Posts
missfit productions, (www.missfitproductions.org) was born while at Central to present my MA show – a wonderful experiment in which I mixed performance and film in a photobooth – made out of wood and a computer monitor. This is where it began, this interest in crossing the boundary between the forms.
After graduation I new that if I did not carry on making work straightway, there was a chance I may not make anything at all. Once you graduate it’s so easy to get caught up in life and work and surviving, that the privilege of actually being able to make theatre seems like a luxury most cannot afford.
In 2006...feeling a little lost I became self-employed and began teaching drama, even though I did an MA in writing for performance. I worked with Bigfoot for about 18 months. An opportunity arose to hire a small theatre for a week and I jumped for it. A friend and I went half on the fee and we set up a new festival called WRITE SIDE OF THE BRAIN which invited filmmakers, poets and playwrights to submit their work. Another friend sorted the website, which made missfit real in cyber space, who also sorted out the postcards and made up the logo and before I new it, a producing energy was in force. (In February 2008 Burning Houses and missfit co-produced the second WRITE SIDE OF THE BRAIN festival).
I wanted to do it again, only the second time I was looking for a new angle...the angle was me, a dyslexic writer, a secret poet and an aspiring filmmaker. I knew there had to be more people like me out there. I was convinced that if missfit produced a festival for dyslexic storyteller’s, a new experience of entertainment would blossom on the horizon. The concept of the odd becoming accessible also excited me.
DYS(THE)LEXI open its wings in 2007 - the odd kids were telling their stories and now people were paying to hear them, it was wonderful, I felt like I was building playground and inviting all my friends to play. It had a raw energy to it, a raw and low production quality that somehow worked and continues to work into DYSSING MONADYS.
We are now half way through the DYSSING MONADYS Festival. There have been ups and downs and wonderful moments of complete synergy. Most of all it has been emotional because missfit is creating a playground were the 'odd' kids rule and play their, 'games', even if it is only for one night.
This concept coins the philosophy that 'in the playground we play and by playing we discover, and by discovering we learn and by learning we become all knowing'...Well, this is what I teach my 9 year old drama students :) (MAD ABOUT TALENT WEEKEND PERFORMING ARTS)
Every night I learn something new about the kind of theatre I want to be part of. The kind of event I want to create. I discover the possibilities and limitations of my own imagination and will. (Like I said...its been emotional)
So, how do you make good theatre and build a great festival? Bottom line, money because money means good lights, technicians, props, design, costume, salary, venue...and everyone seems impressed with the smell of it too.
If you don't have money, you hope to have some of the magic that money cannot buy. This magic is priceless and being so really hard to cultivate. But it can be found in the people you work with, their generosity and faith in what you are trying to do and these three words, Magic, Generosity, and Faith have made DYSSING MONADYS happen.
I would like to say thank you to the writes, filmmakers, poets, directors, actors and every audience member who has believed in my playground and invite other missfits to get in touch as I am always looking for good storymakers.
Next year I want to co-produce with a company bigger then missfit and am always looking for these creative partnerships so please do email me at dysthelexi@gmail.com. Please visit http://dysthelexi.blogspot.com for up to the minute information on the festival.
