Author: Elaine Pritchard

Serial drama Castleford Close – another success for StageScreen

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Castleford Close end title
During lockdown we’ve seen some great work produced by writers, directors and actors on TV – did you catch Staged by David Tennant, Michael Sheen and friends?
Maybe you saw Isolation Stories, a series of 15-minute ITV dramas?
Well, StageScreen students have also been busy creating their own serial drama, Castleford Close, the story of a group of youngsters facing their own problems during lockdown.
It is written by acting tutor Jack Broughton and produced by film tutor Tilley Bancroft and the StageScreen students.
A pandemic can’t stop our incredibly talented students from producing excellent work! We are so proud of them all! You can catch all episodes of Castleford Close by subscribing to the StageScreen YouTube channel, or watch them below.

 

The Show Must Go Online

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Finale of the Show Must Go Online

Our sister school, StageScreen Musical Theatre Associates, is thrilled to be among the first organisations in the UK to rehearse, perform and upload to YouTube the virtual musical The Show Must Go Online.

Show must go online detailsThis is the first musical of its kind – one written during lockdown to be rehearsed and performed remotely.

StageScreen MD Heather Gallagher said: “When lockdown started it soon became clear that we would be unable to put on any performances in person for a while. All our classes and workshops went online. Then we found out that Beat By Beat Press, a group of writers and arts educators in New York City who write children’s musicals, had created this special show where each performer could record their segment separately.

“When all the videos are edited together, they tell the story of a group of passionate students desperate to keep their annual musical alive online during the pandemic.”

“Schools in 40 different countries have so far acquired the rights to perform The Show Must Go Online, and we are thrilled to be among the first in the UK.”

You can watch The StageScreen production here:

StageScreen MTA is the elite performance arm of the StageScreen organisation and is an audition-only company for students aged from 8 to 21.

MTA classes run in South Derbyshireat Oakland Village, Swadlincote. We are delighted that we held our first in-person MTA classes on September 9 – one day ahead of our YouTube premiere of The Show Must Go Online.

All StageScreen staff trained in COVID-19 awareness

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All our teachers have now completed training for COVID-19 Awareness in preparation for our return to teaching classes and workshops in person later this month.

You can read about our COVID-19 procedures here. We will continue to review and update our procedures as the situation develops and as more information becomes available.

Our number one priority is protecting the health and wellbeing of all our students, staff and volunteers and we will continue to follow the advice of the UK Government, NHS, Public Health England and our local Health Protection Team.

COVID-19 awareness certificate for Heather Gallagher

An example of the qualification all our teachers have now obtained.

Congratulations to all our virtual performers

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The very first Centre Stage Virtual Performing Arts Competition was a huge success with more than 300 video entries emailed to us. Congratulations to all who took part in the classes for speech and drama; dance and vocal.

Each entry will receive an adjudicator’s report and certificate with trophies and medals for the highest marks.

Entries were submitted by video and watched and assessed by four professional adjudicators ahead of a live Zoom bursary final held on August 29. Twelve entrants from across the classes were invited to perform again by the adjudicators.

Virtual performing arts festival bursary finalists

Our 12 bursary finalists

Head adjudicator, and founder of StageScreen, Heather Gallagher said: “Wow! What a treat the Bursary final was! Well done to every single performer- we could have chosen any of the 12 as very worthy winners!”

After a difficult deliberation our junior bursary winner, who won £50, was seven-year-old dancer Bronte Ashmore for her entry to the lyrical class.

The senior bursary winner, who won £100, was 16-year-old singer Isabelle Byrne for her entry in the CCM pop solo class.

Our £25 StageScreen Musical Theatre Associates Vouchers (to be used against any of our workshop or fees) were awarded to: Laila Parry (modern dance class) and Amelia Nixon (musical theatre vocal).

The other eight bursary finalists were: Rose Dawson (contemporary monologue); Freddie Dawson (Shakespeare monologue); Kiya Sanwalka (ballet); Jenna Stephenson (contemporary comedy monologue); Aimee Rowe (own choreography); Ethan Shimwell (unaccompanied vocal); Effie Lennon Ballard (unaccompanied vocal) and Maisie Axton (lyrical).

The virtual award winners in the three sections are listed below.

