After Rain, We Breathe (Final Year Project)

After Rain, We Breathe is a personal performance by Beverly Yuen about recovery after a serious knee injury. Inspired by her real-life ACL and MCL tears, the play explores understanding pain, resilience, and the importance of continuing necessary work even while healing.

My amazing Final-Year-Project (FYP) team was assigned to be the Production Management team for this project. Our deliverable is managing operational matters, overseeing design progress and deadlines, and most importantly, ensuring the show runs smoothly from start to finish. 

The team consists of Production Manager, Assistant Production Manager, Technical Manager, Stage Manager, Assistant Stage Manager, Marketing Coordinator, Assistant Marketing Coordinator, Volunteer & Front-of-House (FOH)  Manager, Sound Operator, and Multimedia Operator. 

All of us had multiple roles, and I took up the roles of Assistant Production Manager and Technical Manager.

Some of my contributions in this FYP are assisting my team members in the different departments, helping out the most with the technical stuff, and assisting with paperwork with my Production Manager.

To be flexible and able to help my team members in the different departments allows the workflow to go on smoothly. Me stepping in whenever support was needed, allow to reduce the pressure on the different departments, especially when some of them have multiple tight deadlines. This helped with strengthening the teamwork, as it encouraged more open communication and mutual support within the team.

I have more experience and understanding of the technical stuff, as I have worked freelance before joining DATM. The rest of the team members would rely on me more for the technical stuff, but of course, along the way, I would also teach them some of the knowledge I have, so that in any case in future runs/rehearsals, the girls would know what can be done if I am not present. For example, I helped out with setting up the walkie-talkie and the intercom system during the bump-in week as the others do not know how to set it up. Along the way, I was able to teach some of them how to switch it on and off, and also teach them what to do if something were to go wrong. Being able to contribute to this allows the show to go on with proper communication.

With the amount of paperwork that needed to be done, being able to help my Production Manager in my role as Assistant Production reduce the workload that my PM has. By supporting the task, such as organising documents, helping out with the budget sheet, double or triple-checking lists like the loan list, this allowed my PM to focus more on overseeing the production as a whole.

Some important things that I have learned are to make personal sacrifices, develop a thick skin, and always maintain good communication with everyone. 

One of the personal sacrifices I have to make is my sleep in order to complete the necessary paperwork and resolve last-minute issues. While it was hard to push through, it taught me discipline and responsibility. By having this "big" roles, I learned that challenges often arise unexpectedly, and pushing through with less to no sleep is sometimes necessary to ensure that everything runs according to plan. This has helped me understand better that the final outcome is always important to take note of and how it can affect everyone involved.

Developing a thick skin was another important learning point. Handling criticism when it is harsh was difficult at first, but over time, I learned not to take it to heart. This gave me a different view on how I handle criticism and how I can use it to improve myself. Although sometimes I feel useless, going through this experience helped me build my confidence and character, allowing me to grow professionally and personally.

Communication was always emphasised during this period. Practising clear and consistent communication helped to reduce misunderstandings and allowed the teams to work more efficiently. Through this experience, I learn to adapt to the different working styles and express concerns or ideas more effectively. Most of the time, communication is always emphasised, but some people choose not to use it or maybe forget about it. This project is always a reminder of how it is a key foundation for successful teamwork.