Aberdeen Arts Centre is commissioning a brand new musical to be created for young people here in the north-east.
The King Street venue is currently looking for adult composers of any experience or background to produce an engaging, playful, and most importantly, previously unperformed original musical for its house youth theatre Castlegate Theatre Company.
Stephanie Walls, Aberdeen Arts Centre manager, said: “When we have been looking for musicals to work with, we found that we struggled to find texts that haven’t been done previously.
“There’s a huge musical theatre scene in Aberdeen and there’s also a huge youth theatre scene and a lot of those fantastic companies use our venue for their shows.
“We also have a house youth theatre and we don’t want to be doing something that another company is doing or just did a couple of months ago.”
Aberdeen Arts Centre is looking to stage a brand new musical
Therefore, the Arts Centre team has decided to put out a call for talented writers to create a brand new musical for the popular Aberdeen venue, with the goal of offering this exciting opportunity annually.
The new musical has to be written on a subject appropriate for youth performers (8 – 17 years) with a target cast size of 35.
Stephanie added: “We are also looking for something that stretches the ability of our performers but isn’t beyond what their training has yet provided them with.
“What we’re ultimately looking for is something that our young people will feel that they’re involved in bringing to fruition. We want them to feel that they really have been a part of bringing it together.”
Working closely with cast of young performers
Those interested in submitting their musical proposals are asked to send the Aberdeen Arts Centre team two completed songs and two scenes in addition to a summary of the script.
Stephanie wanted to stress that the Arts Centre wasn’t looking for finished scripts and completely thought-out productions.
“Our young people will work directly with the composer and our musical director, singing tutor, choreographer… it’s going to be a real team effort to bring together the final piece.”
Musical director Lavie Rabinovitz added: “I am so thrilled to be involved in this project with Aberdeen Arts Centre and to be working with this wonderful place.
“It gives me great excitement to see new compositions for young people being championed. I can’t wait to begin working with the winner to produce something exciting.”
How to submit scripts
The musical commission opportunity is open for UK residents aged 18+.
In addition to a £3,000 fee, Aberdeen Arts Centre will also provide the winner with a mentor to help them complete the script, lyrics and music.
Travel and accommodation to visit Aberdeen Arts Centre for rehearsals and production week will also be covered by the venue.
If you wish to enter, email your submission to submissions@aberdeenartscentre.com. The deadline is Monday August 1.
Click here for more information.
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