DeAnna McDearmont is the mother of Ryan (15) and Kaitlyn (10) and Managing Director at Studio B Performing Arts in Highland Village. Her husband Scott is a local surgeon and Mayor of Highland Village.
6:15AM Alarm goes off and I get up to start the day.
6:35AM Grab a Diet Coke (my morning coffee!) and let Buddy and Lucy (our dogs) outside and feed them. I also feed Napoleon, Shiloh and Tripod (the cats).
6:40AM Wake Kaitlyn and spend the next 35 minutes making sure she is adequately fed, dressed and generally ready to go to school. Since Kaitlyn has food allergies, making lunch is a daily chore.
6:45AM Go through daily schedule with Scott. We figure who needs to be where and when and who will have pick up/drop off duty for each kid.
7:15AM The grumpy teenager comes downstairs. Don’t talk to him yet.
7:30AM We are in the car and on the way to school—first to Heritage Elementary and then to Marcus High School. Ryan and I talk about what he has coming up during the day and whether or not he is staying after school for theater.
8:00AM Kids are at school, Scott’s off to work and the pets are taken care of—time for Words with Friends and Facebook! I catch up on my 25 or so games and see what is going on in the Facebook world. This is when I usually think of something witty to put in my status.
9:00AM Showered, dressed and out the door to the theater.
9:15AM I love my job! Spend time catching up on accumulated Studio B-related e-mails, updating the Studio B Facebook page, and Web site. Turn on music—I always have music playing. I really love my loaded iTouch and Pandora!
11:00AM Time to work on the summer—yes, I said SUMMER 2011 calendar. How many shows can we fit in a few weeks? This summer we will have a show almost every weekend. I still need to pick two more scripts … I could spend HOURS looking at scripts and pondering the upcoming shows. I love to imagine the set and cool costumes we could use. Finally decide on a whole Fairy Tale theme—Snow White, Into the Woods, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Frog Prince and The Magical Land of Oz (the kids will adore that one!).
12:00PM Scott calls and we end up going to lunch. We have found that having lunch without the kids is much easier than taking everyone out for dinner.
1:00PM Work on submitting press releases for Marcus High School theater department since I serve as publicity chair for the theater booster club.
2:00PM Spend the last hour or so before Kaitlyn gets out of school returning more theater e-mails, phone calls and working on our upcoming class performances that will be in December.
3:10PM Kaitlyn gets home from school and gets started with homework.
3:30PM Pick Ryan up from Marcus and we talk about his day at school. He is preparing for the Thespian convention and was cast in the upcoming production of Li’l Abner at Marcus.
3:45PM Drop Kaitlyn off at voice lessons.
4:00PM I have a couple of hours before I have to be at the theater again for rehearsals, so I work on more theater stuff from home. I prepare audition forms for our upcoming auditions for Annie and start designing tickets for the spring shows. I also work on the spring class flyers and return an e-mail or two regarding fundraisers and t-shirt orders.
5:00PM Kids have to eat. I hate cooking. Kaitlyn is allergic to wheat, dairy, eggs and corn, so it always makes things interesting. She settles for a homemade “pizza” made with a wheat-free crust and dairy-free cheese. No sauce. Ryan settles for leftover pizza. Yes, I am a real gourmet cook.
6:00PM We all head back to Studio B. I am directing the Christmas show and rehearsals start at 7. I need time to work on some choreography and blocking.
7:00PM The Peanutty Christmas cast arrives. I have a cast of 30 kids ages 8 to 19 and they are so much fun! We spend the next two hours learning music, choreography and blocking. This is the best part.
