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OCCUPATION seeks 3 Disabled Actors and 1 Non-Disabled Actor Wanted For Rehearsed Reading - Paid

7/20/2015

Pauline Heath in Association with Little Cog

3 Disabled Actors and 1 Non-Disabled Actor Wanted For Rehearsed Reading

Occupation is a new play by Pauline Heath which will be presented at ARC Stockton as a rehearsed reading on 1 October 2015.

This new hard-hitting play is showing how people and families have been affected by austerity. And how it affects everybody, not just minorities. People who would never before have dreamed of attending a rally, are now gathering to speak out. What would make you protest? What would you protest about? This piece is taken from the real life experiences of disabled people near you.

1 female actor, playing age 40-50 years to play Parent

1 male disabled actor, playing age 45-50 years to play Ex-Soldier

1 male disabled actor, playing age 18-22 years to play Young Person

1 female disabled actor, playing age 35-50 years to play Professional

Each actor will multi-role, but will have one main character to play.

There will be five days of rehearsals in Stockton-On-Tees, 27 September – 1 October, including a public reading on 1 October 2015. Actors must be available for all rehearsals and performance. The fee is £150 per day, with travel and accommodation covered additionally by arrangement. We also have an access budget.

Auditions will be held on 2 September 2015. To apply, please email us your CV including the name of two referees, a short paragraph stating why you are interested in being involved in this piece, a headshot and on a separate page, please inform us of your access requirements for the audition. The deadline for applications is Noon on 21 August. Please email to Vici Wreford-Sinnott at littlecog@rocketmail.com indicating which part you are applying for in your email and with Occupation Audition in the email Subject line.

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Excited to have a press release for 'The Art of Not Getting Lost'

5/8/2015

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It's not easy - the art of self-promotion. I'm not at all comfortable with it but I do really want people to see my work to challenge the stigmatisation of mental health. It's been great to work with the wonderful Rob O'Connor from Ten Past Eight Media and PR to create information to send to our regional press.

The Art Of Not Getting Lost
Brand new play tackles the stigma of mental health

A brand new play tackling the stigma of mental health is set to be performed for the first time at both Stockton’s ARC and Northern Stage in Newcastle over the next few weeks. Written and directed by Saltburn based Vici Wreford-Sinnott, The Art of Not Getting Lost follows the story of two characters who have made their home in the hidden tunnels of London’s Bakerloo Station.

Creating their own fictional Lost Property Centre to help them retrace their lives, are they hiding themselves or are they actually being hidden from public view? Vici said: “One in four of us will experience mental health distress at some point in our lives. It does not define who we are, but there remain many negative and stereotypical perceptions.

“It affects all of us in some way, and if we do not talk about it, it will remain hidden, shameful and stigmatised.”

Vici, originally from Durham, has carved a career in ground breaking theatre, said: “The play is an exploration of friendship, truth and lies, and what happens to people when they are under pressure of stigma. Do they hide, do they look the other way, or do they stand up and be counted?"

“I’ve taken some of my own experiences and my two characters – Everyone and No-One – have allowed me to tell the stories of mental health past and present, and to look at how we have arrived at our ideas of what is and isn’t ‘normal.’

“The play looks at two aspects of mental health. We have the personal experiences of someone undergoing mental health problems, and how that affects them and the people around them. And there’s the wider issue of the continued stigmatisation both throughout history and right up to the here and now of people experiencing mental health problems.”

The Art of Not Getting Lost has been supported with funding from Arts Council England, and produced in association with ARC Stockton & Zinc Arts, Essex and is performed by Ree Collins and Eleanor Crawford.

ARC, Stockton: Wednesday 20 May. 7pm. Age: 14+. Tickets: £pay what you decide. Box Office: 01642 525 199 or www.arconline.co.uk

Northern Stage, Newcastle: Thursday 25 June. 7.30pm. Tickets: £10 / £8 concs. Box Office: 0191 230 5151 or www.northernstage.co.uk

ENDS

Additional / Background info on Vici Wreford-Sinnott

Vici grew up in Co Durham in the North East of England and moved to London in the 1980s. She went on to study Contemporary Thetre Performance, Women in Theatre and specialised in Theatre Direction at the University of Kent.

