Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Starlight, Starbright...
Seven Stars have been hard at work on the very first edition of their Starlight newsletter which will soon be available in downloadable and paper forms.
A Whole New Show...
Seven Stars are currently in the early stages of creating their new show ‘Killian’s Quest: The Quest for Five Gems.’
The last couple of weeks have been spent on Character Building and Story Devising activities.
Seven Stars member Kris Brown, who came up with the idea for ‘Killian’s Quest’ and who also plays the titular hero, is creating the ending of the story around the characters the rest of Seven Stars have come up with.
Character Profiles
Given a sheet with basic information requirements, the Seven Stars helped devise a character of their own choice. Seven Stars member Alan, who plays Killian’s father Igor, says of this:
Hot Seating
This sees each member of Seven Stars take to the stage in character and the other members ask them all sorts of questions. This helps add ‘flesh’ to the ‘bones’ the information in the Character Profiles provided.
Asking the Stars to walk around as they normally would, then throwing various other things into the mix challenging them to show what their character would do in different situations.
In groups of 2-3, Seven Stars were asked to come up with scenes that involved all of their characters. This meant that they could provide physical and vocal features to their characters, building on the previous activities.
As Seven Stars member Andy, who plays the main villain King Kline, says, "It's new characters, new ideas, a whole new show and I’m loving it."
Stay tuned for more on the building blocks of Seven Stars' fantastic fantasy piece ‘Killian’s Quest: The Quest for Five Gems’.
The last couple of weeks have been spent on Character Building and Story Devising activities.
Seven Stars member Kris Brown, who came up with the idea for ‘Killian’s Quest’ and who also plays the titular hero, is creating the ending of the story around the characters the rest of Seven Stars have come up with.
"I’m looking forward to the show being performed. It’s the first show that I’ve come up with and worked on with the others."The work he refers to is drama activities and written work that Seven Stars Project Workers have come up with such as ‘Character Profiles’, ‘Hot Seating’, ‘Walk Arounds’ and ‘Group Improvisations’. These activities have seen the Seven Stars get to grips with who they’re going to play.
Character Profiles
Given a sheet with basic information requirements, the Seven Stars helped devise a character of their own choice. Seven Stars member Alan, who plays Killian’s father Igor, says of this:
"I Loved doing the Character Profile, because I made my character different to what I have been before. I’m normally the bad guy, but in this I play a good part."Allowing the members themselves to create their own character means they enjoy what they’re doing and can remember the traits and personalities for their future performance.
Hot Seating
This sees each member of Seven Stars take to the stage in character and the other members ask them all sorts of questions. This helps add ‘flesh’ to the ‘bones’ the information in the Character Profiles provided.
"It's fun," says Seven Stars member. “I love that I’m playing Vector, a nasty wizard. Hot Seating was good because I answered all the questions [Seven Stars asked me]."Walk Around
Asking the Stars to walk around as they normally would, then throwing various other things into the mix challenging them to show what their character would do in different situations.
"I like the Walk Around as I like improving my acting skills. Playing a witch is good and walking around like a witch is something I haven’t done." Says Seven Stars member Paula, who plays one of two good witches in ‘Killian’s Quest’.Group Improvisation
In groups of 2-3, Seven Stars were asked to come up with scenes that involved all of their characters. This meant that they could provide physical and vocal features to their characters, building on the previous activities.
"Working in my group I discovered I didn’t like the voice I first did for my character, so I changed it. I think the guttural sound suits his mean personality." Seven Stars member Tim says of his Sea Lord character, Kingfish.The group thrives on working as a team and the current process they are in shows this off spectacularly.
As Seven Stars member Andy, who plays the main villain King Kline, says, "It's new characters, new ideas, a whole new show and I’m loving it."
Stay tuned for more on the building blocks of Seven Stars' fantastic fantasy piece ‘Killian’s Quest: The Quest for Five Gems’.
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Headway Arts benefits from Northern Rock Foundation's awards
- by Sarah Scott, The Journal
- Apr 13 2011
A BLYTH-based group is celebrating being awarded more than £58,000 to continue its work.
Headway Arts in Blyth is one of 21 charities in the North East to benefit from the Northern Rock Foundation’s latest round of awards.
The group, which specialises in using drama and the creative arts to work with young people with disabilities and adults with learning disabilities, was awarded £58,858. This money is vital in helping the group continue their great work in the community.
Seven Stars Learning Disabled Theatre was established in 1997. It currently has 10 members who meet four days each week to perform and to write scripts.
It works with 300 people with learning disabilities each year through performances and workshops.
Frances Castle, who runs Headway Arts, said: “By supporting the Seven Stars Theatre Group the Northern Rock Foundation has been instrumental in changing people’s lives for the better, giving us the opportunity to provide social, physical and creative opportunities through drama, opportunities from which learning disabled people are often excluded.
“Without this grant Headway Arts would not be able to support this group who provide inspiration to others, both disabled and non-disabled.”
Headway Arts is one of 21 awards, totalling over £1.3m made by the Northern Rock Foundation in its latest round of grant making, part of an £8m programme for 2011.
The Foundation aims to tackle disadvantage in the area and improve quality of life in North East England and Cumbria. Its work is delivered by a professional staff team of 15 based in Newcastle. It is the largest independent grant maker in the region and is amongst the top 50 trust and foundation grant-makers nationally.
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