281 Offices on the Move

Contributed by Jessica Andrewartha, Development Associate


There in an orange crate in my cubical big enough that I could crawl into it. At least one of my co-workers has already done just that. The orange crate is the physical evidence of the big inter-office move that just happened here at the Huntington. The co-worker inside the packing crate? That’s evidence of the mental toll the move took on all of us.

 Last week, the Administrative Offices of the Huntington Theatre Company were reorganized. It was basically one big fruit-basket turnover as many of us changed offices or cubes to so Finance and HR could be next to each other, making daily operations easier, and so Marketing and Development could be next to each other, making our patron services more streamlined. Of course, a move that big involved a lot of cleaning, purging, well thought-out preparation, and snacks. Lots of snacks.

My highlights of the move:

• The “move lounge” which contained juice, bagels, and sandwiches, as well as very eclectic musical selections and soothing pictures of nature to help us all cope with the moving stress.(Thank you, Michael Comey.)
• The moment (at hour 6) when my co-worker created a circus act using one of the big orange packing crates.
• Finding not one, not two, but three screwdrivers we didn’t know we had in the back of a drawer.
• Going back to my old cubical and discovering that half of one of the walls was gone.
• Watching everyone wander around the office in a bit of a daze trying to find each others' new spaces.
• Being one of the three people managing the move of a lamp known as “Faboo-Kitty,” the “biggest rock star of our office.”

Now my Chewbacca bobble-head, my inexplicable buffalo calendar, and I are all settled into a brand new cube and ready to start the 2012-2013 Season!

Jessica Andrewartha