Welcoming Rachel to the Baseless Fabric Team

We are delighted to welcome Rachel Kraftman to our team. Rachel will be organising our concerts for care homes and workshops for schools over the next few months. We asked her a few questions so you could get to know her!

What excites you most about working with Baseless Fabric?

I share Baseless Fabric’s passionate belief that theatre and music have the power to build community and transform society. I am so excited to be focusing specifically on community engagement and providing opera, music and theatre experiences to people who may not have had the opportunity otherwise.

What other projects have you been working on recently?

Currently, I am the Programming Producer for The Guilty Feminist, a podcast that explores intersectional feminism in a really fun and accessible way. Working on this show has highlighted to me how valuable it can be to spread awareness on important issues and engage large audiences to make a real difference in people’s lives I am also the Digital Content Producer for Together Productions, a brilliant organisation with a range of community choirs and music projects who believe in bridging social divides, building community, expanding horizons and opening up new perspectives and relationships.

How have you been staying sane over the pandemic?

It’s been challenging! There has been time to reflect which I am grateful for. It’s helped me to focus on the things I really care about and make decisions which feel right for me. For example, over this year I have started taking courses for counselling skills. I’ve always had an interest in this area and now I have finally had the time to learn more about it. I’m about to start Level 3 and look forward to continuing to improve my listening, communication and supporting skills. Not only have these skills helped me in both my life and my work, the group of wonderful people I’ve met through the course have themselves been a support during this time. I also got a cat!

Tell us about 3 of your favourite theatre or opera experiences ever.

When I was a teenager our ambitious music teachers put on a full production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. I played the role of 1st Lady and I absolutely loved being a part of it. As part of the project we got to go to the Royal Opera House and watch a professional production. I remember being so overwhelmed by the size of the auditorium and the orchestra. It was an incredible, moving and formative experience both to see the opera and to perform in it with my classmates at school.

At university in Leeds I went to see a society production of Parade by Jason Robert Brown. I’d never heard the soundtrack and knew nothing about the story before I saw it. By the end of the show I was completely floored. The music was incredible and the storyline was so moving. I remember my face was buried in my hands when the lights came up as I tried to stop myself sobbing while my friends sat perplexed on either side of me. To this day I have never seen a professional production of Parade, but it remains my favourite musical.

In 2011 I saw the original broadway production of In The Heights just before it closed. The writer, Lin Manuel Miranda, had returned for the final 3 months of the production in the lead role that he had originated. Everything about this production was perfect and I was blown away. In retrospect, I realise just how lucky I am to have seen a performance by the now stratospheric Lin Manuel (of Hamilton fame).

Welcoming Rachel to the Baseless Fabric Team

What excites you most about working with Baseless Fabric?

What other projects have you been working on recently?

How have you been staying sane over the pandemic?

Tell us about 3 of your favourite theatre or opera experiences ever.