One of the biggest challenges was attendance and commitment. The Director and I had tried to organise meetings around everyone's availability, but during the first few meetings, attendance was very low. Sometimes even the Director was absent.
This was stressful because we had limited time and every missed meeting meant that there was more work to complete later. It also taught me that creating a schedule does not guarantee that everyone will participate. In the future, I would set clearer expectations for attendance, deadlines and individual responsibilities from the beginning.
Another challenge was managing the different crews. I regularly checked on props, costumes, makeup, sound, lighting, multimedia and stage design. However, I sometimes felt that I was trying to manage too many people individually.
The progress report also showed how many different areas needed to be coordinated, including actor preparation, sound, lighting, audio recording, props, stage and costumes.
Looking back, I would assign a leader to each department. I could then communicate with the department leaders rather than having to manage every person individually. This would make responsibilities clearer and would also give other students more ownership of their work.