Latest news from CADS
May 2022 newsletter
(May 12, 2022)Bomb time
It's not too late to book your tickets for the CADS performance at this year's Welwyn Drama Festival, which starts on Monday 16 May. Our production - a world premiere, no less - of Roy Maddox''s The Blonde Bombshell is being shown in the second slot on Monday evening, following Limitless Academy's Brook for Nothing, so something of a Royston evening to kick off the festival. Tickets for the evening are £12 and can be obtained by ringing the Barn Theatre box office on 01707 324300 or online via Ticketline.
We'll get an adjudication on the night from experienced GoDA adjudicator Dave Bennett and there'll be an awards ceremony on Saturday night after the two plays that evening (you'll need to book separately for this). We're confident that our show will amuse, educate and entertain and hope to see as many of you there as possible supporting your local group.
Learn from a pro
We're pleased to announce a series of FREE acting workshops focusing on duologues, hosted by former professional actor and CADS award winner Martin Maynard. These start on Wednesday 15 June at King James Academy Royston and will run for four subsequent Wednesday evenings. Martrn has already demonstrated his considerable talent as a director with The Blonde Bombshell as well as having a wealth of experience as a professional on TV, radio, film and in the theatre. You'll recall that he also won the award for best performance at last year's Cambridge Drama Festival for his portrayal of Alfred Hitchcock in Strangers on a Film.
If you'd like to take part, it would be enormously helpful to know in advance so that Martin can select pieces to work on that reflect the composition of the group; if you haven't done so (and there have already been a number of expressions of interest), please contact [email protected] to register your interest.Vacancies: apply within
Following the departure from the committee of Emma Daintrey at this year's AGM, CADS is currently without a Chair and, while we can continue for now without one, our constitution requires us to appoint one as soon as we can. The post is not necessarily an onerous one (the Secretary and Treasurer do a lot of the actual work) but it does call for someone who can chair a meeting efficiently and take the lead in any discussions about future plans. If you'd like to be considered for the post, please contact us in the usual way via our Contact page or by e-mailing [email protected]
Sadly, we also said goodbye this month to Brenda Cottis, who has been a member of the committee for some years now and whose knowledge and experience of amateur drama is considerable. This leaves six members on the 2022 committee and we could always do with more, if only to broaden the range of opinion and ideas at meetings. Again, if you think you'd like to join us, please contact us as above. We meet roughly every four or five weeks in someone's home, and meetings generally last about an hour. (As an added inducement, there are usually refreshments provided!) Do please consider joining us and having the chance to express your views about what we are (or aren't) doing.Panto 2023
Good news - we already have a director for the 2023 town pantomime! The ever versatile David Atkins has volunteered to take charge of what is always our biggest and best attended production. David is currently exploring scripts, and auditions for the show are likely to take place towards the end of September or beginning of October this year. Watch (as they say) this space!Strictly David
And speaking of David Atkins, this Saturday (14 May) he takes part in a charity event organised by Home-Start in which local celebrities will compete in a dance competition inspired by Strictly Come Dancing. The event takes place at the Cambridge Motel, Shepreth (doors open at 6.45 p.m.) . Tickets are already sold out for the show, but you can still support David by going to his fundraising page at https://visufund.com/davids-strictly-page and making a donation for this worthy cause. We urge you to do so...Coming soon
We're delighted to be welcoming back to CADS, albeit for one night only, the talented Kim Ensor at a date to be arranged in June or July. Kim has kindly agreed to speak at one of our evening meetings about life after CADS. Kim graduated from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 2007, having specialised in musical theatre and her professional career since has taken in everything from straight drama to Gilbert & Sullivan, contemporary musicals and TV commercials. Always a lively speaker, Kim will be sure to keep you all entertained. Watch the website and/or this newsletter for confirmation of dates and times.Committee
Our next meeting is on 14 June, so if there's anything you'd like us to consider or discuss then, please feel free to contact any of us at any time via the Contact page of this CADS website!