Speech and Drama

Overall Junior Aggregate Winner – Libby Falkingham

Overall Inter Aggregate Winner – Rose Dawson/Jenna Stephenson

Overall Senior Aggregate Winner – Freddie Dawson

Overall Open Aggregate Winner – Jo Kingman

Endeavour Award – Maia Violet Holmes

Vocal

Overall Junior Aggregate Winner – Ethan Shimwell

Overall Inter Aggregate Winner – Georgia Barley

Overall Senior Aggregate Winner – Isabelle Byrne

Highest mark Junior – Ethan Shimwell

Highest mark Inter – Ruby Stewart/Amelia Nixon

Highest mark Senior – Isabelle Byrne

Endeavour Award – Hannah Minness

Dance

Overall Junior Aggregate Winner – Kiya Sanwalka

Overall Inter Aggregate Winner – Aimee Rowe

Overall Senior Aggregate Winner – Maisie Axton

Highest mark Junior – Bronte Ashmore

Highest mark Inter – Aimee Rowe

Highest mark Senior – Maisie Axton

Highest mark Lyrical – Maisie Axton

Highest mark Contemporary – Aimee Rowe

Highest mark Ballet – Kiya Sanwalka

Highest mark Modern – Maisie Axton/Aimee Rowe

Highest mark Tap – Emily Stebbeds

Highest mark Musical Theatre (with or without song) – Eleni Bott

Endeavour Award – Lily Cockram

Centre Stage Virtual Performing Arts Festival trophies and medals

Some of the awards that will be posted out to winners

Winners of each class were as follows:

Speech and Drama

Screen Acting

Junior – Libby Falkingham

Inter – Hazel Proud

Senior – Dan O’Neil

Own Humorous Verse

Open – Logan Powell

Harry Potter Prose

Junior – Libby Falkingham

Open – Jo Kingman

David Walliams Prose

Inter – Brandon Lawson

Open – Jo Kingman

Contemporary Comedy Monologue

Junior – Zoe Cross

Inter – Jenna Stephenson

Shakespeare Monologue

Inter – Amelia May Jones

Senior – Freddie Dawson

Open – Jo Kingman

Acting, Contemporary Monologue

Junior – Grace Rees

Inter – Rose Dawson/Jenna Stephenson

Senior – Isabelle Byrne

Open – Jo Kingman

Speech Solo

Junior – Lily Sharples

Inter – Maia Violet Holmes

Vocal

CCM Pop Solo

Junior 1 – Lucie Anna Ward

Junior 2 – Ethan Shimwell

Inter 1 – Imogen Burton

Inter 2 – Georgia Barley

Senior – Isabelle Byrne

Musical Theatre (post-1960)

Junior 1 – Lucie Anna Ward

Junior 2 – Ethan Shimwell

Inter 1 – Amelia Nixon

Inter 2 – Ruby Stewart

Senior – Isabelle Byrne

Open – Leah Springham

Musical Theatre (pre-1960)

Junior –  Ethan Shimwell

Inter 1 – Caitlin Cole

Inter 2 – Olivia Carroll-Walsh

Senior – Georgia King

Open – Emily Hyde

Unaccompanied Vocal

Junior – Ethan Shimwell

Inter 1 – Effie Lennon Ballard

Senior – Hannah Minness

Musical Theatre Duet

Senior – Anna Milne and Emily Haywood

Vocal Solo

Junior 1 – Lucie Anna Ward

Junior 2 – Sophia Affleck

Inter 1 – Amelia Nixon

Inter 2 – Liberty Skye Woodhead

Senior – Isabelle Byrne

Dance

Lyrical

Junior 1 – Sophia Reid

Junior 2 – Bronte Ashmore

Inter 1 – Zahara Monfries

Inter 2 – Lily Wheeler

Senior – Maisie Axton

Contemporary

Junior – Lily Clarke

Inter 1 – Keeley Byrne

Inter 2 – Aimee Rowe

Senior – Kira Caple

Ballet

Junior 1 – Sophia Reid

Junior 2 – Kiya Sanwalka

Inter 1 – Isobel Hanson

Inter 2 – Ellie Preston

Senior – Katie Dale

Modern

Junior 1 – Sophia Reid

Junior 2 – Laila Parry

Inter 1 – Keeley Byrne

Inter 2 – Aimee Rowe

Senior – Maisie Axton

Musical Theatre Dance only

Junior 1 – Lilly Hendrick

Inter – Rebecca Harrison

Tap

Junior 1 – Emma Willey

Junior 2 – Bronte Ashmore

Inter 1 – Maria Bott

Inter 2 – Emily Stebbeds

Senior – Reece Lilley

Musical Theatre Song with Dance

Junior 1 – Emma Willey

Junior 2 – Eleni Bott

Inter 1 – Lily Cockram

Inter 2 – Liberty Skye Woodhead/Isabel Mead

Senior – Hannah Minness

Classical Duet

Inter – Natasha Harper & Hannah Stephenson

Classical Duet With or Without Song

Junior – Olivia Crawford & Nicola King

Inter – Jodie Thorpe & Scarlett Pratt

Senior – Lilly Griffiths & Melissa James

Own Choreography

Junior 1 – Molly Bowes

Junior 2 – Florence Burt

Inter 1 – Isabella Hammond

Inter 2 – Aimee Rowe

Senior – Nicola Freeman

 

 

Christina Modestou to become patron of our sister company

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Since 2017, we are proud that the theatre director, actor and playwright Tom O’Brien has been our patron. He has provided support and encouragement to students and tutors and been instrumental in helping us secure the services of top, international performers to run workshops for us.

