Thame Youth Theatre

TYT Dance - Youth in Motion

Spring 2010 brings to Thame Youth Theatre a revival of dance teaching, as we welcome dance teacher Kylie Tuffney to our team. The new dance group named Youth in Motion now runs on Tuesdays from 4-5:30pm in the Phoenix Performing Arts Studio at Lord Williams's Lower School. As numbers increase the class will be divided into two groups based on ability and age. Enrolment forms can be collected when attending your first session and the fees are the same as for drama (per each term: £45 per child, £80 for siblings and £80 for a joint drama and dance membership). Please contact Megan Hudson for more details.

FUNDRAISING EVENT 2009 - THAME YOUTH THEATRE'S 20TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Thank you to all those who attended, performed, helped out and organised the TYT 20th Birthday Cabaret. It was an excellent evening and a great success: we raised approx £2500 which will go towards new seating in the Phoenix Performing Arts Studio. For pictures of this excellent event, check out the website Gallery (TYT Birthday album) or join Thame Youth Theatre OFFICIAL Facebook Group for additional photos!

OUR TEACHING TEAM:

Clare Davies MA (Middies Drama Teacher)

Clare studied a BA Hons in Drama and Theatre Studies at the University of Surrey, Roehampton, and then trained as a performer on the MA Advanced Theatre Practice course at Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London. Clare is a successful freelance drama workshop facilitator, youth arts development manager and has taught at local youth theatres, universities and other Stagecoach schools throughout the south east. At the end of her training she formed dANTE OR dIE Theatre and became Associate Director. dOd has produced four productions. Clare has recently worked with 1157 performance group, touring with ‘89% and Rising’, part panel show where panellists express contentious issues that encourage real debate with audiences. She is currently developing with the company ‘The rest is silence-The Tao of Hamlet’, a mystical journey of mutterings, movement and silence, which will be premiered in 2010. Clare maintains strong links in the voice over industry and is currently the voice of ‘Magic’. Other vocal credits include MTV1, various characters and the rubric instructions for Macmillan Heinemann Educational Books.

Megan Hudson MDrama (Youth Arts Development Manager and Juniors Teacher)

Megan recently graduated from the University of Kent with a First Class Master of Drama and Theatre Studies Degree. During her time at University she worked on a number of Applied Theatre Projects for children and young people who do not usually have access to theatre. Megan has had a strong interest in theatre since first performing in panto aged 4 and attending Stagecoach between ages 10 and 13yrs. She has performed in a number of productions through school and youth theatres, both nationally and internationally such as ‘The Rocky Horror Show’, ‘Annie’ and when living in Cyprus, performed the female lead in the National Theatre International Connections’ musical ‘Gold’. She has Grades 4 & 5 Associated Board Singing qualifications and currently also works for Stagecoach Marlow and High Wycombe. She loves working with children of all ages and is now really enjoying teaching drama to young people.

James Dakers (Seniors Teacher)

James has trained in all aspects of Musical Theatre from a young age. He has also worked for a number of theatre schools across the UK and performs regularly, both in the West End and in local theatres. James’ teaching experience encompasses all three Musical Theatre disciplines. He has taught Drama for Stagecoach Harpenden and Stagecoach St Albans and as well as all of his own teaching commitments, is currently Early Stages teacher for Stagecoach Aylesbury.

KylieTuffney (TYT Youth in Motion Dance Teacher )

Kylie has excellent experience in dance and has set up her own dance company Tuffney Dance Academy. She has specialised training in Ballet, Tap, Modern, Contemporary and Street dance and has awards for her many achievements in dance. Kylie also has the ISTD Teaching qualifications and has extensive experience teaching dance to young people and adults.

About Thame Youth Theatre

“We are a group of actors keen to put on productions… we want to be able to offer people the chance to act out of school in a close community where everybody’s a friend - Megan Ilsley Thame Youth Theatre Seniors Group

At Thame Youth Theatre, community is a big part of who we are and combining this with theatre skills and the passion to put on regular performances for our local community and our members is what drives us forward.

The fire at our base, Lord Williams’ School in 2007, which destroyed our performance studio, made life difficult for Thame Youth Theatre as, without a fixed home, our members decreased and extra trips and events were all put on hold.

However, there were many committed members who alongside the committee managed to keep the youth theatre together. Now, two years on, with the recent opening of the brand new Phoenix Performing Arts Studio and armed with a new Youth Arts Development Manager, we are finally pulling ourselves out of the slumber and roaring into action with new performances lined up and high hopes for the future.

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Thame Youth Theatre is a social organisation as well as an artistic one- for many it is the friendship and companionship that stems from common purposeful activity that is the chief attraction. There is no audition for a place to join us and we are open to all young people - regardless of gender, race, disability, or religion.

Thame Youth Theatre prides itself on being different from many other youth theatres, in that alongside reasonably-priced drama coaching, we have also in the past organised a number of Exchange schemes where members have been able to travel to countries such as Romania, Australia, Croatia, America and Ireland to perform at festivals, schools and perform/enhance their theatre skills alongside other young people abroad.

In the future, following a boost of member numbers (which has already begun), we intend to once again organise such Exchanges so that our members can learn from other how other cultures perform, improve their stage confidence and theatre skills outside of our base in Thame to wider audiences, and improve their independence as young individuals.