I would like to share with you about one of my personal experience in a student community, which is a drama club. In the club, we have 5 subgroups in total, including the cast, stage, light and so on. Initially, each of the group did their job separately and prepared for the rehearsal and final performance. Before the rehearsals, as cast, we have long-time training and a lot of practice to get into the role.
However, the conflict happened since the start of rehearsal, when all the groups have to work together for a full run of the performance. This was also the time to check each other’s work. At that time, my partner came to told me that there was a rumor came from another group saying “You know, the cast have nothing much to do, but they are the one receiving applause on the stage”. This is absolutely slander without any evidence. Once I heard this, I felt very angry and unfair. I even could not conceal my bad mood in the performance, so as my teammates. As a consequence, we did a bad job in that rehearsal.
I believe all of us have similar experience before, either a conflict between two groups or between the individuals. Once the conflict happens, how would you deal with it? Would you try to explain the truth? To take some other actions? Or choose to just let it be? For me, the best way of solving this kind of problem is via communication. I would calm down first and think of some way to assemble all the groups together. For example, we can organize a team outing. Through this activity, we have a chance to communicate with each other, to hear from each other and to better understand each other. In this way, we will gain mutual understanding on the challenges/concerns from different groups and this will help to improve our team spirit and team work.
If I were you, I would be upset, but I would try to conceal my bad mood if I can and ignore these naysayers. After working so hard for the performance, it would be such a pity to present a lacklustre performance to the audience, even after hearing something like that. Besides, I would think that perhaps the motivation for such spite or resentment would be envy. I believe that every component of the crew as important as the cast, just that they are appreciated differently by the public.
ReplyDeleteBut, I would agree that it would be good to organize a few gatherings of some sort before the performance to let the people from different designations to come together and share their experiences or at least let them understand each other's situation more.
I agree with Ming Yan that even when a conflict arises which affects your mood, you have to put these feelings at the back of your head at crucial moments, which in this case was your performance. While you had already worked so hard for your performance, it was not worth it to let an insignificant accusation affect your mood and performance. Instead, try treating it as a challenge, and after you have proven your point and worth, the satisfaction would be immense as it would deal an "in your face" victory to the doubters and cynics.
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