Unit 10 Careers Interviews: Evaluation

“Using your interviews with Industry professionals, critically evaluate

communication channels used to promote progression within
Performing Arts”

Dramatherapy and enforcing wellbeing practise is vital for emotional and creative safety
for people both within and outside the Performing Arts Industry. I’ve only known about these
job roles for a short time, but I’ve became interested with the idea that I can help people with
something that both the client and I enjoy, whether that be through therapy sessions or
through supporting the development of professional work. During our time preparing for
potential future careers, my class and I were given the opportunity to gain valuable information
from the following Industry professionals:
 Lou Platt – a dramatherapist and wellbeing practitioner
 Anwar Russell – an actor, dancer, and movement artist
 Stuart Waters – a dancer, wellbeing practitioner and training psychotherapist
 Jamaal Burkmar – a choreographer
 Lauren Okadigbo – a stuntwoman and dancer
 Amy Dalton-Hardy – a producer
 Tom Herron – an associate choreographer and director
Even though only a few of them are related to my desired career, every one of them gave me
something to think about regarding finding work and maintaining good reputations and
connections in the Industry.
To start, I’m going to look at the advice given by Lou Platt and Stuart Waters as they’re
the most relevant to my desired career. These interviews gave me a lot of valuable information;
Platt was the first person to introduce me to the phrase ‘wellbeing practitioner’ (a cast or crew
member that helps with the emotionally safe development and performance of practitioners’
vulnerable pieces). I was very happy with this because it explained the safeguarding practise I
was trying to implement within my first year Final Major Project, The Curious Incident of The
Dog in The Night-Time, due to the many triggering topics within the play that could put myself
and the cast at risk. This job gives me the chance not only to help others but to continue making
work about topics that need to be talked about, which is something I strive to do with my
personal work (particularly about autism since I’m diagnosed with it). With my newfound
knowledge, this set me up to gain more valuable information from Waters, as he explained to
me the sort of things a wellbeing practitioner does with examples of activities he has done to
keep the groups he works with safe (or as he put it, in a rational and logical mindset). In the
interview, an example activity he suggested was using regular mood checks to track everyone’s
mindsets through rehearsals and identify those in the group who may not be in the best
condition to complete particularly vulnerable tasks. I’ve tried some of the activities Waters used
in the interview within one or two of my own rehearsals, and I’m grateful to now start putting it
into practise myself. However, even though Platt’s and Waters’ interviews have given me much
insight into what I want to do, I still have little information on how to find work or promote
myself.
This advice has been given to me by the interviewees that aren’t directly linked to my
desired career. Russell, Burkmar, Okadigbo, Dalton-Hardy and Herron all have similar views on
how to present yourself to Industry employers, and even what employers look for within
auditionees (Burkmar and Herron in particular, as they’ve both been a part of casting for their
companies or shows). All the practitioners mentioned something to do with being yourself -
whether that be promoting your unique skills to employers, training and working as the
practitioner you want to be rather than what is traditionally expected, or literally just being
yourself in front of co-workers. This really shone through when each practitioner was talking
about audition and rehearsal etiquette. A suggestion made by Russell regarding pushing for a
particular role made a lot of sense to me; let the employer decide whether that role type is for
you, rather than constantly trying to push a type-cast upon yourself and end up getting no
work. The employer knows what they’re looking for and they will know when they see you in an
interview or audition. Russell also mentioned trying to find jobs which involve something you’ve
never had experience in before and use it as a chance to develop new skills. Both he, when
working for DV8 and with scripts, and Dalton-Hardy, who had learnt many production and
management skills in her first job (though she had trained as a dancer), were proof that this
suggestion is helpful for pushing your career in the right direction or even a new one instead.
Okadigbo and Herron made similar statements to each other, simply explaining it as “energy
speaks” - the type of energy that different workers have can affect the ability of teamwork,
communication and motivation. The ideal work ethic and energies to have within the Industry,
to Herron’s standards, are to be optimistic, friendly and hardworking. Showing that within
auditions and rehearsals can really help workers cement positive working relationships and
keep the motivation of everyone up. Herron explains that even if you’re the most experienced
at what you do but stay distant from others at auditions, you’re less likely to be picked as
you’re not showing those positive energies. However, there weren’t many extreme points
made on trying to find the auditions to practise the sort of etiquette described. Russell told us
about his many exploits on his determination to work with other practitioners, particularly DV8
who had rejected him 5 times before hiring him as a substitute for someone else. I feel like this
experience contradicts the point that he made earlier, as he was very persistent in trying to get
certain jobs. Herron and Dalton-Hardy also seem to agree to using similar persistency when
finding work, and Herron suggested being savvy - essentially doing your homework before
applying for a particular job, using varied resources to find work (such as the internet and
looking out for any local auditions) and asking necessary questions to possible employers. I
didn’t notice anyone discussing how they usually promote themselves either, though I have
seen some of Burkmar’s work via an active Instagram page.
Now, as my desired career is on the edge of the Industry and slightly going into
psychologist territory, not all this advice is going to help me. Unless I decide I really want to
audition for a specific role (such as an autistic character), I don’t think practical audition
etiquette will be relevant, but a lot of it may be transferrable onto interview and rehearsal
etiquette instead - for example, if I’m offering to help enforce wellbeing practise in a production
where the main trigger is abuse trauma, I may not be as suitable as another wellbeing
practitioner because I don’t have enough knowledge to help my employers safely navigate the
topic. On the other hand, following the “energy speaks” idea, this is still extremely relevant
within enforcing wellbeing practise. As I’m still in the rehearsal and performance space, keeping
everyone optimistic and motivated while making sure they’re still comfortable is vital for safe
and creative work development. I also think that developing a wide variety in performance and
support skills will greatly improve what I am able to do regarding therapy sessions. The more I
learn about different performance styles, the more I’m able to understand where it might fit
into therapy and the benefits it might have on people – for example, physical theatre
workshops could be great group therapy sessions for young people as it can help boost trust,
confidence and physical strength all at the same time.
After analysing the advice given to me, I’ve been able to think about how I can utilise it
into self-promotion ideas. Especially if I decide to become freelance, I think promoting myself
on social media will be inevitable, as well as making my own website to manage possible client
requests. Of course, this would be done to only promote myself when I’m working on media
projects, such as stage productions or films, as it’s completely unethical to promote myself with
a private client’s therapy session. As an addition to this, there’s a possibility to promote myself
through physical social events, such as arts festivals, if I ever make my own professional work.
Depending on the sort of work I end up presenting, using this method I’ll be able to meet
people that relate to said work and maybe find some new clients. I’m further developing my
knowledge on topics I’m interested in while promoting myself both as a therapist and a
performer. We’ve actually had preparation on doing this - separate to the Industry professional
research, my class and I were asked to prepare for a mock interview where we present our
Personal Research Project for Unit 11 to an arts festival organiser (which is just one of our
lecturers). To do this, we had to research an arts festival where the presentation of our work
would be suitable, so mine was for DaDa Fest as my work is focused on neurodiversity and
sensory experiences. As I’m only new at reaching out to contact strangers, I think this is very
good preparation for me if I use this tactic in the future.
Overall, I think that the advice I’ve been given by all the Industry professionals has
helped me think about what sort of priorities I need to hold when exploring my career options.
Whatever I want to pursue when I start my career, whether that’s supporting clients,
supporting the creation of work or even creating work myself, I think this opportunity has given
me a slight push forward and the chance to analyse what I can really do inside and outside of
the Industry. In short, I’m very much excited to get more experience with dramatherapy and
wellbeing practise and making a difference in people’s lives.