The thought of directing a gigantic play was daunting; not only did it have to be good enough for people to pay to see, but it also had to satisfy my own expectations; for anyone who understands how hard one can be on themselves, knows how difficult this might be.

Ultimately, there were two main takeaways from my experience in directing:

1. Humans are such capable and gifted creatures.

• The majority of my teammates signed up to be a part of the play to try new things, ranging from dance, prop design and acting. Somehow, my responsibility was to lead and manage complete newcomers to put on an incredible live performance, all in the span of 4 months (all whilst trying to fulfill those really high expectations I set for myself). Although there might’ve been clunky beginnings, the final success of the production was one I owed to every single participant who made it come to life.

• The best part was that I got to watch the crew grow to become truly incredible performers, creators and artists. As much as the outcome of the play brought me a sense of pride, pride beyond my expectations, I must admit that my favorite part of this whole experience was to watch everyone’s progress and growth. Throughout these 4 months of hard work, seeing how the crew gradually became more and more confident in themselves taught me just how capable people are of achieving amazing things, even if they might not see it as first!

2. The importance of channeling your passion in everything you do.

• I remember burning with a fiery passion whenever I talked about my play; whether the discussion was about script development, pitch proposals, recruitment or marketing. That’s always been how I communicated things, but I’ve only recently realised what an important aspect it is.

• First, it gets you going through tough times; whenever I felt that I had bitten off more than I could chew (in terms of workload), I would remind myself of the message I wanted to convey to the audience, the purpose of my play and passion for theatre. This is definitely what lifted my spirits plenty of times, probably too many to count! I personally believe this is applicable to any sort of job that you do.

• Secondly, I realised just how visible my passion was to those around me, more often than not, seeing that passion endeared my cause to them as well. People would often tell me that they enjoyed seeing me so excited about my work, and regularly expressed their support. I think passion is infectious, and people will definitely respond well to it. Maybe those “passionate speeches” we hear a lot in movies that would lead to triumphs and successes actually may have some truth in it.

My journey as Artistic and Cultural Development Director has certainly been an eye-opening experience, and I think I will regularly regard it as the biggest influence in my life - at least until the next time I direct a giant play!