ACT One is an amateur musical theatre group based in Shepshed, near Loughborough, Leics. We are an independent youth theatre, started in 1996, and cater for local young people and their interest in musical theatre. Unlike most youth groups we are not afraid to tackle anything, and our past productions are testament to that - "Fame", "Barnum", "Little Shop Of Horrors" & "Calamity Jane" to name a few, and in particular our most recent production, "Les Miserables-School Edition"

We rehearse every Friday night at Christchurch Methodist Church in Shepshed, usually from 7 pm until 9.30 pm and perform two productions a year at Hind Leys College Theatre, Shepshed - a major musical in February, and a staged concert in June/July.

To maintain our already high standards we ask every potential member to audition to join us. If you are interested in joining, please contact us for details of the next audition dates available, and what we would like you to do for your audition. We are always looking for new talent, but unfortunately we need to limit the size of the group, not only through talent but the physical task of having this many people on stage! The only other rule is that you must be in school years 6 to 13 (that's roughly 10 - 18)

Our next main new member's auditions will not be held until late February/ early March 2011, after our main production. Please contact Adrian on 07904 303488 to register and more details.

Successful members are all encouraged to "have a go" and to try out for parts in our shows, which helps to give them confidence not only on stage, but also in life itself. In fact we already have several ex-members attending performing arts colleges and indeed some of them have also entered the profession for real! Many of our members have also gone on to perform with a host of local adult groups.

We gained Charitable Status in 2007 and the group is looked after by a committee and trustees made up of parents, helpers and friends. We also have 2 cast representatives, to help bring ideas, etc to the committee. These are currently Rowan Beaumont & Craig Nash.

Please note that all our trustees and leaders have been CRB-checked with regard to their involvement with children.

Our Annual General Meeting takes place in May each year.

A brief history ...

The group was set up in 1996 by Adrian Dobson, and was originally called the Acorn Community Theatre. With a grant from Midland Bank (as it was then - now the HSBC), our expectations were to perform one show to start with, the musical "Alice" based on "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll, and penned by Adrian himself. Such was the interest about the original production 60 plus youngsters turned up for the first auditions, and it was at that point there was no turning back! Shortly afterwards the name changed to a shortened A.C.T. and we added the "One" to make the more upbeat ACT One. We performed a fund raising concert "Encore" and then the main show itself in January 1997 was a huge success.

… And so we decided to carry on, changing choreographers, and then musical directors en route, and tackling more and more ambitious projects every year - "The Wizard Of Oz", "Dracula Spectacula", an awesome "Fame-The Musical", "Sweet Charity" and one of our biggest challenges - "Barnum". "Guys And Dolls" consolidated our success, and with a change of style we launched into "Little Shop Of Horrors" in 2004; Our main performances then moved to February in 2005, when we performed to a near capacity audience of over 800 the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic, "Oklahoma". Staying in February for our tenth show in 2006, was the Cole Porter masterpiece, "Anything Goes", and in 2007 we performed the everlasting "Grease". 2008 brought us another classic, in the form of "Calamity Jane" and we have just completed a very successful production of the fantastic 1970s musical, "Disco Inferno". We have recently completed, in February 2010, a highly acclaimed production of "Les Miserables-School Edition", and we are to follow this, in complete contrast, with the all-singing, all-tapdancing musical "42nd Street". This marks 15 years of ACT One and makes us the longest running youth theatre in Leicestershire.

Celebrations...

In 2001, we marked our 5th Birthday with a concert and party which brought together a fantastic first five years. In 2006 we celebrated our 10th Birthday with a spectacular concert at Loughborough Town Hall.