Late Night Musings
by Todd Reemtsma, NBS Section Chairperson
Welcome to the “almost end of summer” and another USITT-NBS newsletter to start the academic year off right. I hope that the summer has treated you well and has been as eventful, or uneventful, as you hoped it would be.
Leadership and Collaboration
With everything happening in the world these days, I thought the topic of leadership and collaboration seemed very apropos to start the year off right. It goes without saying that as students, instructors and practitioners of theatre craft, that there is a great deal of importance in learning our craft and maintaining that knowledge. But f
or most of us, learning the skills of leadership and collaboration are typically a matter of observation and real life experience and not a topic that is addressed specifically as a part of theatre training. I am pretty certain that there are almost no instances in which a theatrical production relies on the efforts of only one person. I can also say that I have heard too many occasions where the choice to hire a candidate for a theatrical position is certainly more weighted towards their leadership and collaboration skills rather than his or her artistic/technical skills. Hopefully most everyone that is reading this has had the opportunity to work with someone that has exhibited strong leadership skills and proven themselves to be an excellent collaborator as well. Personally I have found working with people like this to be very rewarding experiences and hopefully that is your case as well. Just remember that for most people these skill don’t come “naturally” and require an effort to develop. See what sort of opportunities you can find to develop and maintain your leadership and collaboration skills. People with good leadership and collaboration skills are the people that everyone wants to work with – again and again and again. Do your best to make these skills a part of your life and I believe you will find success in your career and beyond.
2011 Summer Board meeting
On the topic of leadership and collaboration – last month the Northern Boundary Section board gathered together for a summer meeting. Special thanks to our Metro member-at-large Mickey Henry for so graciously hosting the meeting and for all the board members who sacrificed a Saturday afternoon to attend! We had a very productive meeting and some great discussions that took place over the better part of an afternoon and came up with many ideas to bring to 2011-12.
2011 USITT NBS Fall Conference
The 2011 Northern Boundary Section Fall Conference will be taking place this year at Hamline University on September 16th & 17th. Helping disseminate artistic and technical skills has long been a function of USITT and the Northern Boundary Section, but hopefully the Fall Conference can also be an opportunity to develop leadership and collaboration skills. You will find more information about the Fall Conference in the newsletter, but I want to take the opportunity to invite you to attend and to make sure that you are spreading the word to others to attend as well. Not only is the Fall Conference an excellent opportunity to connect with your peers and find out what sort of new perspectives they are bringing into this new year, but it’s a great opportunity to sit in on some fabulous sessions led by people from within and outside our NBS Section.
This upcoming year
I am going to continue to push for all of us to be better connected. It would please me to no end to see more NBS events throughout our section. I certainly promise to do my best to participate wherever these events are in our section. Perhaps I could even be convinced to appoint a USITT-NBS Social Director! And even though it’s more than a year away, I have to say that I’m incredibly excited about the announcement that the 2013 USITT National Conference will be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I hope that we will be able to send a very strong contingency of NBS members since it will be so close to home.
I hope that I will see most of you next month at the Fall Conference. Have a great start to the new year!
If it’s not fun, why do it? - Ben & Jerry (of ice cream fame)
Todd