Drama option for college students
Year 12 and 13 students have recently had the privilege of having Dan Pengelly from the Centrepoint Theatre run a drama workshop.
Centrepoint is the only professional theatre company outside of Wellington and Auckland, and it’s on our doorstep.
The Basement Theatre Company has provided our students with a fantastic opportunity to work with professional actors, directors, set designers, lighting and sound designers. Mycah Keall and Jerome McLean have been selected to be part of this theatre for young actors aged 16 to 21 years old.
TC Lip Sync 2017 is on its way. Our Cultural Captains, Charlotte Gilmour and Rachel Vincent, and Michael Webb, Drama Captain, have been preparing for the competition on 6 April. For Lip Sync this year, primary school acts are invited to enter alongside the college students, with TC staff making a guest appearance. The selfnamed Dream Team, Sara Swansson, Charlotte Gilmour and Mycah Keall, have visited some local primary schools (Hillcrest, St Anthony’s, Pahiatua) to choreograph and teach them a dance. They have created a new trophy to be awarded to the winning Primary School, and we hope to build on the Primary Schools’ participation in years to come.
Our student-run school production is a major focus for next term. This is planned for Monday Tuesday 3 and 4 July. Students from many subjects gain NCEA credits, with Year 13 Drama students earning NCEA credits for Devising and Scripting. Year 11 and 12 students gain credits for Performance and our junior students gain Junior Diploma credits for Performance. It is not only the drama students’ involvement, as music students are given the concept and intention for each piece of music required, and compose an original soundtrack earning Composition credits. They can now write lyrics for the Songwriting NCEA standard. Food Technology students design and package an original theatre snack for intermission. Maori performing arts are intertwined in the script, creating another opportunity to showcase talented Kapa Haka ro¯ pu¯ .
This project fits with our school focus of developing collaborative learning opportunities to engage our students. Our community gets to enjoy the finished result.
Our sound crew supported us with the audio and visuals at our NCEA evening, informing parents how we can all work together to support our students. Those who attended also enjoyed the backing music and some good kai. It was great to welcome our community into the college.