Churchill Theatre Annual Report - 2006-07 - Appendix 1 ...

The Churchill Education Activities
Special Events
The eighth Annual Playwriting Competition took place in October to allow the
Education Department to pilot a new branch to the competition. From the 50 plays
entered, six plays were short listed to work with a professional dramaturg to
develop the writing to a higher staged level. The playwrights worked with the
dramaturg and director through two sets of drafts until the play was in the rehearsal
room with the actors. This provided the competition with a new and exciting edge,
which provided the writers with a more valued experience.
The theatre hosted a talk and book signing with Jacqueline Wilson, the children’s
laureate. Local schools were invited and the auditorium was full to capacity. The
talk was enthusiastically received (lots of screaming!) and many young people left
excited to have met the literary star at the Churchill.
To complement The Churchill co-produced tour of Stuart Little, the Education
Department developed a programme of events for the venues on tour. This included
puppetry workshops for 5-7 years, 8-11 years and 12+. The show and workshops
carried the stamp of the Churchill nationwide.
For the fifth year running, Practitioner Keith Park ran workshops for local special
schools on The Churchill’s stage. Using the set of Mother Goose, seven schools took
part in 10 workshops, which allowed them to tell the pantomime story, using the
rhythms of the stage and sign language to communicate. These were incredibly
successful and the building of strong relationships with these schools has resulted in
the planning of a Bromley and Lewisham Schools Showcase, to take place in July
2007.
In January, in partnership with Connexions and Bromley Youth Services, The
Churchill secured a grant from the Bromley Youth Opportunity Fund to run a
musical theatre project with 30 young people. At its core is a group of young people
who were “hard to reach” and were found through Connexions and various
counselling and youth mentoring services. The project was named Teatro:Esplosivo
and became a promenade performance of a hybrid of West Side Story and Romeo
and Juliet. The project was highly successful and the audience was full to capacity.
Teatro:Esplosivo has grown from strength to strength, and there are already plans to
develop a piece called The Monkey Prince, based on a Chinese fable, for the Bromley
Arts Festival in July.
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