BTC Seasons 2018–2020

PROGRAMME LEADERSHIP

Giving the company a season.

I led the development of BTC’s fully programmed season model, bringing its productions, youth theatre and artist development into a coherent annual programme. It was a significant step in how the company planned its work, expressed its ambitions and invited the community to take part.

That meant shaping the programme as a whole: balancing major musicals with smaller-scale work, creating opportunities for people to develop their craft, and articulating the thinking behind our choices. As Programme Director across 2018–2020, I gave each season an artistic direction and a clear public identity.

The work was realised with the committee, creative teams and volunteers. My leadership connected that collective effort to a larger proposition for BTC: an ambitious community company with a programme people could recognise, anticipate and engage with throughout the year.

LAUNCHING THE PROGRAMME

A bigger public presence.

I led a more deliberate approach to presenting the company’s work, bringing together cohesive season launches, media engagement and brochures that introduced the full programme. These launches gave the company a platform to announce its direction and build anticipation beyond an individual production.

My programme messages were part of that leadership. They explained what we were choosing to stage, why it mattered and the kind of company we wanted to be. Together, the programming, launches and published material raised the ambition and professionalism of BTC’s public presentation while keeping its community purpose at the centre.

THE RESULT

A stronger presence. A growing company.

During my leadership, BTC achieved record attendance and record-high membership, alongside an elevated public presence. The programme gave audiences more reasons to engage with the company and members more ways to participate.

The change extended beyond individual productions: a clearer annual programme, more ambitious launches and a cohesive public identity helped build momentum for the company as a whole.

SEASON 2018

A whole season. More ways in.

In my 2018 introduction, I described what we believed was the first fully scoped theatrical season in the company’s 65-year history. It brought four strands into focus: workshops, Tribe Youth Theatre, the Shed Season and a major musical.

Alongside Fiddler on the Roof, Grease, Wyrd Sisters and The Mousetrap, the inaugural workshop season created opportunities to learn from industry practitioners. Sessions with Dean Bryant, Rob Sowinski, Kyrilee Bodin and Adam Lyon opened up directing, design, stage management and audition practice. Participation meant making theatre behind the scenes as well as performing.

“Our aim is to provide opportunities for members of the community to enjoy and develop their theatrical talents locally”

Abe Watson · Season 2018 programme message

SEASON 2019

Stories with something to say.

The 2019 season placed empathy, difference and the social value of theatre at the centre of its invitation. In my programme message, I connected the work we were staging with the questions it could raise for audiences and participants.

Wicked offered a way to explore prejudice, power and the treatment of outsiders; Tribe’s Blood Brothers brought questions of class and opportunity into the programme. Pantomime, TENx10 and the BSharp Chorus offered other ways to participate, alongside a second workshop season spanning production management, dance, writing, stage combat and professional ethics.

The season’s branching visual identity carried that same thinking into its presentation. In my introduction, I described a company developing new ideas while strengthening its roots in the community.

“Telling stories that are relevant to the current state of affairs, that pose questions, that engender introspection and reflection”

Abe Watson · Season 2019 programme message

SEASON 2020

The past, seen from the present.

For the announced 2020 season, I framed the programme around reflection: what could the mid-to-late twentieth century tell us about the world we inhabited, and what had—or had not—changed?

The programme brought together We Will Rock You, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Two and Two Make Sex and Tribe’s Cats, alongside Little Red Riding Hood, TENx10 and a youth one-act festival project. The launch anticipated the company’s 200th production, placing its history alongside an appetite for ambitious new work.

The 2020 material shown here records the season as programmed and announced.

“We are a volunteer-run community theatre group with big ambitions.”

Abe Watson · Season 2020 programme message