Other School News
Little Shop of Horrors
Close to 9 months of planning and preparation has gone into our College Production of Little Shop of Horrors. Our initial team consisted of Narelle Tabone, Adrian Hogg and myself. We poured over lists of shows and finally decided on “Little Shop”.
Narelle has shared her expertise in set design, costume design and props. She has also purchased from inexplicable places, the furniture for the sets, which meant many hours of online research and then collection of the products.
Adrian has unique talents which range from directing to choreography to conducting. Adrian has a very special group of friends who we will call collectively “THE BAND”. They have been rehearsing hard and complement the cast with their playing.
We also extended our team to involve staff. Ralph Richardson as usual, has given his time and expertise without reserve. Helen Ifandis has incorporated props from the show into her i-Create studies. There is also “Hand” from Leonie Besley which is most important in the show.
Fundraising has been supported by staff - Rodger Clark, Lee Read and Geraldine Borgonha, with innumerable extras to help them. With their help and great organisation, we have been able to raise more than $1200. This has gone to various necessities for the production: extra buses, extra trucks for transport of the sets and props as well as smaller but very important things, like food for staff and students during the production week.
While all this has been going on, the cast of 11 students have worked to produce a show which portrays every element of LIFE, interlaced with song and dance. This is done in an extraordinary way, with a plant, AUDREY 2, who or should I say which, becomes the overriding factor in the show.
And then along came the sound and lighting crew. This may be some of the last things that happen to complete the production but it is by no means the least. Special mention must be given to Joseph Nicholson for light design and direction. Joe is another of these innumerable volunteers who have done so much for the Westall production.
At this time, I would also like to mention our past students: Florensia, Mona and Shannon who have been a wonderful support to the cast in ways, too various to mention.
Thank you to all other staff who volunteered their time in numerous ways from assisting the set up to driving buses. This includes but is not limited to teachers Freda Gatsios, Sue Stenning, Hugh Robertson and Mark Henderson. Thank you also to students and their parents who came along to support our epic performance.
It takes time to build a special union between students and staff alike. Respect grows and with this, a greater desire in everyone to perform to one’s highest abilities. There is no family like a show family and there is NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS!
Ms. Maggie Casey Dalgleish
Singing and iCreate Singing, Dance, Drama Teacher
Little Shop of Horrors
By Shannon Bone
Head of Audio Tech
Since February, a team of people who barely knew each had come together and joined the Singing, Dancing, Drama i-Create led by Maggie and the amazing team put together; beginning with Adrian and Narelle.
There were a few hiccups at the beginning of the year, but it was soon decided that the show everyone would begin working so hard for would be none other than ‘Little Shop of Horrors’- the story of Seymour Krelbourn and the strange and interesting plant coined Audrey II.
Soon after the initial rehearsals the team involved in putting on the show began to grow immensely, and students began to really open themselves up to the world of musical theatre. With successful auditions, from the moment each student stepped out of their comfort zones you couldn’t imagine the character being played by anyone else. Time went by as the students were busy learning choreography- and as Maggie would always say; turning their 11 voices into 50 voices. We had a team working all hours of the day to bring a vision to life. With Adrian overseeing the process, we had returning helpers from our 2018 production of ‘The Addams Family’- Dale and Joey joining the team in addition to returning students. Dale, with Narelle and Mr. Richardson physically brought Skid Row to life and Joey created one of the most important things in a production; the light show.
The amount of time spent putting on a show is often downplayed. Not only did we spend our i-Creates working so hard on perfecting each scene, but the cast spent their lunch times and after school hours working on every scene together, and even after rehearsals was well and truly over- our crew went on to have meeting after meeting every single day, because with every show- there is always something bound to go wrong- but with a team like ours, solutions always followed.
With a few months left until show week we got to meet the incredible group of people who would make up the band for our 2019 production. The band, handpicked from Box Hill Institute, dedicated hours of their time to learn every song and perform it to the best of their abilities. Soon after we met the Band we met those who put their hands up as volunteers to be our stage hands crew. It is an understatement to say that we were so lucky to have so many external people lend a helping hand and join the Little Shop Family.
The week that we had all been waiting for came so quickly and it was a bittersweet moment watching everything everyone had worked so hard for finally come together and come to an end. Throughout the year there were so many things that happened that cannot simply be written into one short reflection, so many stories to tell about the things we all got to do and experience together. Needless to say, a tight-knit family blossomed, and we went from strangers to people we soon shared almost every waking minute with. It is with a full heart that I am to advise everyone who is reading this, that if you ever get the chance to be a part of something like a show- take that opportunity with open arms. An atmosphere unlike any other is created and a space where you can so freely come as yourself and explore who you truly are with other people who are doing the exact same is something that’s hard to find. It was an absolute honour to come back to Westall and be a part of the Little Shop of Horrors crew and be a witness to the talent and potential in the cast.
The show was an absolute success, and the journey to get there was definitely a journey each us of will always remember because through it all we grew together. There is so much more that can be said, but I’m sure the cast would be more than happy to shed some insight on all that we got up to this year!
To everyone who lent a helping hand, to the cast, to the crew, to each person who supported us and to those who came to see everything come together- Thank You. This show and the family created will not be forgotten.
Thank you to everyone who supported the cast and crew, and to each of you who saw it all come together on show nights.
iCreate STEM
On the 28th of August, our i-Create STEM students were leaders and taught the Year 3/4s at St Peter’s Primary school how to code the Lego Mindstorm EV3 Robots. They created some tasks and challenges whilst relating it to the appliances to the real work. The primary school students loved the experience and developed great relationships with our STEM students!
Ms. Loan Luong
iCreate STEM