BIS Alumni makes West End stage debut and nominated as ‘Best Graduate’ in the Black British Theatre Awards

Dreams do come true if you follow your passions!  This is certainly the case for Jenna, a BIS alumni, who received a scholarship to study musical theatre at a specialist performing arts school ArtsED in London, after finishing her IGCSEs with us.

Fast forward and immediately after graduating from ArtsEd, she auditioned and was offered a role in ‘Tina’ – The Tina Turner Musical, currently showing at Aldwych Theatre in London. Her first role on the big stage in the West End!  Recently after performing in ‘Tina’ she was nominated by the public for the ‘Best recent graduate’ for the Black British Theatre Awards.

Here at BIS HCMC we strive to nurture the skills and passions of all of our students whatever their interests. Jenna was a keen drama student and took the opportunity to develop her skills and knowledge by auditioning for a lead role in a major school production and taking Drama and Music at IGCSE alongside Mandarin and Geography and the core subjects of English, Maths and Science.  She was well known and respected by all at BIS for her performance as Bonnie in our school’s production of Bonnie and Clyde back in 2021. 

We spoke to Jenna’s mum, Helen after the show a couple of years back: 

“Jenna hopes to make a career in musical theatre, and I feel the Bonnie and Clyde experience gave her more confidence to pursue her vision. It seems to have taught her many skills that I am sure will help her in her future studies and hopefully in her future dream job, not least to improve her time management over exam revision. I will forever be grateful to the teachers involved.”

It's absolutely incredible that just two years after her lead role in Bonnie and Clyde, this dream has come true! She will be remembered at BIS HCMC for this incredible performance for many years to come.

 

“We are so proud of all that Jenna has achieved since she left us at BIS to continue her theatre journey.  Jenna demonstrated passion and talent in all her work with us, and when she took on the titular role in Bonnie and Clyde she shone. She was not just an amazing performer, but also a role model for our younger students in the cast and helped to nurture the talent of those looking to follow in her footsteps. She is an inspiration to us and our students, and an excellent example of how hard work, creativity, passion and drive can make dreams a reality. We can't wait to see what the future holds for her.” – Cat Molloy, Director of Performing Arts.

We now directly hear from Jenna about her journey from when she left BIS to where she is now, the impact that learning at BIS had on her and advice she would give to all current BIS students.

“It all started when I got offered a full scholarship to study musical theatre at a performing arts school called ArtsEd in London. With the schools training I found myself improving more and more and in our final Year 13 show of Legally Blonde I played the role of Serena. 

An agency called Galloways happened to be watching the show and after that I ended up signing with them because of it. After that I was just auditioning and auditioning. I then got an email through from my agency saying that I had an audition for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. I went in for the audition and immediately I knew it was going well in terms of my performance for the panel. Then they called me back later that day to do some more singing and then even later to do a dance call. The following week they asked to see me again to go through some acting and singing material. And then about a week later my agents called me saying I got the role.