CAREER NEWS part one

I am launching a new feature for this site giving some news about previous students and their work since graduating...... and the first one is ....

INE VAN RIET
Class of 2011

Since January 2012, I've been working as Development Officer for Tara Arts; doing project and revenue fundraising as well as helping with the Capital Redevelopment project.   I have also been working as a Freelance Producer, and am currently in the process of setting up a theatre company with Imogen Butler-Cole (THEWHATWORKS) which will umbrella the work we've been doing with the Bangla communities and organisations in Hackney and Tower Hamlets.

Completed Projects:
Dreamtime/Shopnoshomoy - THEWHATWORKS
Finisce Per 'A'/ It Ends in 'A' - WOH Productions
Earlsfield at the Centre of the World - Tara Arts
Home:Scape - Tara Arts, Teatr Novogo Fronta (Prague) & Pro Progressione (Budapest)
Kanjoos - The Miser - Tara Arts
RETURN - Tara Arts & 3Fates Productions
Dick Whittington Goes Bollywood - Tara Arts

Upcoming Projects:
Dreamtime/Shopnoshomoy London Tour - THEWHATWORKS
Gandhi Trilogy Part III - Tara Arts & Inner Temple
Dui Desher Golpo - THEWHATWORKS, Jagonari Women's Centre

Festive Greetings!!

SEASONAL GREETINGS TO ALL OUR READERS!

The first term of the MACP is now over and students are 'on leave' until Wednesday 09 January 2013.

Best wishes for a happy and peaceful break!

AMcK

MACP YEARBOOK 2012

The 2012 yearbook is now available on
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/our-staff/full-time-academic-staff/mckinnon

The yearbook contains a page of details about each student as well as detailed information about visiting tutors and guest practitioners during the 2011-12 session.

Check it out! 

NEW MACP STUDENTS FOR 2012-13

Here are initial biogs for the new students .... a varied and very interesting group.  We have been working together since mid-September and so Julius Green is well into his detailed work on budgeting and conceiving large-scale productions.  His terrific book HOW TO PUT ON A WEST END SHOW is of course a key textbook for us - and it has been a considerable success with book buyers - a second edition is due soon!!

Last night at the amazing Hoxton Hall we all saw REVENGER'S TRAGEDY (producer Leo Wood - MACP 2010, assistant producer Solene Marie - MACP 2012); and soon we will make group visits to BILLY BUDD SAILOR at TARA and DANGEROUS LADY at Theatre Royal Stratford East.  We also look forward to welcoming guest practitioners Melanie Abrahams, Jeremy Goldstein and Clare Shucksmith (MACP 2012) in the next few weeks .....

MACP course details are available from a.mckinnon@bbk.ac.uk

SARA COLOHAN grew up in Ireland and studied fashion design in the 90's, winning awards including The Smirnoff Fashion Awards. She then became fashion editor of Ireland's well known lifestyle magazine Hot Press; and after three years with Hot Press she left to become a freelance fashion stylist and writer for various magazines including Tatler, Weekender Magazine, and Mail on Sunday.  For ten years she produced fashion editorials and in-store visuals for leading magazines and department stores internationally, hiring production teams around the world. She also enjoyed travel writing and became a published travel writer for Tatler magazine. Sara then discovered the world of cabaret; and transferred some of her production skills to producing fringe theatre shows, launching her own company Cirque du Cabaret in 2003. She currently produces commercial and private shows for various different companies, most recently Underbelly Fringe Festival. She looks forward to broadening herinterests and transferring her skills to new forms of theatre during this MA course.

SARAH GEORGESON was born in 1990 in Newcastle, and recently graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in English Literature. Whilst being a course representative, social secretary and student ambassador, her career in theatre began in 2009 when she directed and produced Newcastle University's annual panto, the most financially successful show of the year. Further work with Newcastle University Theatre Society (NUTS) has included being producer of the annual International Drama Festival showcasing new writing at Northern Stage; Marketing Assistant for NUTS's fringe production; theatre consultant and collaborator with the School of English; overseeing an agreement by which NUTS was commissioned to produce a Shakespeare piece to match the SEL syllabus; producer of A Chorus Line at Northern Stage; producer and production manager of the NSDF-selected Sweeney Todd, performed at Sheffield Crucible during the International Student Drama Festival. This production was acclaimed by the Sunday Times and won two awards and two commendations, including Best Actress and the Cameron Mackintosh Award.

ROCHELE MARGAUX MITCHELL was born in London to Caribbean parents and was raised in a close-knit community.  In the 1990’s she retired from an early career as a gymnast and went on to spend several years performing in youth theatre throughout her schooling.  She read Applied Languages at university and, after graduating in 2000, embarked upon her present career in international publishing.  Her current position requires extensive overseas travel for the negotiation of translation rights, although Rochele has ensured she remained involved in the arts throughout the years. During 2003-05 she studied acting for stage at Rose Bruford College, her specific achievements including a detailed written study and performance based on the writing of the late British playwright  Sarah Kane.   During 2005–10 she performed with various London-based fringe theatre companies; and during 2010–11 she completed a course in arts administration to gain insight into formal arts-based career paths. Rochele was appointed a Trustee of Project Phakama UK in 2011.

