to be worth it. And I know I can be.