Thanks To The Conservatory Faculty!

Recently Conservatory faculty members gathered off-campus for a half day retreat meeting hosted at the home of vice president Nan Ficca. Based on the success of the 2008 retreat (which was implemented as a part of the larger faculty development plan) the retreat was repeated this summer and once again gave faculty and the administrative team an opportunity to review curriculum, student progress, faculty development and much more.

In a post Retreat admin meeting our Education Director Hope Lambert put it in a nutshell: “The retreat pulls together all of the faculty meetings and development seminars we lead and take part in over the course of the year and gives us the chance to assess where we are and where we want to go next with our programs. And though it is a meeting it’s always relaxing and fun as well as informative. Again this year there was lots of learning and lots of sharing.”

The faculty retreat is a fun day too – starting with doubles tennis or a dip in the pool (or both) and following the meeting, the traditional cook-out with burgers, dogs and all the fixin’s.

I’m so very proud of this faculty and thankful also that they give so much extra time to help make sure we are doing the best job of preparing the next generation of performers. Many thanks colleagues! And don’t forget our new faculty alma mater: “We are faculty! I got all my teachers and me!” to the tune of We Are Family. Thanks guys – I look forward to Retreat 2010!

Familial and Familiar Faces

So the NCDA crew involved in the Fringe Festival wrapped that up last week. It was a great time, and we had great audiences that stuck right with the show despite some pretty steamy conditions in the non-climate controlled space. Thanks again to everyone who came out to see it!

It's hard to describe how much fun it is to work with people that you are such good friends with, who you know will work hard to make a show great, and share in the joy of a job well done. I'm so glad I got the chance to do a show with so many fellow members of the family.

And, luckily for me, I get to go right back into a show with a fellow alum, and at a place I just worked! Back in May, I did a cool adaptation of Medea at Venus Theatre up in Laurel, Md., and the director asked me a couple weeks ago if I could step in and fill a role in her next show. I had a blast doing their last show, so I was already inclined to say yes, but knowing that my friend and fellow grad Chris was already cast in the show made it a no-brainer. Not to mention that a few of the folks involved in the Medea production were also in this one as well.

Doug talked a while back about creating families, and I've certainly done that at NCDA, and now up at Venus. And it's fun to bring Chris into the fold as well. I've already been giving him the scoop on the extracurricular stuff like places to eat around the theatre space and things like that. It'll be great to share more NCDA stories with this group, and clue Chris in on some other things I know about how things work where we are now. My only regret is I've got to miss a week of rehearsal because I'd already planned a trip out of town, ironically enough, to visit family - blood relatives in this case.