Who are we?
We are an improvised theatre production company and training school.
The Nursery was founded by Jules, Judith and Robin as a festival in 2009, just after we all graduated drama school. With little more than determination and some borrowed chairs, we took over an atmospheric railway tunnel near Waterloo and turned it into our first theatre space. It was mad, fun and, amazingly, we didn’t go broke. We were hooked!
Since then we’ve gone on to run festivals and shows at the Waterloo East Theatre, the Old Vic Tunnels, The Edric and The Miller. We’ve supported new teams and connected improvisers with the international community. We’ve run festivals, courses and weekly jams, started a diversity scholarship and introduced free classes and socials. We’ve also expanded our team to include a training centre manager, tech manager, directors for programming and lots and lots of lovely volunteers – all of whom work hard to help give people the space, time and opportunities to make things up.
The Nursery has been introducing thousands of Londoners to improvisation for over 8 years and we want to keep on doing it!
Yes, and… What is the project?
A Brand new studio theatre purpose-built for improvisation in London.
The Nursery is creating a new home for improvised theatre in London, a place where people can discover improv and get involved, onstage or off. A theatre for making things up and a hub for our expanding community.
The new Nursery Theatre, Liverpool Street, will be host to both home-grown improv shows and touring shows from around the world. It will complement our current Nursery Training Centre in London Bridge and enable people of all levels and experience to expand and improve what they do in a professional environment. Plus, it will be a great night out!
Yes, and… What do we need?
We need to raise just £4,000 to make our vision a reality.
We’re funding nearly all of this project through ticket and workshop sales, as well as income from renting rehearsal rooms. We have raised 75% of what we need. We just need the last little push.
Your money will allow us start producing shows as soon as June 2017 and, as The Nursery is a charity organisation, any donation you make to us is a TAX DEDUCTIBLE contribution for you!
Yes, and… How will your donation help us?
It will help provide more opportunities for performers.
Our total build is expensive. Light and sound equipment alone are over £8,000 (it needs to look and sound good!), a bar costs about £800 to build and kit out, then we need to spend £3,000 on a foyer and sound-proofing the walls and £1,000 just on chairs! In addition, there are glasses, a glass washer and a big neon sign to guide people in. And, after all that, we have to pay rent, staffing and electricity bills. We just need a tiny bit of help for the final push.
Yes, and… How else could you help?
Tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell your mum.
If you are unable to contribute financially, there are many other ways you can still help! Spread the word about our campaign to others, follow The Nursery on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or come to one of our shows or classes!
We are also always looking for volunteers for various aspects of our productions, so if you’d like to contribute your time or if you have any services, materials, or other in-kind donations in lieu of monetary contributions, please email us at volunteer@thenurserytheatre.com.
Thanks to you, countless more people will be able to see affordable improvised theatre, comedy events and productions and, thanks to you, we will be able to continue our support for emerging performers, diversity in our community and greater opportunities for artists.