Open Door – a charity supporting actors and creatives from low-income backgrounds to enter the industry – has announced it will soon run programmes in the north of England for the first time.
The project will help aspiring actors audition for drama school, and has previously ran in the Midlands, London and Sheffield in 2022. The scheme restarted last year following a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
Actors aged 18 to 30 from the areas of greater Manchester, Merseyside, Warrington, West Yorkshire and the borough of Halton, as well as Essex, London and the South East, who are from low-income backgrounds are invited to attend.
Participants will be offered part-time training to prepare for drama school spread over eight months, 15 hours of one-to-one tutoring on audition speeches, and free auditions at Guildhall school, LAMDA, the RWCMD and the RCS.
The organisation says it is ‘thrilled’ to announce the opening of Open Door in the north of England, adding: ‘we recognise that the barriers hindering this exceptional talent from reaching their full potential have become much greater. That’s why it is now more crucial than ever to cultivate and fortify a strong pathway into training institutions and the industry.’
The deadline for applications to the Acting programme is 15 September and the Behind the Scenes programme is 15 October.