Actor training and professional development for community practitioners
September 2024 – February 2025
20 Stories High’s professional development programme is back.
This year, we’re looking for four exciting actors based in Merseyside to develop themselves as actors making work in community spaces.
The programmes consists of two parts: First, you will receive weekly training sessions from September – December in which you will receive acting training and professional development skill. The second consists of a paid rehearsal period and tour, Jan to March, of a brand-new show Wobble-Bass Frequencies written by our Artistic Director Keith Saha.
We are looking for actors who can commit to the whole process- including weekly workshops, as well as the full rehearsal process and performance weeks. We know the theatre landscape isn’t equal. At 20 Stories High we continue to strive to redress the balance. Actors LAB offers formalised training to early career actors, (meaning those who have little to no professional acting experience, or some professional acting experience but no formal training in theatre) who are:
- Aged 18+
- Based in Merseyside
Additionally, preference will be given to artists who have faced barriers when accessing training, for example:
- People from the Global Majority
- People with barriers accessing education or training
- LGBTQIA+ people
- People who have faced financial challenges
- Deaf and Disabled people
- Migrant artists
- People who have experienced mental and/ or physical health challenges
- People with extra responsibilities at home (e.g. primary caregiver for a relative or responsible for the care of children)
In partnership with Unity Theatre and TiPP.
Supported by Funded by Arts Council England, John Ellerman Foundation, Coutts Foundation, Liverpool City Council, and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
APPLICATION INFORMATION
More information is available in our Application Pack.
APPLICATION PACK
- Standard Format Application Pack
- Dyslexia Friendly Format Application Pack
- Screen Reader Format Application Pack
- Large Text Format Application Pack
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FORM
- Standard Format Expression of Interest
- Dyslexia Friendly Format Expression of Interest
- Screen Reader Format Expression of Interest
- Large Text Format Expression of Interest
HOW YOU CAN APPLY
There are three ways in which you can apply:
- Complete the expression of interest form either in writing or digitally (typed), plus film yourself performing a short contemporary monologue of your choice. If you are a musician or vocalist, please also share footage/ audio to your performance/ work.
- Audio record or film your answers to the expression of interest form and send an unedited version to us (this must be no longer than 10 minutes), plus film yourself performing a self-tape of a short contemporary monologue of your choice. If you are a musician or vocalist, please also share footage/ audio to your performance/ work.
- Book a slot with a member of the 20 Stories High team to answer each question in the expression of interest form in person, plus film yourself performing a short contemporary monologue of your choice. If you are a musician or vocalist, please also share footage/ audio to your performance/ work.
You do not need to be off-book when performing your monologue, (meaning you don’t need to have learnt your lines).
THE DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS: MONDAY 1ST JULY, AT 12-NOON.
Complete forms and hard copies of recordings can be posted to:
20 Stories High, Toxteth TV, 37-45 Windsor St, Liverpool, L8 1XE
Or completed forms, audio or film recordings, or requests for a one-to-one interview can be emailed, along with a completed Equal Opportunities Form, to: Roxy Daykin-Moores, Creative Producer: roxy@20storieshigh.org.uk
ACTORS LAB ALUMNI
Leonisha Barley (she/her) – A multi-talented artist known for her contributions to acting, writing, and poetry.
Leonisha has been part of the YEP Writers Programme, Writing on the Walls ‘Write to Work’ programme and Skywriters 8 Week Writing and Wellbeing Project. Her first full length play ‘Deported in a Windrush’ was performed as part of WOW’s Black History Month events and has been shortlisted for Tip Tray Theatre’s What Happens Next competition.
Previous acting experience: Random (20 Stories High); Babes in the Wood, A Hot Dog on Bonfire Night, Nearer Than You Think, Mother Goose, Dick Twittington (Valley Community Centre); Moment of Truth (Liverpool Fringe Festival); Seven Deadly Sins, Shakers (St Hilda’s C.E High School).
Claire Beerjeraz (she/they) – A Liverpool based freelance Spoken Word Artist, Performer, Writer and Creative arts Psychotherapist. She strives to use her creative mediums for activism, positive change, and healing.
Previous acting experience: Deported in a Windrush (Liverpool); Hear Me Now (Liverpool Everyman); Kaleidoscope (Flood Theatre); Diverse Stories for a Diverse World (Writing on the Wall); Merseyside Academy of Drama Writing Showcase (Hope St Theatre).
Molly Hannah (she/her) – An actor, writer and comic from Liverpool. She went to LIPA Sixth Form, during this time she was in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream playing Bottom, which sparked her interest with Shakespeare. She has recently completed a comedy writing and performance degree in Salford university. Molly has just completed a three week Epic Stages Course with National Youth Theatre.
In the future she would like to put on her own stage productions and write sitcoms.
Marcella Rick (they/them) – Writer, theatremaker & spoken word artist.
Marcella’s work is unapologetically scouse, queer, and dead funny. Alongside their freelance career in arts marketing and facilitating creative workshops, they are keen to develop a path for themself as a writer and performer. Their first full-length play, Potato Milk, was staged as a shared reading as part of Unity’s 2022 Open Call and has been performed in Liverpool’s Playhouse Studio in June 2024.
Mary Savage (she/her) – An actor, singer, musical theatre performer and director.
Her credits include The Boy and The Bird; Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (Liverpool Theatre Festival); Playtime (Edinburgh Fringe & Hope St Theatre); Mother’s Ruin (Hope St Theatre).