Organized Chaos

Our office at ATC usually falls into that oxymoronic category of "organized chaos." Things may look completely uprooted and insane, but there tends to be a method to all the madness, and in the end we make things work.

Today I had to set up the lobby at the Herberger Theater Center. We don't own the space, so whenever we are performing a show there we "brand" the lobby with all things ATC so our patrons will know they are at an ATC show. Setting up the lobby isn't very difficult, but I had to do it myself this time since Heather is gone and Joe is on vacation.

So, there I am, doing the manual labor part of my job when I realize that I have brought the wrong easels with me. ARG. Now I have to go back to the office and get the right easels--which is baffling me as I'm driving because I don't remember seeing any other easels. Sure enough, I get back to the office, and I cannot find the easels anywhere. I've now enlisted the help of Sara, and the two of us are hunting around the marketing office, looking for black easels that (and now I remember) should be in skinny white and orange boxes. Our conversation goes something like this:

Sara: Are you sure they're in here?
Me: Yes. Heather and I brought them in here when we broke down the lobby for Bad Dates.
Sara: Where did you put them?
Me: Right here (I'm on my hands and knees) by Joe's desk.
Sara: Could they be downstairs?
Me: I don't see why. This doesn't make any sense. They are always right here by Joe's desk.
Sara: Can you text him (meaning Joe)?
Me: No. His phone won't work. I think I'm going to have to call Jonathan (Now realizing I don't even have Jonathan's number, just a head's up from Joe that I might be texted by him through Jonathan's phone).
Sara: Who's Jonathan?
Blah . . . Blah . . . Blah . . . Explain to Sara who Jonathan is . . .
Me: Joe cleaned up before he left . . . Where would he have put the easels?
Sara: Yeah, this is the cleanest I've ever seen this place.
Me: Unless he put them in the closet (open closet door)
Sara: And there they are!
Me: Right where they should be all the time, instead of on the floor near Joe's desk.

The beauty is, no one who attends Hank Williams: Lost Highway at the Herberger Theater Center will know about my messy office. They'll just see beautiful photographs displayed on easels.