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First Few Weeks as Producer

In these past three weeks, our theatre company, Railcard theatre have really started well and are on track.  We have written a first draft of our Mission statement and our goal is to produce theatre that is accessible to young people who can relate to our performance.  After doing market research, we have fount that young people aged 16 to 25, like theatre that isn’t too serious or patronising when tackling a serious issue.  As a company, we decided the best way in moving forward with the performance, was by basing our performance around a trainee teacher, using comedy to highlight their journey from University to working life, focusing on their serious and comedic moments during that transition phase of their life.

When I first decided I wanted to take the role of producer, I was nervous as I haven’t really been properly in charge of producing a performance for a theatre company.  However I was also excited, as it is a new adventure in my life and I am motivated to try and make my role as producer succeed for this theatre company.  I feel i’ve got a like-minded, eager and determined set of individuals around me that want to achieve the same thing, that is success that coincides with our mission statement and manifesto.  The main jobs I am doing now as producer, is sorting out the financing and budgeting of our performance.  For example I have to fill out an application form for Arts Council England, to hypothetically what to know if we want funding from a Government body like ACE.  At the moment the main job I am doing is sorting our budget for this performance, so I know and can keep on top of every expense we use for this performance to work out our total income for this performance.  Finally I am researching different on-line sites we can use to help fundraise our performance, as sites like Indiegogo, GoFundMe and KickStarter are good sites that enable the public to help fund our show.  It is a big role I am undertaking, however in the following weeks I hope to remain organised and determined, so I can keep an overall control on this very interesting and unique performance.

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My first few weeks at Railcard Theatre

 

Over the past few weeks as the company formed we first discussed what roles each other would like to take on, what previous experience we have had and what our individual strengths are. After our discussion I was given the role of marketing within the company based on my previous experience. This was a role I was happy to accept as it is an area I have a personal interest in and it gives me the opportunity to learn programmes I have not had previous experience in.

Once we had decided on roles we discussed ideas for our performance.  We had decided that we would like to utilise a verbatim aspect of theatre. We knew that we wanted to target the 16-25 age bracket so each member of the company went and did some market research and found out that the people of that age range would be interested in seeing.  Most of our feedback suggested that we follow a route that would not be too serious, it was the lighter hearted plays which appealed to that age group more.

Over the past week we have been able to start building on our performance and begin the devising process through improvisation.

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Beginning of the End

As we begin the module that will lead us to our last performance of university, I have been asked to fulfill the roles of Co-Producer and Assistant Director in order to assist both the Producer and Director with the many tasks and responsibilities they have. The role of Co-Producer is something entirely new to me and it will no doubt take some getting used to – I personally prefer to be on the stage rather than part of the production team but I feel like this may be something that I could potentially excel at; only time will tell I expect.

Assistant Director is, on the other hand, a position I am much more familiar with. I have never myself been an AD but I am aware of the general roles and duties they must perform in order to aid the Director. I predict that the importance of my role as AD will increase as we come closer to the end of the process and have a script to work from. The roles of Railcard Theatre are as follows:

Zach Begg – Co-Producer/Assistant Director
Rebecca Bierton – Health and Safety Officer/Choreographer
Emily Cooksey – Stage Manager
Chloe Harrison – Director
Chris O’Donoghue – Lighting Designer
Chris Petit – Marketing Director
Emma Rewse – Costume Designer
Lauren Towell – Set Designer
Charlie Watts – Co-Producer/Sound Designer
Laura Welberry – Hair and Make-Up Artist

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Division of Roles

This week Zach Begg joined our group and we began to discuss the roles which needed to be undertaken by members of the company. We evaluated our strengths and weaknesses and with consideration of peoples past experience, decided the roles would be divided as follows:

  • Zach Begg – Co-producer/ Assistant Director.
  • Rebecca Bierton – Choreographer/ Health and Safety Officer
  • Emily Cooksey – Stage Manager
  • Chloe Harrison – Director
  • Chris O’Donoghue – Lighting Designer
  • Chris Petit – Marketing Director
  • Emma Rewse – Costume Designer
  • Lauren Towell – Set Designer
  • Charlie Watts – Co-producer/ Sound Designer
  • Laura Welberry – Hair and Make-up Artist

Having worked as an Assistant Stage Manager for a promenade performance in the past, it was decided I was most suited to the role. Due to the significant workload the falls onto the stage managers shoulders, I will not be taking on a performance role alongside my backstage role.