Every year, another bunch of keen freshers bravely put themselves forward to lead our wonderful company by running the Minotaur Commitee. Organising nine productions over the year, including a Shorts Festival, sending a show to Edinburgh and throwing a great Julians Awards is no mean feat! This year's committee is eager to take on the challenge, but we thought it would be a good idea to ask some of our predecessors for their wise words on what they've gained from being on Committee:

Siobhan James-Elliot - President

"So - it's been a year I can say that much. We put on some brilliant shows, tried out a few new things, opened up opportunities for as many of us to get involved as possible and made some new friends. Being part of the committee has been a great challenge, it's been fun and I'm so glad I did it. Thank you for letting me be part of pushing Minotaur forward. Keep it going! You'll be great! Good luck!!"

Myah Morris-Drake - Vice-President

"I have really enjoyed being the Vice President of Minotaur over the year. It has been a great experience and I have learnt a lot from it. My highlights include organising last year’s Julian’s at The Assembly House and helping with the Shorts Festival and the 12 plays that were put on. I have also helped run Radio Drama with the very talented Sam Day and this has been a big success this year. We had a lot of enthusiastic freshers who wrote, directed and acted in many radio plays; this year we have managed to record even more plays and increased our members which has been great. It is sad that Sam Day will be leaving us but I am sure Erin with her mad radio skills will be brilliant at keeping radio drama going and developing it even further. The blogs on the Minotaur website was another thing I was in charge of, with the help of Ed Dyer who reminded me when they needed to be done. There have been some great blogs all about the productions and how they were made so check them out if you haven’t already. It has been a great experience working with everyone on the committee; we have had a good laugh and Siobhan has done a smashing job as president. I wish Erin the best of luck, she will do a brilliant job as the new vice president. Go Erin woohh!!!"

Publicity Admin

"For a short amount a time I stepped in as the Publicity Admin for Minotaur which was definitely a learning curve as I had never done publicity before. I learnt a lot from it and it was good to do something I never thought I would have to do. The Vice President’s role on the committee is quite a hard one because you don’t always have set jobs to do and a lot of the role is what you make of it. The Vice is essentially a supporting figure on the committee and stepping in as Publicity Admin definitely showed that. I spent many hours walking around campus sticking posters up wherever I could and just hoped that the Uni wouldn’t take them down. I made good friends with a guy at the union who would always put the posters in the boxes for me (he is your man Chad). There was always a panic when we didn’t know when the posters or flyers would arrive or when James I would frantically run to the library to print off the programmes for the shows. But I enjoyed doing the job and I know Chad will absolutely smash it this year. Publicity is now something I am thinking of doing for my 3rd year production so who would have known!"

Lucy Attwell - Treasurer

"I thoroughly enjoyed my time as the Minotaur Student Theatre Company Treasurer as it provided a great opportunity to be involved with all of the different wonderful productions, whilst also teaching me new skills in regards to budgeting, communications and handling money. Being apart of the committee has been great fun and I wish the new treasurer all the best."

Matt Preece - Communications

"As Communications Admin over the past year I have send countless emails, numerous Facebook posts, Instagram pictures and hundreds of tweets hopefully providing information AND entertainment for the company members and friends. I wish Ruth all the best over the next year, and that she enjoys being the hub of ultimate information!"

Sophy Plumb - Technical Officer

"Being on the committee this past year has been f.a.b.! Had tons of fun and will miss the gang and our shoddily put together plans, immensely. Good luck to the new techies, I'm sure you'll have a blast. Bye for now!"

Charlotte Robinson - Technical Officer

"Being Tech Officer was a great experience! I've enjoyed getting the opportunity to work on many different shows as well as introduce others to tech. I've learnt so much by being in this role and hope I can continue to help out next year. I wish Jenni and Sam the best of luck as the new Tech Officers, they'll be great!"

Tom Mason - Social Secretary

"Being the Social Secretary for Minotaur Theatre Company over the last year has been an obscure yet delightful journey. After seemingly countless parties, themes, Facebook posts and one solitary yet GROUNDBREAKING theatre trip, its time for the Social secretary to shed his skin once again, revealing a new individual with whole new dreams and ambitions. I can only hope that Edward’s upcoming voyage from ecstasy to delight, through challenge, over despair, into the unknown and preferably out the other side will prove a fruitful distraction from the impending doom we all face as drama students, or alternatively, human beings. But what does the future hold for Tom Mason? An excellent question with an excellent answer. As it turns out, this position, which I expected to land me with a hollow fan base and a broken liver, has inadvertently and unexpectedly honed me as a man, and more importantly, a professional. From the moment the last full stop lands on this farewell message, I am packing my bags for the city to continue honing my craft as a secretary. My gran was a secretary, Rumour has it she was phenomenal, and I now endeavor to follow in her footsteps. Indeed, after a brief period of travel and a few illegal tweaks to the CV, my sole hope is now to become the foreign secretary for the United Kingdom. But in order to get there, it’s important to be grateful. Thank you for family. Thank you for friends. Thank you Minotaur. Thank you Drama. Thank you Llamas (Dalai or otherwise) Thank you Obama. Thank you karma (Café). Thanks to the farmer for my food. Thank you bananarama (whatever you are and wherever you may be). Thank you for the embalmer (for your help with my aforementioned Gran). Thank you Charmer (for Finally bringing my snake out of hiding- I will never listen to the doctor again.) Thank you all. Thank you, and Goodbye!"

Charlotte Rhodes - Photographer

"As Photographer for Minotaur, I've learnt a fair few things. Everyone who says they aren't photogenic, they're lying. If your camera runs out of battery, shake it and it'll turn on again. And after every dress rehearsal, there will be a moment when everyone wants to see every photo you've taken before any editing or cutting down. It's been a rollercoaster of a year guys, but I'm so happy that you gave me a chance to take pictures of all your beautiful faces. Camille, have a great time, good luck and we all have faith that your photos are going to be Cindy Sherman standard."

James Thorpe - Publicity Artist

Like a typical aritst, James struggles with communicating in any normal fashion, such as social media. However, having chatted to him at the Julians about this blog, I was assured that he thorougly enjoyed his position, using his photoshop skills to come up with some stunning designs. You can check out all of his posters here.

(A special mention should go to Ed Dyer for working with the 2014 commitee and turning the position of Website Admin into an official Committee position - therefore enabling me to write this blog! If you want to check out Ed's experience of working on the website, read his blog.)

The 2014/15 Committee graciously accept their Julians Award for 'Best Tearjerking Performance'

So that's that! They gave us laughs, tears and most importantly, ran the company for an entire year. The 2015 Committee have already taken the plunge (literally, into the lake at the Julians BBQ) and we hope to follow the 2014 committee's footsteps by having another great year!

Check out more about the committees here:

2014/15 COMMITTEE | 2015/16 COMMITTEE

#committee