LORENA LO PENA has a BA in Performing Arts from the PUCP in Lima, Peru and an MA in 'Contemporary Performance Making' from Brunel University. As a performance artist, Lorena investigates, explores and creates within the topics of gender and identity, focusing her work in the subject, its body and actions. She works within the limits of Live Art, Body Art and Multimedia Art, using autobiographical methodologies. As a producer she has managed and produced all of the projects she has ever done, and has been a partner for six years in an independent art venue in her hometown, Lima - elgalpon.espacio - (www.elgalpon.espacio.pe) where she has worked as producer and administrator. She also has experience in producing and marketing art workshops. Since her arrival in London she has undertaken internships with recognised artistic organisations such as Chelsea Theatre, New Work Network and The Relationship.

CHARLES PUGH was born and raised in the Black Country. In the 1970s he took a degree in Behavioural Science (Economics) at the University of Aston in Birmingham.  He then went to live and work in Barcelona for a couple of years, becoming fluent in Spanish and developing an affinity for Spanish culture which has remained a key interest. Returning to the UK, he went to London to study for the Bar. By the 1980s he was practising as a barrister in London, doing criminal work, particularly representing the accused in jury trials. However, following the Kings Cross Underground disaster in 1988 he was selected to represent the bereaved and injured at the six month public enquiry, which raised his profile considerably. Thereafter he specialised in large-scale litigation involving major accidents, environmental injuries and (pharmaceutical) drug claims. Early in his Bar career he wrote, produced and directed plays, including musicals, for the Bar Theatrical Society and other amateur groups. More recently, in 2008, he organised a successful music festival near Burgos in northern Spain. He has now left the Bar and wishes to establish himself in producing theatre and live performance.

NEWS FLASH 2011-12 MACP YEARBOOK

The 2012 yearbook is now available on
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/our-staff/full-time-academic-staff/mckinnon

SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR PRODUCERS

This summer our 2011-12 students are all busy with secondments or personal projects

SOLENE with CRYING OUT LOUD

INDIA with FINBOROUGH THEATRE

KELLY with FUEL and now CURIOUS DIRECTIVE

ROSIE with HEADLONG & LYRIC HAMMERSMITH

DERMOT with JEREMY GOLDSTEIN Ltd & LIGHTNING ENSEMBLE

BELINDA with SPIRIT (David King) Ltd

ALYSON with UNTITLED PROJECTS (Scotland)

KEELY is working with her company FORMIDABLE FUSION

ANTHEA is working on a personal project

CLARE is working on a personal project

We reunite in September for the joys of final assessments ....  just before our new group assembles!

WE ARE STILL TAKING APPLICATIONS FOR 2012-13!!!

SUMMER TERM 2012

Unit Six – ‘Being a Producer‘ is taught this term; and then students go straight on to their Unit Seven projects, which can centre on professional work and / or secondments to arts organisations.





Unit Six – ‘Being a Producer’ The emphasis this term is on practical issues confronting the producer. The backbone was a series of Julius Green classes on the professional producer’s working life. His guests included director Joe Harmston. In addition Rachael Stevens & Natalie Macaluso took a series of in depth sessions on how to identify aims and goals as a professional producer.

The term began with a frank and inspiring session with Kerry Michael, TRSE’s Artistic Director, who gave us an overview of TRSE and glimpses into an exciting future.

Other specialist tutor-practitioners included
• Jackie Elliman (ITC) - Company Formation & Intellectual Property
• Jenny Williams - Diversity in Creative Practice
• Rachel Tackley - Director English Touring Theatre
• Judith Hibberd - Festival work, particularly Spymonkey's OEDIPUSSY
• Chloe Dear - Iron Oxide
• Laura Kriefman - Clore Fellowship

Andrew McKinnon also took a number of classes on relevant topics and had several solo teaching sessions with each student. A full student assessment was held during the term for Unit Four, and there was also a ‘part-assessment’ for Unit Six.

Very kind invitations from Bill Kenwright Ltd allowed students to attend closed dress rehearsals of STARLIGHT EXPRESS and a performance of David Edgar’s WRITTEN ON THE HEART at the Duchess Theatre.

The teaching term culminated in two exceptional events.

First, after touring Graeae’s terrific building in Kingsland Road, we met Jenny Sealey (Artistic Director) and Judith Kilvington (Executive Producer). Unbelievably, Jenny took time out of her Olympic Schedule to give us a truly inspiring talk about her work. We then also met Deepa Shastri (who has worked as a producer with Stagetext, LOCOG and DaDa) who gave us an in-depth session on Access issues.

Then ... we all descended on the Phoenix Arts Club for a final reception with students, ex-students and tutors – a great way to end our final day of teaching.

Unit Seven – ‘The Producer and Producing'

For their final project, students this year are seconded to, or working at, a wide range of professional arts organisations and projects, including
Crying Out Loud
Finborough Theatre
Fuel
Headlong
Jeremy Goldstein Ltd
David King Ltd
Lightning Ensemble
Renaissance One
Untitled Projects (Scotland)

Students return to Birkbeck in late September for two days of final assessments.

