Chaperones
Joanne Armstrong
Joanne is no stranger to MT4Uth and has chaperoned for us on a number of projects. She first became involved with Music Theatre for Youth as a parent, in 2004, before training as a chaperone the following year. Since that time, she has chaperoned on a number of Musicals in a Weekends and one-day workshops. In addition to her involvement with MT4Uth, she has also acted as Head Chaperone on a recent production of Bugsy Malone in Londonderry’s Millennium Forum with Marvel Theatre Productions, and for BBC at the Belfast ‘Oliver’ auditions for ‘I’d do Anything’.
Rosemary Grogan
Rosemary began chaperoning in 1979 because her daughter, Fiona was in the West End Musical ‘The Sound of Music’. Following on from this Fiona did a succession of professional shows all of which needed chaperones so Rosemary accompanied her.Fiona then joined the NYMT in 1989 and Rosemary volunteered as a chaperone and spent 14 fantastic years with the company until they finished in 2003. However, this did not finish Rosemary’s chaperoning and she is currently fortunate to be resident chaperone at the Mayflower Theatre Southampton and also chaperone for Dorset County Council. As Dorset is a very beautiful county lots of television companies work on series there and this has generated more work for Rosemary as well as radio and recording work. She has nurtured quite a few young people who have gone on to be famous; to name a few, Jude Law, Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) Hannah Spearit (S Club 7) and Sheridan Smith (Two Pints of Larger….) and she is very proud to say that there is one or more of ‘her’ young people in every west end musical at the present time. Rosemary is delighted to have been with Musical Theatre 4 Youth since its beginning and hopes to continue as long as she is needed!
Barry Halliwell
Barry began chaperoning for the National Youth Music Theatre 1988. With NYT he has worked on both residential and non-residential projects in the UK and abroad from 2003 – 2005. He has been a head chaperone for Youth Music Theatre UK and has also worked for BBC Radio and Television.
With MT4Uth, Barry has been a head chaperone with training responsibilities on a number of projects since 2004. These include Oliver, My Fair Lady, Jesus Christ Superstar, West Side Story and Anything Goes.
Barry is a special needs teacher who currently combines his experiences in this area with his love of theatre as a special needs co-ordinator for Bedazzled Performing Arts, England.
Gillian Thompson
Gillians involvement with MT4Uth began as a parent in 2004 before trainingas a chaperone. In addition to chaperoning for us Gillian has worked extensively with the Grand Opera House Belfast and more recently the BBC. Gillian has chaperoned for us several times this year for instance at our master classes and on our recent trip to Dublin.