Stepping/leaping/bounding out of comfort zones

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I’ve blogged before about how impressed I am at the bravery of new starters to Yew Tree Youth Theatre.  For each one of them there are so many new faces to take in, traditions to absorb and games and ways of working to process and learn.  It’s a pretty big step out of anyone’s comfort zone and if you are not the most confident of people we’re looking at leaps and bounds of Olympic proportions.  I try and put myself in the new person’s shoes and find it very difficult to understand why anybody would come back the next week – I think I’d be tempted to run away with a cry of, “It’s all too much!!”  Thankfully the majority of people are back for a second week and by the third week they are well and truly part of whichever company they are joining and we, the old timers, wonder how we ever thought we were a company without them.

So it’s become a given that crossing the YTYT threshold for the first time inarguably takes significant bottle and there’s a piquancy to the session as I check to make sure the new member feels as confident and included as possible and that I don’t take anything for granted in my explanations of what’s going on so it’s as clear as possible…this week alone I’ve had new starters in three of the companies so it’s something that’s very much on my mind.

Now imagine, if you will, that same unfamiliarity, that nervous stepping/leaping/bounding out of comfort zones to the power of 15 and you have a sense of the YTYT session that occurred last Wednesday night.  We began our first group for adults with15 people who were there because they had little/no/lapsed experience of theatre.  A number of people had asked me in the days leading up to it how many I was expecting and my reply had been, “If I get 10 I will be happy.”  With 15 I was positively delighted.  What’s more every participant had a go at everything I threw at them including spontaneity games, improvisation and devising and as if that wasn’t enough, created a wish list for what they wanted to in the upcoming weeks.  There was only one person in the room I had never met before the rest I knew from various walks of my life and to varying degrees…as a result of this background knowledge there was one thing I was certain of, that many of the people in the room were taking a huge leap of faith and I was so impressed by their bravery…


Next week (if they haven’t all run away with a cry of, “It’s all too much!!”) we’re going to be having a go at all things voice and after the happy feeling I left last weeks session with I’m really looking forward to it…you never know we might just have to start thinking of a colour for the company…

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