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Making it happen
Introduction
There are many factors which contribute to the running of a successful youth theatre. These range from the practicalities of managing membership, through issues involved in selecting plays and evaluating activities, to the possibilities for encouraging further developmental opportunities for members and staff. This section looks at some of the essential elements of making a youth theatre work effectively and creatively.
Managing membership
NAYT is aware that every good youth theatre organisation needs to have a well managed membership. What this entails can range from keeping an up-to-date and accurate register of members to ensuring that complaints are taken seriously and handled sensitively.
Attendance It is vital that participants in a youth theatre value their membership. If the group as a whole is to be allowed to develop, then attendance must ideally be as near to full as possible. Obviously sometimes a member might miss a session, although it is good practice that they should be encouraged to always give advanced notification about this wherever possible.
Many youth theatres make clear their rules about regular attendance. Eg, if a member misses three sessions without good reason and without letting the group know in advance, then their place could be made available to the next person on the waiting list.
Assisted places Most youth theatres charge a fee from their members. Where this is a significant sum of money, there are some organisations who offer assisted places’. The objective of assisted places is to overcome financial barriers to participation in youth theatre activities. Policy differs from place to place, but generally the options are to provide the chance for members to pay in instalments, or to offer reduced rates, or to make available a number of free places to people receiving family credit or income support.
Waiting lists Because of the popularity of youth theatre activity many groups have to manage a waiting list. As groups are often running at full capacity they are forced to introduce some kind of system to manage demand. This poses the challenge of how to maintain the enthusiasm of the young people who have applied to join and who face a long wait.
Maintaining enthusiasm A range of tactics has been utilised by youth theatres to either reduce waiting lists - which is hard - or at least to maintain the enthusiasm of those who are waiting. One well-tried idea is to run taster workshops for young people on the waiting list. On one Saturday every term there could be a workshop available to those who are over a certain age. Eg, the needs of 100 young people on the waiting list could be met by a day of workshops with two tutors who provide four sessions each lasting three hours. Although this will not reduce the waiting list, and is obviously not as good as becoming a full-time youth theatre member, it should at least serve to maintain a level of enthusiasm in the committed.
Play selection
There are numerous issues involved in the selection or devising of material for young people to perform. Steve Marmion of the Theatre Royal Plymouth, and a member of NAYT’s Board, offers a personal guide to selecting plays for use by youth theatres:
Key considerations When selecting a piece to work on with young people there are a number of key considerations. The most important thing is that the young people in your group are able to take ownership of the material and the world of the play. The piece needs to deal with issues or themes that they can relate to. This is not to say that every play done with young people should feature characters that have to deal with peer pressure and drug abuse.
However, the central themes of a piece need to connect with the experiences of the participants. Eg, Kipling’s “Jungle Book” can be about growing up in an uncertain world, and lonesco’s “Rhinoceros” can be an exploration of fashion and peer pressure. These are not necessarily the original interpretations of the pieces but they can take on a new meaning when approached with young people.
Content Be brave. Young people have an incredible level of insight into even the most sensitive of issues. Always make sure you are alert to all individuals in the group and how they feel about the issues you are covering. If you are unsure about the subject, sexual content or swearing then check with the venue managers and make copies of the script available to parents of those members aged under 16.
Age This is a matter of opinion, but I believe that a 15 year old cannot truly and naturalistically play a 75 year old. They can play their comment on a version of an older character but it will not be naturalism if that is what you are after. If you are producing a piece featuring an age gap between the participants and the characters then be aware that you can stylise the characterisation and so free the actors to play their interpretations of the age. This is useful for naturalistic plays like Miller’s “The Crucible”.
Gender It is often the case that you need plays with a massive amount of boys or girls. Again this is my opinion, but if you are cross-casting then find an artistic reason to do it - don’t just put a girl in a suit - it looks rubbish.
Copyright Copyright law is complex. Unless the author has been dead for more than 70 years you will have to pay performance royalties. You must also have prior permission. Do not assume that because a play has been published that it is available for performance. Unless you are performing in a private home or classroom, a performance royalty will be due. This is the case whether or not the play is performed in whole or in part, whether or not it is for charity, and whether or not the audience pays admission. Photocopying scripts without permission is also a breach of copyright and is regarded as theft, since it is stealing the playwright’s property.
Details of how and where to apply for Performance Rights are invariably included with the play. Youth theatre is often classed as amateur. This is one occasion where this definition works in our favour, as the rights are cheaper for amateur companies. The size of the venue will also make a difference, as smaller equals cheaper.
Classics If the writer has been dead for more than 70 years you can have your own way with the text. This means you can adapt and change it to your heart’s content. This applies to novels and scripts. However, when you mess around with a classic please remember that it is classic for a reason!
