The K. Boateng Academy of Performing Arts was first established in February 2009 in Accra, Ghana by RADA Graduate Kwaku Boateng Ankomah. The Academy experienced a great amount of success with a number of students graduating straight into TV, Film and Stage roles, as well as working in a number of areas within the Entertainment Industry. For example, recent Ghanaian graduate, Stephanie Baaba Lindsay recently won Vodaphone’s Icons Diva Edition Competition, which landed her a major record deal with one of Ghana’s leading record companies!

Now in 2011, Kwaku Boateng Ankomah is opening a UK branch to train aspiring actors and performers. The Academy will be offering a three year part-time acting course for the over 18’s and a year-long performing arts course for junior actors between the ages of 8-17. The Academy will also offer a range of short courses such as; 12 week acting for screen beginner’s course, traditional African drumming, traditional African dance, one to one acting/audition techniques and The K. Boateng Youth Theatre which will all run within the year.

Kwaku Boateng Ankomah Founder and Artistic Director says, ‘my aim with The K. Boateng Academy of Performing Arts in Ghana and now in the UK is to provide aspiring actors with good quality training that can provide longevity within the entertainment industry at affordable prices, to bridge the gaps between culture and heritage through performing arts and to give young people a platform to exhibit their talents. I believe the course will instil in young people, confidence and self-esteem, and will be an educational tool to bring to the forefront burning issues related to the youth of today.’

Classes take place every weekend here at Nitro HQ from Saturday 24th September 2011 and from January 7th 2012.

For more information please visit www.kboatengacademy.com and fill out an online audition application form for any of the courses above. To request an application form please email auditions@kboatengacademy.com.

We worked with London club night Deep Down… in bringing the vision theatrical narrative to clubbing!

Celebrating their 2nd successful year, Deep Down… have curated and promoted club nights and music events across London in interesting warehouse spaces.

Infusing club and music events with theatrical narratives is still an adventurous development in the world of new musical theatre and Nitro was delighted to work with Deep Down in exploring fresh ways in which this can happen.

The first exciting outing of this unique collaboration was held on September 10th at The New Empowering Church, 1a Westage Street, London, E8 3RL. It featured one of todays most prominent and relevant poets Dean Atta who led a narrative by performing poems a cappella and over dance music.

Also performing was London’s leading Afrobeat and Ska band United Vibrations, the ‘mother’ of Afrobeat and world music in London, Rita Ray, Neo Funk producer Funkineven and leading Afro House and Bass DJ Deboa.

On Thursday 1st September 2011, at Nitro Theatre from 6pm, we presented a fantastic evening that  showcased the freshest’s sounds of Islington’s young urban talent as part of the Nitro Ignites Project. An inspiring evening indeed!

The event was held at Nitro HQ with a VIP audience plus fans were able to watch it live via our exclusive live stream here, on this very page!. Here’s a set of videos of that performance!

Young people from around Islington worked as a collective over 3 months to create their own music as part of the Nitro Ignites Project. Read up more about it here.

Nitro Ignites was a summer programme supported by Youth Music where young people aged 14 – 18 from around the ‘Market Road’ area worked with a team of professional music artists to create their own music, by learning how to play a range of instruments, singing, song-writing, rapping and music production in preparation for two showcase events at the end of the summer of 2011. The first was part of the Platform Festival in July and the second took place at the beginning of September at Nitro HQ!

The content of their show was themed around both modern and historical stories from the Market Road Estate. This was performed by those living on and around this specific area.

The workshops ran once weekly starting Monday 6th June – Monday 4.30pm – 6.00pm until, September 2011. It specialised in teaching young people aged 14 – 18 a range of skills as young musicians; specifically teaching them the basics of learning how to play an instrument as well as skills in music production, singing, rapping, song writing and performance.

Here’s our exclusive video footage of the project and the final performance held here at Nitro HQ in September 2011!

Nitro Ignites Mini Documentary

Nitro Ignites Performances

For more information on the Nitro IGNITES Project or similar projects you may be interested in please contact Simone Watson on 0207 609 1331 or email simone@nitro.co.uk or email the Nitro office via info@nitro.co.uk.

