Class Act
The Traverse Theatre's flagship education project, Class Act,
celebrated its 21st birthday in 2011. Class Act (originally known
as Writers About) has helped over twelve hundred young people in
over 50 schools write 671 plays.
Led by Head of Traverse Learning, Noelle O'Donoghue, senior
Drama and English students are mentored by professional
playwrights, developing plays which are staged at the Traverse
Theatre. Since 2009, the project has been extended to Glasgow
Schools, with performances staged in the city's Tron Theatre.
The project has involved playwrights such as Alan Wilkins, David
Harrower, David Greig, Nicola McCartney, Douglas Maxwell and
Gregory Burke. The plays have been brought to life by actors
including Colin McCredie, Kevin McKidd, Ryan Fletcher, John Kazek,
Cora Bissett and Katrina Bryan.
Class Act - A Short History
- 1990 - Jane Ellis (Traverse Theatre Education Officer) and
Jenny Wilson (Drama Teacher) create Writers About, a
ground-breaking playwriting project for upper secondary school
pupils in Edinburgh.
For the first time, professional playwrights from the Traverse
work with young people to help them create their own short plays.
Professional actors, directors, stage managers and the Traverse's
production and communication teams help the young writers take
their plays from page to stage.
- 1993 - Writers About becomes Class Act.
- 1998 - Art classes from the schools launch Class Art, working
with the Traverse's Marketing team to create an image for the Class
Act poster.
- 2001 - Class Act goes national, working with schools from West
Lothian, East Lothian, Fife and the Scottish Borders.
- 2004 - Class Act goes international, as the Traverse works with
young people in Russia.
- 2008 - A Glasgow leg of the project begins.
- 2011 - four Glasgow schools and four Edinburgh schools take
part in the annual project, with performances at the Tron Theatre
for the Glasgow schools, and at the Traverse Theatre for the
Edinburgh schools.
Class Act is taking a break for Autumn 2011, and will be
re-launched in 2012.