A Chat with Sarah Deutsch
Jan 19, 2008 People
Thanks for coming back. =). Glad to see you. If there's anything I can do for you, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me an email, or leave a comment, introduce yourself. I'd love to connect with you. Or if you have your own blog, why not let me promote your work?
Sarah Deutsch is a really inspiring and creative person. She’s the founder of the Drama Farm, a cool project which aims to bring a new look to education, specifically in the theater/drama sector. She also runs a personal assistant company, Pinkleberry Services, so if you need someone to help with errands, project management, etc, look her up.
Anyway, Sarah’s kindly agreed to share about her experience with building the Drama Farm, as well as a bit about being a personal assistant. She has some simple, but really good, advice on building something new, and a great perspective on freedom and education. So without further ado, the interview with Sarah Deutsch.
Firstly, could you introduce yourself – what you’re doing now, how you got there, etc?
My name is Sarah Deutsch, and I’m currently a part-time theatrical stage manager, as well as running my own personal assistant/errand service, Pinkleberry Services. I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and started working backstage at local theatres there when I was 14. After graduating from high school, I went to Carnegie Mellon University, where I studied technical theatre (specifically stage management).
After finishing college, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where I worked as a stage manager in the Masters of Fine Arts program at American Conservatory Theater for four years. I love working in the theatre, but after four years at ACT, I felt the need to step back a little bit, and find a way to continue doing theatre while allowing myself the time to live my life the way I wanted to (like seeing my family for more than 30 minutes a day!) I wanted to be self-employed, to allow myself the freedom to take on theatre work when I wanted to, while making a living without devoting my whole life to my theatre work. I also wanted the flexibility to devote some time to the Drama Farm, a project that I’d been thinking about for years but had never had the time to put into action. I was already running errands for friends in my free time, so it was a natural step to turn it into a real business and start taking on other clients. And Pinkleberry Services was born!
What’s it like being a personal assistant? What do you enjoy about it?
Hm. I think the thing I enjoy most about being a personal assistant is that the work is constantly changing. I get to meet a wide variety of people – from doctors to small business owners to artists – and the work I do for each of them is totally different. Almost all of it involves helping my clients get organized in some way, whether it’s setting up a filing and billing system for their office, or figuring out how to best use the storage space in an artist’s studio – but that’s where the similarities end. Every new job is a new challenge, which I love – it keeps me interested and excited about my work, far more than I’ve ever been in a full-time job.
How does being a personal assistant that coincide with the “freedom” of being self-employed that you mentioned? Most people would see that as working for someone else, wouldn’t they?
I am technically working for someone else every time I take on a job, but in the bigger scheme of things, I’m much more autonomous than I would be if I was working as a full-time employee within a larger company. SInce I’m self-employed, I’m really my own boss – I decide when and how much I want to work, and I only take on that many clients. Once I started getting a lot of business, it also gave me the freedom to pick and choose which jobs I wanted to do, which allows me to schedule my personal assistant work around my other projects.
How did you get the idea for the Drama Farm?
The summer after my junior year of college, I participated in a joint program between Carnegie Mellon and Queen Margaret’s University in Edinburgh, Scotland. A group of students from Carnegie Mellon spent six weeks in Edinburgh, and together with a group from Queen Margaret’s, we collaborated to produce a show for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. We spent three weeks working together on creating this production, and it was the first time I’d ever gotten the chanceto commit myself fully to my work. There were no classes or homework to get in the way, so all I had to focus on was stage managing the show. It was the best of both worlds – all the benefits and safety of an educational environment, without the distractions of being in college.
In talking to friends and colleagues since then, I’ve come to realize that not many people have the chance to experience something like that. The typical journey of someone working in the theatre is to go from college, where the time spent working on productions is constrained by all of the other demands of academic life, straight into the working world, where deadlines are always imminent, and very little time is spent on education. You learn by doing, but there’s a lot of pressure to do it right, and do it right now. I felt that my experience in Edinburgh was like a stepping-stone between those two worlds – a place where I could work in a real-life environment, and learn from what I was doing, but at the same time I was aware that the focus was on learning, not on creating a perfect product. These ideas rolled around in my head for a long time, and slowly, the idea of building the Drama Farm started to emerge.
