melbourne theatre company

community partnership

Melbourne Theatre Company

Community Partnership

Tim Roach

Head of Learning - Performing Arts

Brunswick Secondary enjoys a wonderful community partnership with the Melbourne Theatre Company. Students regularly attend MTC productions to extend and enrich their performing arts learning experience.

Each year since 2010, a group of Year 11 theatre-lovers have been selected as MTC Ambassadors, embarking on a year-long extension program that offers insight into the world of professional theatre. Each month they attend an MTC production, meet with artists and staff, and share their experiences of theatre with like-minded peers.

In 2019, Josie Coyle was nominated to attend the MTC Ambassador Program adn found it to be an exciting and dynamic learning experience.

Josie Coyle

Year 12

At the beginning of 2019, I was offered the opportunity to apply to be an MTC Ambassador. I sent in my application, thinking that I would be lucky to be accepted into the program. Just a few weeks later, I received an email telling me that I had been accepted - and thus began one of the best and most valuable experiences of my life.

About once a month, myself and the other ambassadors (15 other Year 11 students from different schools across Victoria) would meet up at MTC Headquarters after school.  We would then meet and talk with an MTC worker from one of the various areas at MTC.  We met with actors, stage managers, set and lighting designers and even a former MTC ambassador. Afterwards, we would eat before walking down to the Southbank Theatre to watch a performance and after the show, we had the opportunity to go backstage to meet the cast and crew!

I absolutely loved being a part of this program for a multitude of reasons. For one, I got to see some truly amazing shows with my personal favourites being Kiss of the Spider Woman,  Black is the New White and Cosi. All of these shows, and the many others, reminded me of how much I love and appreciate theatre.  The shows were absolutely hilarious, visually stunning, and completely a immersive experience. Without the Ambassadors Program, I would never have been able to see all of these productions, so for that I am very thankful.

Having the opportunity to go backstage after the shows and meet the cast and crew was such a wonderful experience. Meeting the cast members was awesome, because we were able to talk to them and ask them questions.  This proved to be very valuable as it taught us so much about professional theatre performers and how these performers went about getting to where they were, their processes and their opinions. Meeting the crew and seeing the sets up close was also amazing, as it showed us how a production works behind the scenes. We got to see how all the tricks and special affects were made and to talk to the people who keep the show running! This gave me such a unique experience to learn about all the ins and outs of the processes behind the scenes in performances, and has lead me to want to further explore working backstage.

One of the best things about being an MTC Ambassador was getting to know and becoming friends with the other ambassadors. Being able to talk to like-minded people from all across Victoria was really valuable and I will miss seeing them every month - although we have all agreed to stay in touch!

In summary, I could not be more thankful to have been given this opportunity. It was amazing, from all of the wonderful people I’ve met to all of the experiences and things that I have learned.