Amateur Theatre Week - 22nd October to 29th October 2005

Just to remind you all that Amateur Theatre Week runs from the 22nd of October to the 29th of October this year.

It is the UK's biggest celebration of non-professional, community and youth theatre. 39,000 people nationwide will give their time voluntarily during the week to put on theatre productions for their local communities.

Top names supporting Amateur Theatre Week include musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and award-winning actor Matthew Kelly.

Many leading celebrities have taken part in amateur or youth theatre productions before going on to pursue a professional career, including pop superstar and Patron of Newcastle Amateur Operatic Society Robbie Williams, Hollywood stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jude Law, Patrick Stewart and Orlando Bloom, award-winning actors Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ben Kingsley, Clive Owen and Chiwetel Ejiofor, Olivier Award-winning actor Matthew Kelly, musical theatre star Dave Willetts, West End producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh, and the winners of both Channel 4's Operatunity, Jane Gilchrist and Denise Leigh, and Musicality.

Amateur theatre is hugely popular across the UK, with 486,700 active participants performing to a total audience of 7.9 million people each year. 200 groups nationwide are expected to take part in Amateur Theatre Week, with 39,000 participants performing to audiences of 663,000.

Amateur Theatre Week coincides with CSV Make a Difference Day, now the UK's biggest day of 'hands-on' volunteering, which takes place this year on Saturday 29 October: nearly 100,000 people nationwide will give time rather than money to improve their local communities.

Amateur Theatre Week is co-ordinated by the National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA), the UK's main representative body for amateur theatre, and is funded by Arts Council England and sponsored by Josef Weinberger Ltd and NODA Insurance. To register your production or to find out more about Amateur Theatre Week visit the official website or call 0870 770 2480. For further information contact Mark Pemberton on 0870 770 2480 or email mark@noda.org.uk