What every youth theatre director should know...

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This week I’m teaching a group of 11 adults how to direct youth theatre at the NODA summer school.  As I never want to take things for granted I’ve been asking people to tell me what they think is the most important thing for a youth theatre director to know and I’ve been really surprised and enlightened by the answers so much so that I am using this weeks blog as a way of getting more… so what follows is the answers I’ve got so far.  Give them a read and decide what you would add and then would you be generous enough to comment on the facebook link you used to get to the blogs with your thoughts…(it’s easier than commenting on here) I’d be really, really grateful…

Oh yes and imagine my happy little face at the fact that no one said “Be happy to play ratchet screwdriver all the time.”

“That every child is different - there is no formula, no secret, no easy onesizefitsall....Every young person is an individual and should be treated as such”

“To make sure they take everybody's ideas into consideration and if they don't
like an idea instead of just brushing it off give the person/group feedback for
them to then go and try it and adapt it
  That they actually give constructive
advice so that you can improve... More with the older ones of course, but
regardless of your role, you can pretty much always get a couple of notes or
ticks.
”
           
           
“No scene is ever perfect. That sounds really harsh. I mean that there is
always room for improvement and adaptation no matter who the actor/ess is.




”

“I would say scene three was an example of that in The Wardrobe, after the
local performances, I felt like it was in a pretty good place and I don't think I
really noticed how much it changed after that point. However, by Kendal,
watching back the recording of the scene was... Enlightening…”
           
“To take note of the age group but don't over compensate for it. There's
nothing worse than the director patronizing people because of their age.
”

           
“If there's a class with a wide range of ages in it, try to mix the groups up so
there's a mix of ages. That way younger people will get used to working with
older ones and vice versa also confidence levels will rise”
           
           
“Voice warm ups make a difference!”



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