So…it’s been a busy last couple of weeks…

The New York Times published an article about the job I used to have. It’s overall a long story, but the primary interview in this story with me colleague Stevie Ray Dallimore is about having lost that job. I’m his unnamed “counterpart”. The article doesn’t delve into finer point details, but is a decent overview about the difficulties in producing theatre in high schools of late.

I found out my teaching job was being “dissolved” (like an Alka-Seltzer…) 7 months ago. I’ve interviewed all over the world (literally for other teaching jobs since then. I’ve been a finalist at schools in Colorado, Virginia, interviewed to be an artistic director in the Pacific Northwest, and just scrambling for a new job…and…nothing. If I’m 100% honest the experience of losing my job completely scarred and traumatized me…as did the five thankless years I put into the job. I think my interviews have been showing my lack of desire to become a part of a school environment until I’ve gotten myself back into a shape I could recognize.

I moved to Chattanooga five years ago, basically giving up on the other aspects of my career. I made a trade of artistic ambition for security and sanity. It wasn’t a trade that led to what I wanted and ended as I feared it would. My last year was marred by dealing with the ginned up fears of administrators convinced the current culture wars meant that even the most anodyne of plays were “controversial”. The article linked suggests our jobs were dissolved due to “sensitive material”, but the truth is far more complex and nuanced…

Yes, questions of “season planning” were in the minds of current admin, but they weren’t as important as what was ABSENT…

• Fiscal responsibility by a finance department
• Dedicated investment in the arts
• Seeing the value of theatre as an educational topic in and of itself
• And so much more

Now, I’m trying to piece back together a professional life. I guess I’m sharing this to give myself some hope…? I’ve had a few offers come my way in the last week, but nothing as “lucrative” (and my now FORMER job was drastically undervalued and underpaid) as my now dissolved position. Anyway, here’s what’s come my way:

• An offer to direct Scrooge The Musical at Chattanooga Theatre Centre
• The role of Aston in Harold Pinter’s THE CARETAKER at a small theatre in Washington DC. I haven’t acted there in 10 years. Just got that offer for an AEA show today.
• Potential adjunct class at a local community college in Chattanooga.
• An arts residency to develop a new piece as part of an arts incubator with Barking Legs theatre.

I might not be able to do the adjunct gig with the show in dc, but should be able to do the rest. Just hoping the future brings something stable. I’m 43 and feel like my life has been upended.