About The Americas RADA Network - Theater - http://maxpages.com/arn/About

The members of the Americas RADA Network (ARN) are graduates of RADA's full training programs or RADA staff. Most members tend to be American, Canadian or British living in North America. However, a minority live in other continents of the Western Hemisphere, and some members reside in countries overseas including the United Kingdom. (Those that live abroad have a connection with the network because of work and/or family). Many graduates have gone on to work in other professions; therefore, the ARN is not exclusively for those graduates in the performing arts.

A Brief History of the ARN…

Throughout RADA's history there were attempts to establish a RADA network in America; however, the Americas RADA Network (ARN) began with Nicholas Clay, who since the mid-1980’s, explored the possibility of setting up a branch of The RADA Associates in the US. He envisaged a network that would provide valuable support to graduates (both British and North American) in terms of advice and contacts in the profession. The longer aim was to develop an effective fundraising network for RADA. Nicholas Clay died of cancer in May 2000 at age 53. He graduated RADA under John Fernald and was a prominent player during Sir Laurence Olivier’s golden Old Vic period in the 1970s. He was also a television star, and an actor who loved teaching. He spent time in the US and loved American actors and American theatre. He cared about the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and was a RADA Associate up until his death.

In 1999, RADA associate Tara Hugo, an American graduate in touch with many US alumni, began to work with Nicolas Clay. It was agreed there should be a network in America, similar to that of the RADA grads in the UK, and most established training institutions in the USA -- networks that inevitably lead to support, employment, collaborations, and a way to give back. An "old boy" network was needed, not least of all because there were many misconceptions about RADA and British training in general. Was there a way to strengthen the network from within so that it would generate interest and opportunities for the members?

Nicholas and Tara began contacting alumni in an effort to find out directly whether a network would hold interest for graduates in North America (where the majority lived). There was an enthusiastic response and the goals of the Network began to take shape. The fund raising goals were put aside and the more immediate needs of recent graduates returning to North America became the focus.

From Tara Hugo…

From 2000 - 2004, under the guidance of the Associate Committee and RADA, communication with alumni continued and we sought to implement a website inclusive of all ARN members, not just the performing arts professionals. The Committee nominated North American graduates for Associate membership; including New York based Ron Bagden, and thanks to Ron -- Mary Monroe, who made our dream of a website come true. We held a first informal gathering at Joe Allen's in New York in 2002 and in 2003 we launched the ARN website. A year later, thanks to members, we located approximately one hundred more RADA graduates from as far back as the 1930’s and compiled a guest list for our first major event -- “The American RADA Centenary Celebration” (in conjunction with RADA’s London Centenary Celebration) which took place May 2004 in New York and was well attended by the ARN.

In 2005 - 2006, thanks to members’ participation, new grads seemed to be getting a stronger foothold in the business due to more resources and contacts at their disposal. For example, attending the theatre, especially as a young actor, is vital but expensive: Thanks to Gaydon Phillips who works with Elizabeth McCann, our members were invited to a dress rehearsal of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. That is one example, but we are grateful to all of you who have found ways to give back: comps to a show, help in securing an audition, help in preparation for an audition, an invitation to participate in a reading, an introduction to an agent or casting director, news of an affordable apartment/sublet, tips about a day job, or advice about changing careers which many of our members have done successfully -- the ways to give back are endless! We invite our members to keep reaching out and to stay connected.

2006 also saw the change of the name of our organization. In order to be as fully inclusive as possible, we changed the name to: The Americas RADA Network, referring to North, Central and South America. The acronym remains "ARN."

What’s up for 2007? We look for more ways to make communication amongst the ARN easy and accessible, and the recently launched monthly email newsletter created by Ron Bagden does just that – it includes up to date members’ news and spotlights an ARN member each month. (Please make sure we have your current email addresses – and send Ron your news, regardless if it’s biz related or not!) Another great addition, thanks to a suggestion by Carl Walsh, is the recently implemented Events Calendar on this website which works in tandem with the newsletter.

This website would not be possible without Mary Monroe and we remain forever grateful to Mary for her expertise and creativity in the evolution and maintenance of this site -- and her patience, without which we would be lost!

And finally, the ARN has no dues or fees. We have managed to survive on the good will and small donations received from our members. We gratefully appreciate the donations from those of you who answered our last appeal for help in supplementing our operating costs. Thank you! Please see ARN MEMBER DONATIONS if you would like to make a contribution for 2007.

On behalf of Ron Bagden, Mary Monroe and I – thank you all for your interest, participation and continued support of the Americas RADA Network!

Happy New Year for 2007!

Tara Hugo
Deputy Chairman of the Associate Committee of RADA
and Head of the Americas RADA Network

The ARN website has attracted many young hopefuls, wishing for a place at RADA, and we are often contacted for advice and information about admissions. We thank you for your interest in ARN -- all our members were once hopefuls -- but as an alumni association we do not give information about RADA’s current prospectus. We refer these inquiries to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (www.rada.org).

mailarn@netzero.com

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Page Updated Fri Jul 4, 2008 11:59am EDT