Schools on Stage

Aussie Students Win International Junior Theatre Festival Award

Photo credit: Rachael Monteleone

The Aussie All-Stars performance group, composed of students who had auditioned from towns across Australia, received a top youth theatre award at the USA Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta. The fifty-three Aussie students, aged eleven to eighteen, won the Freddie G Inspiration Award (named after Music Theatre International Co-Chairman, Freddie Gershon), an accolade for their outstanding performance,

HSC Plays at ACA

Image: Twelfth Night. Photographer: Clare Hawley.

Actors Centre Australia has established a new education arm that will present four plays in its inaugural year at the company’s own theatre at Leichardt, in inner-western Sydney.

“We are thrilled to welcome HSC students for an immersive experience, exploring the challenging works that form part of their HSC English Curriculum,” said the ACA’s Head of Acting Adam Cook. 

Mother Courage and Her Children

By Bertolt Brecht and Tony Kushner. Directed by Armani Newton-Lowe, Keira Lilly, Tahlia Padayachee, David Phillips, Annabelle Turner, Tyler Hewitt and Hannah Cooke. Willeton Senior High School, WA. Apr4-5, 2023

Willetton Senior High School’s annual Dinner Theatre is a tradition that showcases the talents of their Year 12 Drama Students and the Year 12 (and 11) Cooking and Hospitality Students. While Brecht is rather an unconventional choice for a dinner theatre, the experience was clearly enjoyed by the audience.

School Performing Arts Resource Kit 2023

The 2023 Stage Whispers School Performing Arts Resource Kit - SPARK - is out now.

The 120 page free on-line magazine includes features on shows suitable for attendance by school students alongside a comprehensive state by state directory.

A major part of the publication comprises features to assist school teachers in choosing a play or musical to perform, features on costume, props and seating, recommendations for Sound, Lighting and Special FX, study resources and training.

Young Australians Have Musical Theatre Experience of a Lifetime

75 lucky young Australians aged between 12 and 18 were chosen to take part in the ‘Super Bowl’ of musical theatre, the Junior Theatre Festival thanks to thanks to Travel Gang and Music Theatre International (Australasia).

Creating the Magic - The 2022 Schools Spectacular

On the 25th and 26th November, four thousand and seven hundred (4,700!) talented arts students from over 200 state schools right across NSW hit the stage to create the magic of  that was the 2022 Schools Spectacular at QDOS Arena. It was an “Extraordinary Magic” that took the audience on a music, dance, acrobatics, puppetry and musical theatre journey that was, in the words of the incredible Mary Poppins Tribute, that concluded the first act, simply … Supercalifragilisticexpialidoious!

Brainstorming For a Better Future

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Clinical psychologist Dr Ameika Johnson explains how live theatre can help young people tackle online exploitation and bullying.

The internet is a complex and rapidly changing space. Technologies like artificial intelligence, augmented reality and the metaverse have the potential for great benefit but also carry the risk of great harm, for children and young people.

Live theatre provides a platform to explore these opportunities and challenges and empower students to take positive action in the digital world.

How To Write An Opera

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Students across Australia can access an on-line program that teaches them how to write, compose, orchestrate and design their very own opera. The Victorian Opera’s Tim Ryan describes how the Beyond the Stage program brings the creativity of opera to classrooms.

I came across Beyond the Stage as a VCE Music and Drama teacher, trawling the internet for engaging resources during the dreaded COVID-19 lockdowns of 2021.

All-Stars' Dot and the Kangaroo Triumph

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Australian and New Zealand school students have won a special award at the Junior Theatre Festival in the United States.

Each year, the “Aussie All-Stars” and the “Kiwi All-Stars” take part in a program that includes Broadway musicals, workshops and a performance of their Broadway junior production after an intensive four-day rehearsal.

The Digital Stage

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Tools that were once the preserve of professional theatres with substantial budgets are now available to educators and students alike