ACTORS WORKSHOP YOUTH THEATRE Registered Charity Number 51968S ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024 ACTOR'S WORKSHOP YOUTH THEATRE CONTENTS Pages Charity Information Annual report of the trustees 2,3&4 Independent examin8rf8 report 8alance sheet statement of financial activitles Notes to the flnancial statements 8,9,10&11 ACTOR'S WORKSHOP YOUTH THEATRE CHARITY INFORfvlATION Chairman R Lassey Executive Directors M Ward Charity Number 519685 Address 7-9 st Jsmes Str88t Halifax West Yorkshire HX15SU Acoountants YrB Limited The Coutyard 42C Low Stre8t Sherburn-in-Elmet Leeds LS25 6BA Bankers Yorkshire 88nk PLC 7 Waterhouse Slre8t Halifax HX11XZ Annual Re ort 2023 2024 Actors, Worksho Youth Theatre. Charit 519685 Herewith the Annual Report of the Actors, Workshop Youth Theatre (The Workshop) for the period September 1st 2023 to August 31st 2024. Truste RDbert E. Lassey Brenda Hodgson Allan P. Naylor Mark R. Haigh Sinaan Kahn Harry G. Myers Paul Opacic Thomas C.A. Vickery Lottie Ward Lee Whitton James F. Wilson Chairman Secretary Treasurer resigned 20th March 2024 The Workshop's ob]ectives continue to be to advance the education of the public, and in particular young persons, in the Arts and to further the development of public appreciation and taste in the said Arts. Our secondary objectives are to use the Art5 as a means with which to build confidence in young people and to instil a sense of self-worth and self-belief. During the period of thls report, the Actors, Workshop Youth Theatre mounted the following productions: th 16 September 2023 - "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" adapted by David Edgar 16¢h December 2023 - "Around The World in 80 Days" based on the book by Jules Verne 16th_ 20lh April 2024_ "Four Nights in Knaresborough" by Paul Webb 12 Ih Our 2023124 Season saw a period of great change at The Workshop as our Founder and Artistic Director, Mike Ward, retired due to ill health. This led to the focus of the period being on the future and transitioning to a new era of The Workshop in order to continue building on his legacy. A5 a result the Season was once again slightly truncated, as it has been since the upheaval of the pandemic. We continued to build on the work of the previous Season and were able to mount three productions, compared with last yearfs two, falling only one short of our target schedule of four productions per each annual Sea50n. As a result of Mike Ward's retirement, DTrectorial duties were taken on by volunteers and past members of The Workshop. This proved a great success as it added further variety to our young member's experience of the theatre as each Director brought their own style and views on drama to their productions. We opened the Season with a production of "Drjekyll and Mr Hyde" in September. The Play offered plenty of opportunity for deep character study as well as very physical dramatic moments, particularly for the young member playing the dual lead of Jekyll and Hyde. We were also able to introduce some new young people to our stage in a variety of smaller roles following an influx of new members towards the end of the prevlous Season, This was followed in December by a production of "Around the World in 80 Days". This highly comedic adaptlon of Jules Verne's clasSlC Story was a great challenge to our young members a5, barring the two lead actors, every member of the cast was required to play several roles during the course of the Play, occasionally in the same scene. This requirement to constantly change charatter and ensuring that each role was different meant that great concentration was required throughout for all members of the cast. Our final productlon of the period wa5 'Four Nights in Knaresborough" in April. Whilst our Members were very familiar with the opening scene of the Play, having worked on it several time5 a5 part of our weekly cla55 work, we had never mounted the full Play before this productlon, The nature of the Play being very much an ensemble piece rneant that each member of the Cast had their mornent of focus during which they could explore their characters in depth. There wa5 also plenty of opportunity to introduce new members of the Youth Theatre into the cast in some rnlnor roles. We had scheduled a production of ' The Ladyklllers. to be performed in July as the Season c105er, however due to the ongoing issues surrounding Mike Ward's retirement It was decided to postpone this production to the following Season. Alongside our Season of production5, we continue to run our weekly classes In drama for young people aged 11-19. running concurrently with the local school term schedule. Rehearsals for production5 are kept separate to classes in order to ensure any member who is not available or does not wish to participate in a particular show is not excluded from the classes. In addition to our Youth Theatre's artistic output we also collaborated with a local touring theatre company, Foot of the Barrel, to mount a further two fundraising productions, These were "Bleak Expectations" in October and "Mr Kolpert in June. These proved very successful, both as a fundraising endeavour and introducing our venue to new audiences, many of whom went on to sign up to our mailing list and attend our Youth Theatre production5. As a result we have plans to continue thi5 collaboration in future Seasons with the opportunity and reach out ta other theatre cornpanies who may be in need of a venue for their performances. Our resident fundraising Role Playing Games group, "AFI(" continued their weel