Who Are We?
Ayrshire Youth Theatre are a fully independent, charitable organization
run by volunteers for young people throughout Ayrshire who have an interest in the performing arts.
The
Youth Theatre has three specialist artistic staff, one Artistic Director, Donald C Stewart, a choreographer, Rhona Cleland
and a Musical Director, Kevin Kerr.
They
are helped by two volunteers Elaine McDowall and Lyall Hughes.
The
Youth Theatre have been in existence under various names and guises since being Ayr Youth Theatre in 1987. In 2004 the youth
theatre became an independent charity and signed a Service Level Agreement with South Ayrshire Council.
The Youth
Theatre also has become involved with Ayr College who are a huge supporter
of the Youth Theatre and many rehearsals and workshops are held at the College on a
weekly basis.
That
tie in has now lead to certificated drama being offered through the College with SQA certificates awarded to members in Intermediate
1, Intermediate 2 and Higher Drama in 2006.
The
Youth Theatre takes anyone from age 9 up to 25 who has an interest in the performing arts.
We
DO NOT hold auditions.
The
Youth Theatre is costs only a pound a week.
It is a
guiding principal of the Youth Theatre that we want to have as many young people as possible involved in the arts to ensure the survival of a craft that
has given many of us a career.
Anyone
who wishes to become involved in the Youth Theatre and is within the age bracket only need to turn up at the St Nicholas Church
Hall on a Saturday morning between the hours of 9.30am and 11am for the weekly workshop.
We
shall make sure they have the schedule for the coming month as well as the relevant registration forms to be filled in ready
for their arrival!
What Do We Do?
Every
year the Youth Theatre mounts three productions.
In
October 2006 the older group of the youth theatre will be performing Harvey by Mary Chase as part of Amateur Theatre Week.
In
April 2007 we have our annual performance of a Musical at the Gaiety where every member of the Youth Theatre can be involved.
For
many this is THE showcase event and performing in front of 1,000 people can be
one heck of a buzz! In 2006/0 we shall be performing Seussical the Musical
In
June we then perform a younger group show for aged 9 to S2. in June 2007 we shall be performing The Demon Headmaster
We
also meet every Saturday and on Wednesday evening we have a devising group based at Ayr College. We also perform for local
and national groups like Amnesty International regularly. There’s a lot happening!
Where Do We Meet?
Each
and every Saturday morning we meet at the St Nicholas Church in Prestwick from 9.30am until 11am.
Rehearsals
for shows tend to also take place on Saturdays at the St Nicholas Church Hall. We also rehearse through the week at Ayr College.
The new building by the side of the river, on the top floor houses the Creative Industries Section, of which the Youth Theatre
is part. The Dance Studio , (Room L409) and the Theatre (Room L410) are used for these rehearsals
Saturday
Mornings
The Saturday mornings are designed to develop self confidence and self
esteem of each and every young person we have as members.
The
young people shall warm up physically and vocally before they then work on improvisations that touch upon acting skills as
well as the major practitioners in theatre such as Brook, Brecht and Boal!
Wednesday
Evenings
The Wednesday evening devising project group meet on the top floor of
the College in the Theatre, or Dance Studio or one floor below if the place is busy in the Theatre Lab (Room L316).
The project group is designed to develop the writing and theatre devising skills of
the young people and in 2003/04 they managed to create the basis of a Christmas Tale that was developed as part of the HNC
in Acting and Performance and presented for four performances at Christmas 2004. in 2004/05 they worked on a new performance
concept called Pop Idle and in 2005/06 they worked on a new version of Cinderella.
Individual
Projects
Examples of projects that we get involved in include and are planned
for 2006/07: -
AMNESTY
Performance at Ayr Town Hall on subject Human Rights Human Wrongs to be devised by company in front of the public.
PERFORMANCE DATE: - SATURDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER
SEPTEMBAYR
Three
companies are taking part in the inaugural Septembayr Youth Theatre Event
on Sunday 24th September in
Ayr Town Hall. Performance time is a maximum of 30 minutes. We have our prop which is a clock!
SHORT
PANTO
Possible Christmas type show for the church—to say thank you!!!!
Why?
The
Mission Statement of Ayrshire Youth Theatre is quite simply, Ayrshire Youth
Theatre aims and objectives are: -
To expand young people’s involvement in the arts
through
Increasing the number of young people in the youth theatre
pursuing a career in the arts
Increasing the number of young people pursuing courses outside
the youth theatre
Taking acting out to young people
To expand young people’s knowledge of the arts
through
Increasing the opportunities for young people to perform
To expand young people’s interest in the arts through
Increasing the opportunities for young people to experience
other area of the arts
To develop the dramatic arts in Ayrshire through
Performing recognised texts in a new and dynamic way
Performing work to a new audience
Developing links with South Ayrshire arts infrastructure
To develop support structures for all of the above through
The development of a dynamic and professional empowered youth theatre
The Youth Theatre serves the young people of Ayrshire
by attempting to provide them with the opportunity of running the darn thing. Every three years we consult with the young
people and their parents and put together, like any good business a three year plan! The Youth Theatre themselves have the
final say and they vote on the productions we should be doing.
To ensure
that we have young people who grab the headlines for all the right reasons we have a fantastic reputation for not just keeping
the weans aff the streets but also giving them something HUGELY positive to do. That
cannot be a bad thing and whilst we are attempting to produce highly artistic and creative shows we are also demonstrating
we have some pretty decent human beings in our midst ready to take up their Civic Responsibilities. Oh and they can act …
well some of them ...
