Making a show!

I’ve always maintained, that the only way to make it in our ‘industry’ is to create your own work. To hunt down every opportunity with the expertise and patience of a ninja. And apparently, when you’re really blessed, sometimes opportunity falls on your lap unexpectedly, with an SMS at eight in the morning on an unexceptional Friday.

I’m not a morning person and luckily for me I tend to rehearse late at night, or work into the early hours of the morning on my dissertation so I tend to sleep in sometimes. So when an SMS woke me up before eight on a Friday morning after I had been up working on my dissertation all hours of the evening it took me a moment to focus on what I was reading. The moment my blurry brain comprehended the message however, I was wide awake.

A contact, and friend, I made a year ago during an audition and call back is involved in a festival aimed specifically at youth. The festival required a dance show, to be choreographed by a female, and he had recommended myself and another girl for the slot. I needed to submit a  name and proposal for an hour long dance show, to be performed 4 weeks from that morning, via SMS, immediately. The thinking cap went on, and a call to my mother and a very creative friend later I had a proposal, I had a title, and I had an SMS. A few hours and a phone call later I had the job. To conceptualize and choreograph and hour long dance show.

That Monday I went in for my very first production meeting as choreographer/director and as I learned from my 30 page long contract I read later that day that my title for this production also encompassed the role of co-producer. Within the frenzy of the past two weeks I have signed contracts, drawn up budgets, planned, re-planned and again reworked the concept and structure of the show. I have laid on my stomach on a tar road taking photos of apples for the poster of the show with my iPad as my camera decided that the appropriate day for it to stop working would be the day that I had to send in my poster. I’ve spent hours downloading music, sourcing costumes and had stretches of doubting whether I was up for what has been put upon my path. Basically, I’ve learned that everything I’ve always known about putting your own show together takes about three times longer than you would think.

The most amazing part of the experience so far has been the people I’ve worked with. Amazing friends who are willing to be in my show for almost no pay. A friend who has far more experience, and a name that carries actual weight in the industry who is willing to not only perform in my show, but has been mentoring me through the process, and has been great help at dispelling my indulgent moments of doubt. Parents who support me, and friends who are happy for me.

After all the paper work, all the shopping, all the emails and all the planning rehearsals truly begin. And its two weeks to curtain up!