Dana Hope, administrative secretary for the dean of the School of Natural Sciences, likes to think of herself as a clearing house in her department.

Hope said concerns filter through her in the School of Natural Sciences so the dean can do his job more efficiently.

On a normal day, this means taking care of writing contracts for the adjunct faculty of the Natural Sciences and acting as office administrator to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Also, Hope journeys across the bridge to Louisville after office hours to her second life as the president of the nonprofit theater organization, The Alley Theater.

The Alley Theater is an organization that brings the art of theater to the community and produces alternative productions that emphasize humor and crowd involvement, as well as providing theater performances for children through their children’s theater program.

Hope said there are many similarities between her job at IU Southeast and her job at The Alley Theater. She said she uses the event planning skills she learned as a theater major to plan the events on campus she is in charge of.

“The very first thing the dean said we had to do was plan the big, yearly alumni luncheon,” Hope said.

She was assigned the event within the first month of working on campus.

“So I felt like I got to shine within my first month of being here,” Hope said.

Melissa Lamanna, biology senior and office worker for the School of Natural Sciences, said working with Hope is fun and exciting.

“We are able to keep the office setting alive,” Lamanna said. “Sometimes filing folders and documents can be very tedious and dull, but, with a good office community, we’re able to have a good time at work.”

While Hope’s title as president of The Alley Theater is one that holds power, she said sometimes her list of responsibilities grows into a list that encompasses the “grunt work” that has to be done as well.

“I am box office manager, I run the children’s theater, I’m a janitor, a bartender and I do whatever else needs to happen,” Hope said.

Hope said, while she works hard, everyone involved in the organization does also.

Working hard not only entails her duties on the organizational side of The Alley Theater, but also the art side itself.

Hope is directing two plays in the theater’s upcoming “Inhuman: A Festival of the New American Undead Theater,” which include “Keep Hope Alive,” by local playwright Gregory T. Fugate and “The One-Minute Zombie F— Play,” by Martin French.

“We sent out a request all over the country for original zombie plays,” Hope said. “We got 50 submissions from all over, chose the top 10, and the entire month of March we’re presenting them.”

Hope said there will be two theaters going at once, and there will be 32 performances between the 10 plays in the four weeks of March.

Hope said she owes her stepfather for getting her into the theater.

“I was 11 years old and always in trouble or bored.  He signed me up for lessons, and it was a long time before I realized I need to keep doing this.”

Hope said she was in and out of theater from that point on, until she met the crew at The Alley Theater.

Even though Hope said she loves The Alley Theater, she was adamant that she loved working at IU Southeast, as well, explaining how both played a big role in her life.

Hope said she wishes there was more pay in the arts, but she was happy to be doing the work with little to no income with the intent of growing the theater.

By ETHAN FLEMING

Staff

ethflemi@umail.iu.edu