The Sinclair Arts Youth Theatre (S.A.Y Theatre) Company is the creation of Internationally renowned Performer, Choreographer, Writer and Director Colin Sinclair. The youth company was founded due to his continuous artistic work with young people albeit dance classes, choreography or theatre. He believes that all young people should be exposed to the creative arts as early as possible to sharpen certain skills that are necessary for their future .
THEATRE SKILLS ARE LIFE SKILLS
1: Oral Communication Skills
Many students find that theatre helps them develop the confidence that’s essential to speaking clearly, lucidly, and thoughtfully.
Acting onstage teaches you how to be comfortable speaking in front of large audiences, and theatre classes will give you invaluable experience in clear, precise, and organised oral communication. Oral communication skills are so important to some employers that they often send management trainees to special workshops. You would already have an advantage.
2: Creative Problem Solving Abilities
The point here is that your creative ability, what you’ve learned about using creative processes to solve problems, can be directly applicable to virtually any job you may have.
Most major companies believe that a creative problem-solver will become a good employee. That’s you. In theatre we learn that merely “getting the show on the stage” is not all there is to it. Whatever your theatrical job- technical, performing, research or backstage, it has to be done right . You learn to take pride in doing things at your very best level and all employers will value that trait.
3: Motivation and Commitment
Being involved in theatre productions and classes demands commitment and motivation. These are qualities that S.A.Y Theatre strengthen. By example, we teach each other that success comes to those who are committed to the task at hand. Few other disciplines you study will so strongly help you develop motivation and commitment.
Many theatre students learn to transfer that attribute from theatre to other subjects, classes and later in their chosen jobs. For employers, that positive attitude is essential.
4: Willingness to Work Cooperatively
Your work in theatre teaches you how to work effectively with different types of people.
Theatre demands that participants work together cooperatively for the production to be a success; there is no room for “we” versus “they” behavior; the “star” is the production and that can only be achieved with a collective team spirit.
In theatre, it’s important that each individual supports the others involved. Employers will be pleased to know that you understand how to be a team player.
5: The Ability to Work Independently
In theatre, there are various departments working on the production. You’re often assigned tasks that you must complete without supervision – self rehearsal, finding a prop or a particular costume or designing a poster or flyer.
It’s left up to you to figure out how best to achieve the goal. The ability to work independently is a trait employers look for in their workers.
6: Promptness and Respect for Deadlines
Tardiness is never acceptable in theatre because it shows a lack of self-discipline, and more importantly, a lack of consideration for others. Being late for a rehearsal or a work call or failing to finish an assigned task on time damages a production and adversely affects the work of many other people. Theatre demands that you learn to arrive on time and meet scheduled deadlines.
That’s a job-skill. Employers appreciate workers who are on time and do their work as scheduled.
7: The Ability to Learn Quickly AND Correctly
Theatre students, whether they’re memorising lines, choreography or learning the technical aspects of a production, must have the ability to absorb a vast quantity of material quickly and accurately. Your work in S.A.Y theatre will show that you have the ability to grasp complex matters in a short period of time, a highly-valued trait to employers.
Note that part of this ability is another significant trait: knowing how to listen. If you don’t listen, you’re likely to make some major error that will damage the production. Listening is a skill for any job and an employer will respect your ability to listen and comprehend.
8: The Ability to Work Under Pressure
Theatre production demands many hours of preparation. The key to excellence is repetition and staying the course. The pressure is always on because there is always a deadline.
It’s important that everyone involved with a production be able to maintain a cooperative and enthusiastic attitude under pressure. The ability to remain poised under such tensions in an asset that will help you cope with stress in other parts of your life, including your job.
9: Self-Discipline
S.A.Y theatre demands that you learn how to control your time management and your life. More than other students, you are forced to make choices between keeping up with responsibilities and doing things you’d rather do. You learn to govern yourself and make a distinction about your priorities. An employer will respect that ability.
10: Self-Confidence
Theatre training teaches you confidence in yourself. Your accomplishments in theatre show you that you can handle a variety of jobs, pressures, difficulties and responsibilities. You develop a “Yes, I can!” attitude. Of course an employer will treasure that.