Tag: aactfest

Management Lessons from the Stage: When Your Best Isn’t Good Enough

Management Lessons from the Stage: When Your Best Isn’t Good Enough

davidpwahr

As I did two years ago, I participated with my local community theatre group, the Monroe Community Players, in the Michigan State AACTFest competition again this year (see Management Lesson from the Stage: Competition for details). For those of you unfamiliar with the competitive side of theatre, every two years the American Association of Community Theatre (aka AACT) hosts a competitive play cycle (AACTFest). This cycle begins at the state level, moves to regional, and finally on to national competition where the 10 “best” community theatre productions will go head to head. This year the festival in Michigan was hosted by Owosso Community Players on behalf of the Community Theatre Association of Michigan (CTAM).

Me and the three Arials who made me look good. Left to Right, Martina Petit, Dillon Sickles, and Besty Brockman.

For the record, the talent pool at this year’s festival was very deep and all the participating groups brought their A game to the competition. Sets were imaginative, costumes on point, the acting was well prepared and rehearsed. It was a weekend of high quality theatre. But, only two groups would be selected to move on to the regional competition by the adjudicators. I did not envy their task this weekend.

For my part, I felt that our production was top notch. In particular, to toot my own horn as they say, I thought that my personal performance was on point. During my big soliloquy the audience was dead quiet (always a good sign) and I could feel them all watching me and sensed that they were right were I wanted them emotionally and intellectually (anyone who’s been on stage knows what I’m talking about).

When the show was over the applause was generous. Afterwards good comments came from the adjudicators and audience members who approached many of us afterwards through the weekend. All signs indicated that we might have a winner on our hands.

But, (and you knew this was coming right?) when the awards were handed out the big prizes went to other groups. We were recognized for several good points of our production – including choreography which is rare for a production of The Tempest, but our director was unique in his vision of this play, and ensemble work for the three actors who jointly played the character of Ariel (pictured above with me). None for me…alas, but not a bad haul as they say. But, our competition journey ended that weekend. Our best, my best, just wasn’t good enough.

So, what do you do when your best just isn’t good enough? How do you react when you know that you’ve given it your all, that you were well prepared, that your ideas were solid and still someone else walks away with the prize? This is something that has happened to most of us, either in a competitive setting or in business. I can tell you what not to do:

Don’t dwell on the defeat.

Don’t blame anyone else.

Don’t complain about bad luck.

Don’t complain about bad decisions or judges.

Do pick yourself up and move on.

Yes, you can take time for introspection. Ask what might have been done better? Maybe you didn’t have the skill set necessary to complete the task (or win the bid), maybe you didn’t have the vision, maybe you were just outclassed, maybe the stars were out of alignment. But, sometimes, surprisingly, the answer is nothing could have. Too bad. It happens. Athletes know this. On any given day even the most talented team with the best leadership can fall to opponents who are less gifted.

And guess what? It has nothing to do with the other team or person having more “heart” or “drive” or just “wanting it more.” Sometimes it was just the other team’s day. Whether on stage, on the field, or in the C Suite, sometimes your best just isn’t going to cut it.

All you can do is to accept defeat gracefully, try not to take it personally (something I often fail at) and prepare yourself to give your best again next time.

Because one thing is certain, if you don’t keep giving it your best you will never find yourself on the winner’s podium!

Prospero's staff lays in wait on the stage.
Prospero’s magic staff lays in wait during rehearsal at the Michigan AACTFest Host Theatre – the Lebowsky Center in Owosso, Michigan. Home of the Owosso Community Players.
Management Lessons from the Stage: Competition

Management Lessons from the Stage: Competition

davidpwahr

For those of you who don’t know, every two years the American Association of Community Theatre (aka AACT) hosts a competitive play cycle (AACTFest). This cycle begins at the state level, moves to regional, and finally on to national competition where the 10 “best” community theatre productions will go head to head. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of participating this past weekend in the Michigan State AACTFest, hosted by Bay City Players on behalf of the Community Theatre Association of Michigan (CTAM) and I took away a few observations that I feel may apply to enterprises everywhere.

