Welcome to the section of the website devoted to Kildare Youth Theatre @ Crooked House. Here you will find information about previous productions, our current programme, how to join, and much much more. You can also read the Bulletin Board to the right and members can leave messages for other KYT members. Members note: in order to activate your account and use the board you need to have an email address (contact Peter for details).

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Please click on any of the following headings to learn more.

History

Aims and Activity

County-wide Membership

Eligibility

Workshops and Annual Schedule

Courses

Venue

International

Principal Facilitators

Leaders

Assistant Facilitators

FETAC Accreditation

Fees and Registration

Previous Productions

Contact

Links

 History

Kildare Youth Theatre @ Crooked House was first established in the spring of 1997 when Crooked House was operating from the VTOS premises in George’s Street in Newbridge. Teenagers met weekly on Wednesday evenings and were introduced to drama by Anne Mekitarian. They mounted their first production, Over The Wall, in Newbridge’s Bealtaine Arts Festival in May of that year.
The following year Hugh Mc Ginley and Darren Donohue took charge of the group and produced a series of scenes entitled Mixed Nuts. In 1998 Kate Conaughton and Sarah Kearney facilitated the group of approximately 15 teenagers. KYT did not meet in 1999 due to lack of funding.

In August 2001 Crooked House moved into its current home in the county’s newly built arts venue, Riverbank Arts Centre, in Newbridge. In October we ran a strong recruitment drive and attracted 30 teenagers to a revamped KYT which met every Monday evening. Darren Donohue, Yvonne O’ Hara and Peter Hussey worked with the group to produce Tainted Love: Scenes to Get Hot About (December 2001) and A Mid Summers Night's Dream (May/June 2002).
Kildare Youth Theatre is now a central element of the adult company, with over 100 members.

Aims And Activity

Apart from providing a detailed introduction to performance skills, we also help young people to source agents, to find further training at third level, and to perform audition pieces with confidence.

Kildare Youth Theatre also hosts a number of events during the year for people who are not members of KYT. These range from Talent Competitions, through Singer Songwriter Nights, to Youth Fashion & Design show. Many teenagers who do not wish to act become involved in these events as dancers, musicians, and backstage crew. They also provide invaluable experience to young people who wish to gain skills hosting and presenting live events to the public.

COUNTY-WIDE MEMBERSHIP

Most participants are from the central Kildare region (Newbridge, Naas and Kildare) but we welcome people from all over. There are members from Maynooth, Prosperous, Rathangan, Athy, Kilcullen, Suncroft, Sallins, Celbridge and Donadea. This is worth knowing if you come from somewhere distant from Newbridge – many parents pool resources and share the driving to and from Riverbank to home. So check with us to see if anyone else from your area is a member of KYT.

ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible to join the youth company you must be aged between 14 and 25 and have an interest in drama (acting, devising/improvising, movement) or production (set design/construction, lighting/sound, and stage management). The sessions, however, are primarily geared towards games and training for budding actors.

WORKSHOPS AND ANNUAL SCHEDULE

PROGRAMME 2004 - 2005
This year’s programme consists of one general workshop for everybody (Saturday evenings) and a menu of courses from which members can choose the one(s) that suit(s) them best. The courses run for the entire year. Those interested must sign-up for courses by using an official registration form and returning it to us, or contacting the company directly. Rehearsals for plays occur outside of the course times – they will be agreed with the cast of each show beforehand.

TERM DATES 2004-2005
All courses begin on the week of 13th September. The last workshop in Term 1 will be on Sat 18th Dec. Term 2 begins on 8th January and runs to 26th March. Term 3 begins the week of 11th April and runs til 23rd July. Performances may be staged outside of these dates.

Second Term (January to April) In January, before school begins for the new year, and for two or three nights in Riverbank, we hold a Talent Competition for all arts disciplines. This is hosted and produced by the members and attracts entrants from all over the county. Click here for application form for the next one.

Also in January we register a new intake of members who will begin training as a separate group. They will mount a one-night showcase production, called Debut, in April or May.

