Stagecoach

Golly! Ten years of Stagecoach! Who’d have thunk it!? Seven years worth of Sunday mornings for me! And what glorious Sunday mornings they were! In hindsight 10am was an early start on a weekend, especially taking into account the thirty minute drive - as a university student ‘lie-ins’ have since become an all too important feature of, well, every day! But, of course, it was absolutely worth missing errrr.. Sunday School!?

So much did I relish the Stagecoach experience, that I immersed myself in it at every opportunity - the fun-filled Derbyshire trips, and of course the spectacularly impromptu Summer workshops, whereat the performance preparation was squeezed into just five days - phew! It was these ‘workshops’ I think, that I enjoyed most of all, though that is not to belittle the impact of the main school. To see a performance grow from Trudy’s (known as Mrs. Hindmarsh for the first few years) spark of inspiration, to an actual performance in so short a time was little short of miraculous. Even now, just the names of the shows conjour a feeling of anticipation, and a certain mourning for the end of such happy times. ‘There’ll be Bluebirds’ I think was the first, in which I was thrilled to play a ‘posh’, somewhat ‘nerdy’ kid with a liking for sociology, if memory serve - alas, the first instance of many in which I was patently type-cast! (By mutual agreement, I hasten to add!). Spattered throughout were innumerable acts with my contemporary Daniel, who I believe, is still embroiled in the throws of Stagecoach, and I daresay, preparation for the much anticipated 10th anniversary performance! Examples include the all time favourite - ‘The Galloping Major’, ‘Don’t bring LuLu’, our infamous ‘March of the Toreador’ and many more to boot!

Arguably somewhat removed from the theatrical world, I currently study History and Classics in Durham. But my acting days are far from behind me, and my RSC ambitions by no means diminished. I’ll be playing Buckingham and Richmond in ‘Richard III’ at Arc in Stockton from the 17th-21st of July and Raleigh in ‘Journey’s End’ in September, with the local Arden Theatre Company (Not that I’m using this contribution as a plug - heaven forbid! - just though somebody might be interested!?)

I must congratulate Trudy on an extraordinary achievement in bringing such pleasure to thousands of people over the past decade, one of whom I am thrilled to be! My thanks and congratulations go also to those who have aided her in this feat - all of the teachers - Rob, Sue, Deborah, Phil, Kate, Miriam - to name but a few (specifically those who at one time or another taught me), and of course Jeff who we all liked a great deal!

With love, thanks and all the best for another ten years,

Josh Mason

p.s. I enclose a picture of yours truly, on the unlikely off-chance that you may have forgotten who I am, and for those who never had the pleasure of meeting me! (Yes, I’m still the same modest chap I always was!)

As you can see by our “day counter” on the site, the clock is ticking!! Please return regularly to this site for updated information about the show.

SHOW TIME AND LOCATION

Our Tenth Anniversary show for all main school Yarm and Darlington students will take place on Saturday evening July 14^th 2007 at :-

The Oakwood Centre
Cleasby Way
Eaglescliffe
Stockton.

 (map)

The Oakwood Centre is an evangelical Church and a conference centre. It has been a happy home to us during many Summer Workshops. We would ask you to make its status clear to your children, so that we can show the building and its people proper respect.

REPLIES

Some people still have not told us whether they will be with us on the night. IF THIS IS YOU, PLEASE DO THIS AS A MATTER OF URGENCY - telephone 01325 337667. If anyone has lost their original letter or not received one then please ring on the above number.

TICKETS

This performance is not part of what Stagecoach normally provides, where tickets are free. It is an extra opportunity, so we are making it into a charity fundraiser. Audience tickets cost £5 per adult and £3 per child, with all the profits going to the NSPCC - see NSPCC link . If any families are unable to attend the event but would like to make a donation to the NSPCC then please go to the link.

The seats in the Oakwood Centre are not numbered, so members of the audience can choose their own seats. Each performing student is assured 2 tickets each but there may be extras on sale, after these have been allocated. Please let us know your requirements, in writing, if you would like extras.

