"In 1999 the Hay Millennium Society commissioned me, a locally based playwright, to create a Community Play celebrating 100 years of history in Hay on Wye.

More than 130 people were involved in Red Kite - Boda Wennol at St. Mary's Church, and a smaller version of the play with semi-professional actors toured schools in the National Park.

When it was all over, a lot of the young people who had taken part asked 'Well, what now?' and I and some of the other professionals responsible for staging the play replied, 'We'll start a Community Theatre, run weekly workshops and see what happens.'

Eight years and seven productions later, we are still here running workshops on Friday nights at Gwernyfed School Drama Studio in Three Cocks, and about to launch our latest original production, ALAS POOR WORLD, an Eco-Play for Today!

Red Kite Theatre is not like the usual amateur dramatics society. We work primarily through improvisation. Basically someone comes up with an idea for the group to work on, and we create a play from the material that emerges from the workshops.

It is thanks to the enthusiasm of the [mainly] young people involved and the skills of a professional team that our work has been extremely well received. We have gained a reputation of innovation and excellence, and not only this, but several of our early Red Kite members have gone on to professional careers themselves in the performing arts. Some are even coming back to work with us on current productions.

We perform mainly in and around Hay on Wye, but one of our most successful productions was CELT, performed at Theatr Brycheiniog Brecon in 2005. Local composer Joanna Bates came to us with the story and some wonderful songs for what eventually became a powerful piece of Musical Theatre that touched many people.

Red Kite Theatre workshops are held every Friday during term time at the Drama Studio, Gwernyfed High School, Three Cocks from 7 to 8.30pm.

We are performing at The Studio, Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon on 19 July at 7.30pm and 20 July at 2pm. For further information please contact us through our website which is listed to the right of this page."

Article by Margie Douglas