Peer Productions
Encyclopedia
| Peer Productions | |||
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| Name: | Peer Productions | ||
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| Address: | WYAC, Trinity Road, Knaphill, Woking, GU21 2SY | ||
| City: | Woking Woking Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station.... |
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| Country: | United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
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| Artistic Directors: | Nina Lemon and Jason Orbaum | ||
| Company Director: | Claire Tristram | ||
| Opened: | September 2006 | ||
| Years active: | 2006 – present | ||
| Website: | http://peerproductions.co.uk | ||
Peer Productions is a youth arts training company, which specialises in peer education
Peer education
Peer Education is an approach to health promotion, in which community members are supported to promote health-enhancing change among their peers...
through theatre, based at Woking Youth Arts Centre in Woking
Woking
Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Peer Productions was founded by Surrey-based theatre artists Nina Lemon and Jason Orbaum in 2006.
The company runs a full time vocational course for those aged 16–23 years as well as a youth theatre
Youth Theatre
Youth Theatre is a theatre in Novi Sad, the capital of Vojvodina in Serbia. Youth Theatre has two stages: the children's stage and the evening stage. Its ensemble consists of sixteen permanent characters....
for those aged 8–23 years.
The full time course
Peer Productions' Certificate in Peer Education through Theatre is a practical course for young people aged 16–23 years interested in theatre and education. During the course, students learn skills needed to succeed in the performing artsPerforming arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
sector and have the opportunity to take part in productions and community projects.
Students learn voice, movement, textual analysis, character building, devising and directing techniques as core components of the course. They also receive master class
Master class
A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also painting, drama, or any of the arts....
es from industry professionals and where appropriate, coaching for drama school
Drama school
A drama school or theatre school is an undergraduate and/or graduate school or department at a college or university; or a free-standing institution ; which specialises in the pre-professional training in drama and theatre arts, such as acting, design and technical theatre, arts administration, and...
audition speeches.
Access to the course is by audition. The course is free. All staff, including volunteers, have a full CRB
Criminal Records Bureau
The Criminal Records Bureau , is an Executive Agency of the Home Office, which provides wider access to criminal record information through its Disclosure service for England and Wales...
disclosure.
Accreditation
All students have the opportunity to have their learning accredited through the Arts Award Gold accreditation. This is a level 3 qualification recognised by the Qualifications and Curriculum AuthorityQualifications and Curriculum Authority
The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency is an exempt charity, and an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Children, Schools and Families...
.
The course included the following projects:
The Homophobia project
Peer Productions students have worked with three youth groups for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Intersex and Questioning young people to devise imaginative drama. This work then toured secondary schools in Surrey informing and challenging students on homophobiaHomophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
. This project received £7,000 from the Local Network Fund and the Youth Opportunities Fund and was created in partnership with Sam King from Connexions and Sue Sanders from Schools Out.
The Xclusions project
Peer Productions students worked with three groups of young people identified as excluded or at risk of exclusion to create a film exploring their stories. The film became part of a multimediaMultimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
touring performance project for Key Stage 3
Key Stage 3
Key Stage 3 is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14...
+. This project received £10,000 from the European Social Fund
European Social Fund
The European Social Fund is the European Union’s main financial instrument for supporting employment in the Member States as well as promoting economic and social cohesion. ESF spending amounts to around 10% of the EU’s total budget....
.
The Histories project
Peer Productions students worked with the Surrey History Centre to research local history. Year 6 pupils used their own research to devise an interactive drama project. The production toured Surrey junior schools where pupils were be invited to board a time machine and interact with characters in period dress using genuine artefacts from the Light Box Gallery. The aim of this project was to bring history to life for both the peer educators and the young audience members.The Carwarden House project
Peer Productions students ran a weekly arts club for students with moderate learning disabilities from Carwarden House School. By working with their peers they increased this group’s confidence and promote greater social understanding.Bear - The Musical
This was a new musical written by people in the local area. It led to a performance at Woking's Rhoda McGraw Theatre after two weeks intensive rehearsal.Arts award
Peer Productions full time volunteers have the opportunity to undergo an Arts Award Gold Certificate and members of the youth theatre can take a bronze of silver. certificate.In May 2008, full time members Anthony Springhall and Dan Brewton wrote a musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
for their Gold Certificate called Young At War, which was about three life-long friends facing the dangers of war. This was performed by full time and youth theatre members of Peer Productions as well as drama students from outside the group
Previous productions
Peer Productions Youth Theatre productions include:- His Dark MaterialsHis Dark MaterialsHis Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...
, Part 1 - His Dark Materials, Part 2
- Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- The Grimm Fairy Tales