Sat 17 Jan | 2pm - 5pm
Sara Lessmann, a Gateshead-based playwright and performer, has been collaborating with local northeast charity sector workers to develop a play that in part addresses problems within the charity sector (one of the main characters works for an environmental charity).
At this workshop, after briefly discussing the play, Sara will lead participants through a series of interactive exercises based around the following questions:- What impact do you hope your work has on the community (as a charity and as an individual within the charity)?
- When charity sector workers are portrayed in stories and the media, what do you think gets missed?
- Is there a current or repeat frustration you’re currently dealing with at work that you’d like to troubleshoot with the group?
- What are the day-to-day things that keep you going in your work?
- If you could change one thing about your work that would make the biggest difference what would it be?
The goals of the workshop are two-fold:
1. To explore different possibilities of solutions for the day-to-day challenges charity sector workers encounter with other charity sector workers (across sectors).
2. To unearth language, situations, characters, and ideas related to the charity sector for Sara’s play.In the workshop, we’ll be doing a combination of writing exercises and movement exercises (no movement experience necessary), and using methods, inspired by frantic assembly, playback theatre, and theatre of the oppressed.
Sara Lessmann is a Gateshead-based performer and writer who primarily can be found on the Northeast comedy scene. She has an MFA in Acting from East 15 Acting School, has done intensives with frantic assembly, Theatre Re, Song Of The Goat Theatre and Punchdrunk. Additionally, she designed a web-based Animal Studies for Actors course with funding the University of Essex in 2018. Her 2021 play Fairytale 20/20 received multiple 4-star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe and recently, she was a finalist in the Westend New Act Of the Year Competition in London. She is currently working on a play about mining in Alaska.
If you would like to participate or have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].