TICKETS CANNOT BE BOUGHT ON THE DOOR, BUT THEY CAN BE RESERVED BY PHONE, THEN PAID FOR BY POST, IF NOT ALREADY ORDERED - 01325 337667

Tickets will be distributed to the students on the last week of term and posted out to anyone who is absent on that day.

REHEARSALS

All students will be required to attend rehearsals for the show during the daytime. For individual students, we will try to keep the timings as close together as we can, for the ease of parents. But we cannot guarantee it, particularly where some students are involved with more than one project. ALL students must be on the premises for 5.30pm for the rehearsal of the finale and will remain with us then, until the show starts at 7.00pm. Therefore food and drink will need to be sent with your child for the teatime period.

Any student who has a very disrupted timetable of rehearsals, will be able to stay with us between rehearsals, but this can obviously not apply to everyone, or we would get nothing done, nor would we have the required number of chaperones to cope legally.

PARENTS MUST REQUEST AN EXTENDED STAY AT REHEARSALS AND NOT JUST LEAVE CHILDREN WITHOUT PERMISSION.

A rehearsal schedule will be issued very shortly and will arrive with your end of term newsletter.

PARKING

The Oakwood Centre has a huge car park to the rear of the building.

CHAPERONES

We have an awful lot of chaperones to find. They have to have CRB clearance. If you, or a relative, would be able to volunteer as a chaperone, then could you please photocopy your CRB clearance form, or at least get hold of the number, (if you are an NHS worker), and send it to TRUDY HINDMARSH, 71 WOOLSINGTON DRIVE, MIDDLETON ST GEORGE, DARLINGTON, DL2 1UL, together with details of when you would be available.

The work is not onerous. It involves being responsible for up to 10 children, whilst they are sitting with you, in the auditorium, during rehearsals and the show. You will have a running order and will need to get your children into position at the required times.

In return we will give you 1 free ticket. This is in addition to your 2 ticket entitlement and will mean that you will be able to seat 4 people at the show (including yourself) without having to apply for extra tickets for these four.

COSTUME

Because we want all the students to be able to see all the show, we are keeping costuming to the absolute minimum, so that we do not need changing facilities and everyone can be in the auditorium at all times.

ALL STUDENTS NEED TO WEAR BLACK JAZZ SHOES OR DANCE TRAINERS and be in Stagecoach uniform or plain black T shirt and trousers - boys and girls.

Some show numbers may require a single piece of costume or a prop. A slip outlining any needs will be issued on the last day of term, along with the tickets. These items should be stored under the student`s chair during rehearsals and performance, so carrier bags would be useful to prevent confusion.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND DVD RECORDING

In keeping with your agreed parental policy on the subject, NO filming or photography will be allowed. RightclickProductions will be recording the show and taking stills shots (RightClickStudios), with their usual high standards for the making of a DVD. This web site has also been designed and is managed by RightClickProductions. This is another aspect to their business if anyone needs a web site creating. Footage from the site will be selected to show at the performance and may be included on the DVD.

PARENTS WISHING FOOTAGE OF THEIR CHILDREN NOT TO BE INCLUDED IN THE SHOW, OR DVD, SHOULD MAKE THEIR WISHES KNOWN, IN WRITING, IMMEDIATELY.

Copies of the DVD may be ordered in advance, either by the form issued with my recent letter, or by application from this web site (info@RightClickProductions.com). If your order has already been placed with me, then please do not place a duplicate an order. ALL ORDERS MUST BE PAID FOR IN ADVANCE AND ALL QUERIES REGARDING DVD`s MUST BE DIRECTED TO RIGHTCLICKPRODUCTIONS AND NOT MYSELF.

Now the formalities are over, we can get on with organising the “good bits”.

See you all soon.

Trudy

Early Stages are to have their own celebration show for the 10^th Anniversary, at the end of the Autumn Term 2007. This is in recognition of the fact that my first Stagecoach school opened in Yarm in the Autumn term 1997 and broke Stagecoach records by being the first Stagecoach to open with a main school and an Early Stages class simultaneously. By the end of that term we had 2 Early Stages classes.

