As we move into 2021 - and beyond - we hope to begin creating education packs for children and students for each of our productions. The first one is already underway for our coming production of Henry V. 
As a unique part of these education packs, we are creating a series of videos in British Sign Language. 
For each show, we hope to create a video in British Sign Language, teaching  show to sign 10 (or 15) words specific to that theatre production. 
To begin, here is the sign language video for Henry V, signed by our lovely Sarah Gregori. 

We are opening our training zone! With lots of thanks to several contributors who helped us locate free online resources. 
While we lack the people-power and funds to run formal training sessions as activities, we do consider it very important to provide a resource where those newer to professional theatre (or anyone who wants to refresh on something) especially in an area where there is not immediate access to theatre training for adults. 
The new zone, consists of an online library at https://www.southdevonplayers.com/training-zone.html  as well as a discussion / learning group on Facebook at ​​https://www.southdevonplayers.com/training-zone.html   

We will of course continue to offer specialist training sessions for specific skills for actors in our shows, when we get back to physical rehearsals and shows, but this training zone covers a much wider range of skills than we have the the facility to run classes in. 

​We  hope that you find it useful. 

We must apologise for the quietness over the last few weeks - lots of things have been happening! 

Taming of the Shrew news
First of all, we must apologise for the cancellation of The Taming of the Shrew. Due to illness in the team, it was impossible to continue to the deadline. (for the record those affected are recovering well!). The team behind that project plan to resurrect it in the future, timing to be decided in that team. 

Sir Walter's Women
On the plus side, the performance of Sir Walter's Women went very well, with great feedback from the author - we certainly hope to work with Rachel again, especially when shows come back to the live stage in the future. It is wonderful to find a playwright who, like us, loves researched historical plays. 

​BSL Christmas stories
We are currently working on a pair of children's Christmas stories, both spoken as recordings and recorded in BSL (British Sign Language), which will be available for free via this website, in the next few days. (The signing for the second story is being done as we speak). This project has been very kindly funded by Western Power Distribution. It is the first time we have worked with getting BSL signing (the first of many projects, and increasing the accessibility of our productions) .

Welcoming new stage crew
​We are delighted to be welcomeing new stage crew, Sophie on tech and set design, Rebekah who is a trainee ASM and filmmaker, Pete assisting with research and digital shows, and Jean on costuming. We are still looking for a stage lighting/ sound tech to join the crew - please check our Crewing page if you would like to be considered to join our upcoming team. 

Next castings coming up:
We have our next open casting announcements coming up. With show dates for both virtual projects and "live" shows in discussion (we have provisional live show dates booked for later in 2021, but of course physical rehearsals and shows are dependant on covid safety, and venues being able to re-open to audience numbers which makes a show tour viable in terms of ticket sales for our actors.). 
Please keep an eye on our newsfeed for the latest castings - we hope to announce during either December 2020 or Jan 2021. 

Housekeeping
We are currently in the final stages of updating the company documents and governance documents. As a lot of these are the policies and procedures by which we run, we ask that all actors, crew and anyone else who works with us, pops over to the Policies page to check up on them. As always it is all just really about checking the latest best practice, and making sure that our paperwork reflects what we do anyway. We find that it is best to keep things open and clear. 

Next shows coming up:

Coming up next, we have two virtual shows already planned, Lost Girl and Jack The Ripper, rehearsals for both are well underway, and the tickets are on sale on our box office page 

Yesterday, we received a message on an advert for our upcoming auditions for A Midsummer Nights Dream, that was absolutely heartbreaking. 
"I would like to audition, but I'm black" 
Obviously we (Laura as representative) replied immediately to let the person know that skin colour or ethnicity, is no barrier to working with us, but this warranted a bigger clarification. 

In South Devon, where we are based, the local demographic is less "diverse" than in other parts of the country, but that does not mean any kind of discrimination in our cast or crewing. There is no issue about skin colour, religion, ethnicity, LGBT orientation, or anything else like that. In face we have quite a diverse team, who all produce incredible, world-class work together. 

Selection in castings is based entirely upon auditions and professionalism, as stated in our audition page , and there are no other criteria, either overt or covert. No other details have any relevance to the selection process. 

On a wider scale, discrimination on such grounds is not only unethical, it is also illegal, and should be reported to Equity or a similar authority. 

Some of our team have been working with a multi-agency team led by Childrens Services at Torbay Council, at St Cuthbert Mayne School in Torquay, as part of the 16 Days of Action, raising awareness of coercive and abusive behavior, and how to seek help. 

Our contribution at the school was for two of our team, to work with the students, through drama workshops, to create a play based on students experiences. This will be performed back to the school during 2020. 

These wonderful cast appear as the team on stage in our production of The Great Gale of Brixham 1866. 

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.