Chrysalis 2016 Festival to Return for Second Year in Edinburgh

Chrysalis returns for its second year this November to showcase new works by youth theatres from around the UK and Europe on topics of importance and concern to young people today.

It's now two years since Scotland's Indyref vote and just months since the EU referendum, where many young people were first included and then excluded from having their views on their future acknowledged and respected. Young people do care about what's happening in the world around them and this is reflectEd Strongly in how youth theatre is changing, not just in Scotland, but across the UK and further afield.

The Chrysalis 2016 festival programme mirrors this growing articulation of a younger viewpoint and demonstrates that youth theatre and the young people involved with it can handle, and are handling, big topics. Shows selected for this year's festival explore challenging and timely themes, such as refugees, gender roles in conflict, love/relationships and grief. Collaboration is also at the core of this festival - bringing together young people from three different European countries - England, Scotland and Malta to work together and share their artistic views.

The growing voice of young people is also at the heart of this year's Youth Theatre Sector Symposium on Friday 18 November which has 'Homegrown' as its theme. The daytime symposium allows young people to interact and share their views with leading theatre-makers before the main festival starts.

Chrysalis launched in 2015 as a new theatre festival and the only platform of its kind in Scotland for ambitious and provocative performance by young theatre-makers. An innovation from Youth Theatre Arts Scotland, Chrysalis aims to attract new audiences to youth theatre arts, inspire Scotland's youth arts sector and enhance public perception of creative work by young people.

Youth Theatre Arts Scotland is the national development organisation for youth theatre. Our mission is to transform lives through youth theatre by developing inspiring participatory opportunities for young people in Scotland, and by connecting, supporting and training the professionals who work with them. We support a membership of more than 120 youth theatre organisations and freelance practitioners who engage around 23,000 young people in youth theatre activity across the country every week.

THEATRE COMPANIES AND SHOWS APPEARING AT CHRYSALIS 2016:

PLATFORM YOUNG COMPANY/GLASGOW (www.platform-online.co.uk)

THE ISLAND: A group of misfits, stragglers and dreamers roam across an apocalyptic wasteland trying to find out what happens after the end of everything.

TRON YOUNG COMPANY/GLASGOW (www.tron.co.uk/education/children-young-people)

SHEEP: A spotlight on modern war looks at media propaganda, gender roles in conflict and what happens when war arrives on your doorstep.

SOUNDS LIKE CHAOS and THE ALBANY/DEPTFORD (www.soundslikechaos.com)

PHENOMENA: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO LOVE & PHYSICS: We want to know it all, the whole universe and everything in it. Contrasting physics facts with the uniqueness of experience, young people question how we learn to love.

TEATRU MANOEL YOUTH THEATRE/MALTA (www.teatrumanoel.com.mt)

CLUB: How do you cope with the death of a friend? CLUB focuses on a group of teenagers as they deal with the aftermath of a tragic accident.

EMERGENCE: This new festival strand for 2016 will feature the following three 20-minute experimental and new works-in-progress:

CROSSING: Strange Town/Edinburgh (www.strangetown.org.uk)

AGENTS OF CHANGE: MacRoBert Young Company/Stirling (www.macrobertartscentre.org)

HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD...ISH: Nicholas Barton-Wines with Beacon Youth Theatre/Greenock (www.beaconartscentreyouth.co.uk)

Youth Theatre Sector Symposium 2016:
(http://www.ytas.org.uk/opportunities-for-professionals/symposium/)

Tickets are on sale now for this year's Youth Theatre Sector Symposium. Now in its sixth year, this annual hub for consultation, discussion and networking takes place on Friday 18 November from 9.30am to 4.30pm in the City of Edinburgh Methodist Church's Conference Hall at 25 Nicolson Square, Edinburgh. This year's theme is 'Homegrown' which will look at the growth of young people's voice in contemporary productions and the opportunities presented for encouraging young leaders through regional activity. Speakers include Youth Theatre Arts Scotland CEO Kenny McGlashan, as well as Creative Scotland's Time to Shine Programme Manager Colin Bradie.

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