The year has started with high energy and joy with a multitude of drama activities and learning opportunities. Over sixty students have visited Drama Club, held on a Wednesday lunchtime, during our first three weeks of Term. Amber Chapman, 2017 Drama Captain, has been guiding and inspiring girls in developing performance ideas for MAD Night. Students have used the theme of ‘Making a Difference’ as stimulus to produce short performances.

Tuesday 21 March
4.00pm – 6.00pm
Everyone in our community is welcome.
MAD night is a night of Music Art and Drama, created by students.

The Drama Auxiliary met this month to welcome new members and begin the process of supporting the Drama and the Performing Arts evenings. The Auxiliary has created a timeline of events and requirements for the year ahead. MAD night is the Auxiliary’s first venture, which will include providing food for sale on the night to students who wish stay back after School and later for parents and visitors. Thank you to our Drama Auxiliary who are passionate about theatre in our School and support teachers and students in a very wholehearted and fundamental way.

Mr James Brown facilitated an excursion to the Botanical Gardens to see a production of Twelfth Night. The Units 1 to 4 Theatre studies students were delighted by the actor’s performance skill and the visual interpretation produced by The Australian Shakespeare Actors’.

Rehearsals are have been underway since the beginning of the term for the Senior School Play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Mr James Brown and the cast, which includes students from St Kevin’s College, have been working through the text and investigating the meaning and significance of each scene to develop the much-loved characters of Shakespeare’s play. We look forward to seeing how the VCE Units 1 to 4 Theatre Studies students interpret the highly visual world of Midsummer Night’s Dream including the fantastical world of the disobedient fairies. Students choose a stagecraft element such as lighting, sound, set design or even stage management and use this skill to produce a play. They have been diligently working on their ideas and production schedule for most of the term.

Our Years 7 and 8 Drama students have started the year with enthusiasm. Students have learnt about the expressive skills, play making techniques and theatrical conventions. We have been impressed the by the girls’ focus and joy when entering the drama room. Their desire to learn and experiment has been noted and we look forward to their assessment task performances which they will be devising over these following weeks.

In late March, the VCE Theatre Studies students experienced a Theatre Make-Up workshop conducted by Rachel McLean. Rachel is an experienced make-up designer who has worked on numerous musicals including Titanic. Rachel discussed the design process, application and materials. The students enjoyed working with Rachael as her experience and knowledge could assist them in their own design work for their folios.