Making Contact

On Monday the 6th of February, after I felt I had enough information about the New Vic Theatre, I decided to give them a call. I felt a phone call was more direct and personal than and email and I didn't want to have to be waiting around for a response for an email for ages, I was aware that in the module handbook it stated that around 200 hours of [placement were required so I had put my self under quite a lot of pressure to sort something out quickly.

Although I am fairly confident when meeting new people and being in new situations, phone calls to people who I don't know, or phone calls of an important nature tend to stress my out, and I always like to rehearse what I want to say in advance. I wrote down a list of key points to remember:

• Ask to speak to someone from the education department
• If questioned why explained you are a Masters Student interested in finding out some more information about the projects happening at the theatre with regards to community
• Once through to the correct person- in this case Lynn Parry, introduce yourself, explain who you are and what it is you are looking to achieve
• Do not mention experience straight away, ask if if would be possible for you to meet with the team and visit the theatre.

I rang up and asked the receptionist if I may speak to someone from the education department who might be able to tell me more about projects happening at the theatre. She put me through to Lynn Parry who is the education administrator . I explained to Lynn that I was just embarking on a Masters degree called Creative Futures, and that I had a specialism in Applied Theatre, and I was interested in finding out about projects that where going on at the theatre, and in the local area. She explained to me about the number of youth theatres they have going on, and suggested it may be useful for me to go in and have a chat with the department about things going on at the theatre. We arranged a meeting for Friday 10th February at 3pm and with a sigh of relief I was happy that the initial contact had gone well.