7 Lessons I learned in 2015 After Quitting My Job and Saying “NO” to Adulthood

By Elena Perantoni

After almost 10 years of working in an office, I left my 9-5 job in June of 2015 to work for Available Light and as a trainer at Fit Club. It’s been a crazy 6 months of firsts, doubts, and reassurances. Here are a few things I’ve learned (and am still learning) since June

1. It’s not going to be amazing at first.

Or after 6 months, or maybe even after a year. A quotation by Picasso popped up when I was deciding whether or not to leave my job, and it’s stuck with me for most of this year: “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” Turns out I love people, and I want to give them the gift of fitness and theatre. And how amazing is it that I am in a position to do so?! It’s incredibly rewarding. Difficult at times, yes. But the good outweighs the difficult ALL THE TIME.

2. Learn to trust other peoples’ trust in you

This is perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned all year. If and when you are ever in a position to be given creative freedom by someone  you respect and trust, TAKE IT AND RUN WITH IT! They obviously trust you for a reason; accept it as a gift, work hard, and prove them right.

3. Never stop striving for a good life/work balance

When your day is delineated by a “clock in/clock out” time, it’s easy to distance yourself from work when the whistle blows (I’m picturing the opening credits to the Fintstones – “YABBA DABBA DOOOO!” No? Okay). But when you work randomly throughout the day, you must remember to take breaks and give the work a rest! If you know you’ll work in the morning and in the evening, make sure you take a few hours in the middle of the day to shut the computer off, stop checking your email, and RELAX. Work can wait. Your time is valuable (refer to #6)

4. Grocery shopping at 2pm on a Tuesday is amazing.

5. You are not done yet.

Changing your professional direction in life means always looking for and attaining new skillz. Every day is a lesson in “Okay, that didn’t work, let’s try something new.” You are a constant work in progress (and thank GOD that you are!).

6. Your time is REALLY F**KING VALUABLE

This one has been hard for me to rationalize. “Imposter syndrome,” the feeling that you’re perpetually getting away with something (i.e. feeling like a fraud) is real. I work hard, and I recognize that I work hard, but I can’t help but worry sometimes that I don’t deserve the opportunities I’ve been given. Self esteem is rough, especially when you’re trying something incredibly new at the age of 32. Learn to trust others when they say you’re doing a good job; take their praise and run with it, and remember you are a brilliant and exceptional snowflake.

7. Don’t Wait.

In typical AVLT fashion, this little nugget of advice has been my mantra for the last few months. This one’s pretty self explanatory. YOU know when it’s time to start a new phase; trust your gut and go with it. You’ll discover a lot about yourself.

To an incredible 2016!

Here are eleven cultural artifacts I’m happy to endorse here at the end of 2015. I’ve got four books, five records, one movie, and one Netflix show to share, with minimal commentary.

BOOKS

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
This is not for the faint-at-heart; a friend of mine told me “Be warned. It will shatter you.” And I’ve lately spent a lot of late nights crying and reading and reading and crying. The only reason to set this compulsively readable book down is to contemplate some of Yanagihara’s more beautiful passages. It’s certainly the best book I’ve read in a while, probably since Wolf Hall.

Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt
This book is funny, yes, and talks a lot about a lot of great movies, yes. But really he’s taking a stab (multiple stabs) and what art is for and why anyone would bother and some of the darker corners of the psyche that lead to this dilemma in the first place.

Not that Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
I’m not sure I’m the intended audience for this book, but boy did I learn a lot. Lena’s troublesome in some of her actions and statements, but she’s also deeply thoughtful and watching her process and struggle is entertaining and often enlightening.

The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber
The saddest science-fiction book I’ve read. It’s about a pastor sent into space to minister to a newly encountered race of beings (AKA “aliens.”) Like some of my favorite sci-fi books, the genre trappings are the setting but not the point. This is a meditation on faith and love, deeply mysterious and moving.

MUSIC

Kamasi Washington – The Epic
It’s almost unfair; this is a TRIPLE album of jazz augmented by a blistering imagination. The first track is called “Change of the Guard” and that’s what this is. Whatever modern jazz you’ve been listening to for the last 10 years, forget it. This is a line in the sand and Kamasi has left everyone in the dust.

Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
Lou Reed came back as a 28-year-old from Australia with a wicked sense of humor and a killer back-up group.

Four Tet – Morning/Evening
Two tracks: “Morning Side” and “Evening Side.” Use as directed.

Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment – Surf
It’s kinda-sorta the new Chance the Rapper album, but he’s just part of the band. This is optimistic hip-hop-funk-gospel-new-jack-southside experimentation and celebration music. Don’t sleep.

Hamilton – Original Cast Recording
Yes, the hip-hop-n-history musical that Mom & Dad know about from “60 Minutes.” That fact that this exists is no surprise. The fact that it’s taken the world by storm like nothing since RENT is astonishing. The music is fantastic, the concepts it’s bringing to the main-stream are even more significant. You can’t afford to see it, so get the record and rap along until it tours the world.

MOVIE

Spy
Maybe the most fun night of my year was when Acacia and I ran in to see this at the last minute in a tiny, old theater (Thank you, Barneses.) in Chapel Hill, NC. We laughed like little kids attacked by the Tickle Monster.

