This August renowned theatre maker for the very young; Anna Newell and the Civic invited interested artists to join a pilot training programme for performers and creators, supported by The Arts Council.
Here’s a brief note from Anna as to how it all went!
“So we’re just at the end of the two week intensive Early Years Performer Training Pilot Project. Ten students aged from early twenties to late forties have devised, played, sung and together made (very nearly) three works-in-progress. The first three days was a whistlestop introduction to the wonderful world of baby theatre (well baby theatre as we – my long-time collaborator, composer David Goodall – see it) and we made a full group piece that we shared with eighteen local babies on the morning of the fourth day. More playing grandma’s footsteps, doing Tai Chi and messing around with various devising starting points – and by the second day of the second week, we had a group of 3-4 year olds in from a local nursery looking at three mini pieces that the students had made themselves. We’re now in the home strait and are co-devising a big group work-in-progress called FURRY which we’ll share with children aged 3-4 years and their parents on the morning of the last day. It’s been a blast”! –Anna
The Civic were delighted to partner with Anna on this project and provide support.
A detailed report with participant and audience feedback will follow.