Useful sources It may take some time to find the right piece of work for your company. However, this is not dead time. Coming into contact with all these pieces of work should inspire and feed you creatively. I suggest you share the process with the company you are working with. Read plays together, try scenes before committing to a production. Let the selection be the first stage of the creative process.
The first port of call I would recommend is the internet. There are a number of good publications and sites that you will be able to track down. It can take a bit of finding sometimes but it usually gives you some good ideas on the way.
The Royal National Theatre publishes a book of plays for young people every couple of years as part of their International Connections programme. These are very useful pieces of work, as they are written specifically for young people. There are also a number of compilations of plays for young people that are around.
Commission a new play If you have the money you could commission a new play. Local new writing companies will be able to help with potential writers. To cut down on the costs here you could co-commission it with one or more youth theatres from around the country and then all perform it.
You could try contacting local professional companies. They may have pieces that have only ever been performed once. This will save you the cost of a commission and the work is virtually new.
Devise it yourselves There is the option of devising the work for your group to perform. Enable the young people to create the work entirely from a blank page or from a point of inspiration - poetry, pictures, themes, songs, etc. This can then be developed into a play or script. You could adapt a novel or short story for performance (copyright permitting) or you could create a piece of physical theatre inspired by a professional performance your youth theatre members have seen. If you are lucky enough to be based in a building or an area that has a writer-in- residence, then get them to come and work with the youth theatre to develop a script.
And finally All in all, be brave with your selection. Make sure the young people truly own the work, and do something new!
Young reviewers schemes
Most youth theatre work places emphasis on youth groups learning about theatre practice by doing it. But what about the issues concerning young people appreciating theatre as an artform? And what about them learning to promote the arts too? Commenting on a review of the available literature on young people and the arts, Simon Richey of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation notes:
“It was interesting to discover how much emphasis had been placed on the importance of participation and how little on the importance of young people developing listening, viewing and critical skills.”
What are young reviewers’ schemes? Basically young people go and see and comment upon work in all aspects of the arts. A core approach is for young people to run their own group and choose to review specific arts events that take place within their area.
They might be encouraged by a facilitator to research and comment upon all aspects of the event from the suitability of the venue to their own thoughts and reactions. One outcome can be the collation and publication of reviewers’ feedback to be communicated with other people. Such feedback can also be helpful to arts companies and venues for use as a guide when planning and marketing future events to reach young people. The aims of young reviewers’ schemes are to:
Theory and practice suggests that there is nothing quite like young people’s recommendations about arts matters to supply inspiration for other young people.
Generation Pegasus At Pegasus Theatre in Oxford there is a reviewers’ group that publishes in the magazine called ‘Generation Pegasus - GP’. This has developed as a project through the Oxford Youth Theatre Members’ Committee.
The young people involved organise socials for members and trips to see shows elsewhere. Writing reviews is popular and happens in return for free tickets. Staff at Pegasus are keen to encourage this, especially as it helps to develop critical skills. There are for example young people who don’t like acting and who prefer to become involved through writing. There are also individuals who have a vocational interest and actively want to be journalists rather than theatre practitioners. Because of the volume of writing generated, a website is a potentially valuable asset. However the young people involved really like creating a paper publication. This, of course, has cost implications.
Young promoters’ schemes What are young promoters’ schemes? More complex than young reviewers’ schemes, they are a way to give young people the chance to choose and promote live events at a price they can afford in a venue where they feel comfortable. There is a broader definition that takes in the promotion of anything in the arts: A youth theatre production, bands in performance, dance events, a book of poetry, a CD, an exhibition, a community arts event and so on.
Arts Alive! The Arts Alive! organisation in Herefordshire and Shropshire has made this type of empowerment scheme happen over the past three years. Three months in advance, participating groups received a ‘menu of available events and companies. Choices and dates were then fixed. A worker visited the group six weeks before the event to run a practical workshop on how to organise an event. The worker returned two weeks beforehand to check on schedules and progress and then returned yet again to offer support on the night.
What happened? Ian Kerry of Arts Alive! states:
“We had some great successes and some brilliant evenings. But it was not all smooth running. The First Year Review admits that the challenge of getting schools and youth clubs interested gave them a ‘tough start’. Band Nights were the biggest success, with 14 young bands performing live at five venues. ‘The initiative seems to have sown the seeds of confidence and experience that enabled young people to get such events together on their own and other band nights are springing up independently as a result of this initial support.”
What were the lessons? The main idea in Herefordshire - perhaps better in theory than practice - was to engage ‘agents’ to run the workshops. They were paid part-time but hardly enough to ensure continuity. Despite many successes Ian Kerry states that ‘Young people are movers, rarely standing still, so after training them up and getting them going they would often move off to college or to a better job.’ It could be that the Herefordshire scheme was too ambitious. The experience there certainly raises issues about the need to build up the strength of groups so that succession planning’ happens.
