Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2001

Info e - lint;:^ ' '

True GRIT ^ t^^ Creatine

fir GRIT PROrCT

Process

Cathy Brandon - Stage Manager

Penny Miirphy, Head of Creative Arts Faciilty

imagine alarge group of senior students from grins were often found on the faces of the Boys and Girls Grammar each with apuipose, crew as new costume variations and ideas each with a role to perform eitlier on or off were conceived by the crew. MBehand Mss the stage. That was what Ihad the pleasure Trucey LawsoiifromBoys Grinunar or being part of last term in Ihe Craniumar Youth Theatre production, Tile Atoll, Jini, , The oroup of students which made up the Gim, is I first found out about the production dufuig all stages of the production. I have trough Mrs Mumhy and I became aware. never been among a group of people who 11rrough BITgit Villadsen who played 111e were asproductive andfocuseduntiltheend femalelead. Use, thrillhere was apusitionfor Without 111is production, about thirty a Stage Manager available. I went to a students from both Grammar Schools would rehearsal 10 meetihe Producer. an' Michael not have been exposed to the amazing Bell, who basically gave me the job on the experience of creatin" a professional drama spot. weUldid mention that Ihadbeenparr production. To be able to wakinto a room of the Drama course at BGGS since Year S with a group of strangers. to work as andlhatlwas a Stage Mannaerforthe BGGS conea"ues, and to leave as friends was an 2000 production of Refecno, ,s. Forthe next amazing process. Knowing that wellave all ten weeks Iwas at A. ir Beh's beck and call shared the same experiences is quite an cast and crew for 7/1e Atoll, jini!I Giants were able to support and complement each other

Michael Behjoined the staff of Brisbane Grammar School as a Drama teacher two years ago. Last yearwhen he approached me to extend the collaboration between the two schools and participate in their student theatre company, we decided to 'give it a go' The firstjoint venture was The PitchfoikDisney; and the image of Morgan Maguire's white face and absorption in her part and the talent of the male leads was an inspiring start. Students had beenin controlof design and the technical aspeds of the production and proved themselves to be as creative and motivated as professionals This year, The Mountain Giants involved more of ourstudentsin all aspects of the production. Those involved backstage are mentioned in Cathy Brandon's article Cathy is indeed an amazing Iy efficient Stage Manager The aim of 'implementing an ongoing performing arts forum that creates. reflecls and articulates critical discourse through theatre' was certainly realised by this venture. We look forward to more of these very valuable experiences for our young people T/t e M0 ,, 13 t, ,ii, Gi, ,13 ts Experienee On stage Bingit Will adsen. Penny Gow and Kirsten Hall showed that young women can use their physical presences in a ntost mature way

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BiroitWilladseii- Lending Lady

Despiie 111e geneml consensus on the doubtful relevance or worksliops. the Inlensiiy of Ihe reli"rsal schedule vifually crippling any possibitiiies 10r other exim-cumcular aciiviiies. 111e frequenibnredoniexpenenced by aciors both on and off 111e sin"e dunn" rehearsals and Ine often ouijandisli dennnds of our Director. 711eAfoi, ,11,111 G, ", 11,1,1111ie remembered by all involved as an rib*o1uiely labtilous experience

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Tile Brick^trge CIEii. Ink'e n boi"

An miense experience? Yes it was! Certainly ille reheiusal schedule o110ur Tellearsnls a week was; as were many orihe exercises 111e aciors look part in us warm-ups and Ihe weekly rillysical workshops. For Ihe members of Ihe audience coming 10 Ienns willline pini. Iheir evening Lung one oriniense concern!relion and hawildenneni. Wlien it all came logeilier. by all accountsilie ovenll effects or aciors. sound and Iighiiiigon <1ageprovided an enilimlhng nighiof Iheairc. Certainly for the actors, 1110/1gh rinybe rini toriiieirlong-sullenng crew. Tile '10/1/1mJ, , G, "Jus provided great n, einories whiclifar outweigli boredom during rehearsals or sore limbs from concentrated slumping in Workshops in weelJy physical workshops. actors were Instructed in traditional Suzuki methods of coneeiiimlion and characteris allon. The aim of 111ese workshops was to discover and develop our physical cliamciers. while many of us itchieved this and gained a great deal. sonle were left behind pondering Ihe exact pumose of Agri Ten-tell. tan exercise where one must sund completely still and. when the niusic is played. wave one's amis around erratically while keeping thenlabsoluiely still?!?) Inn Rehearsals Our Ihric. -weel, y rehearsals were rinkrures or wailing. enjoyment and actual aciing. filere was often a lot o151anding around on slagc while oiliers rehearsed and climiged in and our or costumes. inTai is one o11he realities or working in 111e"ITe Offstage Backsiage there wasih, ,nieresting contrasi01a social. cliaity castignoring allinstructions from Ihe backstage crew and tile often tense crew menibers consianUy fussing over make-up and actors who wouldn't shush

After receiving the rehearsal schedule and electrifying feeling. Is usgestihateveryone. recovering from 111e shock of the amount of sometimein theirlife. should have a sintilar days und limes. which were required from experience us it opens your eyes to the cast and erav, we all begaii the process understanding youIself and others around of pulling the show together. On Mondays. you the cast were at a physical workshop while the crew sat and brainstormed in the The success of 11ns production was not produciion nieeiing. This was \vilen issues. solely dependent on the words in the script ideas and problems were discussed and 11 was dependent on the talents. skills and hopefully resolved. An example of this was persistence of the cast. crew and allinvolved when the wliole production crew sat in the As a SIa. ,e Manager for this production I Theatre space for an hour and a half was able to contribute to the organisation of bratnsiorimng the set layout. I remember the actors and actresses. the costumes. the sitting there while we argued/discussed puppets and the tieneral runnin" of the whether or not the rite should be on the backsta"e. I could not have achieved my ground or hung upside down. A1 the time own successrioreould the production have this seemed to be a waste of time but now achieved success without the help and I'm glad we did it because by the end of the cooperation of other BGGS students. I meeting we decided for the tree to han, , personally would like to congratulate and upside down. which was the huht decision thank my teami of friends and coneagues for the show Sundays from 9amuniit 2 or 3 pm was when Construction and Wardrobe and Make-up; the set. costume design and sweatshops 10 fumer, Desi"n Assisiant and Wardrobe were created by the backstage cre\, I. and at and Make-up; Ni Wanehap. Wardrobe and 12.30pin the sleepy actors and actresses Make-up; and Morgan SCOtney, would appear and work until5pm. These Composition. I would also like 10 mention Sundays were sometimes very stressful yet the three beautiful and talenied actresses enjoyable depending on what costume you who added sophistication to the SIa"e were given to work on or \vhai sewino Kitsien Hall who played the Scornsh fake - machine was available at the time. Dunn" Mara; Penny Gow who played the stylish this timelfoundniyself avoiding inc sewing Diamante; and Bitttit Will adsen who played machines and SIickin" to the scissors and the attention-seeking leading lady. 115e. the unpicker On behalf of the BCGS cast andcrewlwould 11 was a frequent occurrence for the actors to like to inarik un Beh and Miss Lawson for disagree with the wardrobe crew on the public their continued support and delennination wearability and exposure involved in nitou"bout 111e whole production parading in their creations. highly amused Megan while. Co-Stage Manji"er; Yukiyo Matsuda and Elizabeth Francis, Costume

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811g!! 11/11ndse, , Fedor, ,is

GionMIR GAZETTEJWE 2001 - P, ,ge 16