The Birmingham Youth Theatre was founded in 1971 in Birmingham, England by local teachers Derek Nicholls and Ray Speakman, and was based at the Midlands Arts Centre and Birmingham Repertory Theatre. From 1984 it was also run by teacher and director Malcolm Cleland, who also ran the Central Junior Television Workshop in Birmingham.
The company was funded by Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Arts for the purpose of giving 16- to 23-year-olds from the wider local community access to drama and the theatre arts. Many successful actors and actresses began their careers in the youth theatre, most notably:
As of 2009, Derek Nicholls is now the chief executive of Qdos Entertainment plc's HQ Theatres division. [1]
Due to problems with funding, the company ceased to exist in 1987. The unrelated BMOS Youtheatre was set up in Birmingham in 1987, and renamed "Birmingham Youth Theatre" in 2013; it is a registered charity. [2]
MAC is a non-profit arts centre situated in Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It was established in 1962 and is registered as an educational charity which hosts art exhibitions, Indie Cinema, live performances and Creative Courses for all ages.
The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is a youth theatre and registered charity in London. Its aim is to develop and nurture young people through creative arts and theatrical productions. Founded in 1956 as the world's first youth theatre, the NYT has built a reputation for producing actors such as Daniel Craig, Daniel Day-Lewis, Timothy Dalton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Colin Firth, Derek Jacobi, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane, Helen Mirren, Lysette Anthony, Rosamund Pike, Regé-Jean Page and Kate Winslet, among numerous others.
The Old Rep is the United Kingdom's first ever purpose-built repertory theatre, constructed in 1913, located on Station Street in Birmingham, England. The theatre was a permanent home for Barry Jackson's Birmingham Repertory Company, formed in 1911 from his amateur theatre group, The Pilgrim Players, founded in 1907. Jackson funded the construction of the theatre and established his professional company there.
The Birmingham Hippodrome is a theatre situated on Hurst Street in the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England.
Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as for aesthetic values. Productions may take place in venues ranging from the open air, community centres, or schools to independent or major professional theatres.
Janice Connolly is an English actress, comedian and artistic director. She runs the Birmingham-based group Women and Theatre and performs stand-up comedy as her character Mrs Barbara Nice. Connolly has also appeared in Coronation Street, That Peter Kay Thing, Phoenix Nights, Max and Paddy's Road To Nowhere, Thin Ice and Dead Man Weds. In 2017, Connolly was awarded a British Empire Medal in the New Years Honours list for services to community arts in the West Midlands. In 2022, she began appearing in the BBC soap opera Doctors as Rosie Colton.
The Beck Theatre is a 600-seat theatre in Hayes, in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was built in 1977 at a cost of £2.5 million.
Middlesbrough Youth Theatres (MYT) is an umbrella company consisting of Middlesbrough Junior Theatre, earlier known as MLT Juniors, together with a 'Kidstage' group of 7- to 11-year-olds, and an older 'Youth Theatre' of 11- to 18-year-olds. The largest section of the company is the Juniors, a group originally created in 1956.
The Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, commonly known as The Grand, is a theatre located on Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton, UK, designed in 1894 by Architect Charles J. Phipps. It is a Grade II Listed Building with a seating capacity of 1200.
Gareth Knapman was an English theatre actor and director, and a founding director of Ubiquity Theatre Company.
Nicholas Jeffrey Thomas is a British entertainment entrepreneur and an Olivier-award-winning theatre producer. He is the founder, Chairman and joint-owner with his wife Sandra, of Qdos Entertainment Ltd (Qdos), whose subsidiaries include Five Star Collection Ltd, Adverset Media Solutions and Q Talent Ltd. In March 2021, Nick & Sandra sold HQ Theatres & Hospitality Ltd to Trafalgar Entertainment Group led by Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire, partnered with Barings, the global investment pension fund manager. In April 2021 Nick & Sandra Thomas sold Qdos Entertainment (Pantomimes) Ltd to Crossroads Live Holdings UK Ltd Live entertainment acquisition vehicle partnered in the US by Raven Capital Management LLC, and chaired in the UK by David Ian.
Paul Terence Conneally is a poet, artist and musician based in Loughborough, UK.
Arthur M. Jolly is an American playwright and screenwriter. In 2006, he was awarded an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for his comedy The Free Republic of Bobistan.
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Billie Lester , it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre companies and one of its most consistently innovative.
Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA) is a regional academy for digital, creative and performing arts located in the centre of Birmingham, West Midlands, England.
Birmingham is an important centre for theatre in the United Kingdom. The earliest known performances in the city were medieval pageants and miracle plays. Birmingham's first permanent theatres and theatrical companies were founded in the 1740s, drawing both actors and performance styles from the fashionable theatres of London. During World War II, the Birmingham Blitz forced all performance venues in the city to close; most would stay closed throughout the war. The postwar introduction of television led to further theatre closures.
Highbury Theatre is a non-professional theatre situated in the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England. It is one of the oldest, established amateur theatres in the city and a founding member of the Little Theatre Guild of Great Britain.
Pan is an intercultural arts organization and registered charity based in London, UK, that uses the arts to explore cultural diversity and social change. The main purpose of the organization is to help marginalised young people from all cultures and religions who are at risk of social exclusion to improve personal and interpersonal skills through a range of arts activities including drama, music, film, dance, creative writing and visual arts.
Birmingham Comedy Festival is an annual arts festival in the city of Birmingham. The festival takes place throughout the city for 10 days during October. While primarily focused on stand-up comedy, it also includes films, theatre, cabaret, visual arts, spoken word, music, dance.
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