Casual Exit

by Kat Edwards

If you’re new, I’m Kat Edwards, T3Writes editor and Director of Strategic Marketing and Data Analysis…this year. If you were around in 2015-2017, I was the Company Manager. Prior to that, Executive Assistant in 14-15 and Production/Administrative Apprentice in 13-14. All at T3…in case that wasn’t clear.

Anyway, I’ve got some news! I’m the new Executive Assistant at Cry Havoc Theater Company! I’m REALLY excited and, in a lot of ways, relieved to finally be leaving Theatre Three. So, Jeffrey asked me to write a farewell post.

My history with T3 runs deep. I started working here as an intern at 22 (I’m 28 now #perspective), but long before that, I started seeing shows here at 17. That’s just over a decade. Theatre Three has been a part of my life for over a decade.

That 17-year-old twit sitting in the top row of the South section had wanted to go make art somewhere cold after college. And that same girl walked into T3 last summer in 107-degree weather to sit at a computer. So, jokes on her.

That’s the background, and the point is that I’ve pretty much grown up in Theatre Three.

I really didn’t know how to write this, and I felt a little silly doing it so I asked Merri what she would be interested to read about in this final blog post, and she said my development as an arts administrator and as a person.

So, buckle up…

In my time at T3, I have found that I am much more interested in the impact that the presence of art can have in a community than I am in the actual making of the art. I have a performance degree and a dance background. I’ve acted, directed, choreographed, etc. But having been thrust into this admin position has made me reconsider my long-term goals for myself. I’m ultimately more satisfied by doing the background things to make sure that there is art to consume and people there to consume it. It’s very much a big picture mentality even if I’m not working in a large-scale environment.

While I am ambitious, I am a team player first and foremost. One of the major reasons I’ve stayed at Theatre Three for so long is that there was a lot of opportunity to learn this profession that I had a newly developed affinity for. That is me acting in my own best interest to further my goals. But I could’ve received that kind of experience elsewhere if I were more self-serving. What really kept me here was that I could be of service to others and to an organization that was in need. I am service-minded. It’s something that is likely to keep me in the non-profit sector for the rest of my life no matter what I say (I talk a lot of smack and I’m also pretty whiney).

I can’t commit to trivial things like a desk lamp purchase or a person, but I obviously don’t have any problem committing to an organization even when the going gets tough. Take that, you slanderers of millennials and our capricious nature as it pertains to our presence in the workforce! *snaps

As the kind of kid that would give up on something if I wasn’t good at it IMMEDIATELY, I’m not afraid to not know what I’m doing anymore (except for in grocery stores…I don’t like to loiter in aisles). T3 was going through some major staff changes when I started and that got WAY worse before it got better. I’ve spent a lot of time here picking up pieces of paper, saying, “Ummmm…. alrighty…guess I’ll figure that out later.” This is probably the big one for both me as a person and as someone working in arts administration. There are weeks when you sort of feel like that meme with the dog drinking coffee in a burning kitchen, telling yourself that everything is fine, but actually just wondering why you are trying to do this without a finance degree. But it will be fine. You will figure it out and it will get done because it has to. Because the show must go on.

Alright. That’s what I’ve got.

I know that there are those that are surprised that I’d leave Theatre Three, but honestly, if you used to build blanket forts in a place, it’s probably safe to assume that you are not going to stay there forever. That’s true for childhood homes and should be true for first jobs.

I’ll still be around. I’m not leaving Dallas.

The rest of this season’s lineup is too good to miss anyway.

See YOU at the theatre!