I Can Do All the Things!?!?

I can do all the things.  Well, not EVERYTHING.  But, I can do a lot of things.  And part of that is because I am organized.  And part of that is because I am fast.  And determined.  And I don’t sleep as much as I should.  And I have a compelling need to get things accomplished.  And damn it, someone has to do it.  Part of taking responsibility is often because there is no one else there to do the thing that needs to get done.  Or to take care of the thing that needs to be taken care of.  Or take responsibility of the thing whatever that thing is.  And so, if the thing must be done, I am often left doing it.

Two of my cast told me recently that I am “too efficient.”  I was asked, “How can we help you do the things if you have already done the things?”  And then…  then, they proceeded to tell me how hard their lives were and how many snaps they had to sew, and how it was going to take so much time for them.

And in a moment of insanity, I almost – ALMOST – volunteered to sew their snaps (snaps that I already bought for them when I was at the fabric store anyway, mind you.)   I mean, I do sew snaps well.  And quickly.  Not that it is hard, but my snap sewing speed is pretty quick compared to the time that I have seen many other people sewing on snaps.  But I have a lot of shit to do – other shows, other costumes, my day job, my newsletter, promoting the shows, feeding my pets, having a life (oh, wait, I don’t get to do that right now…).  And so, no…  NO, I did not open my mouth and I did NOT offer to sew on snaps.

Because there is this thing called “comparative advantage….”  I learned about it a long, long time ago when I was in college studying business.  Comparative advantage is the ability of an individual or group to carry out a particular economic activity (such as making a specific product) more efficiently than another activity.  In college, we talked about it in relation to business, and industries of various countries.  Wikipedia explains it as:

“Comparative advantage is the economic reality describing the work gains from trade for individuals, firms, or nations, which arise from differences in their factor endowments or technological progress.  In an economic model, agents have a comparative advantage over others in producing a particular good if they can produce that good at a lower relative opportunity cost, i.e. at a lower relative marginal cost prior to trade.  One shouldn’t compare the monetary costs of production or even the resource costs (labor needed per unit of output) of production. Instead, one must compare the opportunity costs of producing goods across countries.”

So, let’s give it a real life example: I may be able to sew on snaps more quickly than other people in actual time spent.  But, I can also spend that same time doing other things – like choreographing, directing, completing other costuming, etc.  The other things may not be things that other people can do or that they can do as quickly or efficiently as I do them.  Therefore, my time compared to their time is better used doing other things.  So, if it takes me one minute to sew on one snap and one hour to choreograph a dance, but it takes them 5 minutes to sew on a snap and 8 hours to choreograph a dance, I have cheaper resource costs (my time) for BOTH sewing on a snap AND choreographing a dance; however, they have a comparative advantage in sewing on snaps over choreographing because the opportunity costs sewing on snaps are relatively less for them (assuming that choreographing a dance has a greater value than sewing on a snap.)  Breaking that down, I can sew on 1 snap a minute, which equates to 60 snaps in the one hour that it takes me to choreograph a dance.  While they can only sew on 12 snaps an hour, that is 96 snaps in the 8 hours that it takes them to choreograph a dance.  So, they have the comparative advantage in snap sewing.

Another situation happened many years ago when we needed about 10 signs painted for a show.  Another woman on the show ended up drawing and painting the signs.  She came over to my house after the show and saw some artsy fartsy painting stuff I did and said to me something like (paraphrased), “I thought you couldn’t paint.”  No, no, I never said I couldn’t paint.  But, I do not paint quickly.  And I had a lot of other things that I needed to do for that show, and those things that I needed to do were things where I had a comparative advantage.  And SHE had a comparative advantage over making signs.  And, really, when it came down to it, I needed her to do something.

So, what is the point of all this?  I don’t know.  Maybe just a strange reason to combine my business administration/finance education skills and my love of crafting together into one long and, perhaps, painful example.  Or maybe, to let you know that even if you think everyone else is better than you at everything, you are, COMPARATIVELY, better at something.  Because you have to be. That is how comparative advantage works.  Also, maybe just get off your ass and go do something.  Why not? Life isn’t all just snaps and choreography.

And you’re welcome.

