“This year, nine out of 13 of our students have been shortlisted for OnSTAGE,” said Drama Teacher, Andrew Coates.
“This has never happened in the 12 years that I have been teaching Drama at St Mary’s.”
OnSTAGE is an exhibition of drama students’ exemplary individual and group performances and projects. The OnSTAGE season at the Seymour Centre is presented by the NSW Education Standards Authority and the NSW Department of Education.
“You might get one student every few years whose performance is regarded as extremely meritorious and therefore rated highly enough for them to be nominated for the possibility of performing at OnSTAGE,” said Andrew.
As part of the final HSC examinations, Drama students complete a practical component which requires them to perform an original piece of theatre both as a group and individually. This is marked by a panel of independent adjudicators against a number of criteria including performance skills, originality and character development.
Two students – Isabella Wightman and Sophia Derkenne – have been nominated for both their individual performances and their group performance.
“This means that both of these students have achieved 100% for the practical component of their Drama subject in the HSC,” Andrew said.
The nominations from All Saints’ College include two group performances – The Word Collectors and Active Wear Mums and two individual performances based on Australian literature.
The students nominated for OnSTAGE are: Connor Power, Olivia Fairfax, Clair Ward, Isabella Wightman, Sophie Derkenne, Alice Haggarty, Gemma Plant, Bianca Whereat and Tom Maher.
Performance Dates: 9 February to 15 February 2019 at the Seymour Centre, Sydney.
Booking forms will be available to download from mid-November 2018.
To find out more about OnSTAGE, click here.
Photography by Amanda Skehan.