The Drama Department

I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world - ALBERT EINSTEIN

Once again, allow us to update you on the exciting work and initiatives students are undertaking, and showing leadership in, through the Drama Department. Given the strong focus on ownership in our college, it’s more important that you hear from the students rather than the teacher (but she’s going to struggle not to stick her two cents in every so often, let’s be fair...)

At our third MTC Meeting we saw the production of the beloved Australian play ‘Cosi’ by Louis Nowra. Cosi is a semi-autobiographical play detailing the author’s experience of directing and producing the musical ‘Cosi fan Tutte’ by Mozart with patients inside a mental institution.

The characters have been admitted to the mental institution for reasons ranging from drug addiction to pyromaniac behaviour to orphanage. The character of the director Lewis and the patients are ostracized by the 1971 Australian society for their lack of interest in the moratorium. The play uncovers the reality of simple love and discusses the essence of the human desire for story-telling.

The evening began with a Q&A with the director Sarah Goodes who gave us insight into the significance of colour coordination throughout the design roles in production and discussed her reasoning for presenting this play, now. ‘Cosi’ presents many social ideologies about women and faithfulness in relationships that are quite ‘out of date’ for this modern Australian climate. Defending her choice to present the play in the original setting and to an audience of a new generation of ideologies, Goodes said that ‘to re-contextualise the story, would present the ideologies in a ‘grosser’ manner, or she would end up rewriting the script to be true to a 2019 setting.’ She also added that ‘since the shift in Australian culture in the 1970s (in her opinion) Australia has not had as great a political and social shift as it is having right now’ and so to present a play about a changing Australia, during another motion of change demonstrates the power of the play.

In addition to meeting Goodes and richening our understanding of the spectacular show we would see that evening, we were also fortunate enough to meet the donors for the MTC Ambassadors Program. Thanks to the donors, the other ambassadors and I have the opportunity to experience viewing the productions and meeting the cast and crew at MTC. They are the backbone of the program, important members of the theatre community and the reason I get to share my experiences with you!

On Tuesday the 25Th of June, we will be seeing ‘Heisenberg’ written by Simon Stephens, the author of the play ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime’ starring Kat Stewart!

PROJECT DIRECT: Charlie Gibbons (year 10)

I’m directing the play ‘Dancing in The Afternoon’ and this is my first real directing experience. Project Direct is where students get the opportunity to direct other students in a short play. I have been in musical theatre shows both inside and outside of school for the last few years I have a passion for theatre and wanted to see it from this point of view. I saw Project Direct as perfect opportunity to learn how to direct something, as I have mentioned I’m really excited to be able to gain these skills. We have just completed the audition stage, and are now in the process of finalising rehearsal times. Project Direct is definitely a challenge, I’m so very out of my comfort zone but this definitely something I needed to do; being on the other side of the table helped to understand how much harder casting actually is, especially learning to negotiate with others. I have already gotten so much insight and understanding of what directing entails. I’m most excited about getting to work with my cast to put this show together. I would recommend that you come and see this performance we are all already working so hard to make this happen. It will be five short plays performed on a single night (Thursday, September 5) so stay tuned for tickets to be released. I hope to see you there! 

WAKAKIRRI: Sienna Robinson (year 7)

Wakakirri is great opportunity for kids that love to dance and act. I love Wakakirri as I dance and love to act, and you also make wonderful friends and develop relationships with people you wouldn’t normally talk to. The past few weeks we have been talking about our performance and how we want to plan and make our performance effective and entertaining. 

NOTE from SPR: the students have now finalised the idea of their story which is:

An exploration of issues, predominantly environmental, concerning today’s youth. Feeling overlooked by decision-makers, they fear that the responsibility to enact change for the better is on their shoulders.

We’ve just commissioned local, award-winning musician and composer Sheridan Killingback to create the original soundtrack. She will be sampling existing music and soundbites from news reports and student protests within her original score. All her decisions,however, will come from a brief provided by the Wakakirri student leaders based on discussions with their teams.