Yarm will have a separate show from Darlington and, as we have done previously, we will group three, or four, classes together in each performance, therefore giving 2 performances at Darlington and one at Yarm. These will take place on our own premises, because we cannot get the Arts Centre because it is the Christmas busy season.

The number of Early Stages classes based here in Yarm and Darlington has now jumped to 10, which is also another record because nowhere else in the Stagecoach network has that number of Early stages classes. Hence our theme for the shows - “Record Breakers”.

We have trawled through our student data-bases to see how many of our existing students were original to our Early Stages openings at Yarm and Darlington. We have one boy and one girl, both now in Stage Three, who came as Early Stages and are still with us now. They are Jonathan Harrison (Yarm AM school but formerly of Darlington PM school) and Louise Sowerby (Darlington PM school) We will include these two in our celebrations.

It should be a nice treat for Christmas!

Best regards

Trudy

 

Parents

These are the performance days and times that have been allocated to each team. This means that you are now able to book any tickets that your family may want. I am afraid that the company does not offer discounts

Tues  12th October  - Sun 17th October  2010    Darlington Civic Theatre

BLUE TEAM                                      RED TEAM

TUESDAY                 7.30               TUESDAY        Rehearsals only

WEDNESDAY          1.30               WEDNESDAY  7.30

THURSDAY              7.30               THURSDAY     1.30

FRIDAY                    5.00                 FRIDAY            8.00

SATURDAY              5.00               SATURDAY      2.00 and 8.00

SUNDAY                  1.00                 SUNDAY          4.00

The Main School Summer Workshop this year was called “Cinderella and Her Fella” and was based upon the real Cinderella story, running alongside a modern day parallel Cinderella tale. We had a record attendance this year, which was very pleasing and we had a tremendous audience who lifted the performance no end.

Very many of the students were brand new to us and they had to go with us on a very steep learning curve across the five days but I know that they enjoyed it, and that their parents were pleased with what they achieved, because of the many conversations that I had after the show. I was very proud of our existing Stagecoach students on the workshop for absorbing new people and supporting their performances so well. It is just what makes Stagecoach so much like a family.

Thank you to Teesside High School,  the Forum Music Centre and Craig for providing the excellent venue and caretaking staff, the sound system and extra lighting that also made the event a success. It was great to have Rob Hancock and Nick Brown back to help us out with classes during the week and also to have a few cameo roles in the show to play themselves. I didn`t manage to get a photo of them to add to this collection which I regret. Nick can be seen in a photo going up on the site next about his role in some performances to save the Forum Music Centre but what ancient photos of Rob that I still have in my possession, he would pay good money for me not to show.

I had minimum sleep across the week, as I was writing the script to suit the numbers and skills of our students but I do enjoy the process, in retrospect, once I have caught up on my sleep and sense of humour.

We hope that we will meet our new friends from the workshop next Summer, if not before at regular Stagecoach. If any family is considering enrolling for regular classes, then can they ring me on 01325 337667 as soon as possible because all the vacancies will be consolidated next week in readiness for the start of term on the week commencing Wednesday 8th, Thursday 9th, Friday 10th, Saturday 11th, Sunday 12th September.

I have posted the photographs that I took at the end of the show. Unfortunately some were not good enough to bother with but I have managed to get all the cast in somewhere I believe. You can save them to your computer by right clicking over them. Any distortion on this web site should not transfer to your image on your computer.

LATE POSTSCRIPT - A PARENT HAS RUNG TO TELL ME THAT SHE HAS FOUND HEAD LICE IN HER CHILD`S HAIR. IT WOULD BE WISE FOR EVERYONE TO CHECK THEIR CHILD FOR ANY OTHER OUTBREAKS

And finally………Let us know, as a parent or student, what you thought about the workshop in the comment boxes below. Thanks for all the fun and -  See you Next Year!!

