Youth Theatre is well connected…

Youth Theatre is well connected…

11th April 2016

New Vic Youth Theatre has taken the first step to performing at the National Theatre as part of a major festival.

A cast of 18 staged Bryony Lavery and Frantic Assembly’s It Snows in the New Vic Studio in March as part of National Theatre Connections.

The group of 16 to 19 year-olds will now take the production to Derby Theatre before finding out if they have been selected to perform at the National Theatre later in the year.

National Theatre Connections features 5,000 young people from more than 200 youth theatre companies and schools. This year marks the 21st anniversary of the festival and involves schools and youth theatres performing 12 plays picked from more than 150 the programme has commissioned since 1995.

Kat Hughes, New Vic Youth Theatre Director, said: “Our performances in March were the culmination of months of hard work from all the team. We had really positive feedback from the National Theatre who noted that the group were really enthusiastic and performed a really fun and energetic production of It Snows.

“We will now take the production to the Derby Theatre in May and see whether we have been chosen to take it to the National Theatre.”

Working alongside the cast is a group of nine assisting backstage as part of New Vic Education’s Arts Award scheme. Run by Trinity College London in association with Arts Council England, Arts Award is a range of unique qualifications which supports young people in taking their first steps to working in the arts.

The New Vic’s Arts Awarders have been working to achieve Gold and Silver awards, equivalent to Level 3 and Level 2 qualifications, by getting hands on with the marketing, design, technical and stage management aspects of It Snows.

Kat Hughes said: “Our Arts Award participants have been working on the Connections project from a backstage theatre-making perspective. It is a great starting point to learning about the process of theatre and will stand them in good stead in their future endeavours.”


Article by Becky Loton

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