Class Act
The Traverse Theatre's flagship education project, Class Act,
celebrated its 21st birthday in 2011. Class Act has helped over
twelve hundred young people in over 50 schools write 671 plays.
This year's programme worked with five secondary schools across
Edinburgh.
Senior Drama and English students were mentored by professional
playwrights Alan Bisset, Juila Taudivan, Alan Wilkins,
Catherine Grosvenor and Stef
Smith, developing plays which were staged at the Traverse
in January 2013.
The project has involved playwrights such as 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.