3rd August 2015
Students from Barking & Dagenham College have been helping young people boost their performing abilities as part of the Broadway?s annual summer school.
The three students are all studying performing arts at the College’s School for the Performing Arts & Technical Theatre, based at The Broadway. They were invited to help the Broadway’s professional workshop trainers to put on the week long summer school. The week saw participants aged 4 to 21 learn about acting, dancing, singing, puppet crafting and much, much more.
The students were keen to get involved in order to be able to give something back to the local community. As Ramona Jasi, 19, from Barking, explained:
“I really want to inspire young people and influence them. For many this is their first time in a theatre and on summer camp. I just wanted to make this experience something they can look back on and say, yes, this is where my love for theatre began!”
This was echoed by Tosin Lawah, 17, from Purfleet, who added:
“I really wanted to do this because I felt it was great for the younger kids who don’t always get opportunities to do things like perform on the Broadway stage.”
As well as being able to help the summer school children learn new skills, it was also an opportunity for the Barking & Dagenham College students to increase their own experience, too. As Mitchell Jamie Sims, 18, from East Ham said:
“The workshop also gave us experience in making theatre for children and allowed us to work with professional practitioners we haven't worked with before.”
Mark Civil, Executive Venue Manager for the Broadway Theatre added:
“This provided our students with meaningful work experience, enabling them to work on real projects with real industry professionals in a real industrial environment. The Barking & Dagenham College students were an asset to the project - they brought creative energy and youthful swag.”
