Croydon Youth Theatre Organisation
| Industry | Performing Arts |
|---|---|
| Founded | Thornton Heath, London, (1965) Current location, South Norwood, Croydon, (1984-) |
| Founder | Marjorie Taylor, R Willis Hole |
| Website | http://www.cyto.org.uk/ |
Croydon Youth Theatre Organisation, often referred to simply as CYTO, is a professionally led youth theatre group based at the Shoestring Theatre in South Norwood, Croydon in South London, England.
CYTO was founded in 1965, following a visit by Marjorie Taylor, a Youth Service officer for Croydon Council, to the Youth Theatre at Southbourne in Dorset. Having gained the approval of her bosses at the Council, Taylor approached a local amateur dramatics group, the Croydon Histrionic Society, a leading member of which, R Willis Hole, chaired a working party to set the project up. The organisation was launched in the Croydon Advertiser of 10 September 1965, with opening night on 21 September.
CYTO began in Council premises in Winterbourne Road, Thornton Heath, with sister projects in Coulsdon and Upper Norwood. Productions of all three were directed by Carol King and presented at Croydon College. CYTO was consolidated at Winterbourne Road in 1973, moving to Sydenham Road then to Boston Road, where the 'Shoestring Theatre' was born. In 1984, with the help of Councillor Keith Wells and then-director, Harry MacDonald, CYTO moved to its current base, at that time alongside the South Norwood Adult Education Centre in Oakley Road. The former school gym provided an ideal space for a small studio theatre with 78 seats and two former science classrooms became a space for rehearsals, workshops, socials, meetings (The Green Room) and a dance studio (in 2000) Theatre Workshop Coulsdon carried on the work in the south of the Borough. (In 2015 Oasis Academy Ryelands replaced CALAT.) In 2005, CYTO celebrated its 40th birthday with a production of Ruby, a specially written play by Richard Vincent, himself a former director of CYTO with his wife, Kathryn.
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