I've been working with an inspiring group of people with intellectual and physical disabilities.
My artists come from a variety of services in Wellington and the Hutt, people from Idea Services Active, Alpha programs and members from Wellington Aftercare Association at Ace House and from Thumbs Up in Petone, together we have created Alpha Omega Playback Theatre Company. We have been running for about 18 months.
When we first started the idea was to create a theatre company, having opportunities to perform and develop as a group. We have done both of these things, and perform to their own community and to the public alongside professional theatre practitioners Wellington Playback Theatre Company in a show called "What friends are for".
Now we are in the next stage of a development as a company and I'm excited to see what comes next, actually I know what comes next, we going to be doing a series of performances in the community. Hopefully as a funded project with the support of Creative Communities and Wellington City Council.
I would also like to run workshops with their sister company Hutt Playback Theatre Company and visit a couple of deserving agencies to explore their stories. So with all these ideas it only seems right to me to create a manifesto something that the group can have autonomy worth that we can know the direction we wish to go in and ultimately what we stand for and don't stand for.
It also helps us cement the ideas of the group allowing us to set boundaries and guidelines to the way that we wish to work.
It's necessary for the participants to have autonomy and a belief system to match the energy and time we put into this company. I also want for people outside of our group to understand that we aren't having drama classes, we are a theatre company that is having regular rehearsals to build our craft we perform and we have our own identity and we have a bright future that deserves to have some structure.
Stay posted I will let you know how we got on.