It has been a pleasure to welcome back many of our past participants to the technical team for this year’s Wakefield Youth Music Theatre production, West Side Story. It is always a joy to hear from our young participants after their time training at Theatre Royal Wakefield. This production has offered opportunities for previous performers to gain experience in other areas of the theatre aside from being on stage.

The Wardrobe Assistant and Dresser, Liberty, and Isabelle, one of the chaperones, were both part of Pontefract Performance Academy and have previously performed in Wakefield Youth Music Theatre productions.

Lottie and Archie, Followspot Operators, have both performed on the stage: Lottie was part of In on the Act and has been in a variety of productions and Archie was in last year’s Oklahoma!. Both the Assistant Stage Manager, Jessica, and Deputy Stage Manager, Harri, were part of Performance Academy and Wakefield Youth Music Theatre.

Harri spoke about her roles at the Theatre and how this is supporting her theatre career:

"My role is Deputy Stage Manager, so I’m in charge of cueing all of the show. I’ve also been a part of the rehearsal process, overseeing the rehearsal room and making sure the director, Louise, has everything she needs. I also work with the Assistant Stage Manager, which was my previous role, so I’ve advanced since working on the Pantomime and Oklahoma!.

My involvement all started because I was part of one of the first Performance Academy groups. I was also in the Wakefield Youth Music Theatre production of Les Misérables around the same time. I was in one of the first ever Performance Academy showcases at the Theatre which is really nice – the showcases have come quite a way since then!

I then went off to study performance at university and that’s where I discovered stage management. Around the time of me coming back home after uni I emailed Di, Theatre Royal Wakefield’s Production & Technical Manager, which ultimately resulted in the offer to be an ASM! I’ve also been working on our store room to get all of our props and costumes organised since we moved the store to a different space. It’s really nice to now be doing what I’ve trained for and I’m hoping to grow from here. I’ve had a couple of big interviews recently and I’d love to come back for the Panto again this year, too!"