Here is a summer stock story for you. Everyone warned me, but I went anyway. What a difference from the sunny, well stocked, large workroom at my undergrad school. The room at the "camp" (in no way should it have been called a theater) was hot, the stitchers were beginners, the electricity was temperamental, the cutting table was too low and full of splinters, the bathrooms were dark and the spiders loved it.

After my initial letdown and a tearful phone call to my wonderful teacher at school, I found my "gentle but firm" bossy self. What were those scene shop hours for if not to know how to sand, seal and elevate my cutting table? Why all those lab hours learning to sew if not to show the interns how to do better? With EMAIL and the Net I was able to get answers to some "how do I" and "where is it" questions quickly. I even made a chart showing that the money allotted for the final show was not going to be enough unless we hired more people. Amazingly, some motherly types showed up to help during the last week.

Don't get me wrong, I will probably not do this again because I figured out that, even with food and housing thrown in, I worked for $1.06 an hour. But the shows looked great (except for that one dress!) and the audiences came and laughed. I learned a great deal about myself and the kind of strength it takes to keep my tongue in check in order to get cooperation from everyone.

I'm on to my next professional job, one that was offered to someone else at the theater first, but he turned it down. Bigger city, bigger salary, more to learn.

Everyone has to have that first job and the summer stock/music camp type one, and the crummy $1.06 an hour one. Sometimes, as in your case, they were all in one. I was lucky that mine was at my undergrad school, I could work at home and schlepp the stuff three blocks back and forth for fittings. I was paid $4.00 per garment, no matter the style or difficulty. Most of these were later lost in a tornado, thank goodness, as I shudder to think what the sewing was like.

These jobs usually end up as a learning experience about self worth: where do you draw the line, when and who do you speak to so that the job is not a nightmare that drives you from your chosen profession.

Let me hear from you as you continue.

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