RoCo Newsletter
February 2025 Edition
Dear Friends of RoCo...
Something new for the new year! Welcome to the first of what will be a bi-monthly newsletter from the RoCo Committee. We’ll keep you updated about productions, workshops and beyond, and we’ve got a lot to share about what’s coming in 2025! Whether you're a long-time member or one of our newer faces, we hope these updates help keep you in the loop about all the latest happenings and upcoming events.

Committee Changes
As many of you may know, we had an Extraordinary General Meeting this January, which included an updating of the constitution, and a reshuffling of the committee. After a period of service that none of us can quite figure out the length of, Jill Marston has decided to step down as RoCo Chair. We cannot thank Jill enough for everything she has given in her leadership of RoCo, and we are incredibly grateful she has decided to stay on as a committee member to offer her continued support.
Post-reshuffle, your new committee/officers are:
Chair - Lloyd Coulson
Vice Chair - Charis Varnavides
Treasurer - Mary Shalvey
Secretary - Andrew Lamb
Committee Members - Harriet-Lee Glover, Tim Lowe, Jill Marston, Tira Teague and Sheila Telfer

Recent Productions

Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who contributed to our recent production of RoCo’s Rave Revue. And a second thank you to all of you who came to see it. We learned a lot in the production, welcomed some talented new faces and managed to put together a piece that, while small in scale, was large in fun. 
RoCo has had a busy Christmas too: We performed as part of the Christmas Tree Festival alongside the White Rosettes, a mix of comedic sketches and Christmas readings; Junior RoCo performed a Nativity (I hear the donkey stuck around to steal the limelight in a few other services); and the Jrs reprised the Nativity, along with some sketches, at Headingley nursing home.

Upcoming Shows and Auditions

Looking forward to 2025, the year will be a little different. Building works to St Andrews during the year will mean we won’t be able to stage a production in March like usual, but we’ve adapted. Up until the work begins, we will be putting on a series of workshops and social events to keep our community active and our performance muscles stretched and ready.
The first of these is an Acting Master-Class run by Jack Scully of IPM Acting Academy. Hopefully you’ve all heard about this already, but if not, it’s Saturday 22nd! There are still spaces, so check the website for details. We have more in the works, including a singing workshop with Georgia from Roundhay Community Choir, and will keep you informed as soon as we have dates confirmed, so keep your eyes peeled!
For performances, first up we have a Good Friday performance. This will be produced by Tim and Sheila and will be part of the Good Friday service at St. Andrews, as well as some additional performance opportunities around Easter week. Then in July, we have our Murder Mystery, produced by Alistair Babbington. The eagle-eyed amongst you may spot there is overlap in rehearsal periods with the Eater show and the Murder Mystery. We’ve given ourselves a slightly longer rehearsal period than usual for the Murder Mystery. So, yes. You can be in both.

Dates For Your Diary
22 February - Workshop: Acting Masterclass with Jack Scully of IPM
3 March - Workshop: Songs of the musicals with Roundhay Community Choir
13 March - Auditions: Good Friday Performance
24 March - Auditions: Murder Mystery link
18 April - Performance: Good Friday Performance 
18/19 July - Performances: Murder Mystery

That’s all for now! Stay tuned for more updates, and we look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.
Best regards,
 the RoCo Team
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