Last Call for young Actors!

For the past 15 years Woking based theatre charity Peer Productions has been offering fully funded actor training opportunities and giving young artists their first steps into the performing arts industry. 

There are places still available for the Peer Actor Development Programme and Peer Employment Pathway so apply now. 

The brainchild of Artistic Director Nina Lemon, the Peer Actor Development programme has now trained hundreds of young actors with 83% going on to top drama schools including LAMDA Italia Conti, GSA, East15, Central, LIPA, Rose Bruford, Royal Welsh College, Manchester School of Theatre and more. 

From just last year’s cohort of 14, many have received multiple drama school recalls and offers with Peer sending the class of 2022 on to East 15 (Helen Blight), Rose Bruford (Bronwyn Teasdale, Amy Szarvas, Ismael Akram and Alexandra Perry) Fourth Monkey (Olly Hembrow) and LAMDA (Jamar Morgan).

Many of the programme’s alumni have gone on to forge a range of successful creative careers for example soprano Megan Stachen, who recently graduated from a Masters at Trinity Laban and is currently  performing  with Cardiff Opera, producer Anthony Kosky who trained at East15 and whose recent credits include Snatched at the soho playhouse, West End performer Lydia Fraser whose credits, after training at GSA, include playing all three Schuyler sisters in Hamilton in the West End and actor Kudzai Sitima who has performed at the National and the Globe and has recently made her Netflix debut since graduating from Rose Bruford. 

This year Peer has branched out to offer a sister course specifically for young actors with learning disabilities. The Peer Employment Pathway offers young actors with additional needs bespoke support to help them into the world of work both within the performing arts industry and more widely. 

Both the Peer Actor Development Programme (PAD) and the Peer Employment Pathway (PEP) are free of charge for the young person. PAD students who are under 19 when they start with us are supported via our partner college JACE training, PAD students who are over 19 are supported by a range of trusts and foundations as well as from Peer’s earned income and PEP learners are supported by their local authorities. Here our Artistic Director Nina Lemon explains why making our training free of charge is so central to our charitable ethos.

“When a young person comes to train with Peer they receive individual bespoke support, training and masterclasses. They also have the opportunity to share their skills more broadly in the community performing plays and delivering workshops for children and young people. During their time with Peer, they become part of a thriving, working theatre company gaining a unique insight into how a theatre company functions. They are the life blood of the organisation without whom a great deal of the impact we have an our community would not be possible. It’s an equitable exchange and we treat all our young actors as the valued colleagues that they are. We provide free training and they volunteer their labour using their theatre skills to transform young people’s lives. As someone from a working class background, I am so frustrated when I see the arts becoming increasingly the domain of the rich and privileged. We believe that theatre and the performing arts industry should be accessible for everyone regardless of economic background. Whilst we know we have further to go, and hope in the future to offer bursaries to support those from the lowest economic backgrounds with living costs, making our training free at the point of delivery is a huge step in the right direction. “