MUSICAL THEATRE PRODUCTION MAP: Lily Hosking (year 7)

In semester one, the Musical Theatre Production MAP focused on learning the main areas of stagecraft in musical theatre to enhance our knowledge for our production in the second semester. Now that semester two has rolled over, we have started to put together our own musical. We went through an audition process to be a part of the cast for the show 'Musical Mayhem', as well as auditions to be leaders and assistants to different stage crafts. Like many others, I was lucky enough to get a position, mine being one of the Assistant Directors. This is an amazing opportunity for students to learn from their peers as well as to gain confidence and organisation alongside many other different skills that you can learn through being a leader. We are now beginning to plan for our musical and are using our skills that we have learnt from semester one to create something that is very special and unique to all of us. I have enjoyed learning lots of new aspects of musical theatre, getting to know a lot of people in the MAP and cannot wait to see how our musical will turn out! Make sure that you come and see it on Wednesday, October 16.

NOTE from SPR: The plot for the musical, pitched by Hannah Mortimer, Chloe O’Connor and Lily Hosking and scripted by Catherine Baker is:

Musical Mayhem is about Grace and the dynamic duo Olivia and Oliver’s quest to undo a spell. Grace’s theatre mistress encrypted into her playbook a spell bringing the world to life as a musical. Despite setbacks, it is Olivia’s determination, Oliver’s courage and Grace’s impatience that transports them out of this world to stop the beat.

Check the college Staff, Students and Parents Facebook group for the full cast and crew.

EUROPE ARTS TOUR: Sarah Garnier (year 12)

Traveling to the other side of the world and seeing some of the most breath taking and recognisable sights is only one of many experiences and benefits of the Europe Arts Tour.  Traveling itself offers a new range of opportunities and skills; however, as a part of this twenty-one day school trip, these experiences are enhanced greatly. Not only are you able to do things you could never be able to, such as backstage tours (which are amazing and really makes you appreciate the hard workers of theatre), but you get to share these experiences with peers alike. There hasn’t been one school trip, whether international or local, where everyone doesn’t become best friends afterwards. As a student with a passion for the arts, the museums, musicals, plays and theatrical workshops do not disappoint. Not to mention the other activities like Grecian cooking class, London Eye, the AMAZING Harry Potter Studio Tour and of course travelling with some of the most amazing people are just a few of the exciting things to look forward to next year in the historical lands of England and Greece. And most importantly, students don’t miss out on school as the trip is during the January school holidays. Note, this tour is not limited to students of the arts however and has something to appeal to everyone. I highly urge anyone interested at all in the amazing tour above to attend the information night on the 20th of August in the Information Commons, 6:30pm. 

Sarah Garnier.

School Captain, National Treasure and World Class Traveller.

NOTE from SPR: If any students or parents have questions about the tour before the Information night, they are welcome to come and visit me in my office in the PAC (students) or ring me on 9789 4544 (parents).

FOCUS ON A DRAMA STUDENT: Ruby Granger (year 7)

My name is Ruby and I’m obsessed with dancing and drama. In fact, I used to dance outside of 10 years at Ambitions dance school. I stopped dancing competitively but I still wanted to perform.

I got accepted into E.P.P for drama. To get into the program I had to sign up when I was in year 6. Then after I got interviewed by Ms. Sproule, I was welcomed into E.P.P.

My favourite part about drama is that M.A.P is making a musical and this year's theme is outer space. I especially love that the students get to direct and choreograph our own show.

My favourite musical is Muriel’s Wedding because it’s very funny and I love when Muriel’s sister says, “You’re terrible Muriel.”

I think drama is important in society because you learn realistic skills such as teamwork. For example, if you have blue lights and red costumes, the audience will see purple. This is why teamwork and communication between stagecrafts is valuable.