Work Experience Programme & Professional Placements
Head2Head offers opportunities for young people with special needs or learning disabilities to gain life and social skills working on live and virtual productions as stage managers, voice over artists and performers. The volunteers are guided and mentored by members of our professional acting team and, at the end of their experience, they receive a branded t-shirt and a written report that may be included in a job application folder.
When touring South London and S.E. England we work in collaboration with special school venues offering opportunities to their SEND students.
In addition, participants from across the U.K. work remotely on virtual sessions, rehearsing with a professional actor before performing 3 zoom shows in one day. Each show is attended by 7 families many of whom have commented on how encouraging it is to see a trainee neuro-diverse actor working alongside a professional, neurotypical actor and that it has given them hope for their child’s future.
We also offer stage management, voice over and performance opportunities in film work, both on set and on location, some of which are professional engagements.
From our Oxted base we collaborate with The Orpheus Centre, a specialist performing arts college in Godstone. Their students are encouraged to live independent lives, such as making breakfast and doing their own laundry. Our Work Experience Programme has added a further dimension to their lives with a need to be good timekeepers, to seek clarification of an instruction, to work with new people and to learn new skills.
Our plans are ambitious. We propose using the Work Experience Programme as a launch pad for careers in the theatre. We provide paid actor opportunities for young people with disabilities in our film work and are in collaboration with an inclusive theatrical agency so that any young person who works with us may be considered for agency work.
Anyone interested in learning more about the opportunities available for young people who are neuro-diverse should contact our Work Experience Programme on wep@h2hsensorytheatre.com
What our work experience students think about us
I liked how they were methodical in the layout of the whole day. It was very professionally run and they let me ask lots of questions and put my mind at rest. I haven’t done very much of this sort of thing before but I learnt a lot and really enjoyed it. It was a very friendly team and I hope I work with them again
It was very interesting, I have seen people working Front of House at the theatres and cinemas so it was a great opportunity to try it out. I really enjoyed the fixing back stage- set building and working with my hands is what I really enjoy. I fixed an oven prop for them. I really liked helping the get in and get out , setting up and packing away.
It gave me a good feeling working with the team.I worked back stage and enjoyed the cleaning and resetting of props between performances. Also I loved laying out the costumes, hanging them and resetting for quick changes. This is something I enjoy working with.
I enjoyed working as a team back stage and Front of House , I was a little nervous but everyone was very friendly. I enjoyed mainly the Front of House and want to do more of that in the future as it will enable me to be able to work in a shop in the future. I would love to work with Head to Head in the future.
I found the organisation of the Front of House good, I enjoyed working in a team and we were kept continually busy. I would love to do Front of House again in the Future, as I feel at ease interacting with the public and talking to the audience members, both children and adults.