Michael (above) was a student with us during the week but he was also very useful to us with backstage help. Thank you Michael

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I`m sorry that I will not be able to get the missing scenes up onto the web site in any reasonable time for students to be able to learn them for tomorrow morning. I have an unexpected task that I have to do this evening so will not get it written until the early hours again. If you can make sure that all other song lyrics and lines are already learned thoroughly then there will be no problem with learning these extra few tomorrow evening instead.

The Early Stages Workshops happened this week and myself and the staff were very pleased with the children`s work and behaviour all week. We had the most children that we have ever had take part this year with 60 in total - some doing the whole week, some mixing and matching their days.

The children got to show their imaginations in devising much of their drama and they made costumes and props too. The weather was kind so we got to use the lovely playground and that is where I captured many of these smiling faces. Families may right click over the photo and save it to their computer. Any distortion in dimension will not be saved so don`t worry about that.

Firstly is a card that Darcey Garbutt gave us on the last day. We were very touched Darcey.

Then I have taken photographs (I hope) of all the children who were in the workshops on Thursday and Friday (I`m afraid that I had lost my camera in the early part of the week.

 The Portrait Gallery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we have:-

Playtime

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun With the Helpers

Each group had its own helper who was with them all the time. I missed getting photos of Hayley McKay who had to leave us on Thursday and I did not capture her replacement Alex either - sorry!

Here is Charlotte

 

And Hayley Moohan

And poor long-suffering James Lavelle, who was chased nearly to extinction at playtime as these pictures show

 

 

And also

In Lessons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found this Youtube clip about the search for the Broadway Billies. I thought people would like to see it. What cracking dancers some of those kids are. And for those of us who went down to the West End a chance to see some of the creative team again that we saw at our event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8U1SnU3bRE&feature=related

Thank you to all the cast members and their families who have left their comments about these shows already. Others may still do so in the comment boxes below - particularly James Dowson and Andrew Ashton who left comments, which I accidentally deleted and asked them to replace - but you both must have forgotten.

This `Billy Elliot` project has been a joy to me from start to finish - except when I was running whole cast rehearsals with big group numbers, when the chattering was very wearing - but that was a small price to pay I think for the universal aclaim that our students and staff have earned, in all phases of this wonderful project.

There were haunting individual performances from some of our lead actors, both in the main and understudy cast.  I am so glad that I decided to give the understudies a real chance to perform their parts on the Wednesday night, in their own right, because the audience response for them was terrific.  Besides individuals captivating the audience, there was a terrific response for the massed numbers. I was moved every night by the “Once We Were Kings” finale song and I know that the Easington contingent were too because I heard, and felt, their intake of breath when the returning miners appeared through the curtains at the start of the song.

I saw the shows from many angles throughout the week - crawling about in the wings, bustling about backstage, or perched in the sound control box and I was impressed by the sense of “team” that I always felt. Because of the many and varied inputs from staff from across the seven schools, these shows were different from all the internal shows that had gone before and showed what we could do when everyone pulled together. On a practical and organisational level, thanks must go to staff who volunteered to run the shows for no pay, so that Shannon`s fund could grow. Janie, Claire and Jodie organised back stage all week between them and Jane helped out with the chaperoning on several nights. Lucy also helped on one of the nights and Cat and Sue also volunteered but fell ill during the week - Cat ending up in hospital, so thatnks for the offer any way. Thank you also to Phil for the day and evenings that he spent on the technical side of things. I could not have anaged all of that without you Phil so thank you very much.

I was proud of the moments where cast members confidently `winged it` in true Stagecoach fashion, when things did not go quite to plan and I really felt that the cast communicated with the audience in a very adult way and the audience communicated honestly back to them so that it felt special to both sides.

What a joy! What a success for our first attempt at public performances.

I was too busy to take photos during the rehearsals and we weren`t allowed by our license, to take film footage, or photos, during the performances but I can post below all the group photos of the cast that appeared in the programme, so that cast members can download any for their own collections. Ignore any distortion appearing on the web site. When you rightclick over the photo and save to your computer it will save without the distortion.

Great work kids. I was immensely proud of you all. And thank you for your lovely gifts. I did appreciate them.