The Story

I fell in love when I was thirteen. It happened in 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. 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, 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 and choreographed and performed in less than a month. In that short period of time I came alive as I struggled through the constantly changing schedule and script. I daily juggled the schedules of over twenty people to accommodate the needs and whims of my directors. I, along with my assistant, 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 of 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 local professional theatre, I put them to the test. With RCRT, I caught my first real taste of tight budgets and Equity contracts and 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 first rehearsal to 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. 

Vanna Richardson
vannarenee1@gmail.com