Local school children debut ‘A Recycled Tale’ theatre performance at the Whaingaroa Community and Environment Day this weekend.
Dramatrix’s first production of 2010 is scheduled to illuminate the stage at 12 noon this Saturday at the Kopua Domain. Playwright Colette McEnery-Lane, who also directs the play, hopes the audience will delight in the comic-strip theme. She imagines the many laughs will help kick off a day of fun just before the start of the raft race.
McEnery-Lane aims to bring theatre arts programmes into local schools after a successful production at Te Aroha School last year. Te Uku School is the first school from the area to participate in her drama production and after just a few short weeks, the year 7/8 students are ready to perform. Rachel Allen, Principal of Te Uku School, already notices a positive impact. “ The students are working together and engaged in all facets of the production including acting, set design and the creation of props,” says Ms Allen. She is also impressed to see the students step up to the challenge of meeting the performance standard in a short amount of time.
Over 100 hours of combined work, coupled with generous funding from Xtreme Waste, the Community Board, Old School Arts Council and the Raglan Pharmacy all contributed toward making the performance possible. McEnery-Lane plans to pursue more opportunities to partner with local schools in the future. “Securing appropriate funding to enable the creative arts,” she says, “is the next step in building the programme.”
Kate Waterman
