BART’S BLOG – OCTOBER 2022

When it comes to celebrating success, I fail.

When was the last time I took time to acknowledge (let alone celebrate) my accomplishments or the successes of those with whom I work? As a Director, I spend much of my time planning the future. Yet, when I complete a significant goal, I have conditioned myself to immediately move on to the next task rather than celebrating that success.

I recently learned from an article in Inc. magazine that celebrating your wins reinforces the energy you need to face the next challenge or opportunity. Conversely, when you fail to celebrate your successes, you are training yourself to believe that what you are doing isn’t all that exciting or important, leading to burnout.

Worse yet, this habit of mine might be interpreted as a lack of gratitude for the efforts of others upon whom I depend. So, please indulge me as I celebrate the success of this year’s musical, Beauty & the Beast, and thank everyone who worked so hard to make it so:

• My wife, Allison, who has been crafting this production with me for the better part of two years;
• My other artistic collaborators, Kimberly Strange and Sherry Barnard, Aaron Taylor and Paige Johson, who simultaneously embrace and challenge my choices in all the best ways;
• Our support team, Riley Weber, Tracy Arflin, and Erin Cunigan, who’ve performed far beyond their job descriptions;
• My puppetry friends Michael Chann, Kevin Roberge, and Kerry Faulkner, who crafted incredible pieces of art for our cast to bring to life;
• Set designer Troy Trinkle, who turned a simple rental into a collaboration;
• This cast who helped me re-discover these characters and embodied them with such affection and honesty;
• All the crew who came in at the eleventh hour and seamlessly fell into place to elevate everyone else’s work; and
• The PAC staff and volunteers somehow seem to keep the PAC running while I’m busy running so many other things and always jump into the fray when I need help the most.

I thank each of you for all you’ve done and for all you’ve come to mean to me through this endeavor, and I celebrate you and your work. Work that has brought great joy to over 2,000 in our community this past month.

October Audience Survey Winners

Congratulations to CHRIS KIGER, ANDREA HIGDON, MARSHA DOWELL, & KATHY METZMEIER – each a lucky winner of a $20 PAC gift certificate for completing a September Audience Survey.

This month The PAC Spotlight shines on CHHS student Danielle Nolan who will be performing in their upcoming production of The Wizard of Oz this month on the PAC stage.

What do you want to do when you grow up?
Major in anthropology to hopefully transfer to paleontology and minor in theatre.

What have you learned from your PAC experiences?
People of all ages can come together and forget about the world for a short time. Having all these different ages starts theatre dreams that grow in kids. It also gives the chance to relive past memories from performances at the PAC.

How have you benefited from the PAC?
The PAC has been a therapeutic experience for me. Performing on stage helps get me out of my own head and portray another character. Portraying this other character helps me get out of my inner shell and forget the world around even if it is just for a few hours.

Why is the PAC important to you?
The PAC is important to me because it made me grow as a person. I wouldn’t be myself without theatre. Doing theatre has given me the opportunity to connect more with our community. Having this connection gave me a great sense of how powerful it is to have theatre arts spread positive and real-life messages to the community. Having this optimistic environment in the community made me grow more even outside of being on stage.

Why should the PAC be important to others?
The PAC should be important to others because it helps expand creativity and create a positive environment. This creative and positive environment helps boost the communities in joining together, especially after COVID-19.

Do you have any other comments you’d like to share?
Being a part of multiple community theatres really helps the community grow and get closer together. They all give great opportunities to expand the arts.