She returned north in 1993 and set up Sycorax Theatre Company – ‘the first feminist theatre group in the East Durham coalfield!’ “That really made me a much stronger person,” said Vici. “And I found a lot of miners’ wives and local women had become much more politically aware because of the miners’ strike.”

Vici moved to Dublin in 2000 to become the Chief Executive of Arts & Disability Ireland. It was here that Vici directed the first National Disability Arts Festival in the Republic, and directed two of the first pieces of professional disability theatre in Dublin – ‘The Baby Doll Project’ by Rosaleen McDonagh which won a Metro Eireann Award and ‘Broadcast’ co devised with Donal Toolan, which was commissioned for the Dublin Fringe Festival.

Moved to Saltburn to be closer to family in 2003, becoming Chief Executive of Arcadea – the regional organisation for promoting disability equality in the arts. Her successful six-year directorship included being the artistic director of the Mimosa Festival across the North East including venues such as Sage Gateshead and Northern Stage.

Vici took a break from theatre in 2010 but after a period of baking herself well and knitting herself a life, the playwriting instinct kicked in again and, in 2011, Vici set up Little Cog Theatre Company. She’s since directed three plays, established three residencies (one at Stockton’s ARC and two at Zinc Arts in Essex), and has also set up Not-So-Silent Films – aiming to give a voice to disabled film-makers.

Outlining the motivation behind writing her new play, The Art of Not Getting Lost, Vici said …..

The piece is set in a self-styled Lost Property Centre where many of the artefacts of mental health history have been located and remain hidden.

“Throughout history, there’s always been a huge stigmatisation – either brutally or slightly under the radar - of people experiencing mental health problems.

“In Victorian times, people could pay a penny to go into asylums to see the so-called ‘mad people’ for entertainment. Slightly further ahead in time, the Nazi’s used a ‘black triangle’ to identify people with mental health problems or people who were known as 'asocial'. They were actually used as Hitler’s first experiment on the ‘Final Solution’ before he turned his attentions onto the Jewish population.

“Then we had the early days of modern psychiatry – whilst there have been advances, there were decades of Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT) which was heavily used throughout the 1940s and 50’s, administered without anaesthetic – plus the over-prescription of dangerously addictive medication leaving people in a haze and unable to function properly, with 'treatment' administered without consent.

“Stigmatisation is still evident today and is very oppressive, disabled people and people with mental health problems have been vilified in the public domain - you’d really think we could find ways to be humane, have dignity, offer support and ensure that the stories and experiences of disabled people and people with mental health problems are told.

Media contact: For further info, please call Rob O’Connor on 0779 0585 396, or email rob@tenpasteight.co.uk

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Why is it awkward/important to describe myself as a Disabled Artist?

3/17/2015

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Awkward Bastards

I attended the Dash Arts and Mac Birmingham curated event Awkward Bastards on Thursday 12 March. It was a fantastic day in many ways – I hooked up with old friends, met new artists whose politics, thinking and aesthetics I admire and feel inspired by. There were lots of affirmations about the culture and community I’m part of and best of all had a couple of ‘in ya face’ provocations which have really made me think and re-assess ideas I have about my practice, my identity, and my place in the cultural landscape – just the small stuff then!

The day was about ‘challenging and exploring the concept of diversity’, and about exploring the links and barriers between cultures. For me this is heavy duty thinking as I’m concerned about where we seem to be in our national perception of ‘diversity’ and the need to justify its existence. More of that at a later date.

My brain was literally sizzling at the end of the event. There were a mix of presentations from academics, artists and activists. We had been taken on a journey from 18th Century disabled beggars, eccentrics and aristocrats, through the Black arts Movement, filling the gaps in history, disabling and queering the museum, a reflection on the history and contemporary of disability arts, and presentations from artists on the subject in the title of this piece. There was so much I wanted to say, so many questions I wanted to ask, so the much needed sleep on the three hour train journey home never came.

