The cast of NYT 2008, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, came together for the first time last week for a cast development meeting. 20 youth theatre members from all around the country spent their Midsummer getting to know each other and the artistic team over 3 days at NUI Maynooth.

The cast worked with director, Gyorgy Vidovsky, and assistant director, Dave Kelly, on team-building games and warm-ups, improvisation skills and something that would bring back memories for the NYT cast of 2007: “trying to ‘be’ instead of trying to ‘show’ ”.A packed programme was put together for the three days. Text and Voice Coach, Max Hafler, worked with the cast for over 7 hours on skills such as diction and projection as well as exploring tools that can help to understand and communicate Shakespeare’s words and characters. Lungs were also exercised when Max began to unveil his collection of songs.

NYT cast members sampled Maynooth catering including the highly rated cheesecake, discovered how easy it can be to annoy fellow residents with evening chatter, created welfare rules with welfare staff and tried to remember who was Barry 1, Barry 2 and Barry 3. Welfare staff got some practice in walking the long, lonely corridors of NUI Maynooth to round up the troops. Dave is polishing his piggy bank to prepare for the collection of his 50 cent late fines for anybody who dares turn up late for his warm-ups!

The cast got a sense of what to expect in July and August when they watched the documentary made about last year’s NYT.

They have now dispersed back to their own pockets of the country to have a well deserved rest. Everyone from the artistic team and NAYD staff were hugely impressed by their hard work, focus and commitment. Rehearsals begin on July 27th…

Rhona

To View Photos of the meeting, visit our Bebo page

For the past number of years we have been bringing youth theatre members together for the Young Critics panel at the Dublin Theatre Festival. This event has always been the focus of much interest from youth theatres and the wider theatre community. The depth of analysis and insight displayed by participants has been very impressive.

As a result we are expanding the programme in 2008 and bringing youth theatre members together three times so that they will attend and discuss six professional theatre productions in total. They will workshop with theatre critic Karen Fricker and youth drama practitioner Sarah Fitzgibbon.

We are also setting up a shared blogging space so that discussions can continue in between events.

The first event is taking place in April (11th - 13th ) in Dublin. There will also be an event in June and the grand finale will take place in October when participants will take part in a public panel discussion as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival.

Youth theatres can nominate two representatives. Forms and more information have already been sent out. The closing date is Monday 24th March.

Participation is free. Accommodation, food and travel is all covered by NAYD.

Visit the Young Critics page

Contact Katie for more info or phone NAYD on 01-8781301

Well, what a year it’s been for NAYD!!! A National Youth Theatre Production
at the Peacock, rehearsed readings of five scripts by new writers at the
ARK, Young Critics Programme at the Galway Arts Festival and as part of the
Ulster Bank Theatre Festival, three new plays in commission for youth
theatres, a mentoring programme with Fishamble Theatre Company, Centre Stage
+10, two new ArtsTrains in January and October, a new website, new logo, new
Intermission and the list goes on…….Are you exhausted reading? Well
imagine how we all feel as the year ends…… tired but exhilarated and
certainly contented that we achieved loads and worked hard for youth theatre
in Ireland.
But, never ones to sit back and relax on our laurels, we already gearing up
for 2008. We’ve our annual planning day on the December 7th when we will
plan the next twelve months…roll on 2008, NAYD has some surprises in
store!!
In the meantime, wishing all youth theatre members,  youth theatre leaders and our
many friends a Happy Christmas and good fortune in 2008.

Orlaith

Last year NAYD published Step by Step Educational Drama. The book is an accessible and practical guide to bringing the new Irish Educational Drama Curriculum to life in the primary classroom. It is written by Joanna Parkes and Sarah Fitzgibbon; two highly experienced drama practitioners. The book is divided into a series of easy to use schemes clearly divided according to age groups.

Such is the success of the publication that we have already had to re-print it. It is now being used in primary schools all over Ireland. The feedback on it has been extremely positive.

If you would like to order a copy go to our Publications page (in the Resources section). If you want to know more about Step by Step, Rhona is happy to fill you in. E-mail Rhona

Katie

Well you’ve found our new web site! We are absolutely delighted to have it out in the world at last. Thanks to Maryrose and all at Brightspark for their hard work on it.

We certainly feel that it represents the NAYD of 2007 better than our previous site which did serve us well over the years. But it really was time for a change. Its easier to navigate for a start, bolder in its use of colour and photos and not as reliant on large chunks of text. There are some nice additions in content also. The ‘In The Spotlight’ section allows us to promote a different youth theatre each month and a funding page with news of latest funding opportunities for youth theatres. We already have a few ideas for new sections and resources such as an International page. All will come in time!

But the success of this site also depends on our members. Tell us your news, keep us informed so that we can get your information out there. E-mail me (info@nayd.ie) and let me know what you are up to. The earlier you get the information to us the better. To help you promote your shows you will now find a “Press Pack” in our resources section.

What you are seeing today is the first stage of development and we plan to make it more interactive and dynamic (with the addition of video and podcasts etc.) in the not too distant future. We will keep our eyes on other developments in web technology and integrate the ones we feel will work for our site.

We would love to hear what you think of the site.

Keep visiting!

Katie