In addition, in January rehearsals begin on the Shell Connections plays selected for performance. These are performed in March and travel to a major Irish venue in early summer (the Lyric, Belfast in 2003; Everyman Palace, Cork in 2003).

Third Term (May to August) The content of this term is flexible because a number of factors can determine the direction KYT takes at this time. For instance, 2003 was spent preparing to stage Totally Over You in the RNT Cottesloe, London in July. This meant rehearsing, fundraising, and performing the production around the county. Also a reasonable number of the members will have state exams so their commitment will be limited at this stage. Normally, however, and depending on funding, KYT will continue to meet as in other terms and provide a variety of complimentary workshops by guest practitioners (such as Drumming; World Singing; Design; Puppet Making; Circus Skills; Acting for TV & Camera; Script Writing; and Dance).

In late July the company organises and hosts a four day Festival of Kildare Youth Theatre. This involves four or five youth drama and theatre groups from around the county bringing a show to Riverbank for evening performance. All participants will also attend a wide selection of workshops by leading Irish theatre practitioners from 1pm to 5pm each day. In 2003 the first ever such festival was sponsored by Wyeth Medica Irl and by KELT Leader+. KYT rehearses a production – usually with the newest members - to be staged at this festival.

COURSES

SINGER SONGWRITING
Master classes with well-known singer-songwriters are scheduled for those interested in performing during our regular Young Singer Songwriter Nights. The year's activity also includes Talent Competitions and Battle of the Bands. See each Riverbank Event Guide for relevant details.

GENERAL WORKSHOP: Saturdays 5pm – 7pm. This is the fun-based workshop for everybody in KYT – drop in or out as the mood suits you during the year. While playing in this workshop you will meet and bond with new friends, develop self-esteem and confidence, learn to use your curiosity and to create small-scale theatre pieces expressing your views. Players will also encounter an introduction to acting styles and techniques and to devising and storytelling methods. The group will work towards staging at least one performance – when this happens this workshop time will become a rehearsal time for that show. Facilitators: The team is led by Laurence Hamill and a group of 4th year members. From time to time guest practitioners lead workshops. Fee: Those attending will pay €2 every Saturday they attend. Should you forget to pay you can do so the following week but please note you may not owe more than €4 at any one time.

IMPROVISATION: Mondays 7pm – 9pm. The skills taught and practised in this workshop develop creativity, spontaneity, risk-taking, innovation, story-telling, and the ability to harness curiosity for the benefit of performance. Participants become confident and generous improvisers as the workshop continues. There are a number of public performances and the option of attaining a FETAC Record of Achievement at the end. Facilitators: Darren Donohue and Karina Power. Fee: €40 per term.

PHYSICAL COMEDY: Wednesdays 7pm – 9pm. This workshop introduces players to the forms and techniques of commedia del’ arte, buffoonery, red-nose clowning, and slapstick. Work is devised and also text-based for the year. Detailed work occurs on acting technique throughout. Facilitator: Peter Hussey. Fee: €40 per term.

VOICE: Thursdays 5pm – 7pm and Saturdays 3pm – 5pm. There are 16 places available on each of the Voice workshops – players choose the day that suits them and they stick with that for the year. The work is intensive and formative, helping players find, develop and train their voices for performance. Facilitator: Jillian Bradbury. Fee: €40 per term.

STANISLAVSKI’S METHOD: Thursdays 7pm – 9pm. This course explores acting techniques developed by Constantin Stanislavski and made famous by US stars of stage and screen. Content includes emotional recall, sensory development and character creation. You must be 17 or over to do this course. For Term One only and limited to 16 participants. Facilitator: Mary Linehan. Fee: €40.

THEATRE STUDIES: Saturdays 11am – 1pm. This course introduces players to the history, genres, and development of theatre; to an appreciation of texts and plays; and to the business of theatre production and direction. Players are required to read, research and to write during the course of the year. A FETAC Record of Achievement is available upon successful completion of the course. Facilitators: Peter Hussey, Karina Power, Lucy Bell, and guest practitioners. Fee: €40 per term.

