It all began with miss Piggy!!!

Jessica Naish specialised in devising theatre at the University of Kent.  She completed training in mime and physical theatre at the Desmond Jones school and in clowning at the WhyNot Institute in London.  She  has also studied with Brazilian director and theatre activist Augusto Boal.

Jessica’s experience as a performer, director and lecturer is diverse.  She has performed at the Edinburgh and Vancouver Fringe festivals, directed for Sirens Theatre in Athens, devised with Pheonix Baha’i Youth Theatre in Greece.  Most recently Jessica has been lecturer in drama at Loughborough University teaching performance, theatre in education and researching participatory theatre with young people.

Jessica directed acclaimed one woman performance PURE, by Annabel Knight, which was produced at the United Nations for the Commission on the Status of Women, NYC, in March 2004.

Every year since 2002 Jessica has taught the ‘Performing with Masks’ course at the Baha’i Academy for the Arts at Sidcot in Somerset, UK, where she loves exploring the possibilities of performing from the impulses offered by neutral and character masks with groups of international students.

She is currently project director for Acting Out Cardiff (Recent winners of the Youth Work in Wales Excellence Award) an alternative creative education programme for teenagers at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff.

Jessica leads the project with a strong belief in education as the primary cause of transformation in society, employing the process of making theatre as an educational strategy to bring that transformation about.

So how did this all come about??

Let’s ask her.

How old were you when you began to understand that your talents were in this area?

I was young, about 7 or 8. It all began with Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog. I was a goofy, cooky, wide –eyed little girl without much style or grace but a penchant for mimicry and voices.  I would entertain family with theatrical renditions of cartoon characters and imaginary friends. I liked dressing up and being other people or creatures– I loved making people laugh or listen.

Throughout school my passion was for people centred subjects – history, english, politics, languages and drama. I had energy but little academic ability, particularly with subjects that required learning from a black-board.  I needed to be active. Drama was an essential outlet for my energies (just about the only thing that would get me out of a tree or a muddy pond) and although I never studied it at school I got involved in all school productions and was active in a number of amateur groups.

Did you have any encouragement concerning entering this field?

I have been blessed with encouragement all the way. My parents always saw I had a spark for performing and communicating. And although I was afraid as a teenager that I had disappointed them by not following the family footsteps as a scientist or doctor, they encouraged me to study drama at University. At Kent University I found both my vocation and the first glimmer of spiritual awakening. I had a fantastic lecturer in Devised Theatre and I also met Shirin Youssefian who introduced me to the Baha’i Faith and lots of incredible Baha’is working in the arts.

My first ‘gig’ after leaving University was as stage manager and outside eye for Nur Theatre’s production of At the Crimson Hour They Met which performed for three weeks alongside Annabel Knight’s and Omid Djalili’s production of A Strange Bit of History, at the Hill Street Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, August 1993. I learned about and met Olya and was very moved by the stories of the women of Shiraz martyred in the path of service to Baha’u’llah. These stories, these real and present stories and people got under my skin.  The message of global peace and world unity promoted by Bahai’s began to sink deep into my soul. I was given a copy of the Promise of Universal Peace by Shirin and read it cover to cover.

In retrospect I think this summer at Edinburgh and subsequent productions I have made with Shirin and Sirens Theatre Company in Greece such as The Island , by Athol Fugard and Amazons in the 1990’s were shaping how I viewed my work as a theatre practitioner. I wanted my work to be infused with meaning, beyond my own fascinations or interests and I wanted to explore forms of performance that transcended language/ cultural barriers.

Working with children and youth became a natural way to fulfil these ambitions. In terms of encouragement I have particularly found working with the Baha’i Junior Youth in Greece incredibly important. The summer I became a Baha’i I had the privilege of making a play with the junior youth about the Declaration of Human Rights to be performed for the public in the mountain town where the summer school was. Their capacity to play, clown, become deepened on themes of cultural diversity, friendship and love, to embrace serious messages within an accessible art-form and to work collaboratively towards a shared goal reliant on individual discipline and commitment was very inspiring. They taught me what is to be a Baha’i artist, I think.

Working with young people is always encouraging, because, even the most difficult or resistant have the energy to realise their potential. My job is simply to make that easier for them, to help convert that energy into a creative process. It’s very rewarding.

Were there any obstacles and if so what and how you overcame them?

Just before I became a Baha’i I was very depressed and questioning everything about my ability and my place in the world. I was achieving success in my work and outwardly all was hunky-dory, but the light was dwindling within the lamp of my heart. My greatest obstacle has always been myself, a sense of aloneness in the world coupled with a perfectionist streak that meant whatever I did was never good enough.

To cut a long story very short, after reaching rock bottom I got to see more clearly the essence of things, I reconnected with my creative light and found a deeper kind of empathy for people. After nearly 10 years of encouragement and patience from Baha’í friends I took the plunge, jumped from my little rowing boat onto the big ship of love that was the Baha’i community.  I became a Baha’i in Greece in summer of 2001 and discovered the bounties of service and the best life guide anyone could wish for in the Writings of Baha’u’llah. Working with the Baha’i youth theatre in Greece I discovered the truth in what Aristotle wrote: Where your vocation crosses with the needs of humanity therein lies your vocation.