I’m an ‘out and proud’ Disabled artist. But I acknowledge that it is still uncomfortable/awkward to say that in certain situations and in ‘certain company’, and it is awkward for some people to hear me describe myself in that way. Many people know nothing about the Disability Rights Movement as a Civil Rights Movement in the UK. It is neither presented nor represented as such in any notion of 20th Century British history. Fewer people still know about the international body of work known as the Disability Arts Movement, the last Avant Garde Arts Movement as Melvyn Bragg called us.

So without the historical and political and aesthetic contexts, I realise that the word Disabled is loaded with all the old stigma, mythology, negative perceptions and stereotypes. For me the term Disabled artist, or Disabled person is a political statement. I’m using it in a political way based on the Social Model of Disability. But who would know that? Who outside the Disability Rights Movement / Disability Arts Movement would know that? It doesn’t have the same power, recognition or identification with being political as when I describe myself as a Feminist. There aren’t the same associations in wider society, in wider culture, with politics. With taking a position.

It is awkward to describe myself as Disabled as to most people it is heard in a medical model context, it is a loaded term. I’m instantly ‘other’, instantly inhabit an ‘other’ space outside what they know and perceive of art and culture. I’m potentially second rate (never darlings), special, do community art, am an amateur, never realised my full potential, someone you need to be careful of in case I go doolalley right in front of your eyes.

And then if I’m Disabled and I have an opinion about something – especially if its human rights, diversity disability equality – I’m ‘other’ again. Moany, chip on my shoulder, exclusive, extreme, niche. If I speak up in diversity contexts aimed at mainstream arts I can see peoples’ faces drop, eyes glaze over, disengage, and painting myself into yet an ‘other’ space. As an activist and equality campaigner, and as someone who has held both national (in the Republic of Ireland) and regional (North East England) Chief Executive roles in development organisations with the responsibility to promote the cultural equality of disabled people, believe me, I’ve experienced this a lot.

There is a duality at play here though and I’m not unaware of it. If I position myself as a Disabled artist / manager / strategist then the two sides of how I am perceived will come into play. Perceptions from all sides will put me in a box of some sort (Boxes are for shoes as the Vacuum Cleaner said). Hmmm. Awkward.

I’d love it if we could come up with a more activist term on a par with feminist for disability activism, one which doesn’t pitch us into a ‘victim’ position.

So, the journey I’m on at the moment, as a professional, talented, amazing Disabled artist (over compensating?) – I dipped out of view for a while due to mental ill health. I hard to recharge everything I had after ten years in CEO positions with a responsibility for promoting the cultural equality of disabled people. I burned out. Again awkward. I came back refreshed, full of vim and vigour (I know), and am repositioning my voices within the disability arts movement. I’m excited to be writing and directing theatre. Disability Theatre.

None of my questions are new here, they are an ongoing dilemma for talented artists socially engaged in disability rights. Are we in a new wave where we can finally challenge the old guard? For now I’ll remain, Vici, playwright and director, thinker, trickster, ‘out and proud’ affirmative Disabled artist, privileged to be contributing to the international body of work created by the Disability Arts Movement, but am excited by all the new thoughts my head is thinking.

I’m not sure that we did re-think diversity as a Symposium, but there are certainly some amazing people are actively engaged in the process, and there is a lot of common ground between different cultural communities. As I said at the end of the event, Diversity is a process and we all know what it looks like. Equity is our goal and we need to decide what that actually looks like to effectively explore the path of reaching it. What does come next I wonder? How do we continue the converation together, led by the people it affects the most?