SCRIPTWRITING: Every 2nd Tuesday 5.30pm – 7.30pm. This is not so much a course as a forum – a meeting where writers and would-be writers come together to share their work in a spirit of mutual help and criticism, textual analysis, and script generation. It is intended for beginning and intermediate playwrights. Note that this will not be a forum for discussing poetry, screenplays or short stories – it is strictly for plays. Fee: €20 per term. Facilitators: Darren Donohue and Peter Hussey

K.Y.T. in ATHY and LEIXLIP. We are holding a weekly workshop in the Library in Athy every Tuesday evening beginning September 14th. Facilitated by Jillian Bradbury, the workshop focuses on improvisation and voice work and results in one performance in 2005. Participants are also able to do the weekly courses in Newbridge if they wish and if can they get there – they are similarly able take part in all KYT festivals and events. The fee for the workshop in Athy is €2 per session.
Karina Power will begin a weekly workshop in Leixlip library in Jan 2005, further details of which will be available closer to the time.

VENUE
Workshops are held in Riverbank Arts Centre, Main Street, Newbridge. Occasionally the workshop moves to the Patrician Primary School Hall, or to St Conleth’s & Mary’s School Hall, in Newbridge.

INTERNATIONAL

It is an aim of KYT, funding permitting, to travel once a year to a venue outside Ireland. In 2003 KYT took part in the Shell International Connections Festival of Youth Theatres run by the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain. We presented the Irish premiers of two new plays written especially for Youth Theatres, and performed one of them in the RNT Cottesloe in London. In 2004 the company presents three plays by internationally renowned playwrights. We will be travelling to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August with one or more shows.

PRINCIPAL FACILITATORS

Kildare Youth Theatre's principal trainers are Crooked House company directors Yvonne O' Hara, Darren Donohue, Peter Hussey. Yvonne graduated from the Gaiety School of Acting in 1999 and has worked with Crooked House, Corcadorca Theatre Co and in TV and film. Darren graduated from VTOS Newbridge Theatre Studies in 1999 and has worked with Crooked House, TEAM, Spike Productions and Everyman Palace. He has also worked in TV and film. Peter is Artistic Director of the company and has directed all of their shows to date.

LEADERS

These are selected from the members each year by the members themselves. Their principal functions are to assist in workshopping, play selection, fundraising, and help make artistic and other decisions during the year. The Leaders’ Committee meets approximately four times a year.

2003-2004 Leaders: Treenie Curran, Aoife Whelan, Neil Connolly, Deirdre O’ Donnell, Sean Reid, Orla Tinsley, Sarah O’ Farrell, and Ross Mac Mahon.

ASSISTANT FACILITATORS

Each year a number of people work with the company on a part-time and voluntary basis. Some of them come from the Diploma in Community & Youth Work programmes at the Centre for Applied Social Studies NUI Maynooth, and others are local artists interested in developing their theatre skills.
In 2003-2004 our Assistant Facilitators are Laurence Hamill, Karina Power and Mary Duffin. The following have also generously given their time and energy to KYT: Jaqueline Smith (Maynooth), Ceire Donohue (Naas), Sabryna Porter (Tallaght) and Geraldine Daly (Omagh).

FETAC ACCREDITATION
Members receive a record of achievement in Level 2 Theatre Performance from FETAC at the end of the second year, having successfully completed various assignments. This is optional.
In order to gain the accreditation, members keep a learning journal in which they record their vocational development, their preparation for performance and their significant learning during the programme. They also take part in one public performance, and they conduct an improvisation.

FEES AND REGISTRATION

There is a fee of €100 euro per participant for the year. The fee can be paid in two instalments of €50 each, one sum before Christmas and one afterwards. This covers insurance for the year, items such as KYT T-shirts, supplements trainers' salaries, travel, registration costs for Shell Connections, etc. There are grants and subsidies available for anyone who may have difficulty getting the fee. Please speak to Peter Hussey at Crooked House about this.

