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Young Producers Programme at the Battersea Arts Centre London

The Battersea Arts Centre Young Producers Programme provides talented young people with producing training, including professional masterclasses, workshops and access to resources. 

The Young Producers are given a brief, budget and support to create and produce their own events within Battersea Arts Centre's youth takeover, Homegrown Festival. This is an exciting opportunity to bring out-of-the-box ideas to Battersea Arts Centre, from DJ nights to experimental performances and live debates. 

Participants will gain an introduction to producing through workshops in scheduling, budgeting, marketing, project management and artist liaison as well as learn from Battersea Arts Centre producers and arts professionals that run a range of events. Previous guest speakers have produced club nights, cabaret socials and independent festivals. 

They are interested in hearing from people with a wide range of interests. You do not need experience to apply. Past Young Producers have included beatboxers, art students, sixth-formers, actors, fashion designers, hairdressers and emerging theatre producers. Several have gone on to produce their own shows professionally, work at Battersea Arts Centre and even start their own events and production companies. 

The programme is free of charge. Age 16-29. For more information and application go to  https://www.bac.org.uk/content/39597/young_people/homegrown_1229/make_new_theatre/young_producers?utm_source=BAC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=8768730_Universities%20email%20follow-up%20Oct%202017&utm_content=Young%20Producers%20more%20info&dm_t=0,0,0,0,0

Initiative to tackle lack of diversity on theatre boards expands nationally

Leading theatres in the north of England are to come together with diverse theatremakers in a bid to tackle the lack of representation on boards. Led by Artistic Directors of the Future, the event took place on October 2 and marks a roll-out of the organisation's strand of work dedicated to diversifying the board members of UK theatres.

ADF, which was set up to increase the number of diverse artistic directors of mainstream theatres, said it recognised that trustees had "the ultimate responsibility to recruit and appoint artistic directors", but the chairs and trustees themselves were rarely from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, especially in the north.

The event, called Diversifying Regional Theatre Boards, is being held at Sheffield Theatres, in association with Arts Council England, and follows an inaugural session at London’s Battersea Arts Centre in 2016. It will bring together the leaders of 30 national portfolio organisations with 30 diverse theatremakers to address the issue collectively, by discussing the barriers that prevent diversification at board level and developing strategies for implementing change at theatres.

This will include a training session led by Charlotte Jones, chief executive of the Independent Theatre Council, and provocations from directors including Javaad Alipoor, Amanda Huxtable and Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh. It is being described as an “action-focused event”. Theatres will commit to submitting action plans to ADF a month after the event, detailing how they intend to implement change.

In addition to the events, ADF is also developing a BAME board bank that can be used by theatres, and will be hosting annual board away days for trustees, artistic directors and senior executives from a range of organisations. The Arts Council, which has partnered with ADF, said it was “keen that the boards of our national portfolio organisations diversify and reflect contemporary England”.

The Stage https://www.thestage.co.uk

The Triforce Creative Network for Actors, Writers and Directors

TriForce Creative Network was built on a strong ethos of inclusion and access, opening doors to the industry to people from all walks of life and providing a trusted and viable avenue for the industry to discover diverse talent. We provide opportunities for actors, writers, directors, producers and crew through the following initiatives:

MonologueSlam UK

Supported by Spotlight, Equity and Channel 4, MonologueSlam UK is a renowned nationwide showcase for actors. For more info go to: monologueslamuk.com

WriterSlam UK

Supported by Channel 4, ITV, Sky and BBC, as well as production companies Hat Trick, Tiger Aspect and TriForce Productions, WriterSlam provides a platform for writers looking to break into TV. Prizes include paid development commissions and mentoring with top TV executives. For more information go to: http://thetcn.com/writerslam/

TriForce Short Film Festival

TFSFF is a short film festival established by the TriForce Creative Network in 2012 to showcase talent in contemporary film-making, helping emerging film-makers to develop skills and access opportunities to further their careers. 16 shortlisted films get the chance to be seen on the big screen, in front of key industry representatives, with the winning film-makers earning career development opportunities with our industry partners, as well as a cash prize for their next project. The TFSFF takes place at BAFTA, presenting a packed day of seminars tackling the key issues of the industry and offering invaluable advice from industry professionals, alongside a bustling industry expo and screenings of the shortlisted films. For more information go to: tfsff.com

The TCN Incubator

The TCN Incubator in association with Creative Skillset will develop 6 writers over a 12 month period with regular workshops, script development and mentoring. Building on the success of our writers initiative WriterSlam, this is an incredible opportunity for 6 writers wanting to take their next step in writing for TV! For more information go to: http://thetcn.com/incubator/

TriForce Productions

The production company was set up to create TV, film and online content, with a focus on diverse content for mainstream audiences. We delivered our first broadcast commission, Sorry, I Didn’t Know, a comedy panel show with a twist for ITV2 in 2016, with more projects in the pipeline. For more information go to: http://thetcn.com/triforce-productions/

The Market Theatre Johannesburg is back in the UK!

The Suitcase brings together a unique partnership of venues in the North of England and the Market Theatre Johannesburg, marking the internationally renowned theatre company’s return to the UK after a five year absence. This partnership, the first of its kind, enables international work to be performed across five northern cities, sharing programming and strengthening audience development. The tour has been made possible through National Lottery Funding from Arts Council England’s Strategic Touring programme.

It’s a story never more relevant to our time, exploring issues of identity, migration, exile and celebration of the human spirit. The show will have its UK premiere at Hull Truck Theatre (31 August–9 September) as part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017’s Freedom season before touring to Newcastle (14-16 September), Derby (20-23 September), Lancaster (27-29 September) and Liverpool (4-7 October).

