It’s that time again… time to hear about the fantastic things Student Groups have been doing to keep engaged and stay connected over summer. From virtual music videos to online quizzes - see what your performance groups have been getting up to.
GMTG (Guild Musical Theatre Group):
GMTG live-streamed video projects of the two cancelled productions ‘High School Musical’ and ‘Going Down: A Song Cycle (showcase)’ with the casts, wider society members, and alumni getting involved.
They also hosted a series of online workshops run by industry professionals and society members including: the ‘West End workshops’ series with 3 West End professionals teaching classes.
Get to know GMTG and check them out on Instagram.
Article19 (A19):
Article19 have been working on an online show: xo, Romeo (an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet by Emily Breeds) which was live-streamed on September 12th.
They also organised various resource compilations and social media events e.g. spreadsheet of classical plays by Black playwrights, Instagram Live interviews introducing new committee members and Audition Tips on Instagram stories. Learn all about Article19.
Footnotes:
Footnotes (insta: @birminghamfootnotes)
Footnotes started Footnotes Friday; a weekly upload of content on the Footnotes YouTube channel. Content has been both pre-recorded prior to lockdown and made during isolation, including: stand up recordings, sketch show recordings, a mockumentary, vlog parody, dark comedy stand up short film and a lip-sync battle!
We also created a society TikTok channel and have been doing some of the biggest trends - follow @birminghamfootnotes.
To join Footnotes view their Guild profile page.
UoB PantoSoc:
UoB Panto Soc released a number from the Winter show; ‘Peter Panto’ as a socially distanced music video.
Here’s how you can join UoB PantoSoc.
3BUGS Fringe:
3BUGS Fringe Theatre Society hosted a Zoom Q&A with Daniel Ward: the award-winning playwright of the Canary and the Crow (Edinburgh Fringe 2019, Brighton Fringe Award for Excellence).
Thinking of joining 3BUGS Fringe? Here’s how.
UoB Gilbert and Sullivan Society:
The University of Birmingham Gilbert and Sullivan Society published an online version of the G&S light opera ‘the Mikado’
Check out University of Birmingham Gilbert and Sullivan Society.
Infinity Stage Company:
Infinity Stage Company ran a virtual AGM and took part in fundraising for Students Saving Our Theatres, by allocating each committee member a language to learn for a week!
Get to know Infinity Stage Company.
Live art:
Live Art ran creative challenges each week, giving people prompts such as ‘connection’ and ‘routine’, this lead people to send in poetry, videos, and more! Feeling artistic? Why not join Live Art.
Watch This Society:
This is what Watch This Society have been getting up to:
Improva-ZOOM-ga: Watch This’ Improv troupe, Improvabunga, took to Zoom to recreate movie genres in a side-splitting, 50-minute online improvised interactive show.
Virtual event: The Next Stage - a virtual showcase of short plays written, directed, and performed by students.
Partial to improv? Learn all about Watch This Society.
Guild Drama collaborative events:
GMTG and A19 collaborated to host a ‘Black Performers in the Arts’ panel in August aimed at Black students looking to go into the industry, which many people from a variety of demographics tuned into to watch to gain an insight.
Guests included four industry professionals: Hazel Karooma-Brooker (Six, Little Shop of Horrors, Bring It On), Alex Thomas-Smith (Dear Evan Hansen, Bat Out of Hell, Shakespeare Live! at the RSC), Bethany Antonia (Get Even, Doctors) and Tuwaine Barrett (Blue Story, Barbershop Chronicles, Silent Witness).
3BUGS hosted a virtual Guilded Globes in June - our annual Guild Drama awards ceremony where every show from each of our 9 societies is nominated for an award. This was in place of our annual Guild Drama Summer Ball which was sadly cancelled.
Fundraising for the Crescent Theatre and Midlands Art Centre as part of the Students’ Save our Theatres Campaign. This included weekly challenges such as learning a language, creating a TikTok, and running a 5K. Each Guild Drama society led a different challenge every week.
Socials e.g. online quizzes and drinks etc.
Things to look out for in the future:
If you’re a musician interested in supporting performances by one of our musical theatre societies (GMTG, Panto, G&S), join the Guild Drama Music Facebook Group to see opportunities for involvement.
If you’re more interested in being on a production team or behind the scenes, join the Backstage with Guild Drama at UoB Facebook Group to see opportunities for spots on production teams - Assistant Stage Manager is a great position for freshers and first timers and they’re always needed!
Like our Guild Drama Facebook page - in the lead up to Freshers week. We’ll be sharing introductory posts from each society explaining what they will be getting up to this year and how to get involved, as well as sharing info about upcoming events.
We will be running a Guild Drama Freshers Welcome event. More details to follow, but this will likely be held virtually as a Zoom meet and greet, and introduction to our societies, as well as taster sessions run by each society.
Follow all the Guild Performance Groups' social media for more info on upcoming society events and for more detail on how each of them will run in 2020/21!