The Leaveners are a performing arts organisation consisting of members of the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

(Quakers). They started at

Britain Yearly Meeting The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain, also known as the Britain Yearly Meeting (and, until 1995, the London Yearly Meeting), is a Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in England, S ...

in 1978. They run a number of projects, most specifically for

young people Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. You ...

, some resulting in a performance. The Leaveners is a member of The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS).Full list of NCVYS members
The organisation closed in 2017 after the core funder withdrew.

Groups

The Leaveners work falls into three areas: Quaker Youth Theatre, Quaker Music Making and Words, Signs & Vibes. Although The Leaveners are one organisation, they often work as individual groups; most of their larger projects involve more than one of these groups and many participants are involved in more than one of the groups.

Quaker Youth Theatre

Quaker Youth Theatre (QYT) is the longest running project of The Leaveners, and began in 1978 with a street theatre performance at Britain Yearly Meeting. From these roots, they have grown into running week-long projects producing a single piece of amateur theatre. Primarily based in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, they have put on plays in the

Crescent Theatre The Crescent Theatre is a multi-venue theatre run mostly by volunteers in Birmingham City Centre. It is part of the Brindleyplace development on Sheepcote Street. It has a resident company, one of the oldest theatre companies in the city, and al ...

, as well as in meeting houses across Britain.

Quaker Music Making

In addition to annual projects, The Leaveners also offer singing workshops to Quaker Meetings. Although some projects require musical proficiency, they also changed their name to Quaker Music Making, from ''Quaker Festival Orchestra and Chorus'' in 1997.

Words, Signs & Vibes

Words, Signs & Vibes (W,S&V) works with

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

, partially hearing and hearing young people, both Quaker and non-Quaker. They run a weekly drama group for young people, and also hold 1 or 2 week-long projects each year, usually during school holidays. Words, Signs & Vibes separated from the Leaveners in July 2008 and has since become an Independent Voluntary Organisation.

Patrons

As a

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * C ...

, the Leaveners are supported by donations from its participants, families thereof,

monthly meeting In the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), a monthly meeting or area meeting is the basic governing body, a congregation which holds regular meetings for business for Quakers in a given area. The monthly meeting is responsible for the administr ...

s and its patrons: *

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

* Sheila Hancock *

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...

*John Whitney *

Anna Wing Anna Eva Lydia Catherine Wing (30 October 1914 – 7 July 2013) was an English actress who had a long career in television and theatre, known for portraying the role of Beale family matriarch Lou Beale in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaveners, The Quakerism in the United Kingdom Theatre companies in the United Kingdom Youth theatre companies