It is necessary to book a place on Kildare Youth Theatre, as there is usually a large demand for places. Contact Crooked House at 045 448309 or email us.

PREVIOUS PRODUCTIONS

2003:

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (Dec 9 – 13; Riverbank; directed by Darren Donohue and Peter Hussey)
Baby Jaws devised by the company, directed by Peter Hussey (13 &
14 Sep; St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra; Victim Support International Youth Safety Conference)
Wyeth Kildare Festival of Youth Drama (28 – 31 July, Riverbank)
Totally Over You by Mark Ravenhill (April/May Riverbank; Moat Theatre, Naas; Prosperous Theatre; Maynooth Community Festival; Lyric Theatre, Belfast; RNT Cottesloe, London; Directed by Peter Hussey)
Purple by Jan Fosse (April/May Riverbank; Prosperous; Lyric)
Youth Singer Songwriter Night 14 April, Riverbank
Youth Fashion & Design Show March 18, Riverbank (co-ordinated by Antoinette Henderson Banks)
Debut 2003 March 8th, Riverbank (directed by Karina Power and Ceire
Donohue)
KYT Talent Competition (9 - 10 Jan; 32 acts from all over County Kildare)

2002:

Macbeth by William Shakespeare (a co-production with Crooked
House; March / April, Riverbank; Theatre Royal, Waterford; Garage
Theatre, Monaghan; directed by Peter Hussey)
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (8 - 12 May and 20 - 22 June 2002; directed by Darren Donohue & Yvonne O' Hara)

2001:

Tainted Love: Scenes to Get Hot About Dec 17th; seven scenes from various plays performed all over Riverbank; directed by Yvonne
O’ Hara & Darren Donohue)

1999:

I Like Blackbirds, I do May (devised and directed by the members; Blue Room, VTOS)

1998:

Mixed Nuts May (scene studies from contemporary plays, directed by
Hugh Mc Ginley and Darren Donohue; Blue Room, VTOS)

1997:

Over The Wall by James Saunders (May – the first KYT show directed by Anne Mekitarian; Blue Room, VTOS)

CONTACT
Peter Hussey, Kildare Youth Theatre @ Crooked House, Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, County Kildare. Tel: 045 448309. Mobile: 087 2759420. Fax: 045 432490. (International callers prefix numbers with 00353 and drop the first 0).
Email the company.

LINKS

National Association for Youth Drama (NAYD) Here be the MOTHERSHIP. Required visiting at least once a week. Need we say more?

Irish Theatre Online The most up-to-date and comprehensive listing of Irish theatre companies, venues, personnel, training opportunities etc in Ireland.

The Actors’ Noticeboard Our very own managed noticeboard upon which you will find notices of up-coming auditions for theatre, film and TV. But be patient – the board relies on companies to put up their casting requirements. Note that this is NOT a greeting board.

Kildare Arts A comprehensive guide to all the arts activities in Kildare, including to the Kildare Library and Arts Service.

National Youth Arts Programme One of the main sites for promoting arts activity for young people, the NYAP is a section of the National Youth Council of Ireland.

Filmbase The site for training, acting classes, shoot information and most things to do with the Irish film industry.

School of Drama, Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity

Drama Studies at Queen’s University, Belfast

NT Shell Connections The site that supplies the plays, advice, information and much more for Royal National Theatre’s Shell Connections festival of Youth Theatres.

Conference of Drama Schools A detailed guide to the websites of 21 major UK theatre training third level institutions. Includes links to RADA and Central School, application procedures and deadlines, and useful information about scholarships and funding.

The British Theatre Guide A comprehensive guide to companies, venues, shows, reviews and more in British theatre.

Lisa Richards Agency One of Ireland’s premier actors’ representative agencies and, of course, home of our very own Keith Burke.

The Stage Britain’s major theatrical newspaper online, with notices of auditions and other theatre work.

Laurie Anderson Let there be no place too insignificant that I can’t use it to recruit a few more followers. Give up yer ould Jeff Buckley and get a real artist.