11 May Directing, Parenting and Caring Round Table
In partnership with PiPA
Session 2: Thu 9 June 2022, 12.00 – 13.30
Zoom
An action-oriented round table with invited panellists. These sessions are open to both members and non-members of SDUK.
What can we do individually and together to support theatre directors who are parents and/or have other caring responsibilities?
In this informal online event, we will talk not only about the ‘what’ but also the ‘how’ – sharing best practice and practical strategies for managing these dual roles. Directors are often asked to make adjustments for cast and crew but are themselves subject to the same pressures and commitments as everyone else in the company.
We will focus on the action we can take ourselves, now, to shift the landscape; and look at what organisations such as SDUK can do to support parents and those with caring responsibilities; as well as what we should lobby and push for in the long term to change our industry for the better.
1 What we can personally do for ourselves – a personal action.
2 Wider, collective action – what can we do as a group, what can SDUK do, where can we help, apply pressure, support etc?
Taking place on zoom at lunchtime 9 June, this is a relaxed event, so feel free to have your children with you, just listen in with no video/sound, come late, leave early – make it work for you. We will enable zoom captions – if you need any other type of support in order to take part, let us know at tanja@stagedirectorsuk.com
Confirmed panellists:
- P Burton-Morgan, Founder and AD Metta Theatre
- Poonam Brah, Director
- Lawrence Carmichael, Director, Acting Coach, Certified Fight and Intimacy Director
- Matt Harper-Hardcastle, Charter Programme Manager PiPA and AD Next Door but One
- Sarah Meadows, Director
BOOK HERE
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Further info on our panellists:
P Burton-Morgan is an award-winning writer/director working across theatre & film. Founder & Artistic Director of Metta Theatre they have directed over 40 productions including The Rhythmics (Southwark Playhouse), Jonny Donahoe’s Forgiveness (Bath Ustinov & UK tour), Madam Butterfly (OperaUpClose UK tour), In The Willows (Exeter Northcott & UK tour.)
I decided to be on the panel because having juggled the dual careers of parenting and directing for a decade I have a lot of insights and anecdotes to share (including such highlights as baby poos during ACE meeting, baby poos during rehearsal, breast-feeding through press interviews and many more.)
Matt Harper-Hardcastle is the Artistic Director of Next Door But One and Charter Programme Manager for Parents & Carers in Performing Arts (PiPA). As a gay, disabled theatre maker, Matt’s work and passion focuses on making work and work places accessible and inclusive.
I decided to be on the panel because I really believe in the importance of making the performing arts more inclusive of parents and carers (hence why I work for PiPA) and my own company on average have 60% of production/project teams made up of creatives with caring responsibilities so it remains a live conversation for me on a day to day basis.
Sarah Meadows is an award-winning director and was on the prestigious Old Vic 12 programme. Sarah was recently one of Fuel Theatre’s creative freelancers on the Shaping London’s Recovery team in collaboration with the Mayor of London’s office and Creative UK. Sarah collaborated with PiPA (Parents in Performing Arts) to research the unique challenges faced by freelance parents/carers.
Why the panel? The performing arts is experiencing an ongoing talent drain. Most affected are parents and carers who are women, disabled, and/or from low socio-economic backgrounds. Freelance directors trying to maintain the current pace of working whilst parenting is untenable. We need change.