Regular readers will know ‘Starstruck’ was written by Roy Williams and was a hit play in the late 90s. Rex is now currently adapting the smash hit play into a modern musical for us that we’re sure will raise the roof on many a house.

We’re very excited to be commissioning Starstruck – The Musical, not only because Starstruck is a great story but also because Rex is the most promising and sought after of black writers. Many of you will know Rex is one of a team of writers for the children’s smash TV show ‘Rastamouse’. Rastamouse has received praise and attention throughout the UK’s press and, of course the kids (and adults like us) that watched it.

Rex is very busy working on the script, as well as working on his many other projects, but he was kind enough to lend us some time to answer a few questions from us.

We’re very much looking forward to your adaption of Roy Williams’ ‘Starstruck’ into a musical for us. What stage are you currently at and how’s it going?

I am currently finishing off the first draft.  Most of the work has already been completed as me and Felix started off with a treatment of the adaptation.  Felix Cross is writing the music and lyrics and I am doing the book.  I used that treatment as a guide to completing the first draft, but there is a long way to go.

It’s not finished yet but can you tell us how different it will be compared to the original play?

I was unfortunate not to see the original play and when I read it I thought was an amazing piece of work, both funny and dark and uniquely Jamaican.  We took the decision to update the play as the original play was set in the 1970’s.  We are adapting the play to a musical so some of the themes and complexities of the narrative have been adapted and the ending has been modified, but I hope we have kept to the spirit of the play.

Starstruck was well received as a play. Does that put added pressure on you as the writer of the new adaption?

No, not really.  Or no more pressure than usual with any other piece of work.  I wouldn’t have taken it on unless I thought it could be the best that it could be.  The challenge is if a new audience think that it is an original musical and not derived from a play.  Only then will I think that Felix and I have done our job.

Starstruck will be the first musical you’ve worked on. What made you interested in working on a musical and this project in particular?

I have been lucky enough in the last year to try my hand at various modes of writing. Since my first full length play Slaves I have written for radio Burned to Nothing (BBC Afternoon Play), young peoples theatre The Door Never Closes (Almeida Theatre) and children’s television with Rastamouse (CBeebies) so working on a musical is yet another challenge that I am eager to embrace.  The feeling of leaving a musical is much different than from a straight play.  The challenge will be if the audience are engaged in the story and the music to hum the songs on their way home.

Is the process you go through working on a play different from working on a musical?

Yes, the way that I describe it is that the songs in the musical carry emotion and the book carries the meaning and those have be kept constant in the narrative.  Also a challenge is if the songs push the narrative forward or just act to tell how the characters are feeling.  You don’t have to worry about this in a straight play.  I’m sure that this experience will help my playwriting.

As you mentioned, You also wrote for the smash hit kids TV show Rastamouse. Have you been surprised by its success and the positive and negative reactions to it?

When I was commissioned to write Rastamouse last year I had never written for television or for children so it was a challenge, but one I relished.  Of course you never know what the response from the audience is going to be, but I knew there was something about it that would appeal to young children.  I have been surprised about the reaction as very few children’s shows have national press attention, but most of all my young nieces and nephews have enjoyed it.

How did you get started as a playwright?

I started as a writer and fell into a fifteen year acting career, but now I am lucky enough to be doing more writing.  My acting helped my with my storytelling and the connections I made with actors and directors helped me early in my writing career.

What were the biggest hurdles you had to overcome to get to your position today?

The biggest hurdles are getting a play on and being taken seriously as an older writer.  Most theatre companies are interested in new writers and there is nothing wrong with that, but I think some of the most interesting stories come from an older writer’s perspective.  Sometimes it can take years for a writer to find their voice and an older voice has just as much of a right to be heard.  Getting your first play on is very difficult and I would advise emerging playwrights to join writers groups with theatre companies.  I was helped in my career by Talawa, Royal Court, Soho Theatre and Theatre 503.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

I would give the same advice that was given to me by a very dear friend of mine.  She told me to be prolific.  Write as much as you can.  Don’t let anybody tell you to stop writing.  The more you write the better you will get at your craft.

Finally, describe yourself in one sentence.

I am a Native Foreigner – oh that’s the title of my next play.