What’s the process of building the Drama Farm been like? Any lessons/experiences that stick out?
The process of building anything new definitely has its ups and downs – the biggest lesson that I learned is not to get discouraged when people aren’t as excited about your idea as you are. Of course they’re not – it’s your idea, not theirs. It’s been consuming all of your thoughts for months – maybe even years – but to others, it’s just a cool idea (or maybe a crazy idea) that they find sort of interesting (hopefully!). Just because other people aren’t as passionate about your idea as you are, it doesn’t mean it’s not worth pursuing. Keep at it long enough, and chances are you’ll find someone who IS as passionate as you are, and then you’ve got it made. Having a co-schemer – someone who’s excited about the Drama Farm and wants to be by my side the whole way, helping make it happen – has been an absolute lifesaver for me. We bounce ideas off each other, and we feed of of each other’s enthusiasm. It’s great to know that someone shares your vision – it makes you feel a lot less crazy for pursuing your dreams, and it’s the best motivator there is…
The other big thing I’ve learned is that you should talk to everyone about your idea – but take all of their opinions with a grain of salt. The nature of the world is that almost everyone thinks that they know best – but in reality, you’ve probably been thinking about your plans for a lot longer than they have. Think about what they say, and decide which parts you agree with – you can incorporate those into your vision, and file the rest away for later (or just trash them completely). Don’t assume that because someone is an “expert”, they must know better than you!
You talked about your co-schemer, and I agree completely with the importance of it. Is your team only the two of you so far? And how did you go about finding a co-schemer? Any tips for the readers?
Right now, the two of us are really the core of the project, and we’ve got a few friends who have expressed an interest in helping get the Farm up and running, but won’t be as intimately involved in running the program as we are. As for finding your co-schemers, I think the most important thing is to find someone who you know you can work closely with, who shares your passion and excitement for what you’re doing, but at the same time is very different from you. My co-schemer (who must go un-named for now) is a good friend who I’ve known for several years. As soon as she heard about my ideas for the Drama Farm, she jumped right in and starting thinking about how she could fit in and what she could contribute to the project. She was passionate about the idea, but she looked at it from a totally different angle than I had been, which has led to some great improvements on our plans. There’s no way the Drama Farm would be where it is right now without her involvement.
My one big warning if you’re on the lookout for a co-schemer: Make sure it’s someone you wouldn’t mind having in your family, because chances are, they’re going to become family before you’re done with your scheming!
From talking to you, I know you to be quite well-versed in the social media scene (reading Chris Brogan, Chris Garrett’s blog, etc). How do you think that has helped you in what you’re doing now?
I’m actually not *that* well-versed in social media – I really started getting into a year or so ago, when I stumbled upon Chris Brogan’s blog. As I started to learn more about the world of social media, it seemed like it could be a really good way to reach out to current and recently-graduated college students, to get them involved in the creation of the Drama Farm. I wanted to get the word out about what we’re doing, but I also wanted to get their input and ideas on our plans. Ultimately, I’d like to start a conversation among students, educators and theatre professionals about the direction we’re taking the program and what we can do to improve on the ideas we have. It seemed like social media was a good way to make that happen. So far all we’ve got is the Drama Farm Blog and the beginnings of a Ning network, but as things get rolling we hope to find a wider audience and build a real conversation.
Where do you see the future of the Drama Farm (for example, do you see it becoming a full-fledged accredited school, etc) – and for that matter, yourself? What do you see for 2008/in future?
Ultimately, we’d like the Drama Farm to be a respected enough institution that university theatre programs would be willing to give their students course credit for spending a semester at the Farm – much like an internship or semester abroad program. Whether that means becoming accredited or not, we’re not sure yet – it may be as simple as working with some of the top universities to make sure the Drama Farm program meets the requirements of a professional internship. That’s a long way off, though – to start, we’re going to put together a summer pilot program, to see how the whole thing works and to get some feedback from real students on how to improve it.
