SEQUIM — Caroline Grace James’ first day on the job as Olympic Theatre Arts’ new executive director began with the seeds of what could’ve been a comedy of errors.
“I was supposed to meet Tracy Williams, the new chair [of OTA’s board],” said James, who stepped into the position July 6.
She arrived promptly and entered the open theater building, and sat down just inside the door to wait.
“I waited for — well, I don’t know how many minutes,” James said.
But apparently no one was there to meet her.
Now, in a stage production, this little situation could lead to unlimited hijinks — mistaken identities, inflamed jealousies, the inadvertent and comic stirring of tensions in a small town.
Luckily, however, Williams was merely waiting in an upstairs office, and both of them decided to go looking for one another.
“Then it occurred to her that, ‘Maybe Caroline wouldn’t know to come up here,’ ” said James.
“So she was coming down the stairs and I was coming up the stairs. That was quite fun.”
Weeks have been busy
The weeks since then have also been “quite fun,” though busy, filled with getting to know the group’s leaders and volunteers, cleaning and taking the reins of an ongoing renovation and expansion project that will allow the theater group to greatly expand its offerings.
She’s also been getting used to the new, more bustling Sequim, which is far different than the one she became acquainted with more than 10 years ago.
James lived, appropriately enough, in Jamestown, “off and on” from 1993 to 1995 after visiting the area with two longtime friends.
After that first trip, she said, “I just fell in love. What can I say? I never looked back from there. I knew I had to come here, and be here.”
There were many more unpaved roads back then, a lot more undeveloped land and a lot fewer people, she said.
There was no fast food, and Jamestown Road where she lived was almost always empty.
“Look at Jamestown Road now — there are over 20 houses on that same piece of land where there was just one,” she said.
Not that she’s surprised — the area’s natural beauty, temperate climate and good location were bound to draw people, and she saw the changes coming during visits in the intervening years.
“I noticed the changes, but now that I’m actually living here the changes are much more in my face,” said James.
“I’m still astonished.”
But, she added, “The mountains are still here, the people are still here … all the things that I loved when I first saw the Peninsula.
“The landscape is beginning to look more and more like other landscapes in America, but the backdrop is just so amazing. It’s changed a lot, but it hasn’t, you know?”
