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Rep Company Member Profile
If you are a regular Rep attendee, you are probably familiar with some of the actors, directors, designers, ticket office and front-of-house staff who work here. But there’s one position you might not have heard of that’s vital to the smooth operations of The Rep – Company Manager. For the last 14 years, Dawn Ross, a former Company Member of the Year award-winner, has enthusiastically filled this role. Dawn’s primary responsibility is to take care of the housing and travel needs for all visiting guest artists. She can often be heard on the phone making travel arrangements and juggling the busy schedules of actors, directors and designers to get them to The Rep when they are needed. Dawn works with East Town Travel to make travel arrangements. Besides being great to work with, they have often helped out in a pinch when artists run into problems or miss their flight. (It happens!) Scheduling all of these complicated travel arrangements would make most people’s heads spin, but Dawn does it all with a smile and a wink. As she says, “I don’t travel much, so I live vicariously through the visiting artists.” Guest artists are primarily housed through Shoreline Real Estate in efficiency apartments. For most guest actors, the stay in Milwaukee is two months, but some stay longer if they are in more than one show. Directors stay one month and designers usually stay 14 to 20 days. As Company Manager, Dawn makes every effort to give them a warm Milwaukee welcome and make their stay here comfortable. She does this by finding out what their expectations and needs are – with as many details as possible. Dawn sends them Milwaukee maps, guides and plenty of information she thinks will be helpful for them during their stay. Dawn often finds herself in the role of Mom – for some of our young acting interns, this is their first extended experience away from home. This can be especially hard around the holidays when most of them are involved in A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Dawn, along with other Rep staff members, wants to make Milwaukee feel like home while they are here. When visiting guest artists arrive in Milwaukee, they are greeted at the airport by members of the Friends of The Rep who then drop them off at their efficiency apartments; guest artists are delighted to find Rep Welcome Bags waiting for them. Dawn, along with help from the Friends, goes above and beyond to make these Welcome Bags special. The items contained in them are donated by The Friends and include maps, coffee, tea, snack items, toiletries and other sundries. Actors arriving late at night will find enough snacks in their Welcome Bag to tide them over until they can stock the refrigerator, including treats for visiting cats and dogs. Whenever possible, Dawn likes to promote downtown Milwaukee and includes offers and coupons from area restaurants. Besides taking care of housing and travel, Dawn often finds herself helping visiting family and friends of guest artists by suggesting activities for them to do while their family member is busy working in a Rep production. Family members frequently stay at the Inn Towne or InterContinental hotels. In many ways you could say that Dawn is The Rep’s concierge – handling a wide variety of activities and taking care of visiting artists and their loved ones. When the family of Irish director Ben Barnes came to visit, Dawn took them sledding. It was the first time Ben’s two young daughters – 11 and 9 – had seen snow. Dawn’s daughter, Annalise, enjoyed sledding with the young Irish lasses and they are pen pals to this day. Dawn also schedules medical appointments for the actors when they are sick – which often happens during a technical rehearsal week. Dr. Chris Drayna of Madison Medical has taken care of many Rep actors through the years and has been helpful working with The Rep’s tight schedule. Like everyone else, actors can get sick – but if they get sick on an opening night, a whole cascade of events can result because of it. A diagnosis often needs to be made on extremely short notice to determine whether an understudy is needed. This past season it was feared that one of the acting interns might have strep throat. After testing, it was discovered that the intern had strep and wasn’t allowed to go on that night. Another responsibility of the Company Manager is collecting receipts from designers and actors for their ground transportation. (See “How I Lost My Receipt” below.) The Rep pays for travel for door-to-door transportation and shipping of up to 400 pounds of belongings. Some New York actors sublet their apartment when they come to The Rep, which means they literally ship all of their belongings here. Some actors travel with pets. Actress Gabrielle Goyette, who performed
in JAZZ ROYALTY, travelled with her very talkative parrot, Issac.
One actor who lived underneath Gabrielle complained because he couldn’t
sleep – the parrot talked too much. Alas, poor Issac was sent
home. Another actor brought his pet snake. He drove from New York
in the middle of the winter with the snake in his pocket to keep
it warm. Then there was the actress who came to Milwaukee with a
dog and a Siamese fighting fish she carried in her purse on the airplane.
She was The Rep’s first flying fish – and possibly last – as
nowadays air travel liquid restrictions don’t allow carry-on
fish! For First Rehearsals she works closely with the Friends, who bring and prepare food for a large company reception prior to the First Rehearsal presentation. At First Rehearsals, the director discusses the play and talks about his or her approach, introduces the design team and cast and gives additional insights into the play. Dawn helps to make these events come off flawlessly. As Company Manager, Dawn also works closely with the Friends to provide meals on some Saturdays when there is not enough time to leave the theater for a meal break between a matinee and evening performance. These prepared meals are called Sundown Suppers and have become a special gathering between Friends, volunteers, cast and crew. For the Friends, it can sometimes mean providing enough food for up to 62 people! Volunteers create the menu, buy and prepare all of the food and The Rep provides the beverages. Dawn helps track of all of the dietary restrictions – that can mean anything from vegetarian/vegan to Atkins, South Beach, low fat, lactose-intolerant, gluten-free, to no sprouts for Jim Pickering. Dawn manages to keep track of all of this – a monumental feat unto itself – with her customary smile and good nature. After the cast and crew have been fed, there are often groups of hungry interns waiting to see what delicious food is left over! As you can see, the role of Company Manager is key to keeping The Rep’s guest artists happy and healthy, which in turn leads to the smooth functioning of The Rep. The Company Manager, and specifically with Dawn in that role, plays a big part of keeping morale high at The Rep. Her work may be hidden behind the scenes, but it makes The Rep a great place both on and off stage. Thanks for everything you do, Dawn! Cindy E. Moran, PR Director (If you would like to get in on all the fun for one of this year’s Sundown Suppers, please contact committee chair Cathy Stadler at cathystadler@yahoo.com, 414-524-5324 or 414-807-8160. If you would like to become a member of The Friends of The Rep, please go to page 16 for details.)
A FEW FUN COMPANY MANAGER
FACTS FROM THE 2008/09 SEASON |
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