News

The NIDA Outreach Program reached its exciting conclusion last week. The Year 10 Drama class premiered their play Track & Field on Wednesday 12 June to an enthusiastic audience at the Wehl Street Theatre. Written by 2018 graduates Isidora Pandilovska and Charlotte Smith, under the mentorship of Senior Lecturer and Course Leader Writing for Performance at NIDA Dr Stephen Sewell, the play was developed for and with the class.

The play explored themes such as mental health, bullying, financial stress, identity and
friendship; and was the result of collaborative workshops with the class and creative team. It can take several years for a play to be conceived, developed and performed. This program condensed this process down to 6 months! The class rose to the challenge and the final result was a moving performance that wowed the audience. Congratulations to Jenna Allsopp, Clancy Cane, Liza Davison, Amy Finnigan, Katia Griffin, Eliza Harding, James Holmes,
Kayla Jones, Hayley Mc Intosh, Nadia Munguakwokwa, Daniela Ortiz-Kaiser, Elizabeth Pollifrone, Amelia Taylor, Imogen Telfer and Carleah Tweddle.We are very proud of your efforts.

On Thursday 13 June the class attended St Martins Lutheran College, our 2019 regional partners in the NIDA Outreach Program, for a special encore performance of their original play, It’s So Deep. This was also a moving and powerful piece of theatre, and it was intriguing to see how the same process wielded such diverse final results with a different cohort. It was wonderful to have Dr Stephen Sewell here in Mount Gambier on his final visit for the year. We were delighted that he was able to attend our production after being such a key part of its development. Overall, it was a fantastic way to end this exciting semester.

Eliza Suggate | Director