After a long and gruelling rehearsal period, tech day had arrived. The company as a whole were anxious about how successful our tech would be. The week leading up to our tech rehearsal had consisted of long rehearsals, where we re-directed a vast amount of the show, painting the flats and pushing the promotion of the show.

Figure 1: promoting the show in Lincoln city

Figure 2 : Set Painting (Moran, 2017)

Due to our intricate set and props the company was unable to have a full tech rehearsal, instead we had to opt for a que to que run instead. Due to this the company’s nerves grew further, with many of the company questioning how successful our show would be. Reflecting back on our tech day, there would have been time for a full run if each member of the company helped set up the flats, set and props. The tech day was one of the most stressful days of this journey for me, due to my role, I spent a lot of my time behind the scenes emailing, filling out the documentation and working on the budget, so assisting in building the set was a challenge for myself. After the tech day, the group made the joint decision to up our rehearsals during the week before our show, as we wanted our debut performance to be a success.

Figure 4: Set

Before I knew it show day had arrived.  The company arrived at 9am for the initial set up. Myself, Paige, Kim, Amy and Jack were hoping for a fast set up, however the whole company did not contribute to the set up, which slowed down the process. Panic stuck as several items had been forgotten but fortunately between my self and Paige we were able to drive and collect the missing items, though again this had a negative effect on our set up process. As a producer, I expected my role to be calmer during the show day. I had already arranged for a photographer, Rebecca Nobble, to photograph our dress run and been promoting the show. But being one of two non acting members, I was asked to assist back stage with the costume changes and became the makeup artist for the cast. This meant I was unable to watch the runs from an audience perceptive and comment on changes needing to happen.

Reflecting back on this process now I would have vetoed the two full on runs the director requested before the show, as Mo, who played the character Alex, had a bad case of tonsillitis and had slowly been loosing her voice. Also, majority of the cast did not want to do two full on dress runs, as this left little time for every member to make any finishing touches to their costume or makeup and left us with a mere thirty minuet break after a long, hot and stressful day.

Despite the challenges the company faced, our production had been a success with the audience, receiving some brilliant reviews on social media. We were relived that the audience found the performance comical. However, I feel as a company we did not always work as one unit.

Figure 6: Reaction to the show on social media.

As a producer,  I would I have liked to have worked closely with the whole company but due to the size of our company and the various roles this was not possible. ‘As the production manager will have worked closely with the director, the designers, and the performers’ (Dean, 2002, 8) yet I found it was the marketing team, set designer, writer and stage manager who I worked with the most due to us requesting each others assistance or for a second opinion. It was not until the last few weeks of the process that I started engaging more with the director and actors after it became clear a fresh set of eyes was needed during the rehearsals and re-directing process.

If I were to re-do this whole process, I would work within a smaller company, I found from this journey that working in a theatre company of ten members often led to clashes of personalities and opinions. I believe this company would have worked successfully with five production members, with the actors auditioning for the show if and when we tour the production.

Figure 5: Company before the dress run

Works Cited:

Dean, P. (2002) Production Management: Making Shows Happen. Wiltshire: The Crowood Press Ltd.

Figure 1: Kick a Pigeon Theatre (2017) Record ’97. [image] Lincoln Performing Arts Centre: Kick a Pigeon Theatre.

Figure 2: Kick a Pigeon Theatre (2017) Record ’97. [image] Lincoln Performing Arts Centre: Kick a Pigeon Theatre.

Figure 3: Kick a Pigeon Theatre (2017) Record ’97. [image] Lincoln Performing Arts Centre: Kick a Pigeon Theatre.

Figure 4: Kick a Pigeon Theatre (2017) Record ’97. [image] Lincoln Performing Arts Centre: Kick a Pigeon Theatre.

Figure 5: Kick a Pigeon Theatre (2017) Record ’97. [image] Lincoln Performing Arts Centre: Kick a Pigeon Theatre.

Figure 6:  Bailey, N (2017) Reaction on Social Media. [image] Lincoln Performing Arts Centre: Natasha Bailey.

As producer, it was my responsibility to manage the company’s financial expenses, ensuring the budget remained in a positive figure.

As the show was primarily funded by the donations of the public through our Kickstarter project, it was imperative I created a budget sheet which was both understandable and accessible for the public to view via our website. Especially due to “the current financial climate, it is important to show that public funds invested in art and culture deliver public benefit and value and that our funded organisations manage themselves well and are prepared for all eventualities” (Artscouncil.org.uk, 2017).

I collated all incomings, outgoings and in-kind expense into an excel spreadsheet and set up the formulas needed so I could manage the changing expense with ease. Initially, I distributed a set percentage of our funding to each area of our production, i.e. Set, props. However, as the module and our show developed, I soon realised that some areas would need a bigger budget where as others would need less. For example, less money was spent out of the set budget than originally expected, due to the in-kind donations we received, meaning the left over money could help fund other areas, for example marketing.

