2024's Recipients of The Bridget Casse Award for Excellence in Theatre are here!
/It is that time of the year to recognise the hard work and dedication of some of our talented members of Next Stage Youth with the presentation of The Bridget Cassé Award for Excellence in Youth Theatre. The award was inaugurated in 2010, in memory of a talented Next Stage actress - Bridget Cassé - who was a much-loved Next Stage Youth tutor. The beautiful glass trophy is awarded in September to the individual in Next Stage Youth who has shown theatrical talent, enthusiasm, a willingness to help out and a positive attitude towards fellow members.
Next Stage Youth tutors who have worked with the group over the past twelve months nominate youthers for this prestigious award from which a Winner, a Runner-Up and a Highly Commended recipient are selected.
We are thrilled to announce that 2024 sees us with four recipients - Dara Tiernan is our winner, George Chivers and Ed Punt recieved our Runner-Up awards and Elspeth Geddis came Highly Commended.
Dara, our winner, is a friendly and enthusiastic character within Next Stage Youth who has worked diligently and grown as a performer since recieving the Runner-Up award in 2023, showing great promise as a young actress. Over the years Dara has been in a number of Next stage and Next Stage Youth shows. This year she also participated in The Mid-Somerset Festival, performing an excerpt from A Monster Calls in Group A of the under 19s Group Acting class. Most recently she shone in the role of the wicked Mrs Slighcarp in The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, where her laugh-a-minute performance impressed audiences.
George and Ed, our Runner-Ups for 2024, have both been members of Next Stage Youth for just over a year and have shown great promise and improvement in their acting skills and confidence throughout their time with us.
George first took the stage with NSY as Chino in West Side Story (2023) and has most recently played a trio of roles (Sir Willoughby, Mr Gripe and School Inspector) in The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.
Ed similarly joined us in 2023 and landed the role of Snowboy, one of the Jets in West Side Story, then moving on to help NSY secure the winner’s trophy in the Year 9-and-Under Group Acting Class at 2024’s Mid Somerset Drama Festival. Last week audiences saw him play the role of the cunning Mr Grimshaw in The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.
Elspeth Geddis is our last, and very deserving recipient of this year’s Highly Commended award. She demonstrated a fantastic range of character in The Wolves of Willoughby Chase where she played five different parts effortlessly.
A huge congratulations to all four recipients this year. You continuously raise the bar for young performers in the local area with all the hard work you do, and your enthusiasm for acting and kindness to other members of the company helps make Next Stage Youth what it is.