New to theatre, or want to learn more?
Fill out this form to apply to be a trainee on one of the OUTTS training shows! As a trainee, you’ll be assigned a show and an experienced head of department who will teach you everything they know. You’ll have to opportunity to shadow and learn from them as they put the show together, as well as to get stuck into the practical side and help out during show week. We’re hoping to create a really fun and friendly environment for our trainees where everyone is learning together, and putting on a phenomenal show in at the end! No deadline for signing up, but we will stop assigning trainees to a particular show one week before the show week begins.
This term’s training shows are:
Show 1 - Little Shop of Horrors: Performing in Week 5 at the Keble O'Reilly. Training in Lights and Stage Management.
Synopsis: How far can love and ambition take you? Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s award-winning musical Little Shop of Horrors follows Seymour, a shop assistant at a failing downtown New York florist. He is head-over-heels in unrequited love with his co-worker Audrey, and unappreciated by his boss, Mr Mushnik. All looks hopeless until Seymour reveals his strange and interesting Plant, named Audrey II, which has a certain requirement - in order to live, it needs human blood. Seymour sacrifices Orin, Audrey’s abusive dentist boyfriend, and Mr Mushnik for what he believes is the greater good. Success, fame and love suddenly come his way, but to what cost? Set in a poor skid row in America during the turbulent 1960s, our production of LSOH aims not to shy away from the honest, ugly and dark side to the musical, foregrounding the sinister violence that underwrites its camp comedy. Think neon lights, smoke pollution, dirty streets and the famous showstopping plant!
What would trainees learn? LD trainees have the opportunity to be involved in lighting design discussions; to learn about the technicalities of powering, rigging and focusing lights by helping with get-in; shadow Sarah as she programs lights, particularly during tech and dress; operate lights for some of the shows Stage management trainees will have the opportunity to be involved at any and all stages of the show, depending on their interests and availabilities. Hands-on tasks include making props in the weeks leading up to the show and assisting with quick costume changes & moving plants (!!) during the show. They can also learn about the key paperwork associated with SM, for example, taking blocking notes during rehearsals & making run sheets. For those interested in being a deputy stage manager who calls technical cues during the show, they will have the opportunity to shadow our amazing DSMs Paddy & Iona.
Show 2 - Things I Know to be True: Performing in Week 7 at the Magdalen Grove Theatre. Training in Sound.
Synopsis: ‘Things I Know to Be True’ is Andrew Bovell’s critically-acclaimed, complex and intense portrait of the mechanics of a family – and a marriage – through the eyes of four siblings trying to define themselves beyond their parents’ love and expectations. This is a play fundamentally about human fallibility, generational differences, and the ugly responses of
heightened emotions. But above all, it’s a play about identity, and how growth necessitates change.
What would trainees learn? We’d like to use the soundscape of the production to reflect themes of memory, and we are interested in hearing any ideas from trainees with less experience on how to portray that e.g. sounds of children laughing, echoes of harsh words said in the dialogue, etc. We’d like to make the play a collaborative experience - we are interested in incorporating any experimental suggestions trainees might have, and utilising that to enhance our original student-composed score. Trainees will be able to shadow and contribute to the sound design process, as well as learn essential technical skills for sound design such as QLab and sourcing.
