Written by Phil John from the Mid Powys Youth Theatre:

"The Mid Powys Youth Theatre (MPYT) was founded in 1987 as part of Theatr Powys's community theatre policy. Since then, MPYT has had 15 incredibly successful years which has seen it appear twice at the Royal National Theatre, win consecutive Youth Work in Wales Excellence Awards, a Barclays' Youth Action Award, The BBC Arts Award for 'Welsh Theatre Company of the Year' and a Health Promotion Wales Award for making 'an outstanding contribution to the lives of young people in Wales'. In fact MPYT have won an award for every year of their existence, making them one of the outstanding Youth Theatres of Britain and all the more remarkable because they come from a rural area.

MPYT produce an annual show at the Wyeside Arts Centre, Builth Wells, where the entire company of approximately sixty young people (aged 14 - 24 years old) come together. The shows have become a local tradition and an important part of the Welsh cultural year.

These shows are at their best when devised with the company, in fact MPYT have an enviable reputation for developing challenging and entertaining work on a grand scale. This is in part due to the way in which we work. MPYT is essentially a collaboration between young people and professional theatre workers, allowing young people to develop their ideas in all aspects of production from costume design to music, from choreography to lighting.

MPYT attempt to produce other shows on a smaller scale throughout the year and these have included a video production, collaborations with dance companies, tours, cabarets and fund raising dances which mix performance with dance music. In addition weekly workshops are held which attempt to give a wide range of skills from circus to improvisation.

Our award-winning summer school has now developed into another regular performance slot, collaborating between MPYT and it's parent company, Theatr Powys. This allows ex and older members to take part in an intensive rehearsal period to produce a show for the town's Victorian Festival Week.

Despite our rural location, in no sense can MPYT's work be described as parochial. Past productions include a play about Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Russian composer Shostakovich and poetess Anna Akhmatova, an original fairy story, a play looking at youth culture in the light of drug and alcohol accessibility and a contemporary version of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors.

More recently, members of MPYT have studied and performed Sophocles' Greek tragedy Antigone (a collaboration between MPYT and Theatr Powys), and Fuente Ovejuna - a piece from the Golden Age of Spanish theatre.

This summer, MPYT have been specially invited to take a piece of work to the first ever Birmingham Youth Theatre Festival. In addition, they are also preparing for their second ever collaboration with Theatr Powys for this years summer show, The Crucible. And with it's increasing number of new members, MPYT can ensure the continuation of high quality productions whilst proving to be ' a truly rewarding experience' for both its members and its followers."

Written by Phil John from the Mid Powys Youth Theatre