CURVE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
SAT 3 OCT 2020

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Welcome to your weekly newsletter from Curve. We hope you and your loved ones are well. 

The support for Curve from far and wide has kept us all going throughout these difficult times and this week we were humbled by another incredibly generous gesture : We are incredibly grateful to our team members who organised a sponsored bike ride in aid of our theatre. The group cycled across theatrical landmarks in Leicester on Thursday 24 Sep, smashing their £500 target to hit £1,000 before even setting foot on a pedal! To comply with social distancing rules, the riders set out in two teams – Thursday afternoon’s cyclists were absolutely soaked in the downpour, but returned in good spirits nonetheless! Leicester has a rich history of theatre and most of the great buildings are now demolished and almost forgotten. The cyclists’ route took them last theatres past and present and you can find out more about our city’s rich theatre history here.

These donations mean the world to all of us at Curve and if you haven’t given yet but would like to, you’ll find the link to donate further down in this week’s newsletter. Thank you.

Elsewhere this week we’ve been glad to welcome our new Birkbeck Trainee Director Jennifer Lane Baker to Curve. Although Jennifer has joined our team in challenging times (and isn’t able to step foot in the building!), she’s already proving a valuable member of Team Curve and we look forward to working on productions with her once we can be together once again. You can find out more about Jennifer in our Q&A. Jennifer follows in the footsteps of our 2019/20 Birkbeck Trainee Director Emily Oulton, to whom we wish every success and the bright future her talent deserves.

This Sunday from 7pm we’ll be (digitally) gathering around our screens to watch The Stage Debut Awards virtual ceremony where Adriana Ivelisse, who played Maria in our Made at Curve production of West Side Story, is nominated for Best Performer in a Musical and our CYC practitioner Alex Sutton is shortlisted for Best Director. We were very lucky to have the phenomenally talented Adriana make her professional debut at Curve last Christmas and we send our very best wishes to her, Alex and all of the nominees for this Sunday.

As ever, thanks to Leicester City Council, Arts Council England, and to you – our wonderful audiences – for your continued support.

Best wishes,
Chris & Nikolai

Your Leicester - Subscribe to the city's weekly email newsletter for the latest council news, service updates and information on COVID-19. leicester.gov.uk/yourleicester

THE SHOW MUS GO ON-LINE

Colleagues cycling for Curve stand together in front of the theatre with their bikes.

Sponsored bike ride supports Curve

On Thu 24 Sep, our team cycled across Leicester, passing theatrical landmarks, in aid of Curve.

“We’re humbled and incredibly grateful to our team who are riding past Leicester’s theatrical landmarks today for our theatre. Huge thanks to them and everybody who has donated so far. If you haven’t donated, anything you can spare helps us to navigate these challenging times and is massively appreciated” – Chris & Nikolai 

The initial target of £500 has already been hit but we’d love to go even further! If you are able to support Curve at this time, no matter how large or small, please do follow the link below to make a donation.

Jennifer Lane Baker smiles in front of a brick wall. She is wearing a dusty pink polo neck, with hoop earrings and her hair down.

Meet our new Birkbeck Trainee Director Jennifer Lane Baker 

We’re delighted to introduce you to Jennifer, our Birkbeck Trainee Director who will join Team Curve for the next year as part of her Theatre Directing (MFA) to learn and develop her skills.

Read our Q&A with Jennifer to find out how an inspirational teacher set her on the path to becoming a theatre director, her passion for musicals and what she hopes to learn from her experience at Curve.

Adriana Ivelisse as Maria (centre) with Abigail Climer as Consuela (Left) and Mireia Mambo as Roslia (right) in a production image from West Side Story.

Tune into The Stage Debut Awards Virtual Ceremony

The Stage Debut Awards virtual ceremony took place on Sun 27 Sep at 7pm.

The awards saw the rising stars of theatre rewarded for their brilliant debuts, including Adriana Ivelisse (Maria, West Side Story) who was nominated for Best Performer in a Musical and our CYC practitioner Alex Sutton, who was shortlisted for Best Director.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Watch four Made at Curve productions at home!

Promotional artwork for My Beautiful Laundrette.

Visit our The Show Must Go Online hub today

As the nights draw in and the warm days of summer slip away, we hope you’ll enjoy settling in with a Made at Curve production at home.

You can now watch archive recordings of Riaz Khan’s Memoirs of an Asian Football Casual, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of being Earnest, Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw and Hanif Kureishi’s My Beautiful Laundrette online.

If you enjoy watching our archive recordings, please do consider making a donation to Curve or sharing a message on social media to help spread the word to others. Any way in which you can support our theatre really does help.

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Header image: Sunset Boulevard, 2017 – Photo: Manuel Harlan