Due to some logistical constraints (we’re moving our whole operation back to Pittsburgh in early 2009), we’re planning to use 2008 as a sort of “Research and Development” year. We’ve got a few big planning and organizational goals that we’d like to achieve before we really get the ball rolling on the pilot program, so we’ll be focusing on those this year – and on building the Drama Farm community, so we’ve got as many supporters behind us as possible when we’re ready to roll. I’ll be posting more details about all of this on our blog in the next few weeks, so if you want to get involved, stay tuned!
Obviously you’re more into the drama/theatre scene, but on a whole, how do you think that the principles and ideas behind the Drama Farm could/should be applied to other areas of education?
I didn’t realize it when I started thinking about the Drama Farm, but our program is largely based on the principles of informal learning – basically, working in your chosen field and learning the ins and outs through experience, rather than being trained in an academic setting first. The idea is to create a work environment that’s conducive to learning – make sure there are resources at the fingertips of your workers, so that when they discover something that they don’t know, it’s easy for them to go find that information and integrate it into their work. I think academic learning definitely has its place – it’s great for giving students a solid foundation – but I think the “learn as you go” approach could be put to much wider use than it currently is. Jay Cross wrote a great book on informal learning – he’s a lot more articulate than I am on the subject, so I’d definitely recommend checking it out. =)
If you could sum up what the Drama Farm stands for in one word/phrase, what would it be? And why?
One word or phrase, huh? It’s kinda funny that you should ask that, because it’s something I’ve been struggling with for close to a year now. The Drama Farm is such a complex idea, with so many parts, that I’ve been having trouble coming up with a clean, concise way to describe it. It’s about theatre education, but it’s also about real-world experience. It’s a new way of looking at learning, but it’s also a chance for students to throw off the weight of “education” and just have fun doing what they love.
Sounds like a cool idea? Go check it out, and see how you can help out.
[?]5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do
Jan 8, 2008 Uncategorized
The title’s self-explanatory. Gever Tulley, the founder of The Tinkering School, presents 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do. A refreshing outlook, especially considering how overprotected kids are becoming nowadays (they’re even censoring Santato ‘protect children’). Giving kids more freedom will only make them stronger and smarter, and in the long run, safer.
[?]Tags: freedom
Mi Casa es Su Casa
Dec 27, 2007 Uncategorized
Ok, maybe not my literal house. But this blog, my “virtual home”, if you will, is yours as much as mine. And in the spirit of Christmas, I thought I’d mention this.
This blog is licensed under Creative Commons. Without going into too much legalese, here’s what it means for you. It means you can take my content, and use it in any way you want, with just two conditions. Firstly, if you give me credit by linking to the site. And secondly, if you’re using it for a non-commercial use.
Why this license? Because I would love for you to take my content. I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions on what I write. But I’d love credit and a link, not only for my ego (though it does play a part), but also to make it easier for me to track the conversations. So I can join in any conversations instigated by the things I write.
So please. Take my content. Reproduce it. Add your thoughts. It’d be an honor to have my content out there.
[?]Tags: Announcements, blogs, collaboration, freedom, web 2.0
"Sui Generis" College
Nov 27, 2007 Uncategorized
Jeff Pulver asks the question of “How would You Reinvent College?“
You probably know by now that I think the formal education system is broken, and I’m glad to see more and more people challenging it. And I just can’t resist the invitation to add in my thoughts on this. So if I had the chance to build a “Sui Generis” College, this is what it would be like.
My college would be all about opportunities. Giving students opportunities to pursue and explore what they are interested in, to let them forge their own path.
The first thing I’d implement in order to achieve that is the policy of 20% time. Like what Google does. In my college, students will be allowed to pursue whatever they want in 20% of their time. It’s something I mentioned in an earlier post, and I’ll just repeat it here. “If a student is interested in business, let him use that time pursuing a business opportunity. If he’s interested in music, why not let him use that time maybe composing songs? For students interested in drama, how about letting them plan and produce their own performance? If he’s into soccer, let him spend that day creating their own freestyle tricks (maybe even record a personal instructional/showcase DVD).” Let them explore their own path, and give them the freedom to. This segment would be ungraded, of course.
