Stagewerkz Theatre Company.

About Us...

This page gives you all you need to know about the company... the history behind us, how we started, and how we got here... hopefully it will prove an inspiration to anyone who has a dream to pursue their... well... dreams! To see the picture galleries... full of nice things, click here.

Jay McKeller

Jay is the founding member of the company... he's also... ME! I'm the poor sap who has to write all the plays, make the programmes, book the theatres... but I LOVE it! After two years taking a BTEC and Westwood college, I finished my degree at Humberside University last year, and after a couple of real acting jobs I decided that I had to pursue my real dream... to become a writer! I had worked previously with a fantastic company in Hull, Mobius Productions LTD, their web site is http://drive.to/thepioffice , where I had a great time, even getting the chance to stage two of my plays through the company. (See plays for details) The Mobius Guys are still putting on some quality shows, so look into them! Anyway, I moved back down to sunny Scarborough, and did a Christmas panto at the local YMCA theatre, where I made a few contacts, and looked into the possibility of hiring out the theatre for a show in September 2001. It was a lot of money for somebody who was starting out, but I decided to take the plunge! So that's me...

Rachelle Harrison

Rachelle Harrison joined the company as an actor in January 2001, but after an impressive run of rehearsals I had to make her a full time member. She too used to work for Mobius Production company, and even starred in one of the first shows that I staged in Hull. She works hard, and makes costumes better than anyone I've met! She began her studies at Riley in Hull, but decided that to move to Scarborough would be a better choice, and as a result she is now attending Westwood college studying Theatre full-time. In her time she has played such a bizarre variety of roles, that it amazes even me! (See Actors for more)

About The Company

Jesus... where do I start, well, I guess the easiest way to do this would be in a timeline fashion, starting at the beginning and work up to the present... I may update this so watch out!

August 2000 - I moved back to Scarborough and agreed to continue to work for Mobius but as a kind of field agent. It was my job to promote all kinds of Mobiusy goodness on this seaside town. Also, I was due to take place in a show named "Laverac & Wineguard II", which was to be staged in Hull early 2001. I carried on with my writing and began to work at HMV.

September 2000 - I was getting bored now. Mobius had gone quiet for a while, because some of the members were in the final year of their degrees. I noticed auditions at the local YMCA for the Christmas panto... I thought, "What the Hell" and gave it a go. I auditioned for the bad guy, and landed the part. Rehearsals began...

October 2000 - I was getting down... Mobius seemed dead, and the Panto was dragging, people leaving, illness... and then the flu set in. I carried on working at HMV... until disaster struck! I had contracted some evil lung infection, which put me out for a fortnight, in which time I got fired from HMV, and missed a few rehearsals... but I got back on my feet and carried on with the panto!

November 2000 - Rachelle visited from Hull, and told me how bored she was... she too was doing panto, but a college one, and Mobius were too busy with college to do anything. We decided there and then that she should move down to Scarborough and join my cause... Also, I made a new contact, Lisa , who ran a local group called "L'Mey". She needed a compere for a show she was doing at the Corner Complex in Scarborough, a place home to the likes of Bobby Davro and The Chuckle Brothers. It was a variety show, music, dance, and comedy skits, what she needed was a comedian to provide the links.... superb. I contacted Danny Sunley, an actor who also runs Mobius, because we had a few skits we could use. He came down, we did the night... and made our first mark on the Scarborough entertainment scene.

December 2000 - The panto mainly... all other work got cancelled out! It was all go, but I loved it! Two shows a day for about a fortnight, stopping for new year!

January 2001 - It began... the dung hit the fan with Mobius, and after a heated week of shouting, we decided that enough was enough, and they were to continue without me. (No grudges though, we're still friends) After a week of my new job, (back to been an electrician) I thought "The Hell with this", and attacked. I changed the booking at the YMCA into my name, saying I would present a company name later on. Then I chose a play. A huge musical I had written "Tomorrow's People". It was right up the YMCA's street. My mission began. Rachelle moved down later that month and we were off...

February 2001 - We started to recruit recruit recruit!!! This was so hard, probably one of the hardest things I've done. We put adverts in papers, news, radio, posters in local colleges and universities... nightmare. Noone replied! In Hull Mobius were based in a college filled with eager performing arts students! We were tripping over actors every day! But in Scarborough it was a different story... for all the colleges and schools and theatre groups, people seemed reluctant to try some thing new! Eventually we had a core group of actors, and rehearsals began.

March 2001 - Known now as "BLACK MARCH"... why? Because all the actors of the show from an un-named college walked out... why? They all wanted the biggest singing part... the biggest dancing part... you get the idea! So now we were crippled, losing the most important element of the show.. THE ACTORS! Panic took over, and we had to move rehearsals from the town centre library to the top floor of a pub... not good. We reviewed the situation and decided a new course of action was needed... a new play... smaller... less people... "Y2K In An Elevator" was one... "Party Hard" was another. Both far too short to stage alone, but together they ran as a double bill... it was possible. Also... in personal news, I was also working as a Bluecoat now at the local Ex-Butlins hotel, The Grand! So tired.. I carried on!

