The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, in conjunction with the South Devon Players Supporters Trust are launching the next part of our fundraising drive, with the corporate sponsorship pack.  This is to raise funds for ongoing productions; expenditure includes rehearsal hall hire, costumes, props, printing of scripts & publicity materials, insurances, wages to cast & crew, provision of educational workshops & training. This supports the cultural work of our company, leading to the creation of educational experiences in theatre, literature and history, for our audiences & cast, as well as the development of both theatre-industry specific skills, and wider transferable skills for general employment and day-to-day life, for those working with us. 

For more information; or to chat about this project, please contact southdevonplayers@gmail.com, or call Laura on 07855 090589

Our wonderful Supporters Trust, formed of long-standing friends and fans of our work, are busy creating ways for members of the public to help support the work of our company. 
As a result, we are launching public memberships, where for a small annual fee, every penny of which is used to directly fund production costs (rehearsal space, costumes, props, show posters, etc). members of the public can gain exclusive benefits. 
We should be be very clear here. Buying a "Friends of" membership does not confer any preferential treatment should the member wish to apply to join our cast or crew (we are strictly against pay-to-play) and make this statement to avoid any misunderstandings. 

We are thrilled to announce that from the start of November, we will have a regular fundraising stall at Brixham Pannier Market, as arranged for our us by our lovely supporter Maggie Donaldson, every penny raised goes directly into funding our theatre rehearsal space hire at Chestnut Community Centre, and anything over, into the costumes, props, equipment and insurances needed for our shows.​  This allows for bigger and better shows, which in turn provide more opportunities for local actors, more work opportunities, and, though the use of local rehearsal venues, also goes on to support wider community facilities here in Brixham. 

We are delighted, and excited, to announce our Friends scheme.
With times for the arts being tough, especially finding the funds to survive, we are hugely grateful to a number of Southwest people who have come together to form the South Devon Players Supporters Trust who will be assisting the Players with fundraising and help like "front of house" etc when needed, to help us keep running. Funds raised will support the costs of rehearsal space, materials for props/ costumes, critical techincal equipment, through grant applications as well as our traditional fundraising through table top sales & raffles, sponsored activities, etc. 

As we get the Players onto a safe steady finanical footing, we hope that this will also extend into being able to provide busfares for those performers on low incomes who cannot afford the bus to rehearsals, and the provision of formal performance and career training for local performers; something that is now completely lacking outside of youth theatre, in Torbay after the closure of the drama courses at the local college.

It is a huge change for us, and so incredibly welcomed to have the support of this amazing Supporters team. There are many things being ironed out still, and we will soon be announcing a membership scheme for people wishing to join the Supporters.

The trustees of the Supporters are people who are not formally connected to the South Devon Players, or the company directors, in any way, as cast, crew, or administration of The South Devon Players; but who simply wish to see the Players survive, continue our work, and grow, after themselves experiencing our shows, and work, as audience.
We also wish to make it clear right from the outset, that membership of the Supporters has no bearing on any selection for involvement in shows or projects; and that The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, and The South Devon Players Supporters Trust, are both strictly against "pay to play" situations.  Becoming a member of the Supporters Trust will not gain anyone preferential treatment in being cast. 

So, we have got 1307 at Brixham Theatre under our belt. It is a really excellent run, and the feedback funneled back to us by the Brixham Theatre front of house staff, has been that it has been our best show to date.
Appleton Event Photography has filmed the production and this will be made available online to everyone as soon as possible - meanwhile we still have one more performance on Thursday at the Barnfield theatre in Exeter. Our amazing composer will also be there from Grace Marie Hancock music

In the meantime, work is beginning on our plans for our next show; William Shakespeares Macbeth.
We are working from the original script, and in order to create not only the best show possible as well as  the best experience and skills building for our cast, we dropped a line to the Globe Theatre asking if they had any recommendations or links to material. They are being incredibly supportive and helpful, we can only say an enormous thank you for the materials being supplied which will be invaluable learning for every single one of our team!

And that is where the news stands at the moment.

Oh and if you are free on Saturday, do come and see us at our fundraising stand on Saturday at the Brixham Happenin at St Marys Park in Brixham. We will have our stocks as well as a stall selling a wonderful collection of CDs, and some newly made tote-bags, fundraising for our coming projects.

Laura

Many thanks to all of our lovely helpers at our fundraising stand at the Brixham Pirate Festival - we raised invaluable funds for our productions :) Also many thanks to Judi for allowing us to use the space, and to the local Brixham Police, and festival security, for coming along and volunteering to be in our stocks :)

We have launched our fundraising shop, featuring clothing, homewares, phone cases, much, stationary, and more, with beautiful designs from our hometown of Brixham. More items and designs will be added soon.
Order direct from our Redbubble shop, for these exclusive items. They are ont available in shops, and can only be obtained from our Redbubble online store.
All items are brand new (not secondhand) and are printed directly to your order.

All fund raised directly support our theatre and film projects, training local people in the arts, and developing local careers.

Order now, for beautiful local Christmas gifts, while supporting local arts and creativity.

Thank you to the most awesome Sophie Bower for stocking our Brixham Fish keyrings for our  fundraising at her cafe. Made by the equally awesome Allie Hinton and Margaret. Sophies cafe is a wonderful community hub and sells lovely food - and cake!
So if you would like to catch a Brixham Fish, do pop into her cafe on King Street.
http://www.millieandme.co.uk/

What a fantastic weekend, and many thanks to our team for assisting our fundraising stand at the Brixham Pirate Festival. We had three days of fundraising, and fun. Made lots of great new friends and raised a significant amount towards our fundraising

 We should also put out a great shout to the fantastic local police - two of whom went in our stocks, on Saturday afternoon to support our fundraising - for £1, for 5 sponges, people loved soaking the local Police, in the stocks..., It drew rather a large crowd. :)

Later in the weekend, our founder, Laura, had a sponsored dunking in Brixham Harbour (yes among all the diesel and gunk) to raise funds for the team.

Finally, we would love to give a shoutout to the lovely people who won the pirate teddies, in our Name The Teddy competitions

The teddy winners are:
Male pirate Teddy - Blacknose The Pirate, won by Oliver Ambridge
Female Pirate Teddy- Teddys name Rum Alice, won by Karyn Stabb
Ships Cat - Teddys name: Jasper, won by Tom Ward