Despite all the challenges, however, there is evidence to suggest that the concept of encouraging young promoters’ schemes can be of real potential benefit. Young people acting as promoters can gain practical experience and hands-on learning about arts marketing, management and event promotion. They can also have fun and profit from high achievement opportunities.
Evaluation
What follows is based on an Arts Council of England publication ‘Partnerships for Learning’ that promotes good practice in evaluating arts education projects. It is highly applicable to youth theatre projects and practice and is recommended by NAYT.
Why evaluate? The Partnerships for Learning guide states that there are two main purposes in evaluation:
Five stages of evaluation The guide divides evaluation into five stages.
Overall the guide speaks about creative and dynamic interactions. In particular it states that well-planned evaluation “can enable partners to notice, record and value the unexpected.”
More about the reporting stage The outline above is obviously just a taster for what is within the full document. However, it is worth stating the main pitfall that is identified at reporting stage. It is a common fault for theatre and arts projects to describe and celebrate projects without including any judgements or conclusions from the evaluation. To gain clarity the questions to ask are:
More about aims and objectives It really helps with evaluation to be able to write a concise and yet comprehensive set of aims and objectives for your project at the start. So what are they and what is the difference between the two?
Your aims link to the overall goal you have for the project. They usually relate to things like what you want the participants to achieve by the end. You should have far fewer aims than objectives.
Your objectives are what you are going to do to achieve you aims. These are sub-goals, which, when put together, will work to help you achieve your aims. Objectives tend to be smaller and less broad than aims, containing specific details about the project you are running.
A football team will aim to win their match. They might have as two objectives; to score at least one goal in each half of the game and to defend so well that their opponents do not score at all.
Example - setting aims and objectives Leicester Haymarket Youth Theatre, De Montfort Hall and the Leicester Royal Society for the Blind ran a summer school in August 2001.
Their aims were:
Their objectives were:
Evaluation - having a ‘culture of reflection’ Today there is a lot of new interest in the evaluation of theatre and arts practice; in what it can achieve and how to do it. Eg, Geri Morriarty, writing in a Comedia publication (1997), suggests that artists unconsciously use evaluation all the time; their attempts to do the next one better is continuous, implicit and part of the discipline imposed in undertaking creative work.
Some people argue that evaluation needs to be treated as a truly integral part of practice for theatre and arts organisations. In particular they lay stress upon the need for what is called a ‘culture of reflection’.
Here, in brief, are a few features of such a ‘culture’:
Ahead there is more work to be done on developing rigorous evaluation practice for youth theatres. It is an issue that will grow in importance. But, even now, many youth theatre groups score well in terms of the above positive features.
What makes for good youth theatre? As with many activities youth theatre throws up issues about judging and the criteria to be used for gauging how good something is. Try raising the topic of competitions, or that of auditioning policy and youth theatre practitioners will talk and argue with you for hours. It is possible however, to list the factors to look out for in judging, competitively or otherwise, what makes for good youth theatre. A good youth theatre project shows evidence of:
Training
NAYT is aware that training and work experience are topics of increasing interest to youth theatre groups and practitioners. Accredited training opportunities specifically aimed at youth theatre practitioners have been run in the past. But at this time the development of new training initiatives within the youth theatre field is dependent upon the availability or otherwise of relevant funds and resources.
The NAYT OCN course NAYT has worked in the past to develop a part-time course structure for the training of youth theatre workers. The course lasts 360 hours in total and is accredited by the Open College Network (OCN) at levels 2/3. At the current time this course has been through a number of pilot stages. It is available for local adoption but there are no immediate plans for it to run. Contact NAYT for more information.
Hampshire County Council’s course Hampshire County Council has also devised a course in the past for youth theatre practitioners. The University of Portsmouth accredits their course for a Certificate in Continuing Education leading to 20 credits using the Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (CATS). For more information contact the County Arts Office at Hampshire County Council (tel. 01962 845939).
Youth arts courses relevant to youth theatre Over the past decade a number of organisations and agencies have devised training courses in youth arts project management. Many of these have study aspects that are highly relevant for youth theatre practitioners. One good example is the Youth Arts Project Management course run by Artswork, the youth arts development agency based in the Southern and South East Arts region.
Their course aims to explore and develop the skills needed to plan, fund, run and evaluate a successful youth arts project. All sessions are practical and experiential. Some course work is involved and participants are asked to keep a journal recording their learning. The course is run over six days (not necessarily consecutive) and features input from a number of professional tutors.
