Theatre Studio is based at Cheltenhams' historical Playhouse Theatre, and continues to be Cheltenhams' only Stage School based exclusively within a dedicated working theatre. End of year performances as well as Summer and Easter schools are presented on the main stage of the Playhouse , thus providing the invaluable experience that each student gains whilst belonging to the Theatre Studio family.
Our History
In 1982, local drama teacher Ann Wessen was asked by her close friend Janet Lister, founder of the hugely successful Listers dance school, whether she could teach weekly drama classes to her dance pupils. After seeing the extremely positive reaction to these classes, as well as the huge improvement that the drama classes had on the dancers confidence and artistic interpretation, the classes were extended until it was felt that the school was ready for its first main-stage Musical Theatre production!
"Bugsy Malone" was performed at the Playhouse Theatre in April 1983 to huge critical acclaim, and following this huge success, Listers Drama continued until Janet decided to retire and hence close the school in 1986. With huge backing from the parents, it was decided that Ann should move the classes to the Playhouse Theatre permanently, allowing her to take on many more pupils and to add classes in Singing, Musical Theatre and Dance to the timetable. Theatre Studio was born!
Since 1986, Theatre Studio has slowly grown into the school it is today. In 1990, Theatre Studio started to enter national competitions and examinations, and has achieved an unprecedented level of success in both, including 6 times winner of the youth section in the 'All England One-Act Play Festival', and once winning the adult category of the South West section with the critically acclaimed play 'Anywhere Is', written and directed by Artistic Director Suzanna Segura. Theatre Studio has also produced many main house shows at the Playhouse Theatre, such as 'The Wiz' in 1993, 'The Diary of Anne Frank' in 1994, and 'Rock Nativity' in 1995.
One Success after Another!
Since being formed in 1989, Theatre Studio has become firmly established as the regions Premiere Stage School. The school has become well known for feeding many actors, musicians and technicians into the main 'adult' productions at the Playhouse and many other of the counties theatres, and many students have gone on to train at accredited drama schools and become highly successful professional actors and technicians.
Cheltenham Competitive FestivalAll of our students are highly encouraged to compete at the acclaimed 'Cheltenham Competitive Festival', held each Spring in venues around Cheltenham. The level of success that Theatre Studio pupils have enjoyed, whether as individuals or in the group classes, has been truly breathtaking across all of the festival disciplines. The confidence that students take into later life by taking part in these events each year is what we are most proud of, but as always - winning is not our primary goal .... its the lessons learnt in taking part that really count.
ExaminationsAll students are also encouraged to take part in the national examination syllabus. We aim to enter all of our students into LAMDA acting and speaking examinations, as well as the highly acclaimed Vanguard Examinations for poetry and voice. Once again, our success rates are staggering, with a 98% pass rate across all of our students. These examinations count towards University Placement Points, and are highly regarded by all of the country's top drama schools. This is why we place such high importance to these exams, and is why we always encourage every student to take part wherever possible.
All England One Act Play FestivalWe are proud to have won the South West division of the youth section of this national competition an unprecedented six times, twice winning the next round to move onto the West of England finals. Unusually, we have also won the main 'adult' section of the South West AND South of England stage, an extremely rare event for a youth entry.
Today ...
Our classes have expanded once again this year for the younger members of the theatre, and we now offer combined classes on Saturdays for 5 to 8 year olds. We have also recently added our popular 'Theatre Tots' class for 3 - 5 years, which now means that, in total, we run 24 classes a week! These cover singing, speech, acting, dance, tap, musical theatre and many more. For details, click here!
Our yearly events also continue to grow in popularity, and we run an annual Summer School every August, an Easter School every April, as well as Half Term Workshops every half term holiday throughout the year
.. And Tomorrow
Theatre Studio continues to seek new opportunities, and we are proud to announce that 2011 will see our inaugural 'Stepping Stones' workshop...a programme dedicated to Inclusion Drama Development. Details of these exciting workshops will follow shortly, but you can contact us here to receive details via telephone or email as soon as details become available.
