A Day in the Life of a Head of Musical Theatre at East Carolina University

My day starts with dropping off my two little girls at school. Before that, I make their lunches. After dropping them off, I grab a large coffee from Starbucks. I have it right here.

Then I head to my office. Depending on the day, I'm usually teaching right away. I typically start at 8:30 AM, or I have a meeting. I'm on a committee that chooses the university's annual season.

We select two plays, two musicals, and two theater for young audiences productions each year. A group of faculty members decides on these productions. This involves figuring out who will direct each show, which ones are likely to be popular with our patrons, and which ones will be beneficial for our students' education.

We also consider if we have the students and the design and production capabilities to stage the shows effectively. Then, we need to secure the rights to the shows and ensure we can afford them. It's a significant process to put a season together. We also think about balancing genres, like pairing a drama with a comedy or a large-cast show with a smaller one.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I teach my intro to musical theater class to freshmen. We just finished that this morning from 9:30 to 10:20. Today, we were discussing posture and alignment. Sometimes we do fun activities; we recently made human larynx models out of Play-Doh while studying the anatomy of the voice.

For lunch, I usually eat in my office or a colleague's. I bring a kale salad with me, which I'm really enjoying lately.

In the afternoon, I sometimes teach more. We might have a faculty meeting with the entire school of theater and dance faculty, or an acting area meeting. This meeting includes those who teach acting, movement, stage combat, and voice.

We're currently working on updating the student handbook and our departmental goals. After that, I pick up my five-year-old from kindergarten and then my two-year-old from daycare.

Most days, I'm able to be home with them in the afternoon, which took a lot of effort to arrange. I started my day earlier to make this happen. At least one day a week, they have to stay later for after-school programs because I have afternoon commitments.

Another project I've been working on is my book, which is right here. It's called "Speaking: Every Woman's Guide to Finding Your Voice and Using it Fearlessly." Much of this book was written between 5:00 AM and 6:30 AM, before my kids wake up. I'm generally an early morning person, but I've been letting myself sleep a bit longer now that it's published.

I also work independently with actors, singers, public speakers, and many female executives on their presentation and speaking skills. A lot of what's in the book is related to that work. In the afternoon, I try to get in a workout. Then it's dinner, bath, homework, and the routine repeats.