This certificate course is part of the BA (Hons) Professional and Continuing Education Degree of the University of Portsmouth. It is worth 20 credits at level 2 of the degree and, as part of the Life-long Learning Scheme, the credits may be transferred to similar degrees in different regions at participating Colleges. For more information about this and other training options contact Artswork (email: info@artswork.demon.co.uk or tel. 02380 712246).
Training opportunities - other avenues What follows are four other suggested avenues which might not be immediately obvious, but which warrant further exploration in relation to youth theatre training. You should note that pursuing these avenues will involve forming strategic partnerships with key individuals from the relevant agencies. This process should form the basis of any planning strategy to develop opportunities for training and work experience for youth theatre staff and/or membership. Criteria and policies are evolving all the time, making it even more important for you to have the relevant officer(s) on side to help guide you through the possibilities and identify the potential funding streams.
Learning and Skills Council (LSC) The Learning and Skills Council is now responsible for all post-16 education and training. The Council has brought together the skills of the Training and Enterprise Councils and the Further Education Funding Council to work with partners, employers, learning providers, community groups and individuals to develop and implement strategies that meet the Government’s aims set out in the ‘Learning to Succeed’ White Paper.
It works alongside the Employment Service, the Small Business Service, Connexions, the National Training Organisations, further education and sixth form colleges, and representatives of community groups, to understand, define and then meet training and education needs. The Learning and Skills Council is organised on a regional basis. In every area the Young Person’s Learning Committee takes responsibility for the specific needs of young people as a group of learners.
Modern apprenticeships Modern Apprenticeships are for young people aged 16 to 18 (and up to 25), with the ability to gain skills and qualifications by working and studying. They are designed to industry standards by National Training Organisations (NTOs). The Learning and Skills Councils are responsible for the delivery of these apprenticeships in partnership with employers.
Fundamentally the training is designed by employers for employers. It is closely geared to the needs of each industry sector, but flexible enough to be tailored to the specific requirements of different organisations. Modern Apprenticeships are becoming available at two levels:
Modern Apprenticeships usually last three years, but can be a bit shorter or longer. Note that an apprentice does not have to be a new employee; if someone of qualifying age is already working within your youth theatre, they can become an apprentice.
New Deal New Deal is for young people aged 18-24 and claiming Jobseekers Allowance. Any youth theatre or similar arts organisation getting involved would need to form a relationship with the Employment Service. A young person can continue to claim benefit for a period of time whilst working within a chosen organisation to gain work experience or training. The scheme will allow a young person to attend college or training for approximately 1-2 months whilst still claiming benefit. You can get more information from the DfES Education and Employment Service on 01325 392822.
The ‘All Ways Learning’ project This is a new initiative to encourage the training and continued professional development (CPD) of managers working in creative industries in the Southern and South East Arts regions of England. The Partnership was formed in September 2000 in response to research conducted by Southern Arts which identified strong demand for action to support the development of arts managers and the need for a multi-skilled workforce within the ‘cultural industries’. To fit with this initiative youth theatre practitioners and senior members can aptly be described as ‘arts managers’ and cultural industry workers.
There are initiatives similar to this one in the South that are currently emerging throughout the UK. For more information visit www.allwayslearning.org.uk.
One concept that is promoted by All Ways Learning is for individuals to undergo a planned learning development programme. This might involve any number or combination of the following:
Careers guidance
Only a few youth theatre members ever enter the professional theatre each year and most youth theatre work concentrates upon teaching ‘transferable skills’ in creativity and personal and social development. Nevertheless there exists a surprising range and number of career openings within the theatre profession.
Working in theatre - The Metier Guide The Metier guide to working in theatre takes the reader through a range of options in some detail. As well as acting and directing it covers working front of house, stage management, being a stage electrician, set and costume design, puppetry, mime and new circus. It has a guide about how to find work and how to get into places and explains about National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs). To give a flavour of this information here is the opening paragraph of the Working in Theatre guide:
“Though very competitive and demanding a career in this profession can be very rewarding. People from all educational and cultural backgrounds successfully enter this industry. An enthusiastic personality, willingness and ability to learn fast can often count for more than education. However, the majority of successful actors have had formal professional experience. Most work is on a short-term contract with long hours and erratic income. To be an actor it is not unusual to put up with long periods of unemployment. Many jobs within the arts are not advertised; contacting the relevant people and demonstrating your skills are paramount. The usual entry into the profession is through drama school. A background in youth theatre can prove to be valuable. Details of youth theatre companies may be found within the British Performing Arts Yearbook (Rhinegold Publishing) or the British Theatre Directory. A careers guide “So you want to work in the Theatre?” is available from the Association of British Theatre Technicians on receipt of an A5 SAE. Most of their career information is available on the web. See pages for further details. The Society of British Theatre Designers also has relevant career information. |
