What’s Going On

Community Theatre Drop In Sessions:

Are you interested in theatre or acting but don’t know how or where to start?

The Folkestone Performing Arts Centre, in residency at the Sunflower House, would like to invite you to an open drama workshop on 24 February from 6.30 to 8pm to see if you would be interested in joining our growing community theatre group.

No experience is necessary and no preparation for the workshop is necessary.  If you are interested, please email Matthew at folkestonepac@gmail.com to reserve a spot on one of the two dates.

For more information or if you have questions, please email at the above address.

Since May 2022, we have been running regular drop-in sessions that have focused on key theatre skills such as voice and movement, ensemble, character development and script analysis.  We had great fun participating in December’s Jim Jam Arts’ Living Advent Calendar where 6 actors [5 of whom had never performed in front of a live audience] performed extracts from a modern play.  We will be doing more of the same this term but, hopefully, add in script writing as well.

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FPAC Community Theatre  is proud to be participating in this year’s Living Advent Calendar produced by JimJam Arts. We hope to see you at our performance and remember, each evening just show up to a location at 6pm to be surprised at what’s behind the door!

The Leech of Folkestone R & D workshop & performance

In November, the FPAC Ensemble completed the first stage in the development of a new play based on the short story, The Leech of Folkestone.  Mrs Botherby’s Story: The Leech of Folkestone is set in the depths of Romney Marsh and is the story of a woman who is so fed up with her husband, she sets out to rid herself of him with the help of the local doctor. The story starts with the following passage:

“The world, according to the best geographers is divided into Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Romney Marsh. In this last-named, and fifth, quarter of the globe, a Witch may still be occasionally discovered in favourable, i.e. stormy, seasons, weathering Dungeness Point in an eggshell, or careering on her broomstick over Dymchurch wall.”

The project is to devise and rehearse an original 60-minute performance of a new show, The Leech of Folkestone, using our unique practice rooted in the Viewpoints. Following the rehearsal period in Folkestone we propose a four-week tour of Kent and the south east in the autumn of 2023 to reach both theatre-going audiences and rural communities.

Ensemble Training Has Started:

Since September, the FPAC ensemble has been back training after a summer break.  We continue using Viewpoints as the foundation of our training but now are beginning to focus on show creation rather than ‘just’ ensemble building. 

Based at the Glassworks, the FPAC Ensemble training is based on a unique creative methodology called ‘Viewpoints’ which was developed by the theatre director, Ann Bogart in the United States over 30 years ago.  The Folkestone Performing Arts Centre is a pioneering proponent of this method of training and only one in Kent to use it as an ongoing training and new work development methodology.  This unique ensemble-based approach places ongoing training on an equal footing to new work development so that the ensemble is constantly developing their craft in addition to creating theatre. 

We will start on some text over the next couple of weeks and see how / if it can be further developed into a show for the winter.

Term Two of the Community Theatre Sessions have begun!

All of these sessions are open drop-in, so please feel free to pop into the Sunflower House on Foode Road on Fridays from 6.30pm.

Successful First Session of the FPAC Ensemble!

Six theatre-makers gathered from around South East Kent at the Glassworks, Quarterhouse, Folkestone on Tuesday 7 June and started to find out if we can gel as an ensemble.  Through a Viewpoints workshop led by Matthew Hahn, we knocked the rust and dust off from two + years of not working in the same room with other theatre-makers. We will continue the ensemble training through to the middle of July and then, from September, we will start to create some theatre!

So, stay tuned & wish us luck!

PLAYWRIGHTING GROUP

The Folkestone Performing Arts Centre is interested in finding local playwrights for upcoming projects, a writers’ group and festivals.  If you are a playwright [professional or non-professional] or someone looking to start writing plays and near to Folkestone, please email your CV, a sample script or synopsis of a new idea to Matthew Hahn at folkestonepac@gmail.com.  This is an open call and everyone who applies will be considered.

FPAC will be offering a week of funded research and development for a selected new play, culminating in the opportunity to present it as a work-in-progress at the Sunflower House.  This will include the opportunity to work with a theatre director and actors.  For further information, please contact Matthew at the above email address or visit www.MatthewHahn.org.uk.

Community Theatre Sessions on Friday Evenings, 6.30pm to 8.30pm, at the Sunflower House, Folkestone.

We want to invite you to the next term of the Folkestone Performing Arts Centre’s Community Theatre Sessions on Friday Evenings, 6.30pm to 8.30pm, at the Sunflower House, Folkestone. 

These sessions are free to participate and open to anyone regardless of previous training or experience.  Please be in touch at folkestonepac@gmail.com to book a spot and feel free to forward to anyone whom you think might be interested in participating.

Successful First Termof the FPAC Community Theatre Group!

Between April & July 2022, a group of 15 gathered at the Sunflower House for the first termof the FPAC Community Theatre Group.

The goal of these regular sessions is to create a local community theatre group that has a common interest in exploring theatre regardless of the participants’ experience and training. 

At the recent auditions, we were so impressed by the attitude and excitement for having a local community theatre group from participants in the recent auditions that we want to make space for such a group to grow and learn from each other alongside the smaller professional ensemble.  Once both groups are established, we envision that the community theatre group may feed into the ensemble. 

We would also be very keen to open it up to others who share this common interest, so please do get in touch [folkestonepac@gmail.com] if you fancy coming along to a session.

We are gearing up for the new year with training opportunities for actors in January, a new playwrighting group in February and a call out for Folkestone-based actors to participate in a workshop in March. 

For the latest information, please follow us on Twitter: @FolkPAC.