Interview by Debo Adebayo

The next stage of Generations will take place from January 2011 to December 2012.  There are currently 5 parts to the work:

generations: nitro ignites

Nitro Ignites is a summer programme supported by Youth Music where young people aged 14 – 18 from around the ‘Market Road’ area will work with a team of professional music artists to create their own music, by learning how to play a range of instruments, singing, song-writing, rapping and music production in preparation for two showcase events at the end of the summer. The first as part of the Platform Festival in July and the second at the end of August, framed against the backdrop of London’s Notting Hill Carnival!

The content of their show will be themed around both modern and historical stories from the Market Road Estate. This will be performed by those living on and around this specific area.

The Participants:

‘The Market road’ area has a notorious background and history for being a difficult area within the London Borough of Islington. For the last decade young people around the Market road area have been labelled and stigmatised into pigeon holes of negativity. While working with these young people on a recent pilot project, it came to light that these young people simply needed an opportunity in which to demonstrate their talents. Which is where Nitro Ignites comes into play.

Project Scale:

The workshops will run once weekly starting Monday 6^th June – Monday 4.30pm – 6.00pm. until, September 2011. It will specialise in teaching young people aged 14 – 18 a range of skills as young musicians; specifically teaching them the basics of learning how to play an instrument as well as skills in music production, singing, rapping, song writing and performance.

For more information on the Nitro IGNITES Project please contact Simone Watson on 0207 609 1331 or email simone@nitro.co.uk

GENERATIONS: SECRET SINGERS

Secret Singers is a participatory music project, giving a voice to black people affected by mental illness. In partnership with healthcare providers, organizations and individuals, Nitro will investigate the disproportionately high incidence of mental illness amongst the black population. Together with writer/artist/curator Michael Macmillan, a creative exchange will take place, encouraging patients and ex-patients to articulate their experiences. Using this material, Artistic Director Felix Cross will compose original, insightful and powerful music for choral performance. This work will be recorded, shared and performed in a manner which allows the participants to take a lead role – be it singing with the NITROvox choir, recording a video diary, or assisting behind the scenes. Secret Singers will leave a lasting legacy in the form of a recording, a touring production, a support network or choir of which Nitro, its professional associate artists and partners, and most importantly, its participants, can be proud.

Generations: At The End of the Rainbow 9th March @ Freeword Centre, London

We commissioned three pairs of poets and composers to work with different community groups, then write and compose a new piece to be performed live and then filmed and broadcast live online via our website. We worked with a wonderful local (to Islington, where we are) community arts company called All Change Arts – look them up online and see what they’re getting up to.

We chose some of the best artists around: Alex Wilson, Robert Mitchell, Arun Ghosh, Yemisi Blake, HKB FiNN and Zena Edwards; I think you’ll agree they’re all out of the top drawer and we were really excited to have them working for us.

Whilst it was Yemisi Blake’s first time with Nitro, for the rest it will be a welcome return; Alex Wilson wrote and recorded the amazing score for The Wedding Dance; he was one of the nine composers we commissioned for A Nitro At The Opera and subsequently for Rake – both with the Royal Opera House; and he has been our Musical Director on Mass Carib.

Robert Mitchell was also a composer on Rake and played keyboards in Mass Carib at Trafalgar Square; Zena Edwards wrote the rap lyrics for Slamdunk; Arun Ghosh was also a Rake composer and HKB FiNN co-wrote the libretto for Rake. Check out each and every one of these fine artists you’ll see they have high national and international profiles and have worked with some of the most incredible artists in the world.

Our community groups covered a wide range of experiences and type: from day centres for the elderly to refugee groups and young people’s projects.

We successfully live streamed the event from this very website and increased our audience by 100%. Watch this space for the exclusive video footage we recorded from the event. Coming Soon!

generations: mass carib – 26th January 2011

This renowned piece of music was performed at the extraordinary venue that is Kings Place, near Kings Cross, on 26 January. However, this was Mass Carib with a difference. First, it was sung by NITROvox – just 8 singers and 2 percussionists – presenting the bulk of the 50-minute piece. Secondly, as part of Nitro’s community outreach programme, a local group of amateur singers learnt and performed a section of Mass Carib alongside NITROvox. Plus beatboxer Marvill accompanied NITROvox in the performance to amazing effect!