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Dollhouse Monsters: Director’s Statement

So, I have been busy, but I thought I would share my director’s statement with you for Dollhouse Monsters.  If you don’t have your tickets yet, maybe it will encourage you to get tickets.  If you do have your tickets, then Yay!  I will see you soon at the show!

 

I am so excited to have you come to this intimate show. And I don’t just mean the space (although I do love the atmosphere in Stage Left). While all burlesque shows invite you in to a level of intimacy that may make you a little “hot” or may just make you uncomfortable, this show layers in some mental and emotional intimacy on top of the physical intimacy typically associated with stripping. This show is particularly intimate because it offers biographical moments from each of our main characters, Dee O’s Mio, Lady Malavendra, and Red Velvet. The show isn’t a treatise of our lives and it is not going to be the topic of the next Ken Burns (or anyone else’s) documentary, but it does offer some intimate and some over-the-top moments that have helped shape who we are as performers and as people. The solo acts in this show are a distillation and expression of some of those most vulnerable and, conversely, most powerful, moments. This show is a meandering journey, not through the countryside or the woods, or even the streets of San Francisco, but through our hearts, and our minds, and even creeping a little bit into (shall I dare say it) our pussies.

This show is the co-creation of Dee O’s Mio, Lady Malavendra, and Red Velvet, assisted along by the gentle questions, proddings, and insights of our writer, Eric Pape. As our writer, he observed us and distilled our emotional content into the most salient words and stories – a little different for each of us. He delved out commonalities and differences. Sometimes, he brought out stories that were so buried we hadn’t even realized that they were formative stories. Other times he gave us back our humor in scenes and scenarios we didn’t think were funny at the time.

As burlesque performers, and, really, every day as human beings, we are so used to putting on a persona, to letting people see the façade we wish you to see. But in this show, I believe we have cracked that shell. You may not be able to see our entire vulnerable insides, because we can’t even see that ourselves. But, we have opened ourselves up, seen parts of ourselves we never admitted to anyone else, and let you into some of our most vulnerable moments. Can you see us now?

This is the fifth theatrical/burlesque show I have co-created. With just over ten years of burlesque performing, and in my fiftieth year of living, it should be getting easier. And some of it is. And then there is the rest of it… Taking on the responsibilities of a show of this magnitude is exciting, invigorating, and exhausting all at the same time. Every time I work on a theatrical burlesque show I worry that I won’t be able to create something as interesting, that I have lost my creative talent, that I don’t have what it takes. It helps working with a great theater and a supportive cast who is willing to work with you, try new things, and be vulnerable on stage. A big thanks to The EXIT Theatre, particularly Christina Augello and Amanda Ortmayer who may have pushed a little, but also totally supported, the first burlesque/theatre show, Rebel Without A Bra. They have continued to be supportive, although less pushing is now required. I also appreciate each one of my Velvettes. They came to me to dance and I have made them into dancers, stage hands, prop assistants, dressers, various small parts, disembodied voices, singers, and monsters. They are critical and appreciated. And thanks to Beth Cockrell and Amanda Ortmayer who do the parts that I really can’t do, like lighting design and stage set design. I do a lot of shit. But I can’t do it all, and I can’t do any of it without all the amazing people behind this production… And an audience. Thank you, too!

Hugs –

Red Velvet

Proverb for the Day Archive – June 2019

Hire good people, trust them to do their job, and get out of their way.

I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.

No man is an island, but there are several I would gladly seclude alone on a deserted one.

I could care less, but that would require effort.

If you don’t have something nice to say, say something sarcastic.

A shielded heart will never be pierced, but it can still be crushed.

I don’t want to burn ALL the bridges.  But I have a temper and a match, so don’t tempt me.

Never stop being a good person because of bad people.

Lift others up, but not if it is pushing you down.

Sometimes bad people can drive you to do good things for yourself.

Don’t Friday your life away.

If you don’t know there are other colors of the rainbow, you just get stuck coloring in black and white.

Don’t be a victim of seductive reasoning.

If you don’t laugh occasionally at work you are just setting yourself up to cry when you get home.

The book was better.

I can tell people information, but I can’t make them learn it.

Ignoring me will not make me go away.

Shut up and listen.

Question the validity of information around you.

If you really want to save your soul you have to think about someone other than yourself.

Every day it is more difficult not to tell people what I REALLY think.