Two weeks away!

So cyber friends, where to begin?

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Fall is amazingly upon us, and it seems impossible to me that our awards ceremony is less than two weeks away!

I just returned from 5 days in the deep deep south- ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee. I was working on a music event with my family and stayed on an amazing old cotton plantation literally in the middle of no where sleeping in a restored shack. The event was a lot of fun, and I got to meet and work with some amazing musicians and experience some southern hospitality. (Can you say GRITS! Love'em) But I have to say that while I was at a beautiful event and location, 5 days was far too long away from home. I missed New York in a very real way. When I leave NYC I am constantly reminded of how much I love my home, my city and the work that I do here.

Plus, with the awards upon us, I was especially eager to get home and back to work here. As company manager, I've been working on a lot of the moving parts of the awards ceremony, from the day of timeline, recruiting and coordinating our volunteer crew, assisting with venue logistics, scheduling the many meetings that occur during this busy time, to working on a daily basis with Shay, Nick and Jason, the Exec directors who are beyond amazing.

There is something that is so rewarding about working in the Off Off Broadway sector, that I have yet to find elsewhere. Maybe it's the fact that everyone is sooo passionate, or maybe its because we all know how hard it is and we try to make it easier for each other, or maybe it's the great wide unknown of, this could be our last show, so lets go for broke and throw ourselves fully and totally without question into whatever we are doing. It seems that our collective spirit of independent/Off Off Broadway theatre is never ending, that there a generosity that is unending. I don't know where we all find the time, the heart and the energy to keep going. To work a full day and then rehearse a full night, to stay up until 4am doing press releases or poster, to build, paint, hang lights and sew costumes long after everyone else has gone home, and after the show closes, there isn't always a paycheck, a glowing review or the promise of an extension. Yet somehow we all wake up and continue to do what we do, out of love, out of passion, out of generosity of spirit.

It is this reason that I work so hard for the It Awards, to have that moment, that gathering in one room, a buzz with ideas, and energy, and spirit and celebrate each other and our work. I am in awe every year as I watch our events grow in size, while our collective community gets smaller, as we all get to know each other.

Whether you are a nominee, a lover of theatre, a volunteer or just there to show your support, I so look forward to seeing you at the Awards ceremony.

Akia

Company Manager

PS. If you'd like to be a part of the Awards Ceremony, please drop me a line. akia@nyitawards.com