One of the introductions he made for us was to Christina Modestou, who originated the role of Anne Boelyn in the musical Six about the wives of King Henry VIII.

Christina Modestou is patron of StageScreen MTAShe ran a high-energy online workshop for us on June 3, attended by our students and those from our sister school, StageScreen Musical Theatre Associates. She returned to be part of our week-long summer school earlier this month.

Now she has agreed to become Patron of StageScreen MTA.

Christina says “I’m thrilled to be a Patron for Stagescreen MTA. The students have worked so hard in my sessions and they bring so much fun too. This definitely filters through from their amazing staff who get involved and are so energised and encouraging. I feel very lucky to be working with them more often. One great thing to come out of this Pandemic!”

Originally from Port Talbot, South Wales, Christina trained at the Arts Educational Schools, London.

Her theatre credits include: The Boy in the Dress (RSC); BBC 10 Pieces (Tour); The Winter’s Tale (National Theatre); Little Shop of Horrors (Regents Park Theatre); Six (Arts Theatre, Cast Recording); 35MM (The Other Palace Studio); Rent (St James Theatre, UK tour); The Last Mermaid (WMC); Shrek (UK tour); Urinetown (Apollo Theatre); In The Heights (Southwark Playhouse); The London Revue (Park Theatre); Edges (Tabard Theatre); Aladdin (Everyman Theatre); We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre)
Her television credits include: Holy Popcorn (web series); Belonging (BBC Wales); Strictly Come Dancing (BBC); Love Actually.

StageScreen West End Summer School

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StageScreen West End summer school 2020

West End and Broadway stars who will teach at StageScreen’s August 2020 summer school

StageScreen is bringing the BEST current West End and Broadway stars online to teach you this summer!

Each workshop runs from 10am – 11am and tickets can be booked online at Eventbrite.

Monday 17th Aug – Bethany Huckle & Barnum (West End)

Tuesday 18th Aug – Christina Modestou & Six (West End)

Wednesday 19th Aug – Jonathan Mawson & Descendants (West End)

Thursday 20th Aug – Charlie Stemp & Mary Poppins (West End and Broadway)

Friday 21st Aug – Luke Bayer & Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (West End)

Unveiling our virtual performing arts competition

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We are proud to introduce our first Virtual Performing Arts Competition with sections in speech and drama, vocal and dance.

Entries must be submitted by video and will be watched and assessed by four professional adjudicators ahead of a LIVE Zoom bursary final on August 29, 2020.

Please email for an entry or teachers pack now on centrestagevirtual@gmail.com. Each entry costs £3 and the deadline for entries is Saturday, August 15 at 9pm.

There are more than 25 sections and a £100 cash prize for the winner. Each entry will receive a report and certificates with trophies for the highest marks and the adjudicator’s choice.

There is no upper age limit. Age groups are:

Solos
  • Junior 1 – Four to six years
  • Junior 2 – Seven to nine years
  • Inter 1 – 10 to 12 years
  • Inter 2 – 13 to 14 years
  • Senior – 15 to 18 years
  • Open – 18+ years
Duets ( for vocal and dance classes – must be from the same household or recorded socially distant)
  • Junior – Four to nine years
  • Inter – 10 to 14 years
  • Senior – 15+ years

Speech and drama categories

Six age categories are available from Junior to Open, which has NO upper age limit. Junior entrants can read from paper or books.

The categories are:

Speech solo

  • Extract from any David Walliams book
  • Extract from any Harry Potter book
  • Contemporary monologue (post-1950)
  • Shakespeare monologue
  • Screen acting
  • Contemporary comedy monologue
  • Classical comedy monologue (pre-1900)
  • Own humorous verse

Speech and drama adjudicator

Jack Broughton BA (Hons, PGCE Theatre, DipLCM

Jack BroughtonJack is a teacher of acting at a specialist performing arts school in the Midlands. He trained at the University of Winchester and has a BA (Hons) in Musical Theatre.

Jack has been performing since an early age and enjoys both musical theatre and straight acting. As well as training in musical theatre and acting, Jack has also worked closely with different disciplines in performing arts such as physical theatre, puppetry & object manipulation, immersive theatre and acting through song.

Over 10 years, Jack and has appeared in shows such as Half a Sixpence, Guys and Dolls, Honk and many more.

Jack was the first person in the UK to originate the role of The Prime Minister in the amateur version of Made in Dagenham. He recently played the role of gangster boss Curtis in Sister Act and the Rhino in Just So.

