North Stars Theatre Company CIC

We started the year with our Miscast Cabaret, taking place at St Herbert’s Parish Centre. The show gave our Adult and Graduate companies an opportunity to perform songs from roles they'd never normally be cast in, whether that is because of gender, age or race. The show was a sell-out success, with us having to add additional seats to the venue to meet demand. In January 2024, we announced that our next Youth Production was going to be Guys & Dolls Jr. Auditions took place in February 2024, for our performances in June 2024. Our regular Musical Theatre classes focused on rehearsing for Guys & Dolls Jr until the performance in June 2024. A total of 31 children and young people were involved in our production of Guys & Dolls. We continued to keep costs for our members low, with classes costing only £4 per week and we also asked for a show fee of £20 to help cover the additional cost of putting on a full musical production. We continued to offer discounts for siblings and we also subsidised fees for children and young people from low income backgrounds who would otherwise not be able to access arts education due to financial reasons. We continue to strive to provide inclusive arts education, and our success in this is continued to be reflected in the make up of our membership. During the 2024/25, more than half of our members had some form of disability or additional needs. This percentage does not include children and young people awaiting assessment and diagnosis, who still require significant support to engage meaningfully in rehearsals and performances. This percentage has dropped from 70% since the previous year, however this drop is not due to fewer members with additional need, but rather because many of our new members during this year do not have any disability or additional needs. This reflects the inclusive nature of the environment we have created, as well as the quality of our performance opportunities. Throughout the year, our small team of volunteers worked hard sourcing, crafting and building set, props and costumes for Guys & Dolls Jr. We purchased a secondhand Guys & Dolls set from A1 Stage, which we repainted and modified to suit the theatre, and we hired the Mission Band costumes from Harlequin Costume Hire. In May, our youth members helped to raise some additional funds to cover the cost of the show by hosting a Dance-a-Thon, which was very popular and a lot of fun! Guys & Dolls Jr was a huge success and was enjoyed by family, friends and supporters of North Stars. The children and young people were very professional and for many of our younger members this was their first time in a theatre production. The directors want to take this opportunity to thank the volunteer chaperones, without whom the show not have been possible. Whilst our regular youth classes took a break over the summer holidays, we delivered two youth Musical Theatre workshops, which were well attended. Our Adults Company continued to meet throughout the summer, working towards pieces for our next Showcase, “Historemix” which was scheduled for the end of September 2024. Historemix took place on Saturday 28th September at St Herbert’s Parish Centre, the show sold well and was well received by our audience. The Adults Company were excited to add some new numbers to their repertoire, including including songs from Operation Mincemeat and The Great Gatsby. In November, we were invited to perform at Gordon Riggs in Todmorden as part of their Christmas Fayre. In December, we held our Christmas Party & Awards Evening at Werneth Cricket Club, giving out a range of awards to our members. Just before Christmas we found out that we had been nominated for 7 NODA Awards for our district, six for our Guys and Dolls Jr production, and our Historemix Showcase was nominated for Best Concert/Review. At the end of the 2024/25 season, many of our cast and production team were lucky enough to attend the District 7 NODA Awards at the Last Drop Village in Bolton. Our Guys & Dolls Jr cast won ‘Best Ensemble in a Youth Musical, and Oli, who played Sky Masterson in Guys & Dolls Jr, won Best Actor in a Youth Musical. Thank you to everyone who contributed to our work this year, and we look forward to what next year will bring.