I was assistant director/choreographer to Eric Love for the Youth Ensemble Studio production at Northern Stage in White River Junction. The whole process was five weeks, starting in February and going on until March 25th. I had a wonderful time. I learned a lot under Eric’s leadership. I was their on the weekends for the first four weeks and then I was there all the time for tech week. This final intense week involved a lot of my energy, responsibility, and lessons. Throughout the process I learned how to effectively communicate, commit, be creative on a time limit, work with boundaries and expectations given by other people, be confident, and work within my position. I needed to communicate with Eric about when I would be at rehearsal, what movement I could do, any questions I had, and my opinions. I needed communicate to with the kids when I was teaching movement or giving notes. I watched Eric communicate and teach the kids, I watched him communicate with the stage managers, sound team, light team, set designers, the costume department, parents, and me and Emmy (the assistant directors). My communication was more direct because my responsibility was more to Eric, Emmy, and the actors than the whole production team. When Eric first asked me to stage a song with Emmy in 2o minutes, our first assignment, we worked well together figuring out ideas. Then I taught this to the three actors and, because I wasn’t super confident about the movement, that came across as I was teaching it. Everyone listened intently, and I wasn’t used to the attention, I could hear myself doubting myself when I spoke. Eric was taking notes on the ideas he liked from what I taught. He took our base and adapted the movement into something that builded. I learned that every scene should have some build, some shift. For that scene, going up on the table did not fit. Eric sent me into a room a couple times to make movement for a couple measures of a song. I’d come back and teach it. A couple times I worked with Eric on adapting some choreography, then right away going to teach it. Doing this came with a lot of responsibility for making movement quickly and making something that would work. I learned throughout the process to just go with what I made even if I didn’t fully feel good about it. Eric would be sure to adapt it if he wanted to. From watching Eric I became much more confident in my capacity and ability to uphold the role of director, perhaps we on my own sometime. I have started to be more critical of lighting, sound, staging, scenic design, props, costumes, and all these components, rather than solely acting and movement. I found myself telling myself I couldn’t give someone a certain note because it wasn’t my place. But, that was my actor brain. As assistant director my suggestions and critiques were valid. I found this experience very valuable. I really think that I want to do more directing. It still seems a little daunting to bring a vision to life all on my own. But like the Pilot program, I should keep in mind that I am independent but not on my own. I think directing my own production would be a long term goal. For now, I think I will work on a dance piece for Dance 32 and take the lessons I’ve learned from Northern Stage to my direction in that project.