The Market Theatre, founded in Johannesburg in 1976 by Mannie Manim and the late Barney Simon, was constructed out of Johannesburg’s Indian Fruit Market – built in 1913. The theatre went on to become internationally renowned as South Africa’s “Theatre of the Struggle”. The Market Theatre challenged the apartheid regime, armed with little more than the conviction that culture can change society. The strength and truth of that conviction was acknowledged in 1995 when the theatre received the American Jujamcyn Award. In providing a voice to the voiceless, The Market Theatre did not forego artistic excellence, but, rather, made a point of it. Its twenty-one international and over three hundred South African theatre awards bears eloquent testimony to the courage and artistic quality of its work.

During the past four decades, The Market Theatre has evolved into a cultural complex for theatre, music, dance and the allied arts. Today, The Market Theatre remains at the forefront of South African theatre, actively encouraging new works that continue to reach international stages. The Market Theatre is renowned world-wide for brilliant anti-apartheid plays that have included Woza Albert, Asinamali, Bopha, Sophiatown, You Strike the Woman You Strike a Rock, Born in the RSA, Black Dog – Inj’emnyama, as well as the premieres of many of Athol Fugard’s award-winning dramas. The Market Theatre’s history is intertwined with the cultural, social and political struggle for freedom in South Africa.

The Market Theatre is celebrating the past, but it is also confidently looking forward to playing a major cultural role in the 21st century for South Africa, and the African continent. To achieve this, The Market’s artistic policy for a post-apartheid South Africa centres on encouraging new dramatic writing. These new works will offer ways to help South Africans understand, interpret and thrive in the second decade of the country’s new democratic life. The Market must continue to be a theatre that is engaged, challenging and entertaining. The staff remains committed to maintaining the highest possible artistic standards as it searches out exemplary new writing, and the best new, young directors, designers and lighting designers to achieve this mission. The Market Theatre is determined to build on its reputation, even as it faces the new challenges of the 21st Century.

 

 

 

Michelle Terry New Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe

An Olivier Award-winning actor and writer, Michelle is well-known to the Globe’s stage, having starred as Rosalind in As You Like It (2015), as Titania/Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream (2013) and as the Princess of France in Love's Labour's Lost (2007). She also directed Richard III, King John and As You Like It for The Complete Walk (2016), a series of short films created as part of the Globe’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

Michelle Terry says: ‘The work of Shakespeare is for me timeless, mythic, mysterious, vital, profoundly human and unapologetically theatrical. There are no other theatres more perfectly suited to house these plays than the pure and uniquely democratic spaces of The Globe and the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. I am so proud and excited that I will be in the privileged position where I can offer artists the opportunity to come together to reclaim and rediscover not only Shakespeare, but the work of his contemporaries, alongside new work from our current writers. For us to then share those stories with an audience that demands an unparalleled honesty, clarity and bravery, is all a dream come true.’

Michelle most recently starred as the eponymous king in Henry V at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, and as Grace in Katie Mitchell’s production of Cleansed for the National Theatre. Her other stage credits include Much Ado About Nothing, The Crucible and Love’s Labour’s Lost (Royal Shakespeare Company), All’s Well That Ends Well (National Theatre), Privacy (Donmar Warehouse) and In The Republic of Happiness (Royal Court). She won an Olivier Award for her performance in Tribes at the Royal Court in 2010 and she is an Associate Artist for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Michelle also wrote and starred in the Sky One series The Café with Ralf Little; with Rob Hastie she created My Mark, the Donmar’s ten-year project to chart the political growth of the next voting generation; most recently she co-wrote and performed Becoming: part one with Rosalie Craig at The Donmar Warehouse. Michelle trained at RADA.

 

Musical about Kids Company Donmar Theatre London

A new musical about troubled charity Kids Company will head up the Donmar Warehouse’s new season. Artistic director Josie Rourke has collaborated with actor Hadley Fraser and composer Tom Deering to craft the show, based on transcripts of the public select committee hearings which saw the charity’s executives grilled over its management.

The musical will be titled The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Takes Oral Evidence on Whitehall’s Relationship with Kids Company. Adam Penford, recently named artistic director of Nottingham Playhouse, will direct the show, which runs at the Donmar from June 24 to August 12. A press night will be held on July 3.

Rourke said the season was designed to “step up to what’s happening” around the world. She explained: “Here is a new musical concerned with truth and accountability; democracy and demagoguery; passion, despair and the rebirth of hope". “Throughout this season, characters fight for, rise to and exercise their power. In creating the Power Season, we’re trusting that theatre will deploy its power to speak with swift and urgent clarity into the present.”

She also confirmed the Donmar’s free ticketing scheme for under 25s will continue, with free tickets available at every performance in the theatre’s spring season.

 

Jermyn Street Theatre London

During the 1930's the basement of the 16b Jermyn Street was home to the glamorous Monseigneur restaurant and club. The space was converted into a theatre by Howard Jameson and Penny Horner in the early 1990's, and Jermyn Street theatre staged its first production in August 1994. Over the last twenty years the theatre has established itself as one of London's leading Off-West End studio theatre.

Gene David Kurk became artistic director in 2009. With his associated director Anthony Biggs he was instrumental in transforming the theatre's creative output with critically acclaimed revivals of rarely performed plays including Charles Morgan's post-war classic the River Line, the UK premiere of Ibsen's first performed play Saint John's Night starring Oliver winning actress Sarah Crowe, and another Ibsen: his rarely performed late play Little Eyolf with Imogen Stubbs and Doreen Mantle.

Anthony Biggs became artistic director in 2013 and has continued the policy of staging rediscovered classic plays alongside new plays and musicals, with a renewed focus on emerging artists, and writers from outside the UK. Jermyn Street theatre was nominated for the Peter Brook Empty Space Award in 2011 and won the Stage 100 Best Fringe Theatre in 2012.

http://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk