Performing Arts
What a Week!
It’s been a very exciting weekend for the school, and our production company in particular. Many of you may have caught up with the news on the Facebook, but for those of you who don’t see that medium, here is a summary of the last 48 hours:
Junior Production – The Lion King Jr
Audiences enjoyed the performances of our latest production. Over 1800 people will have watched the show across six performances. This is an astonishing effort and I cannot praise highly enough everyone’s energy and commitment to making The Lion King so successful and polished.
The Lyrebird Youth Awards
Congratulations once again to all the nominees who were acknowledged on Sunday afternoon at the Karralyka. I am delighted to report that we were successful in winning the award for Best Choreography in a Musical Production (Kate Tanner and Gaynor Borlase), and that Stage Manager Kaitlyn Walker received the inaugural Rising Star Technical Award. This fantastic prize will see her receive ten sessions of professional tuition in theatre tech on-site at the Karralyka Theatre.
The Music Theatre Guild Awards
On Saturday night about 30 of us headed down to Geelong for the annual night-of nights for non-professional theatre companies across Victoria. There were many highlights, but the performance of our seller’s quartet was outstanding. The official reviewer of the evening for Stage Whispers, Coral Drouyn, had this to say:
"The same can be said of Ringwood Secondary College’s production of Oliver! The voices in “Who Will Buy” were worthy of any stage in the world."
You can (nay, must!) read the full text of the review here: http://www.stagewhispers.com.au/community-theatre/oh-what-night
However, we were also thrilled to receive our first ever perspex bricks (Guild Awards). Congratulations once again to Kate Tanner and Gaynor Borlase, whose choreography was judged to be the best in the state.
And the biggest congratulations is to EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE COMPANY OF 'OLIVER' for doing your part to ensure that "OLIVER" was recognised by the Guild as:
2015 Production of the Year
To say that we were all a little bit excited, proud, gushing, stunned, and everything else is a bit of an understatement. Nathan McKenzie accepted the award on our behalf and did a few laps around the somewhat bemused Guild President.
Sunday morning the magnitude of this achievement began to sink in. The “winning" in and of itself is completely immaterial. We don’t do this to win awards and we will never change what we do and how we operate to fit any external criteria. However, the peer recognition from the industry is an acknowledgement that the program that you have all played a role in creating is among the best in the state. We can all be proud of that. We can all be proud that we dared to commit and share our time, energy and passion for delighting audiences to create opportunities for so many individuals and teams to excel – both onstage and off. Everyone, from the producer to the parent who supports a child’s involvement, is a contributor.
Congratulations to you all and thank you for entrusting your belief in us. The 2016 Production of 'ANYTHING GOES" was announced on Monday night and we will continue to throw ourselves into the challenge of facilitating the most authentic learning experiences and creative thrills that money doesn’t have to buy!
If I don’t see you before, have a wonderful Christmas and outstanding summer.
Junior Production 2014Wizard of Oz DVD's for Sale
The DVD's for 2014's Junior Production of Wizard of Oz are now ready to purchase.
To purchase yours, please see Mrs. Carden in the office with $10 cash.
Benjamin Moody
Director of Performing Arts