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The only area which financially, would not be considered successful. The Quiz did not turn over a profit or earn the same amount of money spent on the event, this is the only area on the spreadsheet which spent more than it’s entitled budget. If our money had been granted by an organisation such as the Arts Council England, then this may have led to them cutting our funding, as it may suggest the funding is not being spent wisely. But as previously mentioned, this event was a success for the marketing and publicity of the theatre company and the show. The company also sold many raffle tickets at the quiz, however this is not reflected in the budget due to the reflective categories.

This process has been a great learning curve in financing, budgeting and funding a company and performance, as from this journey I have learned the great and the not so great funding methods. To fund Kick a Pigeon Theatre and Record ‘97 in the future I would create a Kickstarter project again, as this proved to be a massive success for us, raising the core amount of our budget and our followers. However, I will also look at other means of funding, for example, I would consider spending more time in the streets with my company talking to the public about the show and our vision. This has proven to be successful for many theatres companies for example Full Frontal Theatre, whom in their starting year did exactly this. I’ve found that funding methods and events work best when they also marketing and promoting your latest performance and allowing the company to build a relationship with the public.

Applying for funding via Arts Council England is a method which may be the company’s strongest means of funding. However, I am fully aware this funding is not easy to obtain, due to the cuts that the Arts face, and both the company and show would have to ‘give back’ to the public in return of the money received.

“Funding is provided on the basis that each organisation makes a contribution to the delivery of our goals, using mutually agreed special, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based (SMART) objectives that are embedded in organisations’ business (or programme), equality action and audience development plans” (Artscouncil.org.uk 2017).

To meet these requirements and to contribute to their goals and the community, Kick a Pigeon’s plans to tour sixth forms, colleges and universities holding workshops around the basis of ‘finding yourself’ and the tricky years of early adulthood. For example, the friendship between Sebastian and David explores both sexuality, acceptance and rejection, issues that many young people now face. As according to the 2015 Kinsey scale “43% [of young people] place themselves in the non-binary area” (Dahlgreen et al., 2017) of bisexuality.

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Therefore, these workshops would fit the Arts Council England’s plans the company will be contributing to society via educational workshops, whilst widening our target audience.

Works Cited: 

Artscouncil.org.uk. (2017). Arts Council England |. [online] Available at: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk [Accessed 14 May 2017].

Dahlgreen, W., Shakespeare, A., Dahlgreen, W. and Shakespeare, A. (2017). YouGov | 1 in 2 young people say they are not 100% heterosexual. [online] YouGov: What the world thinks. Available at: https://yougov.co.uk/news/2015/08/16/half-young-not-heterosexual/ [Accessed 30 May 2017].

Figure 1: Bailey, N. (2017) Kick a Pigeon Budget 2017. Lincoln: University of Lincoln.

Figure 2: Bailey, N. (2017) Kick a Pigeon Budget 2017. Lincoln: University of Lincoln.

Figure 3: Bailey, N. (2017) Kick a Pigeon Budget 2017. Lincoln: University of Lincoln.

Figure 4: Bailey, N. (2017) Kick a Pigeon Budget 2017. Lincoln: University of Lincoln.

Figure 5: Bailey, N. (2017) Kick a Pigeon Budget 2017. Lincoln: University of Lincoln.

Figure 6: Bailey, N. (2017) Kick a Pigeon Budget 2017. Lincoln: University of Lincoln.

Figure 7: Bailey, N. (2017) Kick a Pigeon Budget 2017. Lincoln: University of Lincoln.

Figure 8: Bailey, N. (2017) Kick a Pigeon Budget 2017. Lincoln: University of Lincoln.

Figure 9:  Dahlgreen, W., Shakespeare, A., Dahlgreen, W. and Shakespeare, A. (2017). YouGov | 1 in 2 young people say they are not 100% heterosexual. [online] YouGov: What the world thinks. Available at: https://yougov.co.uk/news/2015/08/16/half-young-not-heterosexual/ [Accessed 30 May 2017].

To ensure our we could fund the vision we had for our show, we decided we need to further fundraise. Our Kickstarter has already been a massive success and with the followers we had gained on social media, we were confident that we could fundraise further with events that matched our 90’s themed performance.

The first idea a raffle, we knew for this we would need to source a prize that would fit with the theme of our show but also appeal to our target audience of those who were born in the 90’s and those who lived through the 90’s. Fortunately, one of the company member’s parent donated us a brand new vintage styled vinyl player for a prize which saved the company £60. We also knew we needed to consider how long we ran the raffle for and when or where we sold tickets. We decided to run the raffle for two months leading up to the show, this gave us enough time to sell raffle tickets to our friends and family.

