buds youth theatre is an active group of young people aged 14 – 25
who share an interest in the performing arts.

We meet every Sunday from 1 pm - 3 pm at The Substation Dance Studio.
All that is necessary for participation is enthusiasm and interest in theatre arts.

• HISTORY •

The seeds of buds lay in an earlier free theatre training programme for youths run by Claire Devine and her colleague Lisa O’Neill at a Singapore theatre company, Asia in Theatre Research Centre, under the Artistic Direction of the late William Teo. The project ended sometime in 2000.

In 2001, Claire re-started buds youth theatre with performer/director Elizabeth de Roza at The Substation and was appointed as Associate Artists at The Substation in 2003.

Based at The Substation, buds youth theatre provides FREE drama and theatre skills training to young people. Members receive training in movement, voice, elements of play and production management. They also learn about stagecraft in areas such as lighting, sound, set and costume design. buds youth theatre is not solely a theatre performance group; the emphasis is on the theatre arts as a whole. More experienced members are encouraged to take a more active role in training the group. The long-term aim of buds youth theatre is to inculcate a love and appreciation of the arts in young people, and nurture a potential new generation of people working in the industry.

buds youth theatre was voluntarily facilitated by theatre practitioners and educator Claire Devine until 2006 when Rosemary McGowan, was ‘promoted’ due to her commitment to the group and her recent academic successes. In 2008, Sahirrah Safit and Rebecca Lee joined Rosie as lead facilitators upon graduating from NAFA and LaSalle College of the Arts respectively. Other practitioners and directors willing to volunteer their time are invited to conduct occasional workshops.

buds youth theatre members include students in secondary and international schools, Junior Colleges, polytechnics, institutes of higher learning, and young working adults.

Apart from working with buds youth theatre, our members are also active in working with established theatre groups. Celine Rosa Tan is a full time actor, having appeared in Dick Lee’s Forbidden City, The Theatre Practice's Lao Jiu, S.R.T.'s The Snow Queen and Toy Factory’s Cabaret; Cheryl Lee, who has been a member of buds since 2001, directed Little Voice for National University of Singapore; Ebi Shankara performed in Wild Rice's Cinderellah and Oi Sleeping Beauty and is the 2007 Vasantham Star; Mohd Haziq Surajan, was invited to design the set for SRT’s Little Company’s The Dream Catcher; Sahirrah Safit was in Theatre Kami’s Romzi & Juleha; Rebecca Lee in Wessex Theatre’s Proof. Many members have been involved in the International Short and Sweet Festivals either as directors, actors or playwrights. Local arts groups now seek to cast our actors in theatre productions and short films.

buds youth theatre is a non-profit group. The members do not pay to attend training and the Artistic Directors are not paid a salary. The production team and actors receive a reduced fee. We continue to do this because we believe it is important to provide quality theatre training to young people. We recognise that there are those who are interested in this training but cannot afford to pay. All money raised goes directly to funding our shows:

• cover the costs of designing the production (set, costumes, lighting and sound)
• pay for venue hire
• pay outside director’s fee
• pay the cast and production team an allowance
• print publicity posters, flyers and programmes