Amateur Stage Magazine

Dear All,
Please be aware that the Amateur Stage Office will be closed until 11th January as we close for annual leave. We'll be periodically checking email so if you need to speak to us email editor@asmagazine.co.uk.

The January issue of Amateur Stage should be with subscribers by the 16th January.

Best wishes for the New Year.

Amateur Stage Expo is thrilled today to welcome SEDOS as the first amateur theatre group to sign up to exhibit at Expo.

 Expo is being held at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London on March 31 and April 1, 2012. This enormous two day event is being staged to showcase amateur theatre from across the UK on an unprecedented scale.
 
The Expo will feature commercial exhibitors, live performances, workshops and discussion groups, and hands on technical sessions. We are actively encouraging groups to exhibit at the event to showcase their achievements, recruit new members and encourage new audiences.
 
Founded in 1905, Sedos produces a mix of plays and musicals in Central London (where it also has rehearsal space) as well as performing at the Edinburgh Fringe and organising an 'In the City' tour of modern adaptations of classic plays. The society is the resident theatre company at the Bridewell Theatre, off Fleet Street, where it will be staging Three Sisters, Spring Awakening and Guys & Dolls in 2012, as well as a three-week Summer Festival and House & Garden - an innovative Alan Ayckbourn show involving one cast performing two plays in front of two audiences in two theatres... simultaneously. Sedos's 2012 season also includes As You Like It at the Edinburgh Fringe and some weekend workshop productions. In all, the company programmes around 8 to 10 challenging fringe theatre productions annually, raises around £5,000 a year for charity and has a reputation for West End quality - in fact Sedos is proud of its claim to be the City of London's premier amateur theatre group. The company also has an excellent website and a strong social media presence. You can find out more about SEDOS at  www.sedos.co.uk.
  
Matt Gould, Secretary of SEDOS said today ""Sedos is excited to be taking part in the Expo because it's a great opportunity for us to extend our reach to potential new audience members (perhaps even sell a few tickets!), performers and production teams. It will also be useful to get together with people from different theatre companies, rights holders and organisations to share ideas and expertise, as well as probably a few drinks and war stories. It should be a really fun weekend."

Expo co-ordinator Douglas Mayo added "This Expo is not just about commercial exhibitors, it offers group of all shapes and sizes a chance to shine in their own right. We'd like to encourage all groups to talk to us about exhibiting."
 
If your group would like to exhibit at Expo please email us on
expo@amateurstageexpo.co.uk.
 
The Amateur Stage Expo is being presented in partnership with Josef Weinberger Limited. The Really Useful Group join amdram.co.uk and The Little Box Office as event sponsors.
 
Further information on the Expo can be found at www.amateurstageexpo.co.uk.

In March 2011, Amateur Stage formed a collaboration with the National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA) to publish its regional news.

Over the past nine months that collaboration has developed, and feedback from readers has lead to a further development in how NODA news will be presented in Amateur Stage.

From January 2012, all NODA national and regional news will be amalgamated into one section of the magazine. All NODA regions will be featured every month, enabling NODA members to receive news with more immediacy, and allow news of a national nature to be featured along with other articles of interest.

Each month, Amateur Stage incorporating news and information from NODA  will be distributed to all Amateur Stage Subscribers, NODA Societies  and NODA Individual members.

In addition, 2012 will see the roll out of Amateur Stage to retailers and specialist stores across the UK, giving Amateur Stage unparalleled distribution.

For the first time, Amateur Stage incorporating NODA will give advertisers and news providers access to almost every amateur theatre group and many enthusiasts in the UK.

Tony Gibbs, Chief Executive of NODA today said:” This is a major development in the distribution of information from NODA to our members as well as the wider amateur theatre community, and we look forward to working with Amateur Stage on this exciting new venture.”

Douglas Mayo, Editor of Amateur Stage Magazine said “We’re pleased to announce this development in the way we publish NODA’s news each month. The new format of the magazine to include news for all NODA regions each month means Amateur Stage will be the definitive publication for amateur theatre. Working together with groups and organisations within the world of amateur theatre remains of utmost importance to us.”

 

New Expo teaser ad released. What do you think?

 

We are pleased to announce that we have started to make available previous copies of Play / Musical Produced articles from our archives.

Over 100 articles are already available online and over the next few months we'll be adding hundreds more.

You can access the article index and those articles already scanned HERE or simply go to the AMATEUR STAGE tab at the top of the page and select THE PLAY PRODUCED.

We hope that you will find the articles of interest. Our sincere thanks to the many people who have contributed to the series over the past 65 years. We are always looking for new articles so if you have staged a show and would like it profiled please get in touch.

We hope you find this new online feature useful.

Regards

The Amateur Stage Team