What to do in an Emergency! Dragone COO Anna Robb Shares Her Wisdom
People working in the performing arts pride themselves on believing that they possess high emergency and survival skill sets. In her latest TED Talk, Anna Robb, the Chief Operating Officer of the global live entertainment company Dragone who has dozens of the world’s most complex shows under her belt as stage manager, walks us through “LAST ACT,” a mindset and skills set that primes stage managers and anyone working in the performing arts and beyond.
Anna Robb has spent much of her life running highly technical and acrobatically ambitious theatrical shows for companies like Cirque du Soleil and Dragone Entertainment. She has dealt with hundreds of show stops and emergencies and has needed to make split-second decisions to keep cast and crew safe while entire audiences watch a situation unfold. In this TEDx talk, Anna takes her lessons from the stage and shares how you can prepare for the possibility of an emergency and what to do once you find yourself in one.
Anna is the Executive Director of the Live Show Division for Dragone, a Global Live Entertainment Company known for its iconic theatre shows such as The House of Dancing Water in Macau, La Perle in Dubai, Le Reve in Las Vegas, and Celine Dion’s “A New Day” residency show. Originally from Australia and now based in Hong Kong, Anna has traversed the world throughout her 22-year career in live entertainment. With a penchant for backstage management, Anna works on research and development, training, formation, and creation as well as operations. She is well-versed in handling the trials and tribulations of running multi-million dollar theatrical shows enjoyed by millions. She holds a degree in Design for Theatre and Television and is also the Co-Founder and Managing Director of TheatreArtLife.com, an online platform for entertainment industry professionals.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
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