Playback Theatre Sydney works to engage audiences and give them voice, to entertain them, to let stories be told and shared, to increase trust and knowledge, to offer learnings and reflection, to transition people from 'a place of discomfort' to openness. All done with respect and honouring of personal experiences.  It increases our collective knowledge and our interconnectedness.

China Australia Millennial Project

Playback Theatre Sydney joined Vivid Ideas this month to work at CAMP, the China Australia Millennial Project.  CAMP is a new business incubator for 130 young leaders across a range of industries such as entrepreneurship, healthcare, law and technology. It unites young Chinese and Australian 'Millennials' (or Gen Y aged 18-35) to foster collaboration and development. Since the start of 2015, the 'CAMPers' had worked in small online project groups and they finally met face-to-face in Sydney (coming from all parts of China and Australia) to build the essential 'people part' of a successful alliance - as well as to complete projects and submit them for judging.

Playback met the group as a whole, after an intense 48 hours in Sydney, to share their experiences thus far. They were high-energy and under pressure to achieve and Playback encouraged them to give voice their experiences - what was challenging, unexpected, refreshing, illuminating and ongoing.  The stories and moments included: anxiety, excitement, creative, geek, high-achieving, weird, uncertainty & opportunity, mental fatigue, technical issues, lost in the city, gratitude, hopeless & hope... and many more.  Playback performed the rich and diverse stories on stage, using music, metaphor and physical theatre to laughs, gasps, claps and recognition. Playback opened up each experience to offer possibilities to reflect on and enjoy, further connecting this cross-cultural group of inspiring young leaders. 

Expect the Unexpected - and then Manage It well!

The School of Playback's May workshop - The Unplanned Moment - Managing Uncertainty - saw students push past their comfort zones, and the trainers want to thank them for being brave and challenging their default reactions to explore 'the discomfort of uncertainty'. The training focused on specific skills to help navigate the many paths (or worm holes?!) that can appear when collaborating with others - in public speaking, when facilitating group discussion, when being interviewed.  After all, these skills are a fundamental part of Playback's improvisational work! The 1.5 day workshop gave the workshop participants time to learn and focus on the new skills, implement them, and practice, practice, practice! 

Three points to remember when working in the unplanned moment:

• be present
• let go of your plan
• respond authentically

Feedback from a workshop participant -
- I loved the 'Uncertain Moment' workshop with Sydney Playback.  It was a wonderful unpacking of those moments, how and why they arise, what we can do about them, strategies to come out of them without head noise and I left with a sense of permission to be myself and to send my inner critic on an extended break! Nicole, June 2015

Going Global with an International Flavour!

This time next month, a Playback Theatre Sydney team will be in Montreal for the Playback International Conference 2015.  There we'll meet with our peers, practice our skills and learn from each other's work.  There are over 30 Playback Theatre companies around the world and Playback Theatre Sydney is the second oldest - formed in 1980 - five years after the original New York State company was established. We've been  been invited to do a Performance at the International Conference and run a Workshop.

At our Performance, we're honoured that Peter Hall, one the founding members of Playback Theatre in Australia and a highly regarded international Playback practitioner and teacher, will join us onstage as Conductor. FYI, the 'Conductor', or facilitator, has very specific skills in drawing out the stories of the group for playing back. Performing and sharing stories of Playback with Playback for Playback, takes Playback to a whole new level, bien sur, we can't wait!

The Conference Workshop we will run is Sustaining Company Life.  You may not have considered our theatre troupe 'a company' but an ensemble is just like any organisation - with various perspectives, politics, pain and pleasure points.  To work effectively, we require a very healthy organisation and our Workshop will examine the 'beating heart' that has sustained our company for the past 35 years. We'll share our skills and invite participants to share on what keeps their company vibrant, to ensure an energised and interactive session:

• techniques we use to create open and robust communication
• formal and informal leadership - how we've encouraged it and how we've undermined it
• valuing process over product - company life is as important to us as the quality of our performance (in fact the quality of our performance depends on the health of our relationships)
• the willingness to engage with each other at a deeply emotional level.