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We’re delighted to announce the appointment of our new Trainee Community Producer, Liliya! Liliya will be helping out with our participation work, including the Future Makers workshops which are now in full swing!

Liliya actually started a few weeks ago, so we’re handing over to her to introduce herself and tell us how it’s been going so far.

I first learned about Third Angel when I was nineteen and retaking my A-Levels, seeing promo for ‘The Department of Distractions’. Sadly, I couldn’t see the show due to school and other commitments, but the following year I was lucky enough to be offered a place on an ‘Introduction to Directing’ course created by the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme and facilitated by Third Angel.

By that point, I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in the performing arts, and after the eight-week course, I felt a strong pull towards Third Angel as a company. I really admired how dedicated, ambitious and welcoming the team was. Now, almost three years on, I am really happy to be working on that team as the Trainee Community Producer!

Most of my creative past has been on stage. Acting is my deepest passion and I’ve been auditioning to drama schools for the past few years. My most memorable performance so far was playing Nora Helmer in a production of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House with the Lantern Theatre. I like to think I still have some of Nora’s individualism, awareness and boldness after embodying her. 

Recently, I performed with Walk with Amal with Sheffield Theatres which was such a joy to be a part of, and again so fulfilling to see so many people engaged with the performance and message of the event! Alongside performing, I love facilitating theatre in one way or another: from stage managing a production of Twelfth Night to creating costumes, I enjoy many different elements of theatre production.

Being Third Angel’s Trainee Community Producer is a real honour: I get to encourage other people to explore their creativity and passion through creating new work. Facilitating Future Makers has been so wholesome. We recently collaborated with The1Devotion (Dominic Heslop) for the rap and spoken word workshop, and seeing young people engaging so wholeheartedly with expressing themselves through spoken word was beautiful. I feel really lucky that I get to give what younger me would have loved to experience.

It’s difficult for me to accurately say what my realistic expectations are for this position, being a raging perfectionist! Some days it seems like I’m always thinking “I could have done x better” or “why didn’t I think to say y?” Or “I shouldn’t have done z in this way, what was I thinking?” But one thing I can say is that I’m really looking forward to how this environment fosters my confidence, self-belief and connection to the arts in a new perspective among a team which feels like home.Third Angel is a company which has highlighted to me just how performance arts are crucial to feeling connected to ourselves, to others and to wider issues in our communities.

Outside of Third Angel, I’m working with the Sheffield Theatre’s Young Company, getting music lessons in Yellow Arch Studios or going to acrobatic, yoga and dance classes amongst other creative, holistic and freeing endeavours. I’m excited to see where these six months take me! 

 


There's lots more information about making and touring Third Angel projects 2008-2017 on our original blog, and 2017-2023 on the blog on this site.