The Musical Theatre Academy (The MTA) was a drama college based in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, London. Founded in 2009, the school closed at the end of the 2021–2022 academic year. The principal, Annemarie Lewis Thomas, announced that students in their final term would still graduate and the other students would be helped to find places in other institutions.

College History

The MTA was opened in 2009 by Annemarie Lewis Thomas. In 2012, it was awarded

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

Award of School of the Year in 2012, who described the school as "a new force in drama training." In 2017 The MTA was once again named as The Stage School of the Year. This time the citation commended them on the #time4change campaign, whilst acknowledging The MTA's growing influence within the training sector. The academy was originally based at the Drill Hall (now the

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central Lond ...

Studios), before moving to 89

Holloway Road Holloway Road is a road in London, in length. It is one of the main shopping streets in North London, and carries the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road as it passes through Holloway, London, Holloway, in the London Borough of Islington. The roa ...

in 2011. In July 2015 the academy relocated to The

Bernie Grant Arts Centre The Bernie Grant Arts Centre (BGAC) is a £15 million purpose-built multi-arts centre, which includes a 274-seat auditorium, studio/rehearsal space, café/bar, enterprise centre and open spaces. It is located next to the Town Hall in Tottenham, ...

in Tottenham. Students received a guarantee that their fees are spent on training, not on securing a profit, and consequently the academy was granted charitable status in 2012.

Teaching, productions and policies

The course ran over 4 terms per year with 40 hours contact time per week, with classes evenly divided between acting, dancing and singing. All of its staff were working in the theatre whilst teaching. It produced public performances every term – shows included the world premieres of ''Lia's Guide to Winning The Lottery'' (by Keren David, Paul Herbet and Andy Kaby), ''In Touch'' (by Dougal Irvine), ''Dangerous Daughters'', ''Celebs Anon'', ''The Sunshine Gang'', ''The Ballad of Kitty Jay'', ''Just the Ticket'' and ''The Venus Factor'' (all by Nick Stimson and Annemarie Lewis Thomas), and ''Animus'' (by Webborn and Finn). The academy was the only UK college to have a policy of supporting new writing in the UK and regularly had composers coming in to work with the students on new material. The MTA saw itself as a college for life, providing graduates with care, support and help. In its first 10 years (2009-2019), 100% of students had secured agent representation prior to graduating. One of the academy's productions was ''Something Old, Something New – The Musical Theatre Revue'.

Performances

The students (as part of their training) were regularly seen in the West End in professional shows/concerts, and to date its students have backed

Shoshana Bean Shoshana E. Bean (born September 1, 1977) is an Americans, American actress, singer and songwriter. She has appeared in numerous Musical theatre, musicals, performing in major Off-Broadway and Broadway theatre, Broadway theatres, including in the ...

, Patina Miller performed with

Katherine Jenkins Katherine Jenkins (born 29 June 1980) is a Welsh singer. She is a mezzo-soprano and performs operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre, and hymns.London Palladium The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in Soho. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1910. The auditorium holds 2,286 people. Hundreds of stars have played there, many wit ...

, and sung on the album ''Lift'' by Craig Adams and Ian Watson. They have also provided the ensemble for the Tommy Gala at the

Prince Edward Theatre The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. History The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Mar ...

, the MMD 20th anniversary Gala at the Novello, and ''Julie Atherton – No Space for Air'' at the Apollo Theatre. More recently the students have been seen on several episodes of The Last Leg on Channel 4.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Drama schools in London Education in the London Borough of Islington Educational institutions established in 2009 2009 establishments in England