Live/Work Situations in the Theatre

Recently I have been reflecting on the value of live/work situations for myself and others in the theatre/performing arts world.

Without realizing it at the time, college theatre life gave me excellent grounding in the process of living and working together with like-minded individuals. This process had a tune-up in 2003-04, when I lived in Donut 1 and knew everyone else in the donut at least moderately well, even though they weren’t all theatre concentrators. However, things really hit their stride for my final three semesters, from The Shape Of Things all the way to Future’s Secret, when it seemed like everyone in my immediate college life was involved with the current theatre project in one role or another.

Of course, some of this was planned in advance, such as taking the room in Mod 64 with a bird’s eye view of the theatre and being able to come and go from home at a moment’s notice and role out of bed to work during some days. We had a duo of power between Mod 64 and 65 that year and the cast/crew parties seemed to alternate mods for a while. I gather the setup was replicated for at least the next 2-3 academic years...

But what's becoming particularly clear is how my professional work ethic has been affected by live/work situations. In my current living arrangement, things are pretty ideal. I can walk to work at the amphitheatre 1/2 mile down the street. When rehearsals begin for Les Liasons Dangeruses in May, they will be 1/2 mile the other direction down the street. Monthly meetings for the company are generally within a 3 mile radius of where I live. I can also work from home on a certain amount of projects for the company.

For school, the setup is similarly easy. I board a commuter bus right outside my front door that travels down the street to the ferry terminal, then board the ferry for the 30-40 minute crossing of the San Francisco Bay, and then final to a subway that stops right in the block where my school is located. When going home in the evening, I walk 3 blocks to pick up a bus that goes back north over the Golden Gate Bridge and will drop me right at my front door back in Marin. Although I am frequently irritated by the transit agency’s lack of monthly travel passes (COME ON???!!!), the daily cost of $8.75 round trip is relatively reasonable.

What I’m noticing now is that this ease has positively affected my work ethic. I feel happy and excited to work with the theatre company because they are so close and I am ingrained in the fabric of this local community - I can walk nearly everywhere. I did not feel this way during my brief stint in Silicon Valley commuting to local theatres and schools and into SF by train. I also frequently felt the slog of commuting from the East Bay into SF when I lived in Richmond and had to commute back and forth 4-5 times per week.

I wonder if other people might feel this way about their work life - happier or more committed when it is close by or fully integrated into their life. It would be an unusual thing to bring up in a social setting, but I do think there is some truth to it.