The Story
I fell in love when I was twelve. It happened in the seventh period. I found something that made me feel alive, happy, and fulfilled: theatre. In the space of a week culminating in a ten-minute scene of Elizabethan Little Red Riding Hood, I found my life's passion and my career field.
I received my training at Centenary College of Louisiana. It was there I learned the basics of acting and technical theatre. The knowledge of how to use my body and voice to embody a character went hand in hand with the knowledge of carpentry and welding. I was taught to be a team player and a leader. In my years at Centenary, I played many roles- building sets, working on stage crews, doing props, acting, and stage managing- all in pursuit of my niche, and my talents. Those talents were fully realized when I served as Production Stage Manager for The $trip. The $trip was a show developed from the concept of a New York company to show the progression of American history through music. The show, with its more than twenty song and dance numbers, was completely written, choreographed, and performed in less than a month. In that short period, I came alive as I struggled through the constantly changing schedule and script. I juggled the schedules of over twenty people daily to accommodate the needs and whims of my directors. Along with my assistant, I held together the tenuous strands of a show in constant flux to produce an amazing theatrical experience. It was in that melee of constant change with its need for clear communication and a sense of order that I found my stride and my calling.
Centenary is where I laid the foundation of my stage management skills but with River City Repertory, a regional professional theatre, I put them to the test. With RCRT, I caught my first real taste of tight budgets and Equity contracts/rules. There I took leaps without the safety net of my professors and landed on my feet as I met difficult challenges with a positive attitude and a sense of humor. I learned a whole new meaning of stress when we mounted a production of The Subject was Roses with the inestimable Donna McKechnie. We had just three weeks from the first rehearsal to the last curtain and I used every trick in my bag to keep my director calm and the show on track. I have rarely felt more focused than in our final week when we put the set on the stage and layered in lights, props, and sound.
From RCRT and my time in Shreveport, LA, I decided that since I had been a big fish in a small pond for several years it was time to see if I could do the reverse. Could I survive as a small fish in a big pond? So, I packed my bags and hopped on a one-way flight to New York City. Making the move with an egg nest of living expenses for about 6 months and a promise of aid from my parents, I took on the big city with only a nonpaying evening stage management gig and the determination to apply at every temp agency I could find. That blind leap of courage paid off as I found a day job to handle the bills and I was able to steadily book freelance stage management work in the NYC Indie Theatre Scene, largely based on referrals from that first show that I worked and the relationships that I formed with the actors and directors and designers on that project. As I booked more projects and worked with more actors, directors, and playwrights that opened up doors for different projects.
The more I worked in NYC as a stage manager, the more I realized that something was missing when I was in the rehearsal room. More frequently, I found myself biting my tongue as I wanted to interject a thought on how a scene should be shaped or ask an actor a question that I thought might help them see something they were missing in their exploration of the character. I was holding back this urge to be the person guiding, molding, and shaping the stories that were being told. Since I had just recently reached a milestone birthday, I decided to reevaluate my life and what I wanted to be when I grew up. It occurred to me that because my first college experience was cut short due to some adverse life circumstances that meant I did not complete my undergrad at Centenary, it might behoove me to finish my bachelor's degree and take the opportunity to explore directing in an academic space. The road to that exploration has been full of me “living my best life” and learning so many new and exciting things about myself as I move past the woman I thought I would be when I was in my twenties and realize the woman that I am currently. I took up the hobby of fashion modeling, and then the hobby of photography, I started acting again, I wrote a screenplay, I wrote a short play, I wrote another short play, and there are plans for a full-length. Most importantly, I am making theatre. I am making art. I hope you enjoy it.
I received my training at Centenary College of Louisiana. It was there I learned the basics of acting and technical theatre. The knowledge of how to use my body and voice to embody a character went hand in hand with the knowledge of carpentry and welding. I was taught to be a team player and a leader. In my years at Centenary, I played many roles- building sets, working on stage crews, doing props, acting, and stage managing- all in pursuit of my niche, and my talents. Those talents were fully realized when I served as Production Stage Manager for The $trip. The $trip was a show developed from the concept of a New York company to show the progression of American history through music. The show, with its more than twenty song and dance numbers, was completely written, choreographed, and performed in less than a month. In that short period, I came alive as I struggled through the constantly changing schedule and script. I juggled the schedules of over twenty people daily to accommodate the needs and whims of my directors. Along with my assistant, I held together the tenuous strands of a show in constant flux to produce an amazing theatrical experience. It was in that melee of constant change with its need for clear communication and a sense of order that I found my stride and my calling.
Centenary is where I laid the foundation of my stage management skills but with River City Repertory, a regional professional theatre, I put them to the test. With RCRT, I caught my first real taste of tight budgets and Equity contracts/rules. There I took leaps without the safety net of my professors and landed on my feet as I met difficult challenges with a positive attitude and a sense of humor. I learned a whole new meaning of stress when we mounted a production of The Subject was Roses with the inestimable Donna McKechnie. We had just three weeks from the first rehearsal to the last curtain and I used every trick in my bag to keep my director calm and the show on track. I have rarely felt more focused than in our final week when we put the set on the stage and layered in lights, props, and sound.
From RCRT and my time in Shreveport, LA, I decided that since I had been a big fish in a small pond for several years it was time to see if I could do the reverse. Could I survive as a small fish in a big pond? So, I packed my bags and hopped on a one-way flight to New York City. Making the move with an egg nest of living expenses for about 6 months and a promise of aid from my parents, I took on the big city with only a nonpaying evening stage management gig and the determination to apply at every temp agency I could find. That blind leap of courage paid off as I found a day job to handle the bills and I was able to steadily book freelance stage management work in the NYC Indie Theatre Scene, largely based on referrals from that first show that I worked and the relationships that I formed with the actors and directors and designers on that project. As I booked more projects and worked with more actors, directors, and playwrights that opened up doors for different projects.
The more I worked in NYC as a stage manager, the more I realized that something was missing when I was in the rehearsal room. More frequently, I found myself biting my tongue as I wanted to interject a thought on how a scene should be shaped or ask an actor a question that I thought might help them see something they were missing in their exploration of the character. I was holding back this urge to be the person guiding, molding, and shaping the stories that were being told. Since I had just recently reached a milestone birthday, I decided to reevaluate my life and what I wanted to be when I grew up. It occurred to me that because my first college experience was cut short due to some adverse life circumstances that meant I did not complete my undergrad at Centenary, it might behoove me to finish my bachelor's degree and take the opportunity to explore directing in an academic space. The road to that exploration has been full of me “living my best life” and learning so many new and exciting things about myself as I move past the woman I thought I would be when I was in my twenties and realize the woman that I am currently. I took up the hobby of fashion modeling, and then the hobby of photography, I started acting again, I wrote a screenplay, I wrote a short play, I wrote another short play, and there are plans for a full-length. Most importantly, I am making theatre. I am making art. I hope you enjoy it.
Vanna Richardson
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