[0:00] Beyond the Badge is brought to you by

[0:02] the Edina Crime Prevention Fund.

[0:19] My name is Melissa and I'm a 911

[0:21] dispatcher.

[0:24] 911 trying to work on location, but

[0:27] she's got felony warrants.

[0:32] Okay. What are you feeling?

[0:34] I actually have a degree in journalism.

[0:37] So, I worked in newspaper for a couple

[0:39] years straight out of college and then

[0:40] was starting to look for something new.

[0:42] I've always been a multitasker and I

[0:44] like to stay really busy all the time.

[0:47] So, I was like, "Yeah, I could do that

[0:48] for a job."

[0:50] All right. Are you just in the main

[0:51] lobby or are you in a room somewhere? I

[0:54] worried a little bit about if it would

[0:58] eventually get to me and start to like

[1:01] dampen the joys in life, but I knew I

[1:05] knew that if I could get through the

[1:06] training that I could do it just at the

[1:10] core of like what the skills were.

[1:12] Answer the phone, talk on the radio at

[1:14] the same time, type really fast. I knew

[1:17] I could do those skills if I could just

[1:19] kind of like make it through the

[1:20] training process and be able to handle,

[1:22] you know, the heightened callers, the

[1:23] emotional callers. And when you go into

[1:26] the job, you think that's what it's all

[1:27] going to be. You're like, "Oh my gosh,

[1:29] every person is going to be super upset.

[1:30] Every person is going to be screaming,

[1:32] yelling, crying, and it's not."

[1:34] 348 for a description.

[1:36] Go for it. 1309.

[1:41] Eventually, you do start to get a little

[1:43] burned out. You get compassion fatigue

[1:45] is a huge word in our industry. Like you

[1:47] just

[1:48] after 12 hours of it every day for 10

[1:51] years, at some point you just can't

[1:53] muster up the emotional capacity to even

[1:56] like get halfway there.

[2:01] You can work your way through it or you

[2:04] can burn out and decide that you're done

[2:06] with the career, with the industry.

[2:11] What makes you laugh? what makes you

[2:13] happy and then doing other things to

[2:15] remind you like people are people.

[2:32] We are at Waconia High School and we are

[2:35] four weeks into our 7-week rehearsal

[2:38] period for The Wizard of Oz, which is

[2:40] our first community theater production

[2:42] in Wakonia in

[2:44] at least 20 years. Coordinated chaos

[2:47] because all this this is organized.

[2:50] I know where it all is. Do need to sneak

[2:52] behind you and get monkey stuff though.

[2:54] This works.

[2:54] Perfect. Awesome. I have been doing

[2:59] theater since I was about six.

[3:04] Initially, when I was new, people were

[3:07] like, "Oh, okay." You know, it's not

[3:10] something that really goes with law

[3:13] enforcement. Now, they're not surprised

[3:14] at all.

[3:20] All right. So, let's start right on 37.

[3:25] All right, here we go. One, two, one,

[3:27] two. Ho ho ho ho ho ho and a couple of

[3:31] drums. I'm also conducting the pit

[3:34] orchestra for this because that's where

[3:37] I got back into theater as an adult was

[3:39] on like the instrumental side of things.

[3:42] I played piano in a bunch of pit

[3:43] orchestras and then kind of worked my

[3:44] way up from there.

[3:51] It helps because it's so completely

[3:54] different. The crises that you run into

[3:58] in theater are nothing compared to like

[4:01] 911 crises of like so and so's not

[4:04] breathing. I can't find my kid. You

[4:07] know, it's so and so's costume ripped.

[4:09] The mic pack battery is dead. How are we

[4:12] gonna get a new microphone to Jack Kelly

[4:15] and Newsies before his big solo on stage

[4:19] [Music]

[4:35] was 100% worth it seeing everybody now

[4:38] that we've come together. The costumes

[4:40] are ready. The music is here. We had a

[4:42] show last night that had 450 people in

[4:44] it.

[4:49] [Music]

[4:52] So, bringing community theater back to

[4:54] the community that hasn't had it in

[4:55] about two decades has been absolutely

[4:57] 100% worth it.

[5:01] [Music]

[5:03] [Applause]

[5:05] The most rewarding in this one is uh

[5:09] conducting the pit orchestra during the

[5:11] show because when things go right, it

[5:14] sounds really, really good.

[5:19] [Music]

[5:21] We've already got people asking what

[5:22] we're going to do next summer. We've

[5:24] proven that we have the talent in this

[5:25] community and the audience is giving

[5:28] that back to us by coming out. So, it's

[5:30] just it's good all around.

[5:32] [Music]

[5:34] [Applause]

[5:48] [Music]

[5:52] [Applause]