Human beings in a rehearsal room: How can we take better care of each other in the process of working together as theatremakers?

Session called by: Ben

Checking in and checking out at either end of the day as both an active process in itself and for what it signals.
· Avoid check in/outs becoming orthodoxical. It doesn’t always have to be the same. There is no right answer. It’s ok to be ok. It’s ok to be not ok. Uphold and encourage the right to feel out of step with the group.
· Make the offer that people can check things in at the door if they want but also don’t have to if they don’t want to.
· Think through what it means to have a ‘duty of care’.
· Your process has to be real, genuine and not just pay lip service.
· Think through how you see individuals in a group. And how they see each other.
· Transparency and honesty feel important. Share as much information as possible, but also know when it’s not necessary to share everything.
· Think about who you are as a director in the process of checking in and through the day. Think about how you want to frame your process and roles within it.
· Remember: you may never make another show after this one. Make the most of it.
· Collaboration is the matching of strengths. Working together can make us work better.
· Decisions about timing of when things happen, when things become apparent, when things are shared is a useful tool.
· Roles.
· ‘Sticking with’ vs. ‘the law of mobility. Or perhaps a balance between the two.
· Balance feels important.
· Disciplines of time-keeping etc coupled with an openness towards people leaving their phones on or sleeping in rehearsal or going out for a bag of crisps. If we’re in this room we’re working.
· Make deliberate, considered choices about how you are going to work. This in itself is a way of taking care of everyone. Set the tone.
· Care and trust and love. A sense of being held. Really hear people and hold open an accepting space
· How do consensual group processes operate? Can I share my role/responsibilities with others?
· Human = complex, fluid.
· A sense of lightness feels vital.
· Working ‘serially’ means things are going to change day to day and moment to moment, including how we feel.
· What do you want to feel like at the end of the day?
· Baking as preparation and a gift to the room.
A question to consider: When I’m taking care of everyone else, am I not being taken care of?



Merry Christmas,
Ben x