Drama school, NYT and bubbling ideas: Nay's update on what's happening behind the scenes with naked bear theatre

Hi all! Nay here, with a long overdue update!

I’m currently in my third year at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama on the Acting CDT course. Naked Bear has taken a back seat on the producing side these past two years I’ve been in training, but I’ve been cooking up many ideas, and learning a lot to bring to Naked Bear once I graduate in summer 2024. 

I’m now a Jacque LeCoq and Michael Chekhov practitioner - which means I know how to be an elastic band very well ;). I’ve also been devising and writing a lot with my classmates. I’ve done clowning, Comedia D’El Arte, Stage Combat, Stanislavski and quite a few plays to add to the resume, from devising an hour-long show to classical Shakespeare tragedy. 

Being at drama school, and being exposed to so many practitioners and ways of acting, I’m currently a bit overloaded, re-discovering my personal style and interests in the rehearsal room. I’ve started this process through facilitation work and am becoming more independent in third year plays and projects: I am digging through my repertoire to find what it is I most enjoy, and what works for me. I’m looking forward to developing a new distinct style for Naked Bear Theatre, alongside whoever is next to join the team!

I’m currently in conversation about a new verbatim devised show that I explored in first year with some classmates. It’s about people’s personal and cultural relations to their hair, and I hope to be bringing it to Naked Bear soon.

Alongside drama school I’ve been working with the National Youth Theatre on ‘Speak Out’. We’ve had two R&Ds thus far. This is a project made up of actors, writers and dancers who identify under the trans umbrella, exploring how to express the trans experience, and advocate for trans rights through performance with a specific focus around medical care for trans people. A long-term goal for this project would be to perform at schools and/or universities: I believe that if there is proper care taken in the education system on the trans experience prejudice would be significantly reduced, as it comes from fear of the unknown. 

To summarise - there’s a lot of ideas and projects bubbling that I’m excited to be working toward. I’m also looking forward to jumping into my third year of drama school, with our first production of As You Like It! I’ll add the ticket link when I can.

All the love,
Nay
Founder of Naked Bear Theatre