We also decided to hold a 90’s themed quiz and a 90’s themed film night. Though the events had great potential we only managed to raise a small amount of money from both events. However, the events were great for marketing as they allowed for us to promote our theatre company and up and coming show, whilst creating a relationship with the general public, so personally I still believe these events were successful. If we were to hold these events again then I would have held these events earlier in the year, as these clashed with the deadline dates, thus the turnout was lower than expected.

Overall, the company managed to fundraise a further £170 taking our total funding, including the university grant, to £551.66 and by the end of the process we had £9.66 left over after taking a contingency of 5%.

Figure 1: The company at the quiz.

Works Cited:

Figure 1: Kick a Pigeon Theatre. 2017. The Company at the Quiz. Lincoln: Univeristy of Lincoln

With the declining funding and support of the Arts, we (as a collective) new we would have to fund our show Record ’97 ourselves, though fundraising and our own pockets. To give the company a starting point the university granted us £166.66 to our funding.

We knew that we needed roughly £500 to fund out show, as it depended highly on props, costume and set to create an authentic representation of the 90’s, so we had to find ways of fundraising the money needed. Our first initiative was to create a kickstarter project, with 10 members in our theatre company and a following of over 160 people on our Facebook page we thought a kickstarter was a wise form of fundraising. We decided to give as much information as possible on our Kickstarter, to ensure our donators fully understood how their donations would help us and our vision.

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We set our target low and aimed to raise £200 via donation which we managed to do with a few weeks of launching the site. This was reached primarily by sharing the link and our project and vision on every social media platform we had access to be that our personal or our profession one. However, I was are that the company had to be careful of what we posted on our own personal social media platforms as they were now linked to our theatre company reputation and we did not want to tarnish this reputation.

To thank our Kickstarter donators, I decided to give away a few prizes; the first two to donate over £10 won a 90’s themed sweet box and everyone who donated £1 had a personalised thank-you in our program. As this was a larger job myself and our marketing manager, Kim Bowe, decided to split the work, she took on the job of writing the personalized thank-you’s and I sourced the 90’s themed sweet boxes and had them sent to the donators.

Works Cited:

Figure 1: Kickstarter. (2017). Kick A Pigeon Theatre. [online] Available at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1253038669/kick-a-pigeon-theatre?ref=nav_search [Accessed 10 May 2017].

Figure 2: Kickstarter. (2017). Kick A Pigeon Theatre. [online] Available at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1253038669/kick-a-pigeon-theatre?ref=nav_search [Accessed 10 May 2017].

Figure 3: Kickstarter. (2017). Kick A Pigeon Theatre. [online] Available at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1253038669/kick-a-pigeon-theatre?ref=nav_search [Accessed 10 May 2017].

Figure 4: Kickstarter. (2017). Kick A Pigeon Theatre. [online] Available at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1253038669/kick-a-pigeon-theatre?ref=nav_search [Accessed 10 May 2017].

Figure 5: Kickstarter. (2017). Kick A Pigeon Theatre. [online] Available at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1253038669/kick-a-pigeon-theatre?ref=nav_search [Accessed 10 May 2017].

Building a successful theatre company is similar to building a house, both need a strong foundation to support the end product and the foundations of a theatre company starts with it’s hierarchy. Each member in the theatre company needed a role and these roles needed a structure.

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In Kick a Pigeon Theatre company majority of our members were keen to act, therefore when we discussing the roles we soon realised majority of the company would have to take on a production and acting role. We decided the only two roles which should not be partnered with an acting role were the director and the producer.

The role of producer caught my eye, as I did not want to act within the company nor did I want to take on a creative role such as directing. The role of producer plaid to my strengths and previous experiences as a leader. The role required dedication, organisation, confidence, communication skills and of course money management, these being skills I knew I possessed. Yet, I was still unsure of what any theatre company or show required from a producer, so I found myself researching the role and other blogs from various theatre company producers. From my research I discovered ‘the producer is responsible for delivering a good show, on time and in budget’ (Seabright, 2010), it was my responsibility to ensure our show was a both financially and entertainingly great.

Our first task as a theatre company was to decide on our name, we already knew we wanted our name to reflect our genre and the personalities of our company member whilst being different and unique. We decided to take a day to think of a list of names which each member brought to the following production meeting. Yet, it was Kick a Pigeon which stood out the most to us, perhaps because of the back story which endlessly had us in laughter or because the name suited our farcical style of comedy, the name stuck with us and felt like a right match to the collection of individuals who built this theatre company.

Words cited:

Seabright, J. (2010) So you want to be a theatre Producer? London: Ashford Colour Press.

Figure 1: Bailey, N, Kick a Pigeon, (2017) Hierarchy Diagram. Lincoln: University of Lincoln.