Join us to get the first exciting glimpse of two new commissions by Big Imaginations for ages 8+! On 27 October the sharings will be preceded by an Open Meeting discussing The Future of Theatre for Young Audiences Age 8+

 

Thursday 26 October, Unity Theatre – Liverpool
Adrift and You, Me and i R&D Sharing
6pm – 8pm (arrival from 5.30pm)
How to find Us

 

OR

 

Friday 27 October, Z-arts – Manchester
Adrift and You, Me and i R&D Sharing and Open Meeting
12.30pm – 2.00pm Open Meeting – “The Future of Theatre for Young Audiences Age 8+”
2.30pm – 4.30pm (arrival from 2pm) R&D Sharing
How to find us

 

The Big Imaginations Festival of theatre for children and families takes place from 19 October – 5 November in 26 venues across the North West and Yorkshire.

 

Big Imaginations have commissioned two shows for children aged 8+ that speak to today’s audiences and are reflective of the society we live in. You, me & i (URBAN Conceptz) and Adrift (Action Transport Theatre) will be presented as works in progress before being developed into full scale touring productions.

 

Big Imaginations have programmed a festival created entirely by culturally diverse artists to reflect the diversity of 21st century society. We would like to celebrate this by offering free tickets to any of the shows within the festival programme to all promoters and programmers, join us this October and November for jazz rhythms, tales from across the globe, fairytales with a twist and much more!

 

We’d also like to invite industry professionals to share the first glimpse of two new works in progress on their first step outside the rehearsal room;

 

You, me & i – URBAN Conceptz Theatre
Adrift – Action Transport Theatre

Both performances will be followed by a discussion and Q&A with the cast and creative team. There will also be an opportunity to meet with other industry professionals and find out more about the festival and the work of the Big Imaginations network.

Open Meeting – The future of theatre for young audiences age 8+
Friday 27 October, 12:30pm-2:00pm
Z-arts, Manchester
Prior to the sharing on 27 October join Z-arts and Big Imaginations for an Open Meeting as part of the Big Imaginations Festival.It’s been recognised nationally that after the age of eight, young theatre audiences begin to decline. As Big Imaginations commission and co-commission three shows for 8+ audiences for the 2017 Festival, we will look at how we can make work that speaks to today’s audiences and reflects the society we live in. The meeting will be a chaired discussion exploring the challenges of developing theatre audiences for children aged 8+ and ask what we as industry professionals can do to further engage and give agency to children in this age group and encourage them to become theatre goers.
The panel will include;
Sue Buckmaster – Artistic Director, Theatre Rites
Sarah Punshon – Artistic Director, The Dukes, Lancaster and One Tenth Human  
Kaya Stanley-Money – Producer, China Plate

 

RSVP
To reserve a space please email holly@z-arts.org specifying which date you would like to attend by Monday 23 October.

 

Further information on the festival programme can be found below and online at bigimaginations.co.uk/festival/. If you’d like to see any shows in the programme please contact holly@z-arts.org with the details of the show you’d like to attend and where possible we will arrange complimentary tickets.