Where did you start? What have you learned?

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I called the session ‘Where did you start? What have you learned?’ 

For people trying to make a creative practice work, who are feeling overwhelmed, and don’t know where to begin. 

I had the luck to sit down with many people who have experience, perspective and time far ahead of my own, and were willing to share their reflections with me. I am a director, so some of my takeaways are specific to that practice, but many of them  are applicable across the board. 

My main takeaway – 

- Find community, not connection. It’s not about networking and meeting as many people as possible, it’s about finding the right people and building those relationships. 

- You cannot control where things may go, and that is okay. The real thing to do is just get started – take what is in front of you and the fire within you, and run with it. 

- Open Space process is a really exciting way to shift things – it is the basis state we work in, we put in place the walls which constrict our practice. 

- Look for ways to observe and shadow – just being in the room and absorbing what happens is valuable. 

- Play Readings are a way in – there are organizations looking for people to read and direct new work. It’s a good, low-risk way to see trends in the industry, recognize your own taste, and connect with people who share your creative interests.

- Reach out to publishers and literacy agents – they want directors!

- Don’t set goals too far in the future. 

- Look for work being staged that reflects you. Find those people, take them for coffee.

- Find the work that inspires you. Make a list of plays you want to direct / perform / design. Look for the inspiration.

- Take lots of people for coffee. 

- Often people know more about what is happening in your hometown than you do. 

- Some questions to ask when things feel unstable and risky: How long do I need to feel safe? If I have enough money for x months, than I don’t need to worry about it. Also, if I need a day job, what is the highest I can get paid per hour for the lowest stress? 

- Think about your secret skills – things you have learned through this industry and beyond. What could you get paid for? What can you teach? 

- Don’t just see theatre, connect with the people behind it, find your people through the art, not the events specifically for it. 

- A lot of people start accidentally. They fall into things, take what’s in front of them, embrace the unexpected and make things happen. It’s not about finding the right chance or doing the right things, it’s so much more about doing something. 

Tangible Organizations / Programs Recommended: 

- Theatre 503

- Stage Scripts

- Fringe Festivals

- Brighton Dome

- The Authentic Artist

- The Actors Centre

- Park Theatre

- Devoted and Disgruntled Website

- What Next

I have been challenged to go away and make things happen, to put something in the works. So that is what I shall do.