PAMA Webinar Series

Actors Wellbeing

About these Webinars

Five-part Series Beginning October 14, 2023

PAMA’s Education Committee is excited to launch a five-part Actors Wellbeing Webinar Series! This exciting series is being curated by Mark Seton, a PAMA Board Member based in Australia, and Alan Powell, based in the UK. Note that each panel will have at least one researcher that presents the issue with evidence, one practitioner and/or educator presenting an intervention i.e. one solution to the issue, an actor with lived experience of both an intervention and/or non intervention. We can’t wait for you to join us!

PANEL 1   (REGISTER)

Actors wellbeing in the workspace & their lifestyle 

Saturday 14 October, 2023
10 am – BST
7 pm – AEST
8pm – AEDT
5 am – ET

Acting is a profession – in that many actors do seek to be paid for what they bring to a creative project. But that’s where the comparison to other professions becomes debateable, and that can have adverse aspects on actor wellbeing – both in the workplace AND as an identity-informed lifestyle (like many other demanding professions where work hours can be unpredictable and overlap into the rest of a person’s life). While drama schools may prepare actors for the profession* in terms of skills and aptitudes for creating work, they don’t necessarily prepare actors for the ‘necessary’ lifestyle that accompanies this unpredictable profession or support their mental health.

Join us for a discussion on the challenges and some innovative interventions that are being implemented in the workplace and in the actors’ lifestyle.
 

*Statistically significant is that many actors who identify as ‘professional’ have entered the profession without a formal degree or similar qualification.

 

PANEL 2  (REGISTER)

Interventions in Stage & Screen Production -Sustaining the Centrality of Wellbeing for All

Saturday November 18, 2023

5 pm – BST

12 pm – ET

9 am – PT

Workplace health and safety is a relatively new phenomena for many industries including the entertainment sector – and the definitions of what constitutes healthy work practices is still under debate. There are the obvious physical risk factors that can lead to career-ending or life-ending injury. But there are also psycho-social factors such as bullying and discrimination for both cast and crew. And there are also potential mental health challenges of either performing or witnessing an emotionally distressed character over extended periods of time. All of these factors need preventative, healing and self-care resourcing during a production.

This panel will bring into focus the need for support and what currently exists in the film/TV and theatre industries and how they are making a difference in creating a healthier workplace environment.

PANEL 3  (REGISTER)
Interventions in Actor Education – Sustaining the Centrality of Wellbeing

January 2024, date TBC

The desired professionalisation of acting, with the belief that actor training can be formalised and quantified has been a phenomena since the 20th century – acting, voice and movement have been the bedrock of most qualification-based drama programs, where often a conservatoire model seeks to embody skills over time to ensure well-formed actors that are employment-ready. But the gradual recognition of the industry that actors lack skills and wisdom about self-care in a formalised way has been very slowly adopted in drama schools, alongside music programs and dance programs. At the same time, both historical and contemporaneous accounts of abuse, neglect, harassment, bullying, and inequity in opportunities continue to circulate in the sector, producing generations of potentially traumatised and injured actors who struggle to find and sustain careers they have trained for.

Join us for a conversation on current initiatives that are addressing the wellbeing of actors in training by educational Institutions and organizations .

PANEL 4   (REGISTER)

Interventions in the Acting Process – Supporting Resilience & Vulnerability in Rehearsal & Performance 

February 2024, date TBC

Acting craft is practically premised around ‘what works’ to achieve a particular result in the actor that makes a connection with an audience. And over the centuries actors (and more recently directors) have played with various ‘technologies of the body’ to see what could bring about the most efficient outcomes, often without addressing whether the ‘techniques’ were sustainable i.e. the technique didn’t create potential trauma or harm to the performer. Now, that actors are feeling empowered to acknowledge burn-out, or ‘emotional hangovers’ or ‘post-dramatic stress’, there needs to be a deeper enquiry into acting processes as to what helps or harms actors as they work through processes of creating meaningful, rewarding and connecting performances.

This panel will explore some of the innovative approaches that have been developed that prioritise actors’  wellbeing, as well as support their vulnerability when developing the emotional narrative of a character.

PANEL 5   (REGISTER) 

Under the Spotlight – Research on Actors’ Health and Wellbeing 

March 2024, date TBC

Investment in actor wellbeing has been overlooked in comparison to that of musicians’ and dancers’ wellbeing. Actor health and wellbeing has only been more recognised as worthy of academic scrutiny over the last 25 years or so – and many emerging researchers are often ex-actors who stumble into recognising that the questions they have of often painful lived experience have not been explored by psychologists or psychotherapists possibly because there didn’t appear to be an ‘audience’ who could do anything with the findings of research. Such neglect is often justified because music and dance ’injuries’ seem to be more physical and measureable than actor ‘injuries’ but surely actors, musicians and dancers all share many lifestyle health issues such as touring challenges, performance anxiety, addictions, body image issues, team stresses, and so on.

This panel will raise awareness of some of the current research being done, what has been done, what still needs to be explored and, where does it all lead – whether it’s new forms of educating/training the actor and/or how productions are executed e.g. codes of professional conduct, etc.

Registration

While this is a FREE event, we will be communicating log in information with you through your registration. Please click the link below to register. You will need to log in or make a free account (you do not need to be a PAMA member to attend).

REGISTER