Jack’s directing credits include Anything Goes, Jungle Book, Aristocats and The Gruffalo. He has worked on many comedy and straight plays such as John Godber’s Bouncers & Shakers and also played the part of Salty in Teechers and Eddie in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers.

Vocal categories

Six age categories are available from Junior to Open, which has NO upper age limit. Duets must be from the same household or recorded socially distant.

The categories are:

  • Own choice vocal
  • Musical theatre performance (pre-1960)
  • Musical theatre performance (post-1960)
  • CCM (pop music) solo
  • Unaccompanied vocal
  • Musical theatre performance duet

Vocal adjudicator

Anne Leatherland – Specialist Vocal Trainer, BSc PGCE ALCM LGSM

Anne Leatherland vocal adjudicatorAnne is a specialist singing and voice teacher, based in the Midlands, with more than 20  years’ experience in vocal troubleshooting and teaching multiple genres.
 
Coming from a musical family, Anne has sung all her life. She was educated in Manchester and initially opted for a science degree at Lancaster University. Following a PGCE at UEA, she spent 11 years teaching science and chemistry to A level in Burton-on -rent. During this time she rekindled her interest in music and staged numerous musicals for young people.
 
Anne studied singing with Coral Gould MBE obtaining an LGSM teachers diploma in 1997 and left school teaching behind to follow her passion for helping others to sing well.
 
She has worked with singers of all ages and genres over the years and has a particular knowledge of the developing voice.  Anne began further training with Vocal Process in 2008, eventually gaining accreditation.  She now works alongside International trainers and authors Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher on a regular basis and is their first Associate Teacher. She teaches on Vocal Process courses and on the Vocal Process Teacher Accreditation Programme.
 
Anne was a finalist for the BVA Van Lawrence Award (2014) for research into the differences between classical and musical theatre singing. At Liverpool Theatre School (LTS) Anne has trained singers for the musical theatre profession and delivered spoken voice sessions on the level 6 acting course. She has also worked with actors at LIPA, and as part of the Developed with the Lowry programme.
 
Anne is proud to be the owner of VocAL Intuition, which offers mentoring and support for singing teachers and other professional voice users. Her most recent course, an online mentoring programme for new singing teachers, has proved to be very successful. Anne has written published resources, including a best-selling ebook, lesson plans and app reviews. She also loves using technology in teaching and has given both public presentations and individual training on this.

Dance categories

Six age categories are available from Junior to Open, which has NO upper age limit. Duets must be from the same household or recorded socially distant.

The categories are:

  • Lyrical
  • Contemporary
  • Classical ballet
  • Modern
  • Tap
  • Own choreography
  • Musical theatre song with dance
  • Musical theatre, dance only
  • Classical duet
  • Cabaret duet (with or without song)

Dance adjudicator

Jill Chapman RAD, Dance Coach and Choreographer

Jill Chapman dance adjudicator
Jill has studied dance and drama from an early age. She is a qualified dance teacher and member of the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD).
 
During her years of professional teaching she was also Licentiate of both the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) and the International Dance Teachers Association (IDTA).
 
Jill has been teaching dance for more than 20 years, much of that time spent as principal of her own dance centre. She has continued to enjoy choreography and has worked on productions for various schools, societies and theatre groups.
Poster for the 2020 Centre Stage Virtual Performing Arts competition

Special Tshirt gift for all students

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Today saw our Principal drive to the homes of more than 50 students to deliver a special gift as a thank-you – their own specially-designed Quaranteampurple t-shirts!

Tshirts delivered to students during lockdown

It was so lovely to see so many smiling faces – from a safe distance! 💜

While lockdown continues, students have been doing lessons via Zoom. They miss each other, and our teachers miss them. But, we are so grateful to all our students and parents for being so supportive during lockdown and enabling us to continue to teach the children week in and week out.

We can’t wait to see you all again, once it is safe to do so.

Quaranteampurple tshirts

Cast announced for Sister Act Jr.

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We are delighted to announce the cast for our planned production of Sister Act Jr. at The Brewhouse Arts Centre, Burton upon Trent, in March 2021.

Congratulations to everyone who auditioned, virtually via Zoom. You were all fantastic. We can’t wait to get started on rehearsals and we look forward to welcoming you all to see the production.

StageScreen Sister Act Jr cast list

Actor Danny Mahoney to run StageScreen workshop online

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Danny Mahoney runs StageScreen workshopWe are incredibly excited to announce that StageScreen has secured an exclusive screen acting workshop with film actor Danny Mahoney!
Danny has acted opposite Dame Maggie Smith in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and opposite Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins!
Danny will be working with our students for two hours where they will have the chance to perform a scene and work directly with Danny for training and direction.
We are so very excited to welcome him live to our weekly zoom class on June 6! Live training continues at its best during lockdown!