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Hello and welcome to the Centenary Centre ’s very own in-house Theatre Company, Inspiration (aka ITC).

Inspiration consists of 5 volunteers who act as Directors and they each have a role to play when producing amateur productions for the Centenary Centre. They are all part of the Centenary Centre and therefore part of a charity. All monies made from ticket sales go back to the Centre and this then is used to fund all of ITC’s productions. 

“There are no members in ITC, all our auditions are open to anyone from anywhere on the island, no matter what your theatrical abilities are. We are always looking for volunteers to help out back stage too. So please don’t be shy, be a part of something creative, be a part of the best in the west! 
Contact me for more details.” - Jooles Morrison, Artistic Director. 

History

2004/5 ~ The year Inspiration first hit the scene with Willy Russell’s play version of Blood Brothers. This production was directed by Ben Hartley and featured players such as Jooles Morrison, David Dawson, Nick Saunders and Monica George, all of whom still take part in ITC’s productions today. The play was so well received that it was brought back two months later for a second run.

Later that year Ben Hartley moved away from the island and Inspiration Theatre Company was left as a one hit wonder.

2006 ~ This was the year that Jooles Morrison (then Newton) resurrected the company with the help of John Elliott and Siobhan Hill for the production of Wizard of Oz. Funding was gratefully received from the Peel Pantoloons for this one off production. It soon became clear that Inspiration was a force to be reckoned with and that there was definitely a hole in the market for a new theatre company in Peel. Jooles, Siobhan and John decided to approach the Centenary Centre with a plan of producing three different shows a year, shows that would attract all ages and target key audiences.

2007 ~ The year that re-lunched the “new look” Inspiration Theatre Company with a lavish launch party and a mission statement…

“Our aim is to provide good quality popular theatre shows and plays which will appeal to all walks of life and to give an opportunity to up and coming talent in all fields of entertainment.  But most importantly to show everyone, both performers and audiences a good time.”

We settled on a ‘songs from the shows’ spectacular, A Musical Inspiration, a firm favorite musical, Oliver! and a comedy play, Five Blue Haired Ladies Sitting on a Green Park Bench. During the production of Oliver it became clear that they needed an extra pair of hands to deal with the administration side of matters. ITC en-listed the help of Cathy Lord and three became four.

2008 ~ ITC opened using their winning formula from the year before and they started with A Musical Inspiration Part II again they used all age ranges and picked songs from shows that would appeal to the all their audience members.

The summer production was, Ann of Green Gables, Ann was played by the outstanding young performer Sarah Pearson. The cast were amazed when audience members contacted them from England and informed them that they were coming across especially to see this production as they follow it all around the world. After the show they congratulated ITC on the scenery, they’d had seen this production many times but never scene the scenery used or made the way ITC had. 

This year also saw the recruitment of Mike O’Neil as our Technical Director.

ITC’s third production of 2008 was the very popular Murdered to Death. This production is still talked about around town today. This hand picked cast had the audience on the edge of their seat with suspense and high drama… who did it?

2009 ~ ITC’s 5th Birthday was celebrated using their “musicals show” and by bringing back Ben Hartley as the compare and re-naming the show A Musicality. With a special 5 year medley put together by Jooles Morrison it also featured a teaser from the forth coming production Little Shop of Horrors.  

In the July of 2009 Inspiration started to abbreviate its name to ITC and produced their best production to date. Little Shop of Horrors reunited some of the original cast members from Blood Brothers including Nick Saunders, David Dawson and of course their very own Jooles Morrison. The production was a massive success with great reviews and really put ITC on the map.

The five directors were still buzzing from the high of Little Shop when they started on their final production for that year, an adult play, Evil In Tents. This risqué production was well received and featured some of ITC best known faces.

2010 ~ The year of change. ITC decided to do only two productions this year, well they’re not getting any younger! The first production was their first ever all kids production of The Adventures of Mr Toad. This production saw the biggest number of children attend an audition in the history of ITC. The production its self was wonderful and all the children performed brilliantly.

Today ~ Right now ITC is in the thick of rehearsals for their forthcoming production of Calamity Jane. Staring Kerry Middleton (who also played Dorothy in ITC’s production of Wizard of Oz) as Calam, and Nigel Thijs as Wild Bill Hickcock. With all your favorite sing-along ditties, dances and characters, be sure not to miss this production. Tickets are on sale at the usual outlets details on the home page of this website. 

Meet the directors to ITC…

Jooles Morrison ~ Artistic Director

Siobhan Hill ~ Accounts

Cathy Lord ~ Administration

John Elliott ~ Musical

Mike O’Neill ~ Stage Manager

This is how each director became a part of Inspiration Theatre Company.

Jooles Morrison: was asked to play the part of Linda in Blood Brothers, ITC first production. After this production the then director Ben Hartley moved to London . Jooles later put the company back together with a production of Wizard of Oz. Jooles has directed and choreographed most of ITC productions to date. She has also played lead roles such as Audrey in Little Shop and Nancy in Oliver! She likes to have cameo in all her productions and as played parts such as the murder hand and the voice of god and can usually be heard at the start of shows doing the introduction.

 

Siobhan Hill
Siobhan, like John and Jooles, is one of the original three who started the theatre group with the success of Wizard of Oz.  At that time, she was approached by Jooles to take on administration, accounting and assisting directing for ITC which she thoroughly enjoyed and has continued to do so.  Siobhan has since gone on to star in many of the plays and also directed one.  She is often used an assistant director due to her keen eye and her crowd control abilities.

 

John Elliott 

John Elliott was approached by Jooles as she knew he had possession of a script that she wanted to use.  When she asked if the script and he said yes, providing he does the music for the show!  Much to Jooles delight!  John has been with ITC ever since and has played and conducted for every musical

Cathy Lord: Cathy got involved with Inspiration when she turned up to auditions with her daughter for the Wizard of Oz in 2006.  Having stayed and watched the auditions she decided she would like to give it a go and auditioned for a place in the chorus.  Later she was given a speaking part in ‘Five Blue Haired Ladies’ and has played several parts since which have included principal roles including her recent role as Elaine in ’Evil in Tents’.  With her background in administration she proved to be useful with helping out with the paperwork for Inspiration and became the Secretary in 2007.  Later on in the year she was asked to become a Director in charge of the administration side of productions. 
Mike O’Neill … by day he is a theatre technician at Nobles Hospital and in the evening he’s back in the theatre here at the Centenary centre.  He first became involved with inspiration when he took his daughter to the auditions for Wizard of Oz.  After watching the rehearsals he became involved with helping to build the scenery.  One thing led to another and  he was eventually asked to become a director looking after the stage side of Inspiration’s productions.  After many successful shows he caught the acting bug and has since appeared in several of our productions.

Our productions to date…

2005/06
Blood Brothers

W
izard of Oz

2007

A Musical Inspiration

Oliver!

5 Blue Haired Ladies Sitting on a Green Park Bench

2008

A Musical Inspiration Part II

Anne of Green Gables

Murdered to Death

2009

Has Peel Got Talent (Fund raiser)

A Musicality

Little Shop of Horrors

Evil In Tents
2010

Has Peel Got Anymore Talent? (Fund raiser) 
The Adventures of Mr Toad

Calamity Jane

Hope you enjoyed our webpage. Now you can have a nosey at some of our past shows, just click on the photograph links below or visit our Facebook page. 
See you round! 

With thanks to photographer Liam Reynolds, we now have a picture gallery 
of some of our recent productions. Click on any of the following to view  
Musicality 
Murdered to Death  -  Anne of Green Gables
Evil in Tents - Little Shop of Horrors