by Victoria Rios. @dontcallmecarrots (Instagram), @not_carrots (Twitter).
CLEARWATER, FL - Local furloughed House Manager Stacie Woodley isn’t letting the COVID-19 theater closures get her down. Since losing her job at Calmwater Performing Arts Center, Woodley has continued to practice her nightly house management routine by flicking the dining room lights on and off to let her parents know it’s time for the dinner, the young manager confirmed.
“I have to stay on top of my game for when the theaters start hiring again in a couple of months,” says Woodley, who has moved back in with her parents. “My house management skills have proven to be extremely useful in my everyday life. I’ve started flashing the lights in my house to let my parents know when dinner is ready. Sometimes I don’t know which room they’re in, so I use the breaker switch in the garage. We all get a big kick out of it.”
Woodley also makes sure to remind her parents to turn off their cell phones before they go to bed, and is “totally prepared” to mediate if there’s ever an argument about who sits shotgun in the car. Don Woodley, a prominent orthodontist and Stacie’s father, disagrees with his daughter’s assertions.
“Stacie is in complete denial,” noted Mr. Woodley. “Her skill set is useless outside of her job, and I don’t know how much more of her nonsense my wife and I can take. Our electricity bill is enormous because of the incessant light flashing! And don’t even ask me how many times Stacie has asked me to quiet down when opening a bag of peanut M&Ms.”
Even local mail carrier Richard Galloway has been affected by Woodley’s actions.
“When Stacie first moved back, I noticed she was always standing by her front door, waiting to say hi to me. I thought she might be into me,” Galloway quipped. “So last week, instead of leaving the mail in the mailbox, I decided to hand-deliver it. When I handed it to her, she just smiled, took the mail, ripped it in half and handed half of it back to me. She told me to ‘Enjoy the show’. That chick is nuts.”
At press time, Woodley hopes to inspire other theatre workers to incorporate their duties into their daily routines as well, noting that if she “can inspire just one theatre employee to live every moment like it's 15 to curtain, then I’ve done my job. Speaking of jobs, are you guys hiring?”