Monday started off with the chance to meet the full Doorstep Arts team in their little office at the top of the stairs, set above an arts supply store. The company operates primarily in Paignton at the Palace Theatre just down the road from their office. The directors also facilitate additional groups that run out of the historic Torre Abbey museum in Torquay, Exeter University, and Theatre Royal in Plymouth. It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know their team dynamic as we were told they were seldom all together in the same space. While enjoying tea, homemade chocolate macaroons, and laughter, we learned about their roles within the organization and the projects they were all working on. We also planned out a busy week of visiting their current programs. We spent the afternoon exploring the little town, strolling the coast, and taking in the beaches and its brick red cliffs dotted with caves and caverns, before heading back to our room to catch up on some work.

Bright red brick beaches of the English Riviera

Stephanie and Alia exploring the caves on the beach

Later that evening we got right into it with the Doorstep Arts Theatre (DYT) group run by Jade, Erin, and Nat.This group is made up of energetic and talented high school and early university aged participants interested in theatre, music, and social justice. The kids were back to group after being on mandatory quarantine when some youth from their school brought CoVId back from Italy, so were full of energy and very glad to see each other. They were rehearsing a performance piece about protest that they had been creating over the last few months and were hoping to perform the following weekend in a “scratch” style showcase. Scratch performances are essentially works in progress that may still be very rough, presented to the public for critique and general feedback. We helped them work on their backdrop for the show which was a collection of protest posters, very similar to our #ListentoMe project that our own What Feeds Us group has been working on since November.

Doorstep Youth Theatre teens practicing their piece for showcase in a few days

We saw many crossovers between these two groups and are now starting to look at ways they might be able to collaborate. Since we met this group in March, we have hosted a few online Zoom meetings where our youth have had the opportunity to meet DYT youth and chat about their perspectives during the current Pandemic and work together to write a group poem. We anticipate being able to collaborate on some project like a digital performance in the future.

Random Hobbit House we found on our walk

Doorstep Arts And DYT- March 9th