The theatre and arts have always been a place I have felt most comfortable. Being a performer has always been something I am truly passionate about. However, it has been a long process of knowing where I want to place myself in the arts world. I have always known being apart of the arts industry is something I have wanted to pursue; coming to university and having new experiences has been the influence of me wanting to become a drama therapist. The satisfaction of being apart of facilitating communities through drama workshops is where my passion lies. Its not just theatre for entertainment; it is theatre to impact different communities’ lives in a beneficial manor.
My passion for performing and the arts came to light more so when I studied drama at GCSE. I realised quickly that I wanted to be a performer and it was something that came very natural to me. I received a grade A for this, this was a very proud moment for me. While undergoing my GCSEs I completed my two-week work experience shadowing my drama teacher in her lessons. Doing this gave me a different kind of experience; it taught me how to take a leadership role within the arts. It was not just me performing; I was being apart of other people’s performing experience. It also helped with my communication skills; I was only 15 at the time so it gave me an insight to how you communicate with a younger community. Even though this was good experience and rewarding, I came to the realisation very quickly that I did not want to become a drama teacher; I did not like the aspect that not everyone was as invested as others. For some people I could clearly see it was not beneficial for them.
When I applied to York St John university to study a degree of drama and theatre I didn’t have a specific career path in mind; it was only when I actually became a student at York St John university that I learnt what drama therapy was and became invested very quickly in this being my chosen career. After learning what drama therapy entailed, I made the decision to change my degree to drama, education, and community. This became the turning point of where I saw myself in the arts industry. Throughout my time as a student at York St John, I chose to children and young people and social context as modules to give me relevant experience for my chosen career path. While undergoing children and young people, I completed my placement at Winifred Holtby academy in hull. This was other a period of 6 weeks, facilitating drama workshops alongside 5 other peers with children aged 12-15. Me and my other peers facilitated drama workshops based around the play ‘it’s not okay’, a play based around child exploitation and grooming. The 6 weeks was preparation for them to create a performance about this topic. Even though I had worked with children previously, it was only as a shadowing role and at that point I was still a child myself. I had never been an adult and worked with facilitating children. Doing it over a period of 6 weeks built my confidence massively; teaching me how to explain a task clearly to a younger audience as well as being able to ask questions that they can answer. The topic that they were focusing on was quite a heavy subject, especially for there age group. It was important that I handled this topic in a sensitive way. Giving me the skills of how to present this to a younger audience in a mature manor.
In the module social context, I completed my placement at York St John University, assisting and facilitating adults, 18 and onwards, who were using or had used mental health services. We looked at historical characters that they eventually made a performance about. I had never worked with facilitating adults before, so this was new to me. Compared to working with children the boundaries differed a lot. With them being adults, there was more freedom to talk to them on a level as I was an adult also. However, the participants were mental health users or had been so certain things could trigger them at any point. This gave me the skills of preparing for different scenarios as things might not go to plan. I had to be wary if problems did arise; I would not be able to handle it myself I would have to get extra support from the lead facilitator. The more sessions I had the more confident I became with making snap decisions that I knew were going to benefit the participants. Even though the sessions did not focus on the participants mental health, I still had to keep that in mind. I found this to be one of the most rewarding experiences for me; it cemented the fact that I wanted to specialise in the mental health sector of drama therapy.
Throughout my experience at York St John, it has really solidified to me where I want to go with the arts industry. I am wanting to go on to do a postgraduate in applied theatre; furthermore, enhancing my experience and knowledge of facilitating different communities through drama workshops. This will be the next step of me becoming a drama therapist, furthering my experience to be successful. The arts have always been a big part of my life; but I also want to benefit different communities from this.