Link to "ACT One" - A Brief History"

ACT One is a young people's amateur musical theatre group based in Shepshed, near Loughborough, Leics. As an independent youth theatre we aim to cater for local 10 - 18 year olds and their interest in musical theatre, and, despite our young membership, we are not afraid to tackle anything, or, indeed, any show. Some of our past productions are testament to that, "Fame", "Barnum", "Oklahoma", "Anything Goes" & "Grease" to name a few.

We rehearse every Friday night at Christchurch Methodist Church in Shepshed, usually from 7 pm until 9.15 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. However, although we are always looking for new talent, we need to limit the size of the group, not only through talent but the physical task of having this many people on stage!

Our next auditions for new members however will not be held until March 2009 following "Disco Inferno"

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 locally and in London - so we'll be taking on the West End soon! Many of our members have also gone on to perform with a host of local adult groups. In fact, look out for a new section of our website soon to find out weher some of our past members are now.

We gained charitable status in 2007, and currently the group is looked after by a committee and trustees made up of parents, helpers and friends - these are currently Wendy Spencer (Chairperson), Julia Daniels (Treasurer), James White (Secretary), Adrian Dobson (Producer/Director), Sue Penver, Julia Painting, Michelle Spencer, Louise Burton, Jane Evans, Ryan Barnes & Laura Penver. We also have 2 cast representatives, to help bring ideas, etc to the committee. These are currently Ellie Owen & Adam Painting. 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.

ACT One - 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 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 - "The Wizard Of Oz", "Dracula Spectacula", the East Midlands amateur premiere of "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 worked with a variety of sizes of plant in "Little Shop Of Horrors" in 2004. Following this we performed the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic, "Oklahoma" in February 2005. Our tenth show was the Cole Porter masterpiece, "Anything Goes", and in 2007 we performed the everlasting "Grease". 2008 took us back to mid west America with "Calamity Jane" and you'll need to get out your flares and sparkle for February 2009 when we are to tackle "Disco Inferno"

BIRTHDAY 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 birthday ball and our annual concert was moved in spectacular style to Loughborough Town Hall. Roll on the next 10 years!