Where you received the most inspiration for your work?

The quotation from Baha’u’llah: “Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value, education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures and enable mankind to benefit there from” is my inspiration.

This is like a mantra to me in my creative work with young people in Cardiff. I use it with them to explain what it is we are trying to do with their performing arts course and what my personal inspiration is. They like to know what makes you tick as their teacher.

Also - Working with international artists whilst on courses in mime and physical theatre – discovering other cultures and traditions of performance. I really admire the French for developing such playful and disciplined approaches to performance and performers coming out of South Africa who tell stories of hardship with incredible detachment, humour and hope.

I also find young people (or adults for that matter) that have no experience or background in drama or theatre going who take on the challenge of making a piece of theatre for an audience very inspiring. That takes a lot of guts … that is when magic happens because people are stepping out of their comfort zones into the spotlight.  When one of my very shy students came off stage for the first time punching the air and begging to go back on stage, I thought ‘this is it’.

... and what you would like to do with your talents eventually?

Develop an educational & spiritual outdoor pursuits / creative arts centre for young people and their parents who have limited access to nature and creative spaces.

I would also like to perform more.  You can get locked into being a facilitator, and sometimes you need to exercise your own fears and creative urges through performing.

How satisfying is the field and what advice would you give to someone who wants to enter this artistic area?

It is very satisfying and enriching, if you can keep open to change and accept that nothing in the performing arts business or education is static.  I love that the arts and education have the capacity to revolutionise tired traditions and upset familiar expectations (of both participants and audiences)

Funding is always an issue so you have to be able to ‘magic’ with whatever you have got – be resourceful. You can never apply to too many funding bodies.  Be brave, someone out there will want to support what you do if you persuade them correctly.

Get experience, volunteer, persevere, make yourself indispensable, research theatre forms and companies working in the area you are interested in, don’t expect people to hand you offers of work on a plate, this is a ever evolving and shifting field of work, you have to be prepared to make your own waves and possibilities, ask specific questions from professionals – don’t waste people’s time with vagueness or indifference. Go on courses – but make sure you are getting quality tuition.

Be able to multi-task and pay attention to detail – particularly when working creatively with young people, you can’t afford to miss a moment – breakthroughs happen when you least expect.

What do you feel is the distinction between true talent and, for the ordinary person like so many of us, what to do to begin in the development of ones individual special talents?

True talent emerges; it is perhaps innate for some people, a few. For most of us it is a seed that needs nurturing and recognizing. Always have a go – never say never. Try something once and be open to the possibility you are creative. Too many people defer their creativity to others they perceive as being greater than them. Have courage. Have fun  … play, play, play …. Let yourself paint, perform, sing or sculpt and give yourself time to go into the ‘zone’. You cannot ‘Mac - Donalds’ your own creative talents.

Prepare for the emergence, find others who want to experiment, adopt an open mind, read quotations about creativity, feel encouraged and go for it. Remember mistakes are the beginning of something creative and spontaneous and that ‘fear of failure has no place’.

The field is so extremely competitive and many believe they can 'make it' whereas the true reality is that if one wants to be professional the chances of really making it are so slim.  How can one prepare oneself for an alternative, yet using their talents?  Do you have any suggestions?

I guess it depends on what you mean by ‘the field’. In the arts and education field that I work in there is plenty of work for those that don’t mind working hard and even volunteering for while. But you have to be prepared to know you stuff, to make it your life and learn from others who are more established.

As I am not a professional actor I cannot comment on the acting profession really, though I encourage the young people I work with to get as much experience as they can and to seek out constructive criticism/ feedback from professionals who they work with. You have to be ready to work at your skills and talents – polish those gems!

I am not really sure what the definition of ‘making it’ is either; I think each person has to know that for themselves. Success is very subjective really if one wants to try and move away from ‘Hollywood’ style yard sticks and notions of ‘big bucks’ as a sign of success.

Everyone can use their creative or artistic talents every day of their lives, especially in study circles or within Devotional Gatherings or Cluster Reflections or Feasts. It is a way of being really, if you have a creative urge or gift, you just naturally want to express it and whatever community we live in – a family, a Baha’i community, a work place – we should encourage people to share their creativity, make it intrinsic to our lives, not an accessory to it.

What is your main source of inspiration?

The Sun of Reality for this age.

Nature, chance meetings, prayer, improvisations with teen actors, things that weren’t meant to happen and friendship.

Some future plans …

Following the success of ‘No Man’s Land’ a play devised by students I work with in Cardiff we want to make a film version of the play.  The original production received excellent reviews in the press and has been successfully touring Cardiff High Schools and Youth clubs as a Peer Education Project. ‘No Man’s Land’ was a new play, by teenagers, for teenagers, has been devised and written by the students themselves under my direction. It was a theatrical response to the death of the one of the Acting Out group last year in a car accident. While it had no resemblance to events that actually happened it deals directly with the choices and dilemmas faced by many young people today.

The film we hope will raise awareness of issues surrounding joy-riding, peer pressure amongst teens and making positive life choices.  The film will become a resource for schools and youth centres in Wales and beyond.

THANK YOU Jessica!