April 2001 - We spent most of this month re-recruiting, this time looking for more naturalisitic actors... no more Thespian lovey wannabes!! I remembered a guy called "Gavin Jones" who I had worked with at Flamingo Land, as an entertainer in 1999! He was just completing his BA Hons at Scarborough University! I contacted him, and after a drink or two I persuaded him to come on board as a full time member! WOOHOOO! Also, we held auditions at the pub we were rehearsing at... you'll like this... I went to a local college and did a promotional talk... seventeen people said they would attend the auditions. One turned up, a guy called "Dan Murphy". We auditioned him anyway, and gave him a part in Y2K as the character "Declan". The casting was done!! We had Myself as "Bob", Gavin as "Andy", with Rachelle in the directing seat. We were still one female actress short though, needed to play both "Mel" in "Y2K" and "Hayley" in "Party Hard".

May 2001 - We went through THREE actresses before we finally got somewhere! Instead of one actress in both shows, we opted to have two playing a part each, but I was still stuck playing both parts!! Francis Burt took the part of "Hayley", while Rachel Cole took the part of "Mel". Rehearsals went into overdrive. The play was scheduled for performance at Westwood Studio Theatre on the 5th and 6th of July. Also this month... we finally got some sponsorship money!! The company Customcall Specialist Systems gave us some much appreciated funds to help us through the first show!! Cheers guys!

June 2001 - This was getting too heavy, I had to leave my job as a bluecoat because with the job, and running the comapny, I was working in excess of sixteen hours a day, six/seven days a week on about a hundred and thirty quid... death felt close so I quit the hotel! A choice I now regret... but what can you do? I had comitted myself to this... and there was no stopping me... The show was getting closer and closer... The Scarborough Evening News ran a full artical on us with this picture. It went down well, and we also secured a spot on Radio York! We had began promoting ourselves, and became publicity hungry... but nothing could prepare us for what came next...

July 2001 - DISASTER! In the worst way!!! It struck without warning! We had all the set built, the props done, costumes looked fantastic... and the opening night arrived. We walked into the theatre at 6pm... to find someone had broken in and stolen...

1 - All my personal equipment (minidisc player, Cd player...)

2 - Some costumes that had been dropped off for us by a company. (They were for a later show, not this one.)

3 - All the colleges PA equipment.

The show was cancelled and we turned away 129 people... losing over £500 in tickets and income... The second night went ahead, but didn't do to well even though it had been all over the radio all day! We were gutted... no money! No hope! It was like fighting a losing cause... But still we carried on! We took stock of what we had, and confirmed the YMCA booking for the show "Men at Arms" by Terry Pratchett.

July 2001 - First half of the month I slept... there was no work... I ignored everything. Until one morning I woke up and attacked... I was sick of everything going wrong!! This was the last chance... I organised a new rehearsal space, placed an ad in the paper, and auditioned for "Men at Arms". We filled half the cast... rehearsed, changed the play to "Wyrd Sisters"... it was all going to well... until.... a few cast members walked out. (Including new team leader Gavin :( )They said the company wasn't as professional as they had hoped, and we lacked focus... we don't pay anyone, some people have never acted before, we rehearse above A PUB!!! What did they expect? The Apollo? We didn't stuff bamboo under our actors fingernails if they forgot their lines!! So again, we had to change the show. The company very swiftly reverted back to its original format; fun, cheap, enjoyable, original shows... written by me.

August 2001 - Apart from having my *21st* b'day, we worked like hell on the new project... "A Vampiric Noir." It followed a detective named "Jake Wesker" in his battle against some vampires... basically. Read the script, or even come and see the play! Its in September! We now have a dedicated core group of eight people! All comitted and under threat of death if they leave... the rehearsals are going very well... and if you want to find out how the show goes... watch this space!

September 2001 - Weeeeelllll.... a bit of a disaster really... firstly, we had a bit of a drama when Howard was lumbered with working nights, making it impossible for him to play Wesker. In steps Jay, and some guy called Richard takes his place. One rehearsal later, both he and Edwina had vanished... so there we were, Thursday night, on more rehearsal before the opening of the show... and we are two actors short. We couldn't get hold of either of them... and as a result the show was pulled from the YMCA. Luckily Dave Nicholson, Promotions Co-ordinator for the YM, sorted it out with the board of chairman so we didn't have to pay the 50% theatre charge... THANK YOU!!!! Anyway. we're re-grouping now.... there'll be updates on the main page, and back to normal updates at the end of October.

A VAMPIRIC NOIR IS NOT AT THE YMCA THEATRE, SCARBOROUGH 28TH / 29TH SEPT @ 7:30PM