Netflix Show

Master of None
Aziz can be pretty annoying, but he’s decided to using his modest fame to question everything, and I really respect that. It helps that the show bears more resemblance to an old Woody Allen film than to anything on broadcast TV.

Did you miss our Season Announcement Party? Don’t worry, we’ve got all the details right here. This is, in fact, almost exactly what we read to the crowd. There’s much more to come, so stay-tuned to avltheatre dot com.

Feed Your Soul ’15
August 29, 2015 @ The Riffe Center for the Arts
Mark your calendars for the sixth edition of the most fulfilling fundraiser in town. Feed Your Soul returns with Columbus’s most creative silent auction, good eats for all, and a one of a kind performance.

The Grown-Up
Written by Jordan Harrison // Directed by Eleni Papaleonardos
We’ll kick off the season with this sad, funny, time-bending adventure about how to survive growing up. NPR called it “charming and painfully universal.” All we’ll tell you now is that it involves a empty stage, a magic doorknob, and an extended metaphor about the power of of imagination and storytelling.

One Night with Available Light
October, December 2015 and April 2016
This year we’ll introduce a series of one-night-only performances in which Available Light will stage consequential plays that every theatre-goer should consider essential viewing.

Dedalus (A Portrait of the Artist)
Adapted by Matt Slaybaugh from A Portrait of an Artists As a Young Man by James Joyce
November 2015
Here’s a surprise: Available Light wants to adapt a strange and difficult novel into a strange and challenging stage-play. This time around the book is A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, which celebrates its Centennial in 2016. This will be, of course, a radical adaptation, titled “Dedalus” after the main character of Joyce’s novel. In our version, Stephen Dedalus will be played by a dozen different actors as the play twists through the dreams and memories of a blossoming artistic soul.

The Next Stage Initiative 2016
January 2016
The Next Stage Initiative returns with 6 hot playwrights and their works in progress, including at least one play destined for production in a future AVLT season. As usual, it will be six nights of new collaborations, co-produced by Jennifer Schlueter of OSU and the for/ward company.

Jane Austen’s Pride@Prejudice (On Tour!)
Written by Daniel E. Kramer // Directed by Eleni Papaleonardos
Spring 2016
A crowd favorite is back by popular demand. Available Light will hit the road once again with a show that requires no introduction. We have unfinished business with places like Dublin, New Albany, Westerville, and Granville. We hope to meet all our suburban neighbors at the theater for performances of this beloved classic.

Thom Pain (based on nothing)
Written by Will Eno // Directed by Matt Slaybaugh
February 2016
Playwright Will Eno has been called “a Samuel Beckett for the John Stewart generation.” If there’s such a thing as stand-up existential comedy, this play, “Thom Pain (based on nothing),” is it. Company Member Jordan Fehr will perform this surreal, one-man meditation on the way life never quite lives up to the awesomeness of living.

24 Hr Thtr 2016
March 2016
One Friday night last fall, we gathered more than 30 amazingly talented local actors, playwrights, directors, and theatre-makers, and gave them 24 hours to create six original works. And we had a blast. We made new friends, rekindled old partnerships, and filled Studio One to the brim for a raucous one night only slugfest. When it was all over, everyone said the same thing: “We have to do this again next year.”

Robin & Peter Hersha present… as yet untitled
Directed by Eleni Papaleonardos
May 2016
To cap off our season, the entire company will – for the first time ever – work together to create a single show: Robin & Peter Hersha present… AS YET UNTITLED. Amongst ourselves, we call it “Body Movin” or “Dance Dance Revolution,” and suffice to say, it will be physical. Recognizing how easily we disconnect from our bodies in the digital age, we’ll explore what it means to have a body, how to find joy in inhabiting our bodies, and the many ways we’ve forgotten about how our bodies relate to the world. 

And… that’s the season. We’ve got new staff, new leadership, new programs, new shows, and new opportunities for up-and-coming artists to make their Available Light debut. It going to be a huge year for anyone who’s into what Available Light’s is up to.

But, as you may have heard, there is one more thing.

Follow this link to support our new season and our dream project about Columbus: http://avlt.co./dont-wait-columbus

Available Light announces auditions for our 2015-16 Season. We seek actors who reflect the robust diversty of our beloved community – performers of all ages, sizes, shapes, colors, and types.

OPEN CALL – Saturday, June 6, 10am-2PM
OPEN CALL – Tuesday, June 9, 7-9:30pm

@ the Vern Riffe Center, 77 South High St., rehearsal rooms – Enter on State Street, go to the third floor, and take the elevator at the end of the hall to the 4th floor.

Actors will be seen in order of arrival. To jump to the front of the line, sign-up for an audition time here: http://avlt.co/1516auditions

DETAILS – Please prepare two contrasting monologues for a total two minutes or less. (You’ll be timed.) Provide a headshot and resumé if you have them. Please be prepared to fill out a form detailing your scheduling conflicts.

Questions: avltheatre at gmail dot com

Audition Tips: http://avltheatre.com/10-audition-tips-from-avlt/

We will be casting roles for several shows from our 201a5-16 season. For more info watch this space or attend our Season Announcement Party on May 28. Info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/847741071940951/