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Gaps in The Landscape - Learning Disability Identity and Culture

2/16/2015

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The Lab - A Devised Collaboration between Little Cog and Full Circle Theatre Company. Presented at Arc Stockton in May 2014. Photo Credit: Black Robin

‘Los Muertos’ is the working title of a new piece of theatre being created between myself and Full Circle Theatre Group, a company of theatre-makers with learning disabilities. Our priorities are to make an excellent piece of theatre which questions commonly held perceptions of learning disabled artists, and one which reflects the identities and culture of those making the work. We’re all extending our skills and raising our ambitions. Last year we devised a science fiction adventure called ‘The Lab’ where we invited our audiences to visit Compound 49 to witness a unique experiment. It was the first time that Full Circle had performed in the large theatre space in ARC Stockton, and for the first time, presented their work to an evening audience as well as a day time audience. Audience numbers were fantastic and the response to the standard of the work was amazing. Really positive feedback all round. So this year again, we’re ‘upping our game’. We’d like to do a mini tour but this raises all sorts of questions to which we don’t yet have all the answers. I’ll write more about this on another occasion.

Los Muertos is a reference to the Mexican Day of the Dead, a celebration and tribute to those who have gone before us. It’s an exciting theatrical vehicle of course, it’s lively, has an amazing soundtrack, is colourful and party-like. As a piece of theatre which relates to learning disability culture it is highly visual, is a celebration, a bringing together of a community and provides references to the soundtrack of peoples’ lives – in the devising process there have been some instantly recognisable party tracks that people often suggest, part of the cultural furniture from discos and parties. And then there have been some complete surprises – tunes which have filtered through, Hip Hop, Grunge, Goth and Latin American beats to which people just ‘feel’ how to move. I have to say it’s been a lot of fun so far. We work hard but we do laugh a lot too. I love my job.

But it is also taking us to fascinating levels of exploration. We’re looking at a fairly simple narrative, the devisers want a mix of spooky stuff, a sprinkling of love and loss, real pathos for troubled souls who cannot move forward due to one barrier or another, and some real dramatic tension. Members of the group really want to surprise people who come to see their show and so this means we’re involved in a really creative devising process. For our last production, The Lab, in addition to physical theatre, digital images and a pumping soundscape we used masks, and Los Muertos allows us to return to this technique to explore it further. The performers had a real affinity with mask and physical theatre. They want to create interesting characters with interesting stories. They are not necessarily exploring the experience of being disabled people in terms of a ‘message’ for the piece but they are working in ways that are absolutely about communicating disability identity through culture. And, like all disabled artists, because of our lived experiences, it is inevitable that we draw on from a disability palette which informs the work on a number of levels. There are great subtleties at play here too.

It’s brilliant to be so supported by ARC Stockton, a thriving arts centre in Stockton-On-Tees, North East England, with whom Little Cog, the theatre company I founded in 2011, have developed a strategic partnership to increase opportunities for disabled artists and for disabled people to be able to take part in high quality arts activity and to work in disabled-led ways. There is a real momentum to our work in the Tees Valley and we are developing really interesting, new models of creative practice and new art works to provide platforms for the voices of disabled people in the arts, so that we can have a more complete cultural landscape, which includes the voices and identities of learning disabled people, not just as project participants but as artists. (It was suggested by one anonymous mainstream organisation that they would not programme the work of learning disabled performers due to poor quality, [Brighton Creative Minds Conference], and that anything of higher quality has been made where learning disabled people were merely ‘participants’ ie not leaders/creatives ).

Our work is part of a movement and strong tradition of theatre created by learning disabled people and we want our work to be part of the critical dialogue about learning disability theatre, and also to be part of the debate. If you want to know more about our work please contact me by email at littlecog@rocketmail.com

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Politics, power and Provocation - The Serious Business of Comedy

2/11/2015

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Things are really serious for disabled people in 21st Century Britain. A whole agenda shift has avalanched upon us in the last 5 years. It is estimated that 30,000 disabled people have died since the changes to the welfare system in 2012. How does that happen - are we hidden in plain sight? It would seem so.