  • Deadlines are crucial: each group performing in an AACTFest works under the same rules. 10 minutes to set up your production, 60 minutes to perform, and 10 minutes to strike (take down). Exceed any of these deadlines and you are disqualified regardless of how brilliant the show is. LESSON: it doesn’t matter how good you are. Get your work in on time. There may be an opportunity to fix or update something later – but miss the deadline and the sale/project/etc. is gone forever.
  • You will be judged on your work regardless of resources: all groups at AACTFest are judged by the same criteria. Obviously, some groups had more resources to work with than others, but the goals remained the same. LESSON: do your best no matter what resources you have (or lack thereof).
  • Innovate: don’t come into a project trying the same old thing that others have done before. The shows at AACTFest which do the best, with judges and audiences, are the ones that literally bring something new to the stage. Hamlet is a hard sell to most audiences. Give it a steam punk look and a fresh techno hip-hop vibe and you’ve just blown peoples’ minds. LESSON: you can start with the same old service or product, but be sure to freshen it up often. Don’t be afraid to dust off an idea that’s been sitting around a while and see if you can make it new again.
  • Celebrate excellence: only two groups move on to the next level of competition at the state AACTFest (plus an alternate) but many groups are recognized for smaller outstanding contributions. LESSON: find the good in everything you do. Maybe the whole project isn’t a winner – but there are things you can still take away and celebrate. Maybe even learn from!
  • A little competition never hurt anyone: win or lose it the groups who participate in AACTFest come away with a better understanding of how they compare to others in the same field. They better know their strengths and their weaknesses and become better groups in the process. LESSON: you don’t know how good you are until you compare yourself to someone better or, at least, just as good.
  • Someone is always watching and judging: I don’t think this needs to be explained any further.
  • Popular opinion does not always carry the day: occasionally, a play that everyone seems to like won’t win. This is because the judges have their own ideas and criteria that differ in critical ways from the audiences experience. LESSON: remember who you are really selling your product to. Just because you and your team likes it, doesn’t mean that the customer will.

These are just a few thoughts I had. I’d love to hear yours regarding mine.

Onward!

AACT Fest 2015 Weekend

davidpwahr

Those that know me know that one of my passions is theatre. I’m not a professional actor so I get my “fix” through community theatre and this weekend I experienced one of the community theatre’s biggest events – an AACT Fest.

For those who don’t know, AACT Fest is a theatre competition among community theatres held every two years. The competition starts at the state level (this past weekend in Owosso, Michigan) then the winner moves on to a regional competition (in a couple weeks in Midland, MI), and finally the winner of the regional goes onto national competition (this June in Grand Rapids, MI).

Now, astute readers will notice that all three levels of competition are in Michigan this year – a rare opportunity for theatre goers in Michigan to see some of the best community theatre around. This year’s Michigan competition was won by Players de Noc (Escanabe) and their production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape and Holland Civic Theatre’s, Revival at Possum Kingdom Community Church by Michigan playwrite Linda LaRoque.

My personal favorite, which came in third and will be the alternate entry to the regional was The Amish Project by Jessica Dickey presented by the Farmington Players. This was an extremely moving drama based on the Nickel Mines schoolhouse shootings in 2006. There was not a dry eye in the house when this show was finished. A total of eight groups competed (Monroe had submitted but was the ninth entry and the organizers limited the field to eight for reasons I don’t completely understand but were well within their rights to do.  So we have to wait until the next festival to enter again).

By now you may be wondering what this has to do with my quest for fitness. Not much except that I went completely off the diet wagon this weekend! I traveled with my good friend Bob and unfortunately, I think we are both enablers of each others bad eating habits! We passed a Ponderosa Steakhouse on the way into town, a fading restaurant chain that has a great buffet, and that’s where we went for lunch on Saturday. Well, it was a good thing that we were limited on time because three platefuls and several desserts later I was still ready for more! Plus our hosts, Owosso Community Players feed us well at the afterglows – oh and did I mention Roma’s Back Door? A great Italian restaurant steps from the theatre…

Interestingly enough, the damage may be controllable as I don’t appear to have gained weight yet and I’ve upped my cardio and strength workouts this week so I’m burning more calories. Also interesting, to me at least, is that I could put away so much food this weekend. My Crohn’s usually limits my intake. There has been many a meal eaten out that came home with me because I started hurting – but not this weekend. My guess is that this is because the Humira is doing its job and my insides can take more because they hurt less.

So, I need to be even more careful with my food intake than I used to be…I can’t imagine how fat I could get if the brakes are now off my digestive system (so to speak). Time will tell!

Onward!