Rahamatu-Lahi Zakaria || Editor in Chief ||
This is the year of events for Sanatu Zambang and for that reason, fans of Sanatu Zambang will be treated to a variety of events surrounding creative arts. One of the most important things is to provide a platform for young and talented people in the creative art industry in the region to be heard and also create visibility for our office space.
For first-timers, the is bound to be a mistake but I am not trying to make excuses for the company for the shortcoming of the event. Criticism is what is going to make the event better for the subsequent ones.
I was expecting brutal honesty from the patrons after we gave them papers to give their take on the event. We had a negative review but it was not the tough love kind of criticism that I wanted. It was not brutally honest. I wanted comments that will propel us to work hard to make the next event a memorable one.
One of the things that I realized was the movement backstage. The audience could see and hear noise from the backstage due to how near they were to the stage. the curtains used they did help matter as a patron could see the movement. This movement at the backstage created a distraction for the audience. I think for our next production we need to look at how performers will exist backstage without that creating any distraction to the one performing currently or to the audience.
Starting at the right time was a challenge as well. This happened not because we were behind schedule of our preparation but because the audience delayed. We wanted to have a full audience before starting and that led us to start late. By doing so, we are letting the audience control us but that should not have been the case. For our next production, we need to dictate the time, not the other way around. Delaying time does not speak well for our organization and people would not honor the time appropriately. We can change the attitude of event-goers by starting on time.
Another thing that did not go well was the team performance. Individually, everyone did well but when it came to the team performance it was disjointed, there was no chemistry between them. The performers concentrated so much on the ‘mine’ performance than the ‘our’ performance’ audience enjoyed more of the individual performance to the team performance. But this individuality does not represent Sanatu Zambang. We work as a team.
Lack of coordination between the production team. The sound manager and the light manager had to work with the performers. One, to signal the performer to exit the stage after the person had finished with the presentation and two, to signal for another performer to come on stage to perform. This did not go well as light and sound manager delayed in given the signal and this led the performer to still remain on stage after the person had completed his or her presentation.
But all in all, we did a create job considering the fact that we used less than a month to organize this all event. Rehearsals were a bit of our challenge since everyone has their own schedule and we had to work around the time that was suitable for everyone.