Job promotions and the Hocus Pocus hunt for the third Sanderson Sister.

Wait- did you really just read that right? As strange as it may be it is a literal explanation of what working in a character role for children’s entertainment is like – rewarding but random.

But what is a promotion and how did it benefit me?

Promotions raise a worker to a higher position in their job. It is an important aspect of a worker’s experience as it has a significant recognition of new responsibilities earned through appreciated hard work. (KOSTEAS, 2010).

It is to my advantage that my work-based placement module provided me with the opportunity to experience this new promotion role as it has been effective in enhancing my set of skills. By undergoing these new responsibilities and challenges, they have motivated me to branch into a list of future career paths such as acting, production, teaching, and business management.

While reflecting upon my initial experience, Gibb’s reflective model represents a structure for analysing my experiences, and given its cyclic nature, it lends itself particularly well to repeated experiences. (Gibbs, 2022). This model perfectly matches the working environment in Event Heroes as every event is a new and exciting opportunity to apply techniques learnt from my study time in Drama at Queen’s University Belfast.

Gibbs Reflective Model

Description

We provided the highest quality of performance with our popular characters, ‘The Sanderson Sisters’ during the Halloween period at Event Heroes. My first initial duty in my new working role as performance manager was to prepare a six-week consecutive rehearsal period, consisting of drama exercises influenced by Sanford Meisner. This helped me ensure that myself and my fellow cast members represented their given character through a convincing performance to large public events.

The Meisner Technique teaches actors to trust their instincts in response to an event, which is why I experimented with improvisation exercises. This allowed my cast members to learn how to react in the mode of the character without relying on scripted lines. (Meisner Studio, 2022). However, during our final few weeks of rehearsal, a cast member continuously failed to attend, leaving the famous trio a duo. In the lead-up to the Halloween events, myself and my duet partner had to devise a plan, to open an audition day within the company to find the perfect Sanderson Sister…Sarah.

Feelings

Tragedy struck… when no-shows or no explanation became routine from a cast member, feelings of frustration and devastation in threat of cancelling performance gigs became our worst nightmare… but when you wish upon a star, finding our new cast member to fill the witchy shoes became a dream come true. With hindsight, I am proud of the dedicated work we provided and the challenges we overcame as a team.

Rehearsal Stages

Evaluation

Although it was a stressful time, the last-minute audition process brought light to the talent that is among the actors within the company. Moreover, the fact our reliance was heavy on one cast member who unfortunately cancelled plans, was a wake-up call of the company’s lack of ‘understudies.’

This allowed me as the performance manager to have an open discussion with the company’s boss to discuss the opportunity for others to perform as more than one character at different events. This, therefore, contributes to better organisation skills depending on if a person for their role is not available, whilst giving actors a taste of something new.

Analysis

When the team came together for our first meeting to discuss a performance aim for the Halloween events, our initial preparation for rehearsals was positive due to the excited and motivated atmosphere present in each cast member. In reality, the organisation was unprepared more than expected, leaving the team worried. I think the fact we had not planned the possibility of what would happen if one of us was not available to perform, led us to an unnecessarily stressful situation of holding auditions during the last few weeks before the big events.

If I had challenged my expectations about our performance plan by thinking of the worst outcome, we would probably have foreseen the possibility of a cast member dropping out. Being aware of these challenges in the future will be helpful in preparation for performance events.

Action plan

Meredith Belbin stated that when particular individuals took on particular roles without the pattern of ‘role balance’ this would lead to a poor outcome. (Belbin, 1999, p.20). Due to this, when working with a group of cast members, I believe it would be vital to incorporate an understudy for each character within the company to alleviate stress and avoid cancelling gigs.

The allocation of understudies could be done through auditions, as it was an eye-opening experience to witness the skill that our cast member who was chosen to represent the third Sanderson Sister had delivered. Giving this opportunity to the rest of the company would be a great addition to showcasing the company’s talent.

Once we decide to divide understudy work, I will insist that we plan what to expect from our cast members beforehand. Potentially, I would suggest meetings with the entire cast of the company to allow the cast and their understudies to learn and refer to each other when they are performing at events.

Conclusion

Creating the MAGIC is most important to Event Heroes NI as we take pride in how our characters should look, sound and act regardless of their environment. (Event Heroes, 2022).

I learned that when there is more than one cast member needed for a performance event, there should be group work implemented to plan ahead of risks. Having done this would likely have made it possible to have divided group work amongst the cast members to ensure better organisation.

The Sanderson Sisters on Tour.

As I prepare to enter the world of work after a three-year long education at Queen’s University Belfast, this placement module has provided me with team leadership and critical analysis skills which are essential for the list of job opportunities I hope to endeavour on.

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Bibliography

[1] Belbin M, (1999) Team roles at work. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. page 20.

[2] Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle. Available at: https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/gibbs-reflective-cycle (Accessed: 12 November 2022).

[3] The Meisner Studio. Available at: https://themeisnertechniquestudio.com/meisner-technique/ (Accessed: 12 November 2022).

[4] Belbin M, (1999) Team roles at work. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. page 20.

[5] Event Heroes. Available at: https://www.eventheroesni.com/  (Accessed: 14 November 2022).