Where do I fit in?

  Over the past week I have been looking into many organisations in my field which may open up options for me that I had not previously thought about. I started to look into local community drama groups that would be possible to join. In looking into this it took me back to my days in the drama group I was in , which I mentioned in my previous post, the L.B.C.T, (Leighton Buzzard Children's Theatre; http://www.lbct.org/home/). I thought it would be a good place to start to review the organisation that first made me so passionate about the field of drama, and reflect on what it was specifically that made the group so special, so that when looking into new organisations, I will be able to identify what makes them unique. 

 L.B.C.T was taken over in 1995 by a local drama teacher called Sally Allsopp, and it started off with a small group of children. Nowadays the group has grown to have four different sections, including the mini theatre, (ages 5-8), the children's theatre (ages 8-13), the youth section (ages 13-18) and most recently the advanced theatre company, for over 16's. I joined the group in 1997 aged 8, and was to spend 10 years in the group until leaving for university. I had been on the waiting list for several months, as the group is very in demand. I would say it is the most successful youth theatre group in the area, and has made a very good name for itself in the local community, raising money for various charities, the main being Cancer Research UK. There are fees, which coincide with the dates roughly of the school terms, when I joined it was £30 a term, and for what you get that fee is reasonable. There are no charges for taking a part in specific productions, and costume/props anything needed, is all provided. 

Les Miserables (2005)

 My first show with the group was the musical Oliver, it was from the start, a great and fresh experience. Working so closely with strangers, it is amazing how quickly you become comfortable and during the process of rehearsals, a unique family is formed. This is the beauty of the dramatic art that bonds are formed very quickly, because of the nature of the close working environment, and I think there is nothing more rewarding than seeing the end production that people have been working so hard for. I went on to be in a number of musicals, and straight plays including, Alice in Wonderland, Les Miserables (schools edition), Ring of Roses, The Slipper and the Rose, The Sound of Music, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's dream, and many more. The group also puts on several compilation shows, made up of songs from musicals, and short scenes from well known plays. 

A Midsummer Night's Dream (2004)

 The new section that the group has just opened, the advanced theatre company is something that I would be very interested in joining if I still lived in the area, as I always wanted to continue being involved in community drama, and was very sad when the time came to leave. The advanced theatre company aims to produce more challenging theatre with mature members, and also would like to go on to provide workshops, and coaching for different types of people interested in the field, including educational theatre and experimental theatre. If I could find a local group similar to this one then I think that would be my first area to look at, considering I have not done much work in the community theatre area since leaving university. 

                                            Les Miserables One Day More by Leighton Buzzard Youth Section. 
 
 Community groups like this are of great importance I would say, not only to provide a fun, enjoyable environment, in which people can learn new skills, but also to learn to work as part of a team, and with people of various ages and abilities. The great thing about community arts practice is that anyone can be involved, and that everyone will take away something truly unique from the experience.

MA Creative Futures: Applied Theatre.

  I begin to write this as I embark on a new phase in my life after deciding to undertake the MA in Creative Futures. The strand of Creative Futures which I will focus upon is Applied Theatre. My undergraduate degree is in Drama Studies, which I studied for at Winchester University. During my first year there I also had English as a second subject, but decided in my final two years to focus on my real passion, Drama.
  I have always had an interest in drama since a young age this was intensified when I joined a local organisation in my home town at the age of eight. This organisation known as L.B.C.T (Leighton Buzzard Children's Theatre) welcomed people of age five to eighteen of any ability to participate in community theatre projects. Whilst there I was able to gain great insight into the world of drama by participating in many productions. My time spent in this group was one of the main reasons I went on to choose Drama as my subject for study at University. I spent ten years with the organisation and in this time I experienced working with various groups and individuals of different ages and backgrounds, I was also able to grasp a wide range of styles within the subject. I feel that it is especially important in a field such as drama to be able to apply yourself to working well as part of a dedicated team, whether it is performing on stage, facilitating theatre, or working in the production side of theatre. Even at such a young age I was able to pick up a range of skills necessary to work well in my chosen area.
  Studying at Winchester with the wide range of subject matter and projects covered, my knowledge and skills were advanced, and I became more focused on the idea of Applied Theatre. During my second year I studied a module called Applied Theatre. During this module a group of students undertook a placement at a Pupil Referral Unit. This unit was for young people under sixteen who had been excluded from mainstream education, and all of whom had some form of SEN (Special Educational Needs) such as being on the Autistic spectrum. The placement lasted six weeks and throughout that time we facilitated drama workshops with two groups of Year 7 children. Not only did we want them to enjoy the workshops, we also wanted the children to acquire life skills through drama, such as building their confidence and helping them to learn different ways of social interaction with their peers. Respect and inclusion were our main areas of focus throughout the process. This was my first experience of working in a environment like this and whilst it was of course challenging it was also extremely rewarding, as over the course of the placement it was evident that Drama was having a positive effect on the children's behaviour. This is when I became more focused onto the idea of working more specifically within this area of drama. I then went on to become part of an organisation called Theatre Inc., this was another student led group at the University which worked creatively with children from the care system. Not only through drama, but also dance, music, and art. 
  Since University I have been back to my old school on several occasions to help facilitate drama, and also undertake some assistant directing with the G.C.S.E and A Level students. 
 Throughout University I had always thought that after my degree I would go straight into a P.G.C.E and eventually teach drama. However, through my experiences at University it became clear to me that another route through the field might be something that I was more interested in, and that teaching might be something I would settle into later in life, when I had gained more experience and confidence. 
  After taking a year out to try and decide what it was exactly within the drama sector I wanted to focus upon, I discovered the Creative Futures MA. The more I thought about it the more I thought that it would be the right path for me. I hope that the MA will provide me with more focus, and eventually a more certain direction of where I want to end up whilst still allowing me the freedom to pursue different ideas within the field. I think that I will greatly benefit from learning the business side of my field and being able to be more involved in promoting and advertising projects which I may be involved in and the production side of things. I hope this will help in opening up my horizons on what can be achieved with the knowledge I already have, plus the further knowledge I will gain by undertaking this MA. The course will provide me with many options that I would not necessarily otherwise have. And it will allow me to really explore different areas of Applied Theatre, which previously I may have been too cautious to delve into, and become more involved with projects with the local and wider communities, and eventually introduce me to aspects of the industry and a working life which would have seemed out of reach beforehand.
  One of my strengths is that I have good experience of working with a diverse set of people, of various ages and backgrounds, so I am comfortable being a team player, but also have confidence to become a leader when needed, and can facilitate exercises unaided. I feel it is important to be versatile and I think that this is a quality I possess. When working in the community sector with a wide variety of people it is important to be firm when trying to build up respect, but also to be understanding and maintain a level of compassion within this, whilst also being a reliable trustworthy figure and I would say that my time in different organisations has allowed me to gain this skill. One of my main weaknesses is that having reached a pivotal crossroads in my journey through life, and starting a Masters, I fear that it may still be uncertain what the future holds for me, in regards to just how Drama will be a part of any career goal, and this is something that throughout my studies I would hope will become clear, and I will have a definite direction as the end result. I would say that I do have a certain level of confidence, but through exploring different methods and avenues into the industry whilst studying on this MA it would allow me to have less inhibitions and more self confidence and motivation to reach my full potential and achieve things that I want to but previously would not have had the guidance to do so!