Secondly, I would let students hold their own classes. If the students have something they are interested in, or something they are passionate about, let them hold a class to teach other students (or even the faculty). Something similar to the unConference rules, where anyone can host a session, I’d allow students to run their own class. It would firstly pass the responsibility to the students themselves, to take charge of what they are doing. And it would also train them in terms of public speaking and presentation. And even management skills (because teaching isn’t just about talking and presenting, is it? It’s just as much about interacting with the people in the class.)
Thirdly, and again in accordance to the unConference rules, I’d want to introduce the “law of the 2 feet” in my college. Students would be allowed to leave classes (quietly, of course) if they feel they aren’t learning anything from that session. They wouldn’t be forced to stay in any place or follow a fixed schedule. It would be in their hands. If they aren’t learning in one class, let them go to another class and explore. Students wouldn’t be required to have registered in that class or anything. I would go so far as to say students won’t be required to register for class. Attendance wouldn’t be compulsory. Students would be required to be on campus during specific hours, and during those hours, they can attend whatever classes seem interesting. If nothing appeals to them, they would be free to just hang out in the corridors and talk. It would encourage discussion and conversation, and help build community.
A fourth policy I would implement would be a regular party/social event. Maybe monthly or so, where the school would just host and run a gathering. Just get a hall, with drinks and snacks, music in the background, etc. I would do this almost as a class, part of the curriculum, perhaps (students could be required to attend a certain number of these parties before they graduate). The purpose is to allow students to interact with each other. So many people have talked about how one of the biggest advantages of college is the people you meet there. I completely agree with that, so my college would explicitly encourage and mandate that interaction.
Fifthly, and finally, a lot of this would require a very different grading system. Having no fixed classes would mean that standard exams are impractical. Students would each have a mentor who attends to them individually and helps them in their education. And they would be graded with narrative evaluations and comments from their peers and faculty, instead of letter grades. A narrative evaluation also reduces the fear of failure among students, and make it less about beating others and getting the best grades, and more about learning to the best of their ability. This isn’t exactly a new feature, but that’s definitely one thing I would have.
Of course, all these would require a very good admissions office and faculty. Students admitted would need to be self motivated. So, my admission process for students would be similar to how 37signals recruit their staff. Quantitative grades would be of low priority in admission. The majority of the admission decision will be based on qualitative things, reviews from others, the student’s past work, interviews, written essays. And of course, a quick Google search to see what they stand for, and what they are known for. As for staff and faculty, they would be required to be professionals in their field, and also go through a similar qualitative review to ensure that they will help build the community and encourage innovation and creativity among students. They have to be devoted to the students and to education.
My college would be something like that. It would be all about giving the students the opportunity to explore and the encouragement to try new things. It would be about truly being who you are and having the freedom to pursue your passions. Oh, and on that note, I would have Personal Branding courses as well, in my college.
Now, who’s willing to give me a building and/or cash to support this? Haha. If so, you can send cash via Paypal to derrickkwa@gmail.com
But on a more serious note. What about you? How would you reinvent college? What would you do to make college worth the time and money, such that you would wholeheartedly want to go there yourself, and send your kids there?
[?]Tags: creativity, education, freedom, opportunity
Sui Generis Weekly #1
Nov 7, 2007 Uncategorized
Well, I announced last week that I would start a podcast soon, so here it is! You can subscribe from here. I’ll integrate the subscription into my blog as soon as possible, once I figure out the best way to do it.
Anyway, here’s the first episode of Sui Generis Weekly (yes I know it’s not the most creative name, but I couldn’t come up with anything else. If you’ve got ideas, all suggestions are welcome). It’s currently hosted on Podango because I’m having trouble uploading to Ourmedia (which is also why I didn’t manage to get it up last night as I wanted).
Covered in this podcast:
– PodCamp Boston
– Personal Branding Talk by Mitch Joel
– Google OpenSocial
– Android and the Open Handset Alliance
It’s not the best quality and I know my voice isn’t that good either, but I promise that over time, as I get more used to doing this, I’ll get better.
As mentioned in the podcast, all music was from Natalie Gelman, an awesome artist who’s definitely worth checking out.
[?]Tags: android, freedom, google, open handset alliance, opensocial, personal branding, podcamp, podcamp boston, sgw
