While Satiated Artists works with and has worked with artists of various disciplines to fill our Virtual Assistant and Project Manager positions over the years, we have identified an undeniable pattern that artists with theatre experience make great fits for our clients. Specifically, we have found that stage managers, directors, and producers have the translatable skills and experience that allow them to ease into remote administrative positions that almost feel familiar.
Potential clients and artists alike often feel wary of our tendency to bring on theatre artists if the theatre isn’t their art of choice, or if they don’t have experience in the industry to understand how those skills translate to being a rockstar assistant or PM.
Theatres collect a group of individuals who had to sell themselves to earn their spot in the room. There’s a limited budget. Chaos needs organized and prioritized. The team is comprised of a variety of personalities. Obstacles get in the way and should be anticipated. Some processes exist, some don’t, and some need work. Pivots, pressure, and conflict are inevitable. Plan B, plan C, and sometimes plan D need to be strategized and devised. Meetings need scheduled and rescheduled. The work needs to be assessed up close and far away. The weeks leading up to big days can be grueling. Things go wrong. The show must go on. And it’s all about who you know. If you aren’t excellent in the way you treat others, you’re replaceable.
When you’re four hours from the first tech rehearsal and the center stage spotlight won’t turn on, the fly captain is late, the leading actor’s pants rip, water spills on the prop table, ticket sales are low, the board op has a personal emergency, and there’s a cold going around, everyone rallies and obstacles are overcome with the help of everyone involved in the production led by the stage manager(s), producer(s), and director(s). Audiences are blissfully unaware of most of these hiccups because they’re addressed before the work is shared.
And please, don’t get us wrong. We love working with musicians, visual artists, designers, and just about every artistic avenue you can think of. But when a small group of scrappy female theatre artists started building the business that is Satiated Artists today, we pulled from our experiences in the theatre which continue to steer us in impactful directions every day.
-Mikala