We've had a lot of time to reflect in the past year. Covid-19 hit us all hard and we thought our adventure was over!
Act One ran for 14 years, almost to the day. It saw us build a global audience, run workshops for 140,000 students from around the world, deliver conferences, teambuilding events, corporate training programmes, summer schools, and win multiple awards. We founded the English Theatre in Venice with a production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, stage showcases in West End theatres, and produce our own London productions. We built up an amazingly talented pool of practitioners who helped us deliver the official education programmes for 37 major West End productions, and we baceme the leading producer of educational workshops for the West End theatre sector.
During the past year of lockdowns we have:
Helped to launch and run the Drama and Theatre Education Alliance and the London Tourism Co-operative.
We've taken our summer school and Academy programme online
Developed a drama curriculum of our own which is in the process of being produced for online streaming
Started to re-connect with theatre producers to develop new West End education programmes
Won two Greater London Enterprise Awards, and been shortlisted for two Music and Drama Education Awards
We've launched three new brands for specific services we offer:
Teambuilder.London for corporate teambuilding events and hospitality
Creative DMC for bespoke creative and cultural group travel packages, specialising in school trips
West End Workshops for professional standard drama training in the heart of London's West End
We're not out of the woods yet. Despite the planned reopening of theatres and the wider economy in May and June 2021, we're unlikely to be able to fully relaunch until September 2021 at the earliest!
But, this is just the interval and while Act One was amazing, Act Two is going to be AWESOME!!!
We plan to build on all of our achievements with online, outreach and live workshops for schools and students to enjoy. We're working on new production concepts, and to deliver more specialist training for corporate clients and leisure groups rooted in theatre and performance.
No, we haven't got it all figured out, but we hope you will join us for the next chapter of our journey!