Calderdale Theatre School is the Youth Theatre for young people from all over Calderdale. We currently have 85 members - young people aged 11 - 19 drawn from every area of the borough. Formed in 1968 by the Education Department as part of the arts provision and as a companion school for the Music School and the P. E. School, we have been an independent voluntary organisation since 1993.

We meet every Saturday in term time when the students get the opportunity to work with professional actors and drama teachers on theatre based skills workshops. These cover all aspects of theatre including mime, improvisation, directing and voice. We draw on a wide network of practitioners (some of them ex-students) to provide specialist workshops on dance, stage fighting, mask work, Alexander technique, stand up comedy and many more.

We try to give our students the opportunity to take part in a full length productions in professional venues. In 2004 the whole of Theatre School had parts in the RSC version of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by David Edgar. This ambitious production of the two plays ran in successive weeks at Square Chapel in Halifax. In 2005 we performed two plays by local authors, Life is a Four Letter Word by Stephen Finegold and The Battle for Badger's Wood by John Laing. In 2006 we performed the Red Ladder play, Taking Our Time and another new play by a local writer, Island of the Mighty by Robert Garrett. Theatre Schools youngest students took part in Calderdale Young Brilliance with two one act plays. In 2007 every member of Theatre School took part in either Dracula Spectacula or Alice. In 2008 we put on productions of The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Brecht translated by Frank McGuiness, The Pilgrimage by Paul Goetzee, Oliver Twist by Neil Bartlett and 1968 a devised play to celebrate our 40th anniversary and performed by our Year 7 group. Please see the productions pages for photos and details of all these plays plus our production of His Dark Materials planned for 2009.

Our attendance each year at the National Association of Youth Theatre's Big Youth Theatre Festival gives our members the opportunity to meet and work with around 900 young people from other Youth Theatres as well as attend workshops held by such companies as RCS, Shared Experience, Pilot Theatre and many more. It also gives them the opportunity to perform to a different audience and to see many youth theatre performances. We are now also members of The International Schools Theatre Association and aim to attend one of their festivals each year. So far we have taken part in festivals in The Hague, Brussels and Budapest as well as hosting an international festival here in Calderdale in 2006.