It’s Thanksgiving at Olney Theatre Center. Our big winter extravaganza Elf the Musical is running on the Mainstage, and Paul Morella’s solo performance of A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas announces the official arrival of the season when it opens for previews on Friday. Like everyone else, but especially for theatre-people, this is a busy, hectic and somewhat stressful time of year. So, we wanted to pause for a second as a staff and list some things we are thankful for, before launching full-bore into the Christmas rush:
I’m personally grateful that my kids seems to be having a better time in Middle School than I ever did, and as a marketing person, I’m thankful for Google Analytics.
Taylor, our Marketing and Development Apprentice, is thankful for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s resiliency, working somewhere she can have conversations about which Harry Potter house she belongs in, the privilege to complain about the cold from a heated space, her line sisters and Beyoncé.
Rebecca, our Community Engagement and Tour Manager, is thankful for her niece who lives across the country but can pick her out from all her other aunts and smiles real big when they Facetime. She’s also thankful for friendly dogs (like Phoebe), friendly cats (like Gazebo) and books that feel like home.
JJ, our Graphic Designer, is thankful that Mallo Cups are available once again. He really loves them.
Debbie, our Managing Director, is thankful that her kids are happy, that her husband happily makes dinner most nights, the village of family and friends that helps her daily, her OTC staff and the Howard County Bullseye Running community. She’s also thankful for her dogs and Michelle Obama.
Meghan, our Production Management Apprentice, is thankful for hot tea and sweaters.
Colleen, our Manager of Special Events and Donor Relations, is thankful for good whiskey, a great job at a fantastic theatre, family and friends who pick her up when she falls and the abundant possibilities of her future. And snow. Gotta be thankful for snow.
Elynora, our Company Management Apprentice, is also thankful for snow.
Rachel, our super-senior Artistic and Casting Apprentice, is thankful for Cafe Rio queso and her mother’s cooking.
Melissa, Wardrobe Supervisor, is thankful for Blake “The Shake” Gilbert, our apprentices (“those kooky kids”), garlic, the smell of the desert after it rains and the adoption of Gazebo, our stray theatre cat, by Assistant Master Electrician Sam.
Josiane, Associate Director of Production, is thankful for the visit with her grandma in October, her family, her garden and sharing its bounty with her co-workers (we’re all thankful for that!)
Senior Associate Artistic Director, Jason King Jones, gives thanks for crappy office coffee, his leaf blower, everything Josiane cooks (tacos get a special thanks) and movie nights with his family.
Samantha, Company Manager, is thankful for a lot of stuff. She definitely won for most things she’s thankful for, among them: perfectly toasted bagels, family group chats, well timed compliments, really good hugs, laffy taffy jokes, modern medicine, having plenty to eat, the face people make when seeing snow for the first time, family traditions, the Treadway House neighborhood, warm sweaters and hot drinks, the office fish, the sound of newborn babies, public transportation, grandparents who won’t allow anyone to be hungry in their home, long phone calls with friends, girl scout cookies, margaritas and General Manager Fred T. Paul (Associate Artistic Director and Casting Director Jenna did not participate except to second the inclusion of Fred T. Paul)
Kristina, the Assistant Director of Marketing, is thankful for Heating and Air Conditioning (don’t ask about her last apartment).
Katie, the Dramaturgy Apprentice, is thankful for comps to area theatres, rent-free housing, the little pockets in the back of notebooks, her sister.
Artistic Director Jason Loewith gives thanks for meals shared with family and friends, hands reaching out to touch the falling snow at Elf the Musical, his dog Mortimer actually taking a step towards another person on-purpose (Mortimer is, some say “shy” others say “anti-social”).
Miguel, the Assistant Technical Director, is thankful for the ability to work on a project much larger than himself.
Maureen, our Director of Development, is thankful that so many people realize that they have enough and choose to give from their abundance; for the ways her kids make her rethink her opinions and make her laugh and for friends she knows well enough that the conversation is warm and close in no time even if it’s been a minute.
Individual Giving Manager, Wes, is thankful for friendships that are decades old.
We are all thankful for Bob Roberts.
Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.
