Last week, Level 3 Backstage Theatre students at Buckinghamshire College Group were offered the chance to work on a community fundraiser production of Nativity! The Musical.
This was held at the 1200 seat Aylesbury Waterside Theatre and was a fantastic opportunity for the students to experience working in a professional venue as well as being able to take part in the roles they desire to do once they enter the industry. These included lighting and follow-spot operation, assistant stage managing, prop making, set painting and rigging sound equipment.
Theatre Manager and Backstage Theatre lecturer Zoe Harbour said,
"I would like to personally thank the students for all their hard work over the week - Talyn Goodridge, Luke Perera, Connor Elder, Isaac Roitt, Jack O’Neill, R-J Samme, Liam Millward and Amelia Wiltshire, thank you and a huge congratulations on an epic success.
I must also mention that two 2022 graduates of the Backstage Theatre course, Amie Woodbridge and Lily Swift, were personally approached and asked to take on even larger production roles in the project, Lighting Designer and Deputy Stage Manager. Despite having only just started degree courses, this gave them their first professional opportunity in their chosen areas of Backstage Theatre, and both of them also worked incredibly hard and made the college extremely proud. We also had one Musical Theatre student, Jen Tarling-Warner, in the adult cast, who also did an excellent job.
I would also like to thank the college for getting behind me and supporting my idea to get our students involved in the project as part of their work experience, so thank you very much to Kit and the WorkZone team".
Overall, the production raised an amazing £55,000 for Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity, which will go towards funding the first-class palliative care to those in need and will help support patients and their families.
Photography and Videography Credit: Neil Hannam
