Stage2 Youth Theatre Company
Summer Holidays 2012 Catch up
Dear Member, Parent, Guardian etc….
Firstly we
hope that you are all having a lovely Summer break and ‘enjoying’ the random
weather! This last year has been very busy and extremely successful for Stage2 and we would like to thank you
for the parts you have all played in this!! This letter will serve as a
reminder of upcoming events over the Summer and through to the Autumn Term and
beyond, as well as some general information that you will need to be aware of.
Summer Schools
This year Stage2
is running two brilliant Summer Schools to suit all tastes!
1) Liz will be
running a Pre-text Summer School on Shakespeare’s The Tempest looking at the whole text and paraphrasing every
single word so you will understand it, in preparation for our Spring 2012 . IF
YOU HAVE SIGNED UP FOR THIS OPTION YOU NEED TO BRING A COPY OF ‘THE TEMPEST’
(not a Complete Works as the text will be too small for notes) A PEN, PAPER AND
FILE!
2) Lucy will be
running the General Acting Summer School developing skills in a
range of areas and preparing a performance for the Sharings at the end of the
week and the opportunity to perform at ArtsFest
on Sunday 9th September.
There are still places left for both Schools. Remember brothers,
sisters, friends etc are all welcome to attend. Please fill in the form
(enclosed) and send it back to us with the appropriate cheque to
C/O 12 Valentine
Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, B14 7AN.
There will be a sharing on Friday 31st August, 5pm – 5.30pm, everyone is welcome to
come and see what the General Acting course has been learning over the week. If
you would like to come, please be in BSA
Reception, by 4.55pm on Friday 31st August.
ArtsFest
Every year Stage2
takes part in Birmingham’s largest Free Arts Festival: ArtsFest. It is a great way to catch up with ex-members as well as
recruit new ones. The way that Stage2
is operating at ArtsFest this year is changing, however we still do need
volunteers to help on our stalls and be stewards (and participants) at
performances and workshops. If you can help on either one or both days of the
weekend 8th & 9th
September then please read the final page of this letter and get back to
us via email with all the information that we require. We need to have
everybody’s information by Wednesday 29st
August so we can start planning the teams and the weekend – you can tell us
at the Summer Schools if you wish, Ethan will have the signing up sheet.
We will
have our usual stall on New Street
at the top of Ethel Street which
will be our base camp – please tell
everybody you know, ex-members, parents etc to visit us. If you can’t volunteer
this year then still try to make it down and visit ArtsFest for yourself as
there will be lots going on. The General
Acting Summer School will be performing on Sunday 9th at 11.30am
in Brindleyplace Square and we will also be running two workshops – see the
last sheet for further details.
Next Term
Stage2 returns
for the Autumn Term with the Intro Session on Sat 22nd September 9.30am – 2.30pm (or until 4.30pm for
anyone wishing to take a LAMDA Exam or an Arts Award).
Stage1’s Intro Session is on Saturday 29th September 1.30pm – 5pm
(all Parents must be prepared to stay until 2.30pm for the
introductory chat and Marketplace).
The term will then run until Saturday 15th December
(where every member is called until 7.30pm for the Sharings) but remember, we
are having Saturday 27th
October ‘off’ for half term after 30 of us come back from a fun week in Butlins!!!
We have five extremely exciting options next term (more
information on the sheet enclosed):
- Alice’s
Adventures in Www.Land
- The
Tempest (Pre-rehearsals) by William Shakespeare
- Graft
by Steven Berkoff
- Genera Drama
- Stage1
Parents’ Coffee Morning
Saturday 22nd September, from
9.30am @ Point Café, Millennium Point
As usual our Parent Volunteer Team will be holding a
coffee morning in Point Café from
9.30am on the Stage2 Intro day –
this is a good time to meet other parents, maybe arrange car pools, discuss
how production week works, ask questions etc
There will be a Coffee
Afternoon at a later date in the term, to be confirmed on the Diary Sheet.
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LAMDA
Stage2 has once
again maintained its fantastic 100%
success rate with LAMDA exams over the last year and we hope that this
continues – we will find out the results from the most recent set of exams
early September, so keep your fingers crossed!
