Ladylane 2007
Alison
Alison has been involved in theatre since a very early age, her first role was at the age of 9 years in a local club in Scotland, and she can still remember her one line! She has starred on stage in many productions over the years, being a performer and committee member of Elgin Amateur Dramatic Society, working with Tish Tindall of Lossie Entertainment Academy, and Lhanbryde Amateur Dramatic Society, here are some of those productions:
- Dick Whittington – Pearly Queen and Chorus Line
- Scrooge – Chorus Line
- Cinderella – Carabosse
- Aladdin -Ping the Policewoman
- Sleeping Beauty – Carbolic the Evil Ogre
- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves – Bubble the thief
- Arcadia – Lady Croom
- Crucible – Tituba
- Ladylane – Battleaxe
- Steel Magnolias – Truvy Jones
Cast member in many winning entries in performing arts festivals
Alison has appeared on stages in cities across Scotland, in music festivals, compered public events, been on the radio and even been on TV!
Alison has ran after school theatre clubs in Scotland and Canada for 18 years where students where taught acting and performance skills, stage craft, singing, dancing, and collaboration. She has entered her students into performing arts festivals where most entries gained distinction awards. Every opportunity was taken to give students experience on the stage from entertaining at care homes to performing in a 700 seat theatre, no point in learning the skills if you canât use them!
Alison also involved her students with a theatre group for young adults with learning disabilities which aims to help students to fully express themselves through creative arts. Students from both theatre groups worked together to produce joint performances. All of the other students from the elementary school attended these performances to watch their peers,âMrs. Forbesâ also made appearances! Students learned so much from their involvement with this group, how to accept other people for what they are, and about diversity and inclusion. Everyone agreed it was a fun, entertaining and very worthwhile experience.
As a Principal Alison introduced drama throughout her school for both staff and students, teaching teachers to use it in the classroom and, for students to experience in assemblies, nativity plays and a drama club. She also taught trainee teachers who were completing their teacher training at university, teaching them to use drama in the classroom through workshops.
Ross
Ross did not have an interest in Theatre or the Performing Arts, until he met Alison. Being a natural âperformerâ Alison was drawn to the stage and she encouraged Ross to share her passion. Realising that he could use his engineering background to great effect behind the scenes, building sets and props, Ross enthusiastically dived in.
His first involvement was building the sets and as part of the stage crew for a production of Scrooge with Elgin Amateur Dramatic Society.
After a few years of being involved with Theatre Groups, Ross was asked to join
the Board of Directors of Out of the Darkness Theatre Company (ODTC), who are
patroned by Hollywood-based actor Kevin McKidd. Ross remained involved in local theatre groups and as a board member of ODTC, until emigrating to Canada in 2015.
Ross has since supported Alison with stage and set construction, making props
and as stage manager for her after school drama club productions.
Our History
Alison and Ross met when they were 16 and 17 in Dundee, Scotland. Ross went on to join the Royal Air Force (RAF) as an aeronautical engineer, he married Alison and they lived in the north of Scotland before heading to Germany. Their first daughter was born there, their second when they returned to the north of Scotland 3 years later. Ross left the RAF to spend more time with the family and they moved to the west coast of Scotland for a while, then back to the east, finally back up north; relocation has been a feature of their lives!
Alison was a stay-at-home Mom until the girls went to Junior High, enjoying being part of the girlsâ schoolâs community, and being the one parent for the girls when Ross was away. Once the girls were more independent, she returned to work in Walmart, initially in their kitchens, progressing up through the company to become a Health and Safety Officer. Alison realized after a few years that she wanted something more. Following a long-held dream of being a teacher she went to university to retrain; she had truly found her vocation. She has taught in elementary schools in Scotland and Canada as classroom teacher, assistant principal and principal.
Alison and Ross stayed in the north of Scotland until they moved to Canada 7 years ago. Ross worked for a civilian company working on military aircraft then moved to work for the Meteorological Society who deal with weather in the U.K. Ironically, he travelled all over the world, so much for family time! The girls had been to college and university, and had been dating. Their youngest daughterâs boyfriend had been offered a job in Australia so she would go with him, but before leaving, all members of the family agreed they would eventually relocate to the same country to be together and, before any babies would arrive! Their eldest daughter moved out to Australia a little while later and although they all enjoyed their time there it wasnât where they wanted to put roots down. The youngestâs daughterâs boyfriend was now her husband and was offered another position, this time in Edmonton. Within a few months of being there, she declared that she thought that Canada was âthe countryâ! The rest of the family came on vacation and within a couple of years we were all relocated to Canada! After a few years their youngest and her husband had twin girls, and the eldest married a Canadian guy, and they now have a son.
Forbeez History
Alison and Ross have been involved in theatre groups for many years. Alison is an elementary teacher and Ross is an engineer. Alison has ran after school theatre groups for eighteen years. It was always a dream of Alisonâs to have her own theatre group business but it wasnât until they moved to Lacombe in 2021 that she started to pursue it seriously, the 2022/2023 will be Forbeez first session.
Forbeez Annual Schedule
After the initial information/meet the teacher meeting we go into auditions, this gives a flavour of what the students can expect in an audition and helps in casting the show. Casting will be followed by teaching theatrical terms, acting skill terms, stage position and acting terms. Next, time will be spent blocking the show. Then we go through each scene learning the songs and dances as we go. Once that’s completed, we rehearse. Students have a character development journal to work on throughout rehearsals to help them develop a real, interesting, believable character. All of this is interspersed with drama games and songs as well as relaxation techniques, and memorizing lines. Of course, time for costumes has to fit in there too. All of this planning has a degree of fluidity as there are a lot of different factors that can affect the timings. There are shows planned at the beginning of April, decisions on the number of shows will be made nearer the time depending on numbers of tickets required. The public schoolâs drama curriculum is not followed per se but as Alison uses it in schools means areas of it filters in, such as dramatic movement, speech and voice projection, interpretive skills, and technical theatre.
Mission Statement
Forbeez Theatre Group is dedicated to the personal growth and development of youth from Lacombe and the surrounding areas, through the medium of musical theatre. We are committed to achieving this by providing a supportive, fun and nurturing environment for our students to fulfill their potential and emerge as stars!
