GROWTH AND CHANGE: BY SCOTT ESPOSITO
As Amerikin heads into it’s final week, we take a step back to appreciate the other work taking place within the company. Scott Has doffed a number of hats this year, and he’s only getting started…
A former boss of mine once said “Change is the only constant.” She was right about that. I’d take that thought one step further. While change may be the only constant, growth should hopefully come out of that change. One of the beautiful things about being an ensemble member with Seat of the Pants is how we all want to see each other grow and succeed and assist each other in that growth and success. Part of growth is taking on new responsibilities. I’m an actor by training. Acting has been the focus of my artistic life. But since becoming an ensemble member with Seat of the Pants, and my assumption of certain additional duties outside of performance, my knowledge and abilities around other aspects of theatrical endeavors has grown.
This year, I’ve already produced one of our Salon Series, which are staged readings of new plays. Learning about the responsibilities of a producer was a very different challenge than that of an actor. Both require attention to detail, of course, but as producer for a theatre without a permanent home, I had to ensure that I found performance locations that would work not only for the staged reading itself, but also that met the needs of our audiences.
Later this year, I’ll be directing another one of our Salon Series readings, which I’m very much looking forward to, as I have an interest in directing more in the future. We’ll see how that goes! But one of my core responsibilities this year as an ensemble member has been part of our script reading committee to select the shows for next season. Each month the committee reads three plays and comes together to discuss the “pros and cons”. It’s an interesting growth exercise. As I mentioned, most of the time I have the eye of an actor. But in reading these scripts, I have to think from many different perspectives – producer, designer, actor, audience member, etc. After finishing any given script, I personally started by asking the question whether I liked it or not and then asked myself why I did or did not. Since we’re an itinerant theatre company, I’d think about where the script could be performed – could it be site-specific, or would we need a theatre? Would the script lend itself to the Seat of the Pants process? Is it a story that is Seat of the Pants’ to tell? A myriad of other questions would populate my brain. The beauty of our committee is that each one of us comes to the table with a different thought process and sees each script differently. Where one person sees difficulty, another finds opportunity. Our discussions opened up my eyes about the possibilities of various scripts and, in some instances, even changed my mind about whether I even liked a particular script for Seat of the Pants.
Once again, a new responsibility with this marvelous company has provided an opportunity for growth, not just to create a different skill set within the arts, but also to broaden my perspective and to view that art through lenses other than my default. Change may be a constant, but growth is the key.
