A Class Act for the Gordon Schools, Huntly

Class Act is the Traverse Theatre's flagship education project, challenging young people to become artists and writers and to create brand new creative work to be premiered on professional stages.

Beginning in 1990, Class Act is central to the Traverse Theatre’s commitment to connecting with, nurturing and unlocking the creative potential of young people. In 2025, ‘Class Act on Tour’ worked with pupils from the Gordon Schools in Huntly. Class Act is a creative writing programme for young people aged 11-25 designed to break down barriers to the arts and culture that arise from socioeconomic, racial and geographical disadvantages.

By empowering young people to write freely with the guidance of professional playwrights, Class Act promotes essential life skills, fosters a sense of cultural connection and instils pride in their creative achievements.

“I found it fun because we got to learn new skills and make our own work.” 

Through the connections that Traverse Theatre has with Aberdeen Performing Arts and the Light The Blue Festival, 15 young pupils from the Gordon Schools had the opportunity to work with a team of professional artists to write their own scripts and see their work brought to life by a team of professional theatre-makers, directors, actors and musicians live on the Lemon Tree Studio stage.

“I am more connected to the theatre, and I didn’t know the Lemon Tree existed before.” 

These opportunities for young people are rare in North Aberdeenshire, as theatre companies and creative opportunities do not come to Huntly often.  The plays that the young people wrote were performed as a showcase of stories at the Lemon Tree Studio on the 11th June 2025 to a sold-out audience.

All participants were given the opportunity to see the performance. This performance was part of the Light the Blue Festival, which encourages young creatives to curate and deliver a festival programme that all are welcome to attend. This festival takes place in Aberdeen in June each year.  In delivering this programme, Traverse Theatre acknowledges that the delivery of the Class Act on Tour programme is a very focused and impactful package, with the six two-hour in-school sessions being delivered over a shorter period of time than if it were in Edinburgh.

“It made me look forward to coming to the Promise group. I knew it would be a fun day at school.“ 

The programme has to take into account the exam timetable and other aspects of the school curriculum that it must fit around.  Without the funding from the Vattenfall Clashindarroch Wind Farm Community Fund, it would have been difficult to include the Gordon Schools in the programme, as the funding helped with transport costs for the creative freelancers who worked with the pupils and helped pay for the pupils to attend the performance in Aberdeen.

This small grant made a difference to the pupils who had the opportunity to participate, as the quotes throughout this case study illustrate.

“It was brilliant and hilarious because we got to make funny pieces and then see people laughing at them.”  

Read more about the Vattenfall Clashindarroch Wind Farm Community Fund.