AMATEUR DRAMATICS
| Published: 15th April 2007 18:22 |
NEWTON ABBOT AND DISTRICT MUSICAL AND COMEDY SOCIETY ALSO NEWTS (THE JUNIOR SECTION)
This is the only theatrical group operating in the town of
Newton Abbot, Devon, England
We are members of the national
operatic & dramatic association -noda-
And perform at the Aexandra Theatre , Newton Abbot
History
Of the society
venue
The society meets on Monday evenings for most of the year ( we usually have August off). Over the years we have rehearsed in many of the public halls in Newton but for the last 15 years we have been based at the old YMCA Hall in Chapel Hill. We were fortunate in 2001 to buy this building from the YMCA and we have now renamed it 'The Green Rooms'. The hall is best reached by driving into Abbotsbury Road and turning into Fisher Road, the 'Green Rooms' are at the end of Fisher Road up a short lane
The Society is a registered charity and we produce a Pantomime in early January followed by a musical show later in the year. This is sometimes supplemented by a NEWTS (our Junior Society) production which usually takes place in the spring or autumn.
To join the Society as an acting member you will have to pay a subscription of £20 per year.. Non-acting members pay £10
NEWTS is the name we have given to our junior section which has been in existence in its present form since 1987.
The group is made up of approximately 60 youngsters between the ages of 7 to 16 years who are given the opportunity to sing and do movement at our rehearsal room, THE GREEN ROOMS, at the end of Fisher Road in Newton Abbot on Friday evenings during term time.
The group was started by Val Chapman and John Amery and continues to be run by Tracy Kewell with the assistance of other Society members together with John Amery who is still the group's musical director.
Over the years the NEWTS have put on many very successful productions ranging from 'Alice'(based on Alice in Wonderland) through to 'Bugsy Malone' and a spectacular production of 'The Boy Friend' . These musicals were originally performed in the Dyrons Creative Arts Centre but latterly the NEWTS have been able to use the full facilities of the Alexandra Theatre.
NEWTS productions are entirely performed by the youngsters with the adult supervision of the production team.
Several past NEWTS members have gone on to work in the professional theatre including DAMELZA RANDLL ( FINGERSMITH-TV drama ), DYLAN TURNER (CHICAGO touring production) and JON LEE (OLIVER, LES MISERABLES and of course S-CLUB SEVEN)
NEWTS last major production was 'HONK' which was very successfully staged at the Alexandra Theatre in June 2006 with a cast of 40 children.
NEWTS pay a yearly subscription of £5 and weekly subs of £1.00 this enables them to be members of the Society and means that they are fully covered by our insurance when rehearsing or performing.
Because of unprecedented demand we regret that we are not able to take any new members at the moment and there is a long waiting list of prospective NEWTS but please keep looking at this web site for further up dates.
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