youth drama group being bullied by theatre management! I am shocked!!

[tigermoth]

Oh where do I begin!

My nearly 12 year old son belongs to a youth drama group (age 11 - 16) attached to a local theatre. The theatre puts on amateur dramatic productions.This is why it exists. It is not a professional theatre. It had charitable status.

There are politics surrounding the youth theatre group and main management.They don't get on. The group has been going for years but do not know how long the politics have been an issue. I do not know all the ins and outs as I am a newish parent.

Anyway - get this!

Someone from the management came to inspect the play at the dress rehearsal on Wednesday. He then came backstage and told the helpers in front of the teenagers that the play was a complete shambles and under rehearsed (not exact words but close). He was gong to cancel the first performance of the play (thursday). They had one more chace to pull things together otherwise the performances on Friday and Saturday would be cancelled too as they were not worthy of an audience. Some of the lead actors were in tears by the time he finished.

My son only has a small chorus part in this paly so was not particuarly affected, but I feel so bad for the cast. I think the manager was outrageous - theatre work is meant to build confidence, not knock it. Fair enough if the play was not up to scratch - why didn't the manager talk alone to the adult helpers and tell the kids that the first performance was being pulled due to poor ticket sales or at least be a bit more diplomatic in how they critcised the performance?

Also over all sorts of admin and publicity details, the management are being very obstructive and uncommunicative. I was helping backstage yesterday( first night) and found out all sorts of depressing facts. According to one person I spoke to, the management don't want the youth theatre to exist, as it brings in no revenue.

The performance last night was fab, btw, the actors were really together and worked so hard. I have so much admiration for the adult helpers - many of them ex youth group members. They are such a nice bunch and all deserve so much better.

As I walked out of the theatre at 10.00 pm and turned into the high street, my son and I witnessed a gang of teenagers throwing traffic bollards around and fighting. It was quite scary, but sadly a not uncommon occurance around this area. I contrasted this to the scene I had just left.

I am just so cross! I don't know what to do. I am tempted to write a letter of complaint to the management but don't want to make the things worse for the theatre group.

go and enjoy the perormance. est not to anthing toniught imo. then write or make an appointment to see the manager guy.

thanks sobernow. The communtiy spirit was indeed strong last night and they did manage a small aftershow party in the theatre - lots of speeches and awards :)

As you say, it's a good idea to speak to the youth theatre leader to see if they want to use parents complaints as ammunition. The leader is very approachable, if disorganised (which does not help things at all). He is totally upfront about being baffled and annoyed with the main theatre management.

I think things are moving as yesterday I got collared by another parent who'd been backstage with me on Friday. We had a brief chat about making our feelings known to the management and/or writing a letter - we are both up for it. She's more involved in the youth group and has been there longer so knows more than me. We will speak together soon and see what other parents feel.

The next youth group play is scheduled for September. I think it could be a good idea to meet or write to the theatre management with regards to them giving more support to this play and quoting their charitable status and aims of the organisation (I need to find out exactly what these are).

Complaining is one thing, but if we are to do this, I want us to aim for positive improvements, too. Hmm... that sounds so glib. I have a feeling this is not going to be easy.

If you want to have a laugh about the whole thing, a funny book on the world of Am Dram is "Coarse Acting" by Michael Green, and a brilliant book on loviedom is "I an Actor" by Nigel Planer.

Good luck - as sobernow says there are some brilliant groups around. It sounds as though despite the problems the young people involved got something very positive out of the experience.

TM, that's awful.
I was actually pleasantly surprised to hear that the Youth Theatre is still in existence at all, as it had its opponents in the past - and a lot of tutting in the back stalls on tech day, which sometimes lasted 12 hours.
I think the difference was then, tbh, that before the Hollywood Makeover, the ambiance was less suburban am-dram. Several of the directors and some of the actors and committee had trained professionally even if they were no longer practising, and the season was longer and much more diverse and challenging. The Youth Theatre were tolerated by some older chunterers, but there was more support overall.
I think the advice you have had about encouraging the current leader to use your misgivings to have it out with the management is really good - and you should definitely ask to see their policies for youth theatre projects.
This is such a shame for all the cast and the director :( - but glad they had the all-important after-show party.
Whatever one may think of Mr Law his parents were really positive influences when I was there, directing, designing and acting in some of the best shows of the time. His dad's Stanley Kowalski was excellent

thanks for your insights into the history of the youth group, marina. Interesting to see that there was an element of tut-tutting even in your day. I will certainly keep you posted on developments about taking our complaint further.

Thanks sobernow for advice on lottery funding etc - will follow that up too.

And must look out for those books MadamPlatypus (nice name btw - have you changed it recently?).

anyone is entitled to see the constitution of a charitable organisation btw

I an actor is very funny!

i would be tempted to get a constitution for the youth group.

form a committee

ask for a meeting with other group

draw up a contract of use of facilities

something like - you can reherse on these days
you can use the theatre on these days
anything else you use ( i dont know about costumes and props, lighting etc)

your leverage could be that the youth group will pay.

now you can collect subs every week, do fundraisers, go to the council they will have a "community chest" type thing, lottery as mentioned before - just a couple of grand.

so your paying for it - you have a contract and a committee - they can fckoff

custardo, thanks. The theatre don't let the youth group use their props and costumes AFAIK (not for the last two plays anyway). This again strikes me as being very mean.

I think there might be a youth group committee already, but whether it is doing anything useful I don't know. A small sub is collected from the youth actors when they turn up each week.

I know that if there is a proper committee, the group should be able to apply for council funding, especailly considering the type of work they are doing in this area of the borough where there's a youth crime problem. The group is open to all children - no auditions needed.

Anyway, I was talking this over with a local friend last night. She doesn't have children at the youth group but knows of both the adult and youth group. She suggested that she contacts the theatre as a outsider, saying she is interested in joining so can she see a copy of the theatre's constitution to look at group's aims and charity status. She will also ask about the youth group and see what she is told. While she is doing this, I will ask our council's arts and leisure department if they have details about the groups' aims and funding.