What is the ‘Theatre Buddies’ programme?
We are thrilled to launch our new programme called ‘Theatre Buddies’. This programme is all about encouraging young people to attend the theatre and experience productions that they may not have had the chance to see before. We are increasingly aware that with the cost of living considerably rising, many of the young people in Torbay haven’t had the opportunity to watch live theatre performances in and outside of the region. Which raises the question ‘How can we expect young people to create original, imaginative and innovative theatre if there are multiple barriers simply getting to the theatre?’. With this in mind, we aim to make the theatre an affordable, memorable, accessible and sustainable experience for the young adults we are working with.
What shows are we going to see?
The shows will vary in themes, styles, location and price each term. This will enable young people to broaden their knowledge of theatre and what shows can look like. They will get to visit a variety of venues close by but also look at going further afield, choose shows that are of interest to them and get to spend some time with new friends in a different environment.
Cost will vary for each show however we hope that we can build relationships with venues to provide affordable tickets in future.
Image description: The image shows 6 DAS participants & 1 facilitator siting in the audience seats surrounded by other audience members. The front row are looking at the camera, the back row are laughing and looking away from the camera.
This programme is currently for our Tuesday and Wednesday DAS senior group (Musical Theatre group). We hope this programme can grow over time with the help of partnering up with organisations.
Image Description: 6 DAS participants and 2 facilitators are taking a selfie image together. They are all standing outside the Princess Theatre in Torquay. It’s dark outside, everyone is smiling. There are stairs in the background, the entrance to the theatre.
How can you get involved?
If you work in a theatre venue and believe you have a show that could be a good fit for young adults ranging in age from 12 to 20 years please get in touch. We want to hear from you and more importantly we want to grow a long lasting relationship with you. It may be that you can’t offer subsidise tickets but there are so many other things you can do. Offering a Q&A around what it’s like working in the industry is valuable, providing a theatre tour is memorable, scheduling a 10 minute cast greeting can feel unreachable or boosting our tickets to seats closer to the stage is sometimes unimaginable.
Get in touch: polly@doorsteparts.co.uk
We are at the start of this new journey and we cant wait to see where it takes our young people.
Image description: The image is of the main stage at The Princess Theatre in Torquay. The picture is taken from the audience perspective from a right angle. The stage has 4 black chairs spaced evenly. There is a microphone stand with a black top hat over the microphone centre stage. There is a large circular sign hanging centre stage with the words ‘Come what may’ on. The colours on the stage are blue and red.
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