I’m looking to increase my network of talented, reliable and brilliant associate directors.

I have a multitude of prospective projects-with-no-dates-yet happening over the next two years and I need smart people to create them with. Some projects are revivals, some reimaginings, others made from scratch. All of them are multi-departmental and require wide fields of vision and a strong sense of how to craft individual moments. All of them will benefit from a dramaturgical instinct – sense checking for creative logic, audience experience and cohesion. Music is central in all cases. Story is everything – even if there is no text.

At this point I’m looking for associates (or potentially associate/ residents?) rather than assistants – so a good level of experience in making work and managing teams independently will be important. Some jobs will be co-created with the two of us side by side, and others will need an associate diretor who can lead entirely solo.

I value creativity, clarity, precision, collaboration and kindness. I strive for happy, hardworking rooms where people look forward to coming to work, because I believe that happy and well looked after teams make the best work and everyone wins. I prefer doing to talking – and have a habit of getting things on their feet before we know what they are. I frame discussions and notes about what I want to see more of, rather than pointing out what I don’t like. I give actors the big picture as much as possible. I’m not precious about ‘being the director’ and am happy to share/ be challenged/ be proved wrong. I want heads of department to know more than me about how to make their departments work and I love nothing more than a collaborator saying ‘leave it with me.’ I am pathologically organised and could probably teach a degree in excel scheduling, whiteboards and logistics. I am trying to conquer my bad habit of not letting anyone else do the scheduling because I like it done a certain way. I’m not yet good at talking about video and projection as it’s a new language. I never EVER stop improving and iterating performance. It drives stage management mad as they think the blocking notes are done and then I’ll spot and action a better version.

The best things about working with me are 1) my mad tap of joyful creativity which I can turn on to flip any problem on its head, and 2) I can identify EXACTLY what needs to be achieved in the next hour/ session/ day/ period.

The worst thing is that when I feel under pressure, I get tunnel vision and switch to a 1-man-band power blocking mode and collaborators can feel like I’m going too fast and they can’t keep up.

Depending on the individual project, the ideal person might be some of these things:

Someone to brainstorm with.

Someone to reblock or remount a performance (but who won’t be offended when I then fiddle with it.)

Someone to tag team with.

Someone who can see the bigger picture as well as the details.

Someone who is an instinctive storyteller.

Someone who can be relied on to work independently or in a supporting capacity as required.

Someone to whom I can delegate tasks and research

Someone who thrives inside big dramaturgical puzzles and won’t settle for things half making sense.

Someone who expresses themselves well in verbal and written communication.

Someone who can confidently manage scheduling (in time, ideally better than me)

Someone to take and action notes.

Someone who offers support as much as needs support.

Someone who can run a tech confidently.

Someone who can pull blocking from an archive video and translate it to actors in a way that makes sense.

Someone to identify problems and propose solutions in the same sentence.

Someone who’d like to travel or be away from home for periods of time.

Someone who is looking to level up and will thrive being given responsibility on a larger scale.

Someone who is confident with making sure all the technical cues happen at the same time and why.

Someone who has an brain area that could be designated ‘stage management zone’ – logistics and the HOW.

Someone who can balance kindness with directness and precision.

Someone who doesn’t mind WhatsApp voice notes. (Note: I sent this whole post to be proofread for accuracy by a DSM I’ve worked with a lot and she wanted me to change the words notes to ESSAYS. Oops.)

Someone who can hold several different versions of something in their mind at once.

Someone resilient who can self-validate.

Someone who can handle high stakes, fast moving situations.

Someone optimistic with a sense of joy.

Someone who strives to delight an audience!

Drop me a line with a cv, tell me what bits of this are interesting – and let’s talk. (If you hate writing cover letters, read the next post)