The ‘class of 2012’ handbook will be available in August ......

... and in the meantime a new cohort of students for 2012-13 is being assembled ..... applications are still being accepted!!

LAST CLASS OF SPRING TERM!!

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On Thursday 22 March students attended a lively class taken by SOPHIE LARSMON & LEONORA WOOD - both ex-students of the MACP who are now hard-working professional producers. Andrew McKinnon took a few snapshots .....









Now four weeks of Easter Vacation - and lots of hard work - lie ahead!

SPRING TERM 2012 - DETAILS

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The MACP Spring Term is coming to a close shortly; so here is a brief rundown of the schedule this year.

The Spring Term includes

• Unit Four – ‘The Producer and People’, and
• Unit Five – ‘The Producer and Research’.

Both these Units run throughout the whole term, which lasts eleven weeks.

Unit Four – ‘The Producer and People’

The emphasis shifts this term to focus more on each student’s possible personal interests and projects, following on from the work of the Unit Three Assessment and the GfA application they write for that assessment, and encouraging thinking about personal creative ideas.

The work of Unit Four covers a wide range of relevant areas, breaking down broadly into ‘artists and creative teams’ and ‘communities and audiences’. Classes cover aspects of both these areas over the term.

This term Unit Four is taught on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and some Wednesday evenings.

Unit Five – ‘The Producer and Research’

Unit Five consists of an individually chosen MA Option from a list offered annually (it changes every year). Each Unit Five Option is taught and run by a different member of BBK staff. This year, for example, MACP students have taken options in playwriting, screenwriting and Shakespearian Production.

For Unit Five, students attend a class on one weekday evening, depending on their choice of subject.

Spring Term Programme of Classes and Events for Unit Four

The Spring Term began with classes and discussions led by Andrew McKinnon, concentrating on the Unit Three assessment, which consists of the preparation of a complete ‘Grants for the Arts’ application by each student. These assessed applications were presented by students on 01 February.

This term also we looked in further detail at the work and structures of the Theatre Royal, Stratford East; members of the senior staff who came to talk to us and discuss key issues were Alix Hearn (Head of Marketing); Mary Caws (Executive Director); and Shawab Iqbal (Associate Producer).

Later in the term Andrew McKinnon gave several classes on significant marketing and audience relationship issues within the ACE framework.

Julius Green returned this term to give three further classes; and enabled the group to see a matinee of BLOOD BROTHERS and tour backstage afterwards.

Experienced guest practitioners who took interactive sessions included

• Jonathan Kennedy (Executive Director of 'TARA Arts')
• Tara Wilkinson (Executive Producer of 'Paines Plough')
• Jeremy Goldstein (Producer of Penny Arcade’s upcoming BITCH! DYKE! FAGHAG! WHORE!)

Specialist tutors included

•Jackie Elliman, Legal Officer, ITC (‘Company Formation’ and ‘Intellectual Property’)
•Neil Laidlaw, commercial producer (‘Marketing on no Money’ and VAT)
•Paschale Straiton, Red Herring Productions (‘Street Theatre’)
•Simon Pittman, Forced Entertainment and Rough Fiction (‘Devised Theatre’)
•Chris Mellor, producer and arts strategist ('Social Media in Marketing')

In addition .....
• Lyn Gardner led a session on writing a high-profile review for The Guardian (based on THE TRIAL OF UBU at Hampstead Theatre);
• Rob Swain gave an interactive class on ‘Verse and Classic Text’; and
• Rachael Stevens and Natalie Macaluso launched a series of classes to assist students to form and work on individual producing goals.

Some classes this term were held jointly with the MFA Theatre Directing students.

This term MACP students also attended – and greatly appreciated - the DEVOTED & DISGRUNTLED conference.

The first full session of the summer term will take place on Wednesday 25 April.

CURRENT MACP STUDENTS ATTEND A MATINEE OF 'BLOOD BROTHERS'.

Many thanks to
Julius Green
and
Bill Kenwright Ltd.

SPRING TERM BEGINS WED 11 JANUARY 2012

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Students reassemble at Theatre Royal Stratford East on 11 January to resume their work. We begin in traditional fashion by attending a matinee of the acclaimed TRSE panto - CINDERELLA.

After that, the work begins again......!

Anthea Lewis re-joins us this term to complete her work on the MACP.

ANTHEA LEWIS trained at The Northern School of Contemporary Dance before receiving a full scholarship to study at the Jose Limon Dance Foundation in New York. She has worked in theatre and dance with: Jagged Antic, Future Cinema, Polar Produce, Oily Cart, Hauser Theatre and most recently performed with Belgian Based company SOIT. Anthea has taught children’s movement and dance classes for Moving East and the Young Dancers Programme at The Place. She was Rehearsal Director for “Dance Moves”, a project that saw the collaboration between the YDP and musicians from The Royal College of Music. Other work includes Movement Direction for a documentary by Redoka Productions and a play written for the Young Actors Company at Stratford Theatre Royal. She is currently focusing on devising a solo project, and on creating a platform to enable new choreography to be supported.