In February 2010 Nitro produced Mass Carib for Haiti and raised over £2,000 for the people of Haiti following the devastating earthquake that destroyed large parts of the country. One year on, Mass Carib at Kings Place followed on from that as we celebrated and remembered the people, culture and history of Haiti. Over our two Haiti events we have raised over £2,500!

We streamed the performance live online from our website – a first for Nitro! Approximately 200 people tuned in and watched the event live from the comfort of their homes. Check out exclusive footage of the event below!!

CLICK: Audiences Online

NITRO’s target audiences are BME people in the UK, of all ages and cultures. As a national touring company, NITRO is only able to reach specific parts of the UK on a limited basis (a production may tour to Manchester, for example, for just one week per year). This means that regular, quality engagement with such communities is a challenge.

Government statistics show that, despite considerable investment over the last decade, only a small percentage of the UK’s BME population are regular (or even occasional) theatre-goers and that the vast majority do not consider the theatre when planning cultural events.

We believe the expansion of our creative online presence is a vital way forward. To capitalise on this positive connection we will develop an online database, commissioning, filming, streaming and downloading links to NITRO’s work. This will help to develop our online audiences on a local and national level.

The finished product of Mass Carib, At The End Of The Rainbow and Secret Singers will be uploaded onto NITRO’s website and broadcast online. We will look to create an interactive element, including but not limited to Live Streaming, which links NITRO’s virtual and actual audience database. This will be both an exciting piece of new work by NITRO and an audience development project bringing our work to those who enjoy cultural activity and may be encouraged to attend live theatre in future.

Rex

Roy Williams

Back in 1999 Roy Williams had a great success with his play Starstruck. A heartbreaking, funny and ultimately uplifting story set in Jamaica, Starstruck is about Dennis, a young street con-artist, whose ambition for fame and riches away from his dead-end lifestyle is sparked by the arrival on the island of a Hollywood film crew.  Family secrets tear him apart as he tries to make a new life for himself, his girlfriend Pammy and his unborn child.

A fabulous story indeed and now, in a very exciting development, Rex Obanio is adapting Starstruck for Nitro as a musical, with music and lyrics by Felix Cross.

Starstruck is scheduled for production in Autumn 2011 – for furter details, interviews, photos and video keep watching this space….!!!

Yemi is just 14 and is desperate to join the gang that hangs out on his estate. This isn’t just because he feels left out – which he does -  it’s also because of Paris; she’s beautiful, she smiles at him and she’s in the gang. But then there’s Armani, feisty, aggressive and in everyone’s face; always there with Paris. The guys – Razer, Flamer and Blazer, all seem cool but there’s no way they’re going to let him join.

But when Yemi’s mother tells him his older brother Ikudayisi – Iky – is coming from Nigeria to live with them he is really excited. Iky is going to be the coolest guy around the estate, he’s going to smooth the way for Yemi to join the gang and get with Paris.

Only things don’t quite turn out that way do they? Iky’s been brought up with the strict side of the family; is painfully polite, well mannered and about the un-coolest thing on the planet. Brotherly love it aint.

And when their mother, tired of them fighting at home, sends them both out to buy a packet of okra – simple, you would think – a day begins that will change both the brother’s lives.

Gone Too Far is a musical adaptation of Bola Agbaje’s hit play of the same name that had three highly successful runs at the Royal Court. Bola is writing the adaptation herself with amazing hip hop and soulful music and lyrics from …watch this space…!

Nitro was lucky enough to catch up with Bola for a quick chat – check out the interview here.

We will find ways of working within this new situation, Nitro has so much to offer and I fully intend that we remain a significant player in the theatre ecology of this country.

I would personally like to thank all those who have been sending messages of support. Indeed the first was from ACE itself and from that we will draw some encouragement that the relationship between us might not be over, it is just entering a new phase….

Felix

Our work includes mid-scale touring, online projects and “Generations”, a programme of creative engagements involving professional artists and communities.

For a further details on this position please download the job description below.

Deadline: Tuesday 12th April, 6pm

Artistic Associate amended 11.04