The Optimists 2024 summer course finished last month, so we caught up with one of our cohort Sonia, to find out what she enjoyed about the programme, what has influenced her approach to producing, and what are her biggest takeaways.
Art and creative rebellion can make the world a better place. As such, I strive to create artworks which inspire others to commit their own mini acts of creative rebellion, to self-express and to use art as a lens to think critically about their world. I do this by creating films, virtual installations, poetry/prose and mini public art interventions. I applied for The Optimists as I knew I had to strengthen my producing knowledge and skills, especially if I wanted to successfully create hybrid shows for the stage.
I’m currently working on a stage show adaptation of my abstract animated short film A WALK IN THE PARK. It features a winged faceless woman, a posthuman fine dining restaurant and a piano playing heart. It has toured the UK (official selections include Verve Poetry Festival, Flatpack Festival, and Fringe Arts Bath Festival), the film was created using Unreal Engine – blending innovative real-time filmmaking methodology with a fine art sensibility. I’ve forever been in awe of the power and ease in which dance can clearly articulate universal sentiments and evoke emotion, I believe a contemporary dance theatre piece would retain the film’s level of surrealism and technological wonder.
© Arnim Friess
Theatre hopping across the West Midlands and physically being in the spaces, as part of The Optimists course, helped me spatially dream up how A WALK IN THE PARK could translate on stage. And that has been wonderful. But the show I have conjured is wildly ambitious and technical, not something I have done before, but it’s something that I want to do. Fortunately, I now have a complete understanding of the producer’s process and a comprehensive framework to guide me during all stages of production: from inception to pre-production, throughout rehearsals, into the tour, all the way to the evaluation and wrap up finish line. There’s a lot to consider and plan for, but I’m glad I won’t be sitting at my desk wondering if there’s a production element I’ve forgotten.
Following on from The Optimists programme, the next few items on the to-do list are work on choreography skills; light installations/digital projections and audience building for the show. I recall during one of the early Optimist sessions, I was sitting there wondering “…what if I make a show and no one comes to see it??”, as it turns out, you’ve got to build an audience (#noted!). If plans go to plan, I’ll hold some R&D immersive film screenings, most probably dinner party themed (when you’ve got a posthuman fine dining location in your script, I reckon it’s a good idea to use it!), as well as audience development, this would be a bridge between the film and stage show. It would give me the opportunity to test out audience participation ideas, beta test hybrid solutions for the production (AR/VR), and develop working relationships with potential partners and collaborators for A WALK IN THE PARK: ON STAGE. In the meantime, I’ve re-contextualised the film as a desktop virtual space installation, it’s now live online and can be experienced here: https://newart.city/show/awitp
© Flowers For Moody People
Getting to know my fellow cohort members throughout the programme has been lovely, we’ve already been cheering each other along, sharing insights and understand what we’re all working on and/or hoping to work on… I now have a network of theatre peers who are at a similar stage in their producer journey, that’s comforting and I look forward to seeing how we all progress.
Additionally, being introduced to the key decision makers at venues and hearing about their aims and aspirations means I now understand what’s important to these venues and what they look for in collaborations/partnerships (i.e. audience building!). The Optimist’s programme was unique in this manner, as we weren’t only learning and developing producing skills, but we’ve already started the process of developing relationships with these venues due to the way the programme was structured… #invaluable.
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To find out more about The Optimists, you can visit the programme page here, or get in touch with our Training & Development Producer Kristina Hall at [email protected]