ABOUT
Prospect Theatre for Young People is a community-based drama and theatre program for kids aged 5 – 15 in Prospect and surrounding areas. It was established in 2010 by Margaret Steven, a local resident who returned to live in Adelaide after working in youth arts in Melbourne for over twenty years.
Prospect Theatre for Young People aims to provide exciting and relevant drama and theatre experiences for young people that draw upon their own interests and ideas. It is central to the philosophy of the program that young people are able to tell their own stories, whether that be in short exercises in a drama workshop, or in a performance to the wider community – stories that come from their own imaginations, their own experiences, and from events and issues important to their community. A further aim of the program is that young people develop the physical, vocal and imaginative skills that enable them to perform and share the stories they have created. With these skills come increased confidence and self-esteem.
Since its inception, Prospect Theatre for Young People has run a drama workshop program and school holiday workshops, attracting a large number of students. PTFYP has also created and performed nine theatre productions covering a wide range of themes. See our Productions Gallery for images from these shows.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Margaret Steven moved from Adelaide to Melbourne to study drama and contemporary dance at Victoria College. She remained there for over twenty years, working in the fields of drama education and youth arts.
Margaret has worked as a teacher/tutor at several youth arts organisations, including St Martins Youth Arts Centre, and the National Theatre Drama School. She has created a number of theatre productions, both with and for young people. Docs and Mocs, which she co-wrote and directed, played to sell out audiences at the Next Wave Youth Arts Festival in Melbourne. Come Back for Light Refreshments After the Service, written by Julie Day and directed by Margaret Steven, toured to the Edinburgh and Adelaide Fringe Festivals, winning an Advertiser Fringe Award for Excellence.
For over ten years, Margaret was an Education Officer for the prestigious Playbox/ Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne. While there she worked with some of Australia’s top playwrights, directors, designers and actors to create theatre education opportunities for school and university students. Her full-length play, Dodge Tide, was performed as part of Playbox’s Theatre in the Raw season.
As Artistic Director of PTFYP, Margaret has written and directed KidStories (2011), KidStories 2 (2012), Hopscotch, Chooks and Slingshots (2013 and Fringe 2014), Green Stories (2014), Diary of an Everyday Kid (2015 and 2016 Fringe), Transition (2016 Fringe) and The Sun, the Moon and the Stars (2016). In 2018, she collaborated with Edwin Kemp-Attrill to create S/HE… for the Fringe, and directed
A Different Fit, by guest playwright Raphael Spartalis.