A TEENAGER from York has made it into a prestigious national theatre group.

Ruby Salter has been admitted to the National Youth Theatre (NYT) – a charity originally founded as the world’s first youth theatre that seeks to nurture creative expression, personal well-being, and skills development - engaging thousands of young people aged 11- 30 around the UK every year.

According to Ruby, her journey with drama began at the age of four when she was cast as Mary in the school nativity.

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Since then, she’s been involved in various theatre groups across York - performing on the stage at York Theatre Royal and playing the female lead as Nancy in her school’s production of Oliver!, a role which saw her singing several songs a night.

This year marks the third time that Ruby has applied for the NYT bootcamp scheme, which will see her go down to London for a two week intake course, which will then allow her to apply for castings through the National Youth Theatre casting board.

Out of a pool of 6,000 applicants, only 500 receive an invitation to join the group every year.

As far as Ruby is aware, nobody else in York has been admitted in this year’s intake.

Speaking to The Press, Ruby said she couldn’t be more excited to be involved in the NYT, adding: “There are so many alumni that have gone on to do massive things – West End, film – and I think it’ll really help me build a career.

“I’ll gain so many connections and seeing how the industry works from an inside perspective should be amazing.”

In addition to the National Youth Theatre, Ruby is involved in this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival and hopes to excel both on and behind the stage with her long-time goal being a career in directing – something that she hopes to study at Yale in the United States, after completing her undergraduate drama degree here in England.

Ruby's father Miles said: “Everybody in her family is just massively proud of her, it’s just fantastic.

“You just try to support your kids, you don’t try to tell them what to do, so we just want to support them, and it’s been clear for a long time that this is what she loves to do.

“I think she could do really well – she has the right personality and attitude to succeed.”