Students shine at the Stagecoach Summer Short Play Festival

● Young participants produced, directed and acted in shows of their choosing

Stagecoach Theatre Arts School (Malta) once again gave its youth students the opportunity to take part in the recent Summer Short Play Festival, thus providing them with an opportunity to produce, direct and act in plays for a festival audience.

Now in its second successful year, the festival – which was held at the Malta Drama Unit and coordinated by Maxine Aquilina – presented four one-act plays. Each play was then adjudicated by a panel of judges, and awards were presented to the students that excelled in the categories of Most Promising Female and Male Actor, Best Female and Male Actor, Best Director, Best Production, and Audience Favourite. The festival was adjudicated by Jo Caruana, Thomas Camilleri, Laura Wyatt O’Keeffe and Marc Antolin.

“The Stagecoach One-Act Play Festival was an idea conceived last year to give our students an exciting opportunity to create work over the summer holidays,” explains Ms Aquilina. “The students began by choosing whether they wanted to direct or act, and the directors then selected the scripts they wanted to work with. It was then their responsibility to drive the piece through rehearsals, and to get it ready to present to an audience and panel of judges. They handled every- thing from the set and costumes to the lighting and music, and it was an opportunity for them to learn about the work that really goes into taking a show to the stage.”

While the adjudicators commended all the participants for their high standards, prizes were awarded as follows: • • • • • Best Female Actor: Cody Charlie Calleja Best Male Actor: Ali Farag Most Promising Male Actor: Benjamin Tonna Most Promising Female Actor: Leah Davies Best Director: Nicholas Galea Adam Ryan • • Best Production: ‘Look for the Silver Lining’ by Cheryl Barrett and directed by Raquel Theuma; cast: Matthew Cassar, Amy Grech, Kacey Wadge and Kimberley Agius People’s Choice Award: Peoples choice award: ‘Mirror Mirror’ by Bruce Kane and directed by Mikaela Vella; cast: Adriel Camilleri, Cody Charlie Calleja, Lara Bugeja, Matteo Caruana Bond, Gabriel Camilleri. For more information on Stagecoach Theatre Arts Schools (Malta) and the courses for the new scholastic year, please visit: www.stagecoach.com.mt