She Is A River by Nwando Ebizie is a multisensory experience of sound, movement, storytelling, combining song, electronic soundscapes and ritual traditions from across cultures and eras.

We are looking for an experienced Production Manager to work with the creative team to bring this project to fruition at Tilbury Cruise Terminal.

CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION TEAM 

Commissioner/Producer: Estuary Festival

Composer/Director/Writer: Nwando Ebizie

Creative Tech Lead: Tom Richards

Assistant Director/ Experience Dramaturg: Jennifer Muteteli

Chorus Lead/Performer: Moss Beynon Juckes

Performers 

SCHEDULE 

• Some meetings in advance

• Full time

• Rehearsals at Tilbury Cruise Terminal- 16th June - 22nd June. One day off (probably Saturday)

• Performance night Tilbury Cruise Terminal - 7.30pm 22nd June

• Answering to: Director, Producers, Creative Technical Lead

• Will have assistance from 2 stage managers from East 15 drama school

WORKING WITH THE CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION TEAM

The PM will then work with the creative and production team to plan the installation and staging of the piece at the de-commissioned railway station at Tilbury Cruise Terminal, with one performance on Sunday the 22nd June.

PRODUCTION/STAGING

There are multiple elements to the piece as follows: 

• Taking place at Tilbury Cruise Terminal, in the old train station - an unconventional space

• Room has large skylights so lighting and projection is not really possible. We may use one followspot/mirror effect.

• The space is incredibly reverberant so we envisage using a portable audio system which will move with the performers/audience, as well as a small static PA at a ‘hub’ point in the show.

• Guided visualisation – audience will walk freely around the space

• Processional elements

• Tilbury Brass Band will promenade through the space and outdoors onto the Loading Dock on the Thames

• Bringing the audience outdoors - through the carpark, through the street and onto the Loading Dock - a roughly 8 minute journey

• Considering access needs - wheelchair access

• There will be food and drink distributed throughout the performance
  
  

ROLE BRIEF

The Production Manager will be required to: 

• create and maintain production schedules, including rehearsal schedules, technical rehearsals, and performance dates. 

• In collaboration with the Director and Creative Tech lead, manage the production budget alongside the Producer, complying with all finance systems put in place by the Producer to report on production expenditure

• Acting as a first port of call with Tilbury Cruise Terminal, liaise between them and the creative team 

• Facilitate communication between the director, designers, and the production team to ensure everyone is on the same page. 

• Oversee the two student stage managers, assigning tasks

• Oversee Health and Safety, provide RAMS and ensure compliance.

• Working with the stage managers, source the required installation materials, staging elements, set and props in consultation with the creative team

• Co-ordinate all necessary technical and logistical aspects of the production re hires, transport, get-in, performances and get-out, working technicians and stage manager. Ensure the stage and backstage areas are organized, maintain equipment, and manage the logistics of transporting and storing materials. 

• Liaise with Tilbury Cruise Terminal dealing with technical queries and working with the creative and production teams to facilitate any necessary changes 

• Ensure all equipment is installed and utilised safely and in compliance with insurance policies

• Ensure all hires are returned to suppliers promptly, efficiently and in good condition following the end of the project

• Arrange the storage or responsible recycling/disposal of any physical elements of the production 

• Take all reasonable precautions to ensure the security and safe operating of the Company’s technical property, providing technicians/performers with all relevant risk assessments and technical information as required. 

• Act as the production’s sustainability champion, ensuring it adheres to Theatre Green Book principles, following the Baseline standard for Sustainable Productions 

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

• Driver, own car, comfortable driving a van.

• Multitasker, able to keep eyes on numerous moving parts.

• Attention to detail with a track record of meeting budget constraints.

• Technical knowledge of sound/lighting is a plus.

• Good knowledge of Health and Safety legislation and risk management

• Comfortable and excited about working in unconventional spaces

We are looking for someone with significant experience of immersive/interactive performance. Aside from the usual production manager duties, we are particularly keen to find someone with experience in supporting artists and audiences with access needs, with creating site-specific or immersive theatre projects, and with managing set builds involving unconventional light and sound techniques. 

We strongly encourage applications from under-represented groups and are committed to meeting access needs for the successful applicant.

FEE

£1500 (incl travel)

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit an expression of interest (written statement up to 1 side of A4 OR video / audio up to 3 minutes) explaining why you’d like to be part of the project, and a CV detailing your relevant experience for the role (please give details of projects and your role within them, not just production names and job titles) using the application form HERE.
We recommend applying ASAP - this opportunity might closed early.

ABOUT NWANDO EBIZIE

Nwando Ebizie is a constellation point for a spectrum of multidisciplinary works that call for RADICAL change.

She challenges her audience to question their perceived realities through art personas, experimental theatre, neuroscience, music and African diasporic ritualistic dance. Carving out her own particular strand of Afrofuturism, she combines research into the neuroscience of perception (inspired by her own neurodiversity) and an obsession with science fiction with a ritualistic live art practice.

Works include her immersive sensory environment Distorted Constellations and her pop persona Lady Vendredi, a blaxploitation heroine from another dimension! This award-winning work has toured across the world.

Always political and grounded in a mytho-scientific perspective she invites viewers and participants to join her at the Crossroads. At the crossroads where you can choose to pass through the cosmic mirror and touch alternate realities. The realities of what could have been and what should have been and what may possibly be. She works with speculative fictions, possible dreams and lucid worlds.

Recent productions

Fall and Rise on a Soft Winter’s Morning

https://youtu.be/_7AVrLdDuS8?si=BgJRhoG3cq55rbke

Self/Sense/Space

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMbk3dDvBfw

ABOUT ESTUARY FESTIVAL 

Estuary 2025 - Vessels (21-29 June 2025) is the 3rd edition of the contemporary arts festival celebrating the stories, places & people of the Estuary. Through the theme of ‘Vessels’, Estuary 2025 looks beyond the boats and ships of the Thames Estuary, to explore how communities, people, flora, fauna and even art events might be thought of as vessels too, carrying stories, memories and ideas. Estuary 2025 is supported by 54 partners including Arts Council England’s Place Partnership investment, National Highways Designated Funds and Castle Point Borough Council UKSPF Community Grants.

See the full festival programme at https://www.estuaryfestival.com/