Lucy Kitcher Theatre

My name is Lucy Kitcher, I am early in my career as an Assistant Stage Manager and Event Organiser. I have experience in prop designing and making, set building and painting, book cover and much more!

I am enthusiastic and friendly and love a challenge, I am a good problem solver and keep a calm head in a crisis.

My experience ranges from amateur theatre to community arts events and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I have always loved theatre and have been part of drama groups and creatives projects since I was very young. When I was a child my family created a charity for disabled young people in the South West to take part in art, drama and dance activities, and so inclusivity in the arts has always been close to my heart.

I pursued my love of theatre, literature and history into my Classical Civilisation degree, focusing my dissertation on women in Greek Tragedy. I was always a part of student shows – as an actor, stage manager, set designer and make up artist. In my final year I was Stage Manager for Smirk Theatre, bringing their show “Takin’ It Easy 1916” to the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns I maintained my interest in theatre, supporting National Theatre At Home and my local theatres where possible, around my family’s shielding restrictions. At this time I worked for a Plymouth charity that worked with older people- I worked in administration; managed the website and social media, levelled up their digital platform through a CRM database and card payment system, completed risk assessments, and streamlined various projects within the charity. I liaised with Theatre Royal Plymouth Box Office to manage the allocation of discounted theatre tickets to the charity and to negotiate around the difficulties of show cancellations and re-scheduling during times of Covid restrictions.

I decided I wanted to continue developing my skills in administration and organisation but in a more creative field, and so pursued the role I had enjoyed so much at the Edinburgh Fringe and focused my time into Stage Management. I completed TRP’s ‘People Company Stage Management Course’ with Jeanette Owen (Nov-Dec 2022), ‘Prop Making’ with Meriel Pym at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (July 2024), Guildhall School for Music & Drama’s ‘Introduction to Event and Production Management’ with Mark Hartley (Jan-Mar 2025), Wise Children’s ‘Tech Taster Workshop’ for their show ‘North by Northwest’ at Theatre Royal Bath (May 2025) and I will be returning to BOVTS for a ‘Puppet Making Masterclass’ with Meriel Pym in July 2025.

I found my way into work as Production/Location Assistant with TV company Twofour (Aug-Dec 2023), an Usher at Theatre Royal Plymouth (Dec 2022-Present), and Production Assistant for community arts company Filament Works CIC as part of the Wide Open Paignton project (Aug-Dec 2024). Through these roles I have developed my skills in working in fast paced environments and picking up new and challenging skills quickly. I had never worked in TV before working for Twofour and did not have the grounding of a TV/Film degree like my other colleagues but I learnt to adapt to this new environment, became familiar with the terminology used, and developed my resilience when working long hours and travelling long distances. Filament Works CIC gave me the opportunity to assist on a large community arts event ‘Echoes; Paignton in Motion – Past, Present and Future’ before creating two of my own events with a team of assistants. Here I developed my skills in project management and team leadership, as well as building on my practical skills in adapting a multi-use arts space for a theatre performance, Q&A, and family craft workshop.

I have been developing my experience through seeking work placements and shadowing opportunities and various theatres. I shadowed the Stage Manager of Cameron Macintosh’s “Mary Poppins UK Tour” at Theatre Royal Plymouth. I was able to see the work of a large scale production with a great number of fly cues, movable set and automation. I have also shadowed at Hull Truck Theatre, during the tech & preview process for the show “To Have and To Hold” dir. Terry Johnson. In this week I shadowed the DSM as she called the show and was able to observe her script annotations and note making. I also shadowed the ASMs during the last dress rehearsal, I greatly enjoyed being backstage during this rehearsal to see the layout of the props table and backstage traffic.

The Plymouth amateur dramatic group ‘Tamaritans Theatre Company’ have a been a great step in my development. They produce high-quality amateur productions in a range of styles and perform in venues such as Theatre Royal Plymouth’s Drum stage, Plymouth’s Barbican Theatre, and The Watermark, Ivybridge. I started as ASM on the production of ‘Blackadder II’ in the summer of 2024. I made props such as clay pipes, a gravestone, and wooden signs, aligning to the brief that they needed to be durable, highly visible and period -appropriate. I also set and reset all props, keeping track of multiple duplicate props, built and painted the set, was responsible for set changes during performance and the get-in/get-out of TRP’s Drum stage. I was On-Stage Manager/ensemble for ‘The Girl on The Train’ (Sept 2024-Jan 2025) keeping track on complex set formations and choreography with moveable set pieces. The next production was Gail Young’s ‘Bothered and Bewildered’ – I was Stage Managing and acting in this production due to cast illness. We were restricted by limited technical set up and short rehearsal period but succeeded in creating a heartfelt story with multiple set locations and vast array of props covering multiple time periods.

Currently I am Stage Manager for ‘Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ directed by Ami Philpott. The set for the show is a collection of 10 small ottoman style boxes to be used by the cast and ensemble to create different spaces such as Christopher’s home, London train stations, Swindon streets and town centre. This show is a challenge as it requires a great deal of preparation pre-show as cast stay on stage for the entire run time- meaning all props have to be perfectly set beforehand and there is no room for adjustments during the show. The props are designed in line with the show’s meta-context – Christopher’s story of investigation is being performed as his school’s play – so the props have a hand-made look; 2D cardboard planets, tin foil pitchfork and simple recognisable character props for the variety of roles embodied by the ensemble.