Stage Beyond is a theatre company for young adults with learning disabilities. The company is made up of members from throughout the North West, who already have shown a keen interest in drama. These actors research, devise and tour shows as well as providing accompanying workshops. Based in the Millennium Forum, the company offers the opportunity to explore issues significant to the learning disabled community and present these as theatre pieces and open workshops to the general community.

The company offers theatre training in many art forms, including; dance, voice, physical theatre, music, set design, stage management, lighting directing, facilitation skills and script writing. These take the form of master classes with practitioners from throughout the UK.  

Our program this year will also prove to be a busy yet enjoyable and varied schedule.

We are part of an exciting new project with MENCAP and LiveNet. Our Theatre Squad are working with a group of young people from Ardnashee School to produce a piece of theatre that explores relationships in the modern age. This piece will be performed in June 2014 and it will also be streamed online.

Stage Beyond members during a workshop with Tim Wheeler from Mind the Gap Theatre Company.

As part of this project, Stage Beyond worked closely with a small group of teenagers from Ardnashee School, Derry. Togther we discussed relationships, dating and our online experience. Through these weekly sessions, we devised several scripts based on Family Relationships, Relationships with Friends and Online Dating. Working with Bounce, a local media project and Mencap/LiveNet we created two short films. These films also starred the pupils from the core group and they will be available for public view via LiveNet very shortly!

We are delighted to have been invited to perform at the Millennium Forum's relaxed production of Jack and the Beanstalk on 22nd December at 3pm. For more information, and to book, please contact the Millennium Forum.

Any account of our work this year must include our weekly workshops with local primary and post-primary schools. We have had the privilege of working with pupils from Ardnashee School & College Derry, Lisneal College Derry, St Patrick's & St Brigid's College Claudy and from Knockavoe School, Strabane. These workshops were tailored to the needs of the pupils in each school and aimed to introduce our young people to the concept of theatre as fun, to increase self-confidence and team skills and to encourage creativity in a safe space.

Stage Beyond are also delighted to welcome Kieran Lagan (Queens University and Lyric Theatre) as part of our Off the Page! Legacy Project. 

This project aims to draw young people into the the world of Heaney, Shakespeare and Roald Dahl through movement, speech and performance. Teaching through performance helps students to internalize the language and meaning of the literature and to have fun! Throughout the year we not only will develop literary and performance based skills, but we will also nurture skills that will serve students throughout their lives.

Fairy Tales and Friends is the name of our current workshop series with Knockavoe School, Strabane. Each week our Facilitator in Residence and a member of our Theatre Squad visit a group of pupils gathered from various year groups in their fabulously equipped school to work on a fairy tale together - echoing their work in class. As a group, we read and explore each story - bringing it to life and working together to create a new way of looking at our favourite tales.

We are delighted to announce that Matt Faris of Prime Cut Theatre Company will join us for a series of workshops in December 2014!

Based in Belfast Prime Cut Productions is Theatre Company in residence at The MAC, and is one of Ireland’s leading independent theatre producers. Established in 1992, the company has produced some of the island's most memorable and thought-provoking theatre.

We are also looking forward to a new project in 2015 with Ardnashee College. Based on relationships, we will tackle this challenging subject with a selected group of pupils and staff. Together with our guest director 2014 we will stage a touring production and deliver several series of exploratory workshops based on it.

We are looking forward to a busy, exciting and creative year - we hope you can join us!

It costs just 13p per person per week to maintain the arts in Northern Ireland. 

A small investment in the Arts yields Big returns for Everyone.

The arts work hard for our economy and our society: 

• Promoting NI as a location of choice for international businesses
• Generating majoy employment through the Creative Industries
• Regenerating our towns and cities
• Bringing people and communities closer together
• Creating a place where we all want to live

The arts have already shouldered more than their fair share of recent cuts leaving the arts with just 0.1% of the overall budget for NI.

Please sign this petition against the cuts!