Stagecoach Theatre Arts
The schools, which restrict class sizes to 15 students, run for three hours at weekends with shorter sessions for the younger children (formally known as the Early Stages ). Although Stagecoach is open to all young people with an interest in the performing arts whatever their ability, it does provide opportunities to perform professionally and some students have found considerable success in film, television and on the West End stage. Occasionally Stagecoach schools come together for large national events. Stagecoach Theatre Arts is a professional theatre arts school, operating in thousands of locations around the world, with over 600 schools in the United Kingdom.Stagecoach publicly announced that they are currently waiting for a response from the government and will, furthermore, publish details as soon as they are received. From its own research and experience Stagecoach believes that the current legislation is seriously flawed and that some local authorities are failing in their statutory duties to ensure adequate protection for minors working in the entertainment sector. The petition called Gordon Brown for an immediate reform and overhaul of legislation relating to the Children s performance licence to ensure that children throughout the country are given equal opportunities in a safe and protected environment.
Founded in 1988 in Surrey, it currently has over 620 centres throughout the UK and a further 52 overseas. Stagecoach offers young people a basic training in the performance skills of drama, dance and singing which helps build their confidence and develop their character and communication with others. It comprises core teaching at local sessions following a carefully drawn-up syllabus.
These have included performances at The Royal Albert Hall, the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, the Queen s Golden Jubilee celebrations, The Lord Mayor s Show and Her Majesty s and Dury Lane Theatres in London s West End. In November 1999, 4,568 Stagecoach Theatre Arts students in 56 different schools across the UK, Ireland, Germany, USA and Australia performed the children s musical The Rainbow Juggler , setting the world record in Guinness World Records for largest simultaneous performance of one show On Saturday 6 December 2008 at 4.15pm GMT, Stagecoach schools throughout the world helped break the record. We are also planning to perform with American singer/songwriter Tom Chapin and the four Dublin centres to give the Irish Stagecoach schools their own unique seal of approval. In 2008, Stagecoach teamed up with the Guildford School of Acting (GSA) and designed the GSA Stagecoach Continuation Course. The course, which lasts for 2 years, was specificially constructed to provide a link between both Stagecoach Theatre Arts Schools and Guildford School of Acting Saturday Schools, and Higher Education courses in drama, theatre studies and musical theatre. Stagecoach and GSA intended to equip students to audition for the country s leading drama schools, develop their skills to a high standard and offer some basic teacher training strategies. In addition, the course builds on the successful pattern of Stagecoach.
Successes have included winning parts, both major and supporting, in TV, Films, Commercials, Radio, Voice-overs, Corporates and Photoshoots. On 13 May 2008 Stagecoach, along with 60 students and parents, went to Downing Street to present Gordon Brown with over 10,000 signatures. Glad Rags, The Musical, is a chance to break the world record but it s also the 20th birthday of Stagecoach and there will be huge celebrations across the network.
Stagecoach believes that misunderstanding of the current legislation, results in differing standards across the country and a paperwork burden on local authorities preventing them from providing the protection that the current legislation intends. Stagecoach calls on Government to amend existing legislation, or to implement new legislation in order to ensure that children throughout the country are given equal opportunities in a safe and protected environment. In addition all members CVs are displayed on the leading internet based casting website service Spotlight Interactive , which is only viewable by casting directors, not the general public. Whenever casting professionals require children for their productions happening anywhere in the UK they call. The Stagecoach Agency enjoy a high degree of success within the industry and in their 2008 directory year they enrolled over 2100 students and won over 4,500 auditions or bookings for their members.
Training is offered in singing, dancing and acting. Stagecoach operates part-time theatre arts schools in Australia, Canada, Germany, Gibraltar, Ireland, Malta, Spain, Greece, the United Kingdom and the USA. Stagecoach Theatre Arts plc is a national network of part-time theatre schools for children aged 4 to 16 years. These formed part of the 500+ performances of a modern myth “Glad Rags”, a piece specially written to celebrate Stagecoach s twentieth anniversary by Stagecoach’s Director of Education Veronica Bennett, which took place at Stagecoach schools in the UK, Ireland, Germany,and the USA, 66 performances at the official record time. Three quarters of the €50,000 raised will go towards InterAct, part of the Stagecoach Charitable Trust that provides performing arts education through dedicated schools and workshops for underprivileged and disadvantaged youngsters, the other quarter goes to the charity of choice for each individual school. John Lucey, the English actor and principal of Stagecoach Galway, said at the time: The Autumn will be an exciting time for both our schools.
Initally, sessions ran on weekends and evenings for 3 hours weekly. In January 2009, it was confirmed that the course would launch in September at Stagecoach Schools in Exeter, Reading, Solihull, Wakefield, Walton, Watford, Wickiford and Winchester and at GSA in Guildford. The Stagecoach Agency is the UK’s largest children’s performers’ agency and represents students, between 4 – 20 years, currently attending the Stagecoach Theatre Arts network of schools across the UK and wishing to be represented by an agent. The Agency offers Stagecoach students, who choose to become embers of the Agency, opportunities to take part in exciting and worthwhile experiences from a wide range of entertainment platforms. All members represented by the Agency are included each year in Stagecoach s Spotlight directory, the industry s casting bible . The undersigned agree and support Stagecoach in its call to Government to reform Children’s Performance Licences. .
