The process began with myself approaching Dwain back in early December 2016. I expressed an interest to work with him and explained how I admired his work ethic and was particularly interested in his directing ability having worked with him on previous projects. From there, we began compiling a list of people we believed that would share our theatrical interests and be equally committed as ourselves, striving to create a fantastic show.

As well as this, we believed it was vital to consider people that would suit specific roles, targeting their strengths and personal skills. Whilst we had an idea for the role of each member we contacted, we also realised that it was very important that everyone understood that we were merely ‘suggesting’ the roles that may suit them best and that they were completely open for discussion. In addition, we made it very clear that this wasn’t ‘our’ company and that instead, it was all of ours equally. We wanted a group of people who would be willing to work collaboratively throughout. We felt that it was crucial to set this ethos and mentality from the beginning to ensure that a strong team dynamic was developed immediately. After much deliberation, we settled upon the following group of people; Dan Galley, Emily Bickerike, Emma Haigh, Jace Lodge, Holly Lomas, Megan Avery and Sam Coggin. With myself and Dwain Brown, we made a team of nine.

Luckily, everyone we approached was overjoyed at the prospect of creating a theatre company together. And so, from that point on we went from being nine individuals to a team of artists.

Upon coming together for one of the first times, we began discussing the roles that we would each like to undertake and the style of show we would like to create. As previously stated, all roles were open to everyone. We decided that the best way to choose who would be most appropriate for a role, would be to evaluate each of our strengths and weakness within the group. We then aimed to distribute the skills of each individual most effectively to the best suited role. One-by-one each member of the group began pitching their qualities to the rest, expressing what role they would like to do and the reasons behind their choice.

Luckily, we seemed to complete this task with ease. There were no clashes with people wanting to do the same role and everyone appeared to have the best tailored skills for the position they had chosen. Perhaps this had a little to do with the fact that myself and Dwain had purposely targeted a well-rounded bunch of people, rather than sticking with our friends. Finally, we settled on the following roles:
Producer – Jay Petherick
Director – Dwain Brown
Stage Manager – Dan Galley
Assistant Stage Manager – Jace Lodge
Marketing – Emily Bickerdicke
Costume & Make-up – Emma Haigh
Props – Megan Avery
Set – Sam Coggin
Choreographer – Holly Lomas