If you want
to take a LAMDA exam in the Autumn Term then you will need to stay after the
normal Stage2 Intro Session from 2.30pm – 4.30pm and sign up – please
make sure that you have completely sorted out what days you are available to be
taught on (and be flexible so we can work around it if required). Also if you
are working in a duo or a group then please make sure that you have sorted out
with your partner(s) when would be the best time for both/all of you, so that
you can make all lessons with as little swapping as possible. Remember that you
will also need to bring your cheque (made payable to Stage2) for the full term of lessons with you to the Intro Session £100 (grades 1-5) or £120 (Grades 6-8/Medals) – proportional
for groups.
The exam
dates for the following year have been released and only just fit into our term
time so please make sure you make a considered decision before commiting:
Autumn Term:
Exams: 16th December 2012
– teaching will start the week commencing 1st
October and we will all have the week commencing 22nd October
off for half term.
Spring Term:
Exams: 24th March 2012 –
teaching will start the week commencing 28th
January, you will all also need to have two double lessons to make it up to
the full ten lessons before the exam.
Summer Term:
Exams: 7th July 2012 – teaching will
start the week commencing 6th
May, you will need to have one double lesson to make it up to the full ten
lessons before the exam.
We know
this may sound complicated and we will explain it again at the LAMDA Intro
session on 22nd September,
but if you have any questions or want advice then please speak to Liz or Lucy.
In the meantime please have a serious think about when to do LAMDA as the
Spring and Summer will both be short terms and will require hard work.
Work Experience
Our Work Experience programme is still going strong with
Marketing and Fundraising Committees, Mentor and Trainee Tutor Schemes and
Technical Teams.
If you would like to join the Marketing Committee then you need to
come along to the first meeting of the Autumn Term (29th September, 5.30pm – 7.45pm) with a file and loads
of ideas. If you would like to join the Fundraising
Committee then you must see Ethan
Hudson at the Intro Session on Saturday
22nd September and he will sort you out with the information
that you need.
We hope to
repeat our very successful Technical
Course soon, where a different professional comes in each week and teaches
their skill. Anybody wanting to be considered for one of the Technical roles in
Alice’s
Adventures in Www.Land must attend the interview at the Autumn Intro.
We have
already announced our new Mentor Team
who start in September and they are all very excited – as are we! We would like
to thank the team from last year who have been a lovely bunch of Mentors and we
know that this year’s team will be just as lovely too!
We also
have new Trainee Tutors: Chloe Jones, Jacoba Williams and Sam Hotchin will be staying and will be
joined by Ethan Tarr, Katie Booth and Rosa Simonet – we have already had our first meeting which was very
positive and exciting and we look forward to working with them.
If you
would like to do your School Work Experience Placement with Stage2 then you must submit your
application letter to Ethan as far
in advance as possible so we can consider your application because
unfortunately we only have limited places and we are always inundated! The Work
Experience placements we had this year did lots of brilliant work and really
enjoyed their time with us – if you would like to know more about how this kind
of placement works then please see Matt
Childs, Mark James or Leah Martindale who did work experience
with us this year.
Car Parks & Building work
Some good news to start with; the Car Park round the corner
from The Crescent Theatre has just re-confirmed that they offer Car Parking to
anyone who is going to The Crescent to watch a show for £4.50 as long as you
get your ticket stamped at the theatre.
We apologise for any inconvenience that the building work
around Millennium Point has caused over the last year – as soon as we know
information we do pass it on in every medium possible – please keep your
eyes peeled on our Noticeboards, Facebook, Twitter etc for urgent updates (and
hopefully the work will be completed soon!).
We hope that you continue to have a lovely Summer and we
look forward to seeing you all again at a combination of the Summer Schools,
ArtsFest and Next Term!
See you soon!
Alex Pugh, Arts Manager
P.S. Congratulations to everyone involved in Our Town which got a fantastic 4*
Review
“A well drilled and well rehearsed cast and crew producing yet another
polished performance. Stage2, must be one of the leading youth theatres in the
region, if not the country.”
Roger Clarke, Behind the Arras
