THE February half term’s Play-In-A-Week project at Upstage Centre Youth Theatre, 41 Monkgate, York ends with a 6.30pm performance of Whodunnit? this evening.

Theatre enthusiasts aged eight to 18 have been working all week with Anna-Siobhan Wilcox on a devised play. “As always, no previous experience is necessary to take part,” says Anna, who ran a similar project last autumn.

On that occasion, she co-directed a “rather dark piece based around the Gunpowder Plot”, working in tandem with Sarah Jackson on a project that involved seven young people. This time, she has devised a play on the theme of murder mysteries.

“We aim to ensure everyone has fun, meets new friends and grows in confidence in their ability to perform, and tonight they have the chance to take part in a performance in a real theatre to a live audience,” she says.

Earlier this year, Anna, 26, became the first member of staff at York Theatre Royal to receive the Gold Arts Award in a national training scheme run by Trinity Guildhall and accredited by Arts Council England.

“It’s basically the arts equivalent of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme,” says Anna, who started volunteering with the Theatre Royal’s youth theatre when she was 16 and went on to study for a BA in modern drama at Brunel University in Uxbridge, West London, from 2004 to 2007.

To go with her burgeoning Theatre Royal and Upstage Centre commitments, she also is working for the National Association of Youth Theatres. “Along with Alicia Skilbeck, Emma Thompson and Henry Raby here in York, my role is as a sector development associate. Our mission is to develop youth theatre on a national level,” says Anna.

Last September and October, she took part in the association’s first Raising The Game workshop and practitioner-training event at Darlington Arts Centre.

She followed this up last weekend by participating in the association’s youth theatre festival in York. “It was a chance for other youth theatres to come to the Theatre Royal, to see what we’re doing, to network and to attend professional workshops,” she says.

Looking ahead, Anna next intends to train to lead projects as an Arts Award advisor at the Theatre Royal.