Today I've had the pleasure of being in the rehearsal room with actress and writer Pauline Heath. Pauline trained with Graeae theatre company as part of their Missing Piece training and toured in their production of Mother Courage. She has trained with Candoco, Adam Benjamin and Caroline Bowditch, and toured in Edinburgh Theatre Workshop's acclaimed Marat Sade. With so few opportunities for disabled actors out there, Pauline has decided to create her own work. With an award from Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England, we are working together to refresh her skills and generate material for two pieces of work - Never-Never Land is new stand up material and OCCUPATION is to be a new four hander to be developed in the autumn to a rehearsed reading stage. We are also being supported by ARC Stockton.

Pauline and I are both political creatures, so inevitably the work we collaborate on is going to be socially engaged. Understatement! But given what I've written in the first paragraph of this blog, why have we chosen comedy, and how is it possible to create comedy in the face of austerity and its impact on such a large part of the community. I think, given the facts that we trawled through today, and the stories of peoples' experiences, we asked ourselves those questions more than once.

But comedy is incredibly powerful - you get to make the rules, break the rules, create real and imagined worlds, and you get to say it how it is in the most biting way possible, whilst bringing an audience with you. The challenges are about facing where we are....again!....and having the courage to say what needs to be said in as creative a way as possible.

Disability comedy and comedy created by disabled people has become incredibly sophisticated, with some incredibly talented artists out there, and has challenged both our own and other peoples' perceptions of us. So I'll keep you posted with how we get giggles from the cuts, reality tv, media representation of disabled people, social control, fat cats and little rats, immigration and food banks. And why we think it's important to make the work.

Pauline Heath taking part in a Little Cog Residency at Zinc Arts, Essex

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Getting started...

2/9/2015

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Really pleased to be finally brave enough to start my own blog positioned within a website about my own work. No company name to hide behind, finally putting myself 'out there'! I'm at the creation and production stage of my latest play, The Art Of Not Getting Lost, after a brilliant research and development stage which consisted of two residencies at Zinc Arts in Essex and a residency at ARC Stockton in Stockton-On-Tees. I've shown works in progress at two scratch events, and a rehearsed reading to an invited audience. At last the final draft of the script has had all final adjustments and I've begun the directing stage with two amazing actors: Ree Collins is playing No-one and Eleanor Crawford is playing Everyone - two long term friends who are hiding out in a self-styled Lost Property Centre in a fictional underground station. The station clock is against them and the heavy boot mob are closing in . . . Everyone and No-one find their friendship tested and the truth hidden as they race to save themselves and understand the journey they've been on. My main aim when creating a piece of work is for it to be compelling piece of contemporary theatre which connects directly with its audience in a socially engaged way. I'm interested in innovation and the exploration of the aristic practices and aesthetics of difference. This piece aims to promote undertsanding of the stigma attached to mental health problems and the barriers created by the world we live in. I want to assess contemporary realities against the backdrop of historical truths, mixed messages, stolen lives and hidden stories. And I'm thrilled that it is going to be brought to life by wonderful actors, and our talented creative technician John Kirkbride. The premiere is at ARC Stockton on 20 May 2015 at 7pm.

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Vici's blog

OCCUPATION seeks 3 Disabled Actors and 1 Non-Disabled Actor Wanted For Rehearsed Reading - Paid

Excited to have a press release for 'The Art of Not Getting Lost'

Why is it awkward/important to describe myself as a Disabled Artist?

Gaps in The Landscape - Learning Disability Identity and Culture

Politics, power and Provocation - The Serious Business of Comedy

Getting started...

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﻿Vici's blog﻿

OCCUPATION seeks 3 Disabled Actors and 1 Non-Disabled Actor Wanted For Rehearsed Reading - Paid

Excited to have a press release for 'The Art of Not Getting Lost'

Why is it awkward/important to describe myself as a Disabled Artist?

Gaps in The Landscape - Learning Disability Identity and Culture

Politics, power and Provocation - The Serious Business of Comedy

Getting started...

Archives

Categories

Vici's blog