For those of you just tuning in, I’m in  the middle of a multi-part blog series called Project: Introspection.  Previously, I discussed the importance of working independently.  Read on for the next part in the series.

Time: our most valuable resource.  Time is non-renewable, limited, and ever elusive.  Large sections of our lives devour time before we even get to think about it.  We don’t have a choice.

We sleep for 6-8 hours per day (ideally).
Many of us work for 8 hours a day.  Factor in commute and preparation, and you’re often up to 10-12 hours gone.  
Meals, bathroom breaks and other necessesities take up even more valuable time.

That leaves us very few hours to relax and enjoy our hobbies and entertainment.  That leaves us very few hours to pursue theatre, art, music, or whatever your chosen medium is.

Therefore, an artist must be an expert at time management.  In order to be successful, one must be able to balance the aforementioned time slices in such a way that leaves you relatively stress-free and avoid burnout.

Time management is crucial to success, and the key to time management is prioritization — ordering tasks in such a way as to maximize productivity and minimize waste.

Yesterday, I mentioned a show I performed in with my castmates Tom and Meghan, where we spent massive amounts of time devoted to memorizing our lines and perfecting our characters.  That’s a great example of how we utilized time management skills to pull off an amazing show with a very limited resource — time.  But since I already talked about this yesterday, I’ll discuss another example.

Three years ago, I was granted the opportunity to direct a show.  I chose to direct a stage adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984.  It’s actually quite faithful to the book, with only minor changes in the name of pragmatism and budget.

Since the show wasn’t on the scheduled season, I was given very limited resources — no budget, limits on who I could cast or have in my crew, and very limited time.  

I was given approval on Oct 26th and told that opening night would be December 1st.  The show would be performed in the studio theatre.  Because of scheduling conflicts and limitations imposed by the theatre, we could only rehearse between the hours of 8 and 10pm.

It took me nearly a week to secure the rights, order the scripts and hold auditions.  By November 1st, we began rehearsals.  In the meantime, I was balancing graduate classes and an internship with a local high school, as well as coordinating with set, costume, light and sound designers.  I slept maybe 5 hours a night.

The first two weeks were relatively safe.  There were no conflicts or obstacles to getting rehearsals done.  We had to rehearse hard and fast, with only two hours per night to block, rehearse and give notes.  In the third week of November, the next mainstage show opened.  Unfortunately, the studio theatre was also the venue for the angel reception, held in honor of our patrons.  No rehearsal that night.

Saturday afternoon I received a call from a cast member.  Amy, one of the other members of the cast, had been in an accident.  Jogging along a bike trail, she had been hit by a driver.  She was alive and going to recover, but for now she was in ICU and obviously would not be able to fulfill her commitment to the show.  I called her sister to offer my condolences and proceeded to find a replacement.  Enter the set designer.

The following week was, of course, Thanksgiving.  School was out on Wednesday, but I asked my cast members to meet on Wednesday morning for one last rehearsal before the break.  We had to perfect the show at this point, because when we returned on Sunday, we were entering tech and dress rehearsals.

The cast returned from the break invigorated and ready to work.  We rehearsed long and hard those nights and opened that Thursday night with a sold out house.  The entire run was sold out and we got rave reviews.

All of this was accomplished in a little over 19 days of rehearsal, not including weekends, Thanksgiving break or the Thursday night angel reception.  It was a massive undertaking and the cast and crew came together in the spirit of teamwork and cooperation, worked individually to perfect their parts, and as a team, budgeted their time to make the most of every rehearsal.  And keep in mind, this is on top of work, classes, social lives, and other commitments these guys had.  I was and remain very proud of my cast and crew.

With proper time management and dedication, even a strenuous and limited schedule can result in a successful production that brings accomplishment, pride and a good reputation to the company.