Heya all – it has been a time I am aware. However, things have somewhat settled, and I have been digitising and uploading more teaching resources. Why? Well, we had 2 massive lockdowns in my neck of the woods. I spent the first one as our schools digital teaching expert helping the teachers prepare and engage our rural students online. The second one, well, I … Continue reading Resources for Teaching Drama
Yeah, it has been crazy busy! Day 6: Pepeha Day Today was designed around preparation for our trip to Kohunui Marae. We worked on our Waiata, and talked about the pepeha of the song. So, a pepeha is basically a genealogy that connects to your family as well as the area you are from. When you introduce yourself with a mihimihi, you share your pepeha, … Continue reading The Arts Project: Day 6 and 7
Today we challenged the students even further. We walked up to a local outdoor museum, “Cobblestones Early Settler Museum” and challenged them to be inspired by something, and create a work within 2 hours. The point of this was 2 fold. Firstly we want to dig further beneath the surface of what it means to be a New Zealander. We have already investigated Te Papa, … Continue reading The Arts Project: Day 5
Today began with a look at refining and improving. We discussed how things could be refined and improved, from adding detail, to rehearsing, to improving the script, to adding technical elements, to changing the direction. Then we gave the students 3 hours to do just that. What they came up with was amazing. From costumes to dance routines to layered vocal sounds to slam poetry … Continue reading The Arts Project: Day 4
Today we challenged the students to create “a thing” whether it be Dance, Drama, Music or Visual Art. The most important part was the set up, the how-do create things. We covered how you can use things directly, such as quotes, or the stories of different people. Looking at art, and trying to create the story of the people in the picture. Then we discussed … Continue reading The Arts Project: Day 3
Today we took 80 teenagers to the capital city, Wellington. And it was great. We started by going to Circa Theatre for a tour of the space. This was interesting for the Drama students who could see how a professional performance space was laid out, as well as looking at behind the building facade. (Long story… but BP paid for a heritage wall to be … Continue reading The Arts Project: Day 2
Okay, so today we began a new and innovative programme. We have 84 students. Who are not in any regular classes for 3 weeks. In this time we are going to create Art. The plan is relatively simple. We are going to give an overview of the Arts (Dance, Drama, Music, and Visual Art) and bombard the students with EOTC experiences… getting them to create … Continue reading The Arts Project: Day 1
This year we participated in the Write for Rights event from Amnesty International. Our aim was to help highlight the issues surrounding illegal timber poaching in Madagascar and the wrongful imprisonment of Clovis. So we wrote and performed a play, loosely connected to Dr Seuss’s “The Lorax”, using elements of Brecht and Commedia in performance. Here is the play live: Continue reading Amnesty International – Write for Rights – I speak for the trees
Well, I think I now know how this blog will function… hopefully. I need a theatre blog. (Totally) So. I’m back at Uni, studying…. hopefully working on my Masters in Creative Writing. I have to write a script soon… and all going well it will be good enough. For now I am in a post-grad paper called “Community Theatre”. Next week I’ll be working with … Continue reading These big plans
Beyond Theatre 