Splurge guns and Gangsters!!!!!

We must have been mad when we had the idea of visiting scenes from Bugsy Malone!!! We were mad, it was awesome and it was a banger of a year end!!!

The passion projects are now in its second year! Although, the Performing Arts have been participating in the end of year arts focus since it started its life as the Arts Kete. This year we collapsed the timetable for years 7 - 10 during the last six weeks of Term 4. Students were able to choose their passion to embark on. Options for students ranged from community events to wearable arts. Sports events to science and food. There was something for everyone and of course this year we offered Musical Theatre once again. As we were now accomodating two extra year groups we had a whopping 60 kids sign up which meant we could have four specialist teachers. Joanne clark taking the role of Director, me as musical director and choreography, Sarah Richardson as choreographer and vocal director and Luke Taylor as our resident dialect coach. We were also blessed to have two of our awesome teacher aides Judy and Joanne who also have theatre experience.
It was a huge challenge having to muster up the energy at the end of a crazy busy year to put on this wee musical. Having full days on this project meant that we could get so much more done in a session. Last year we were in two hour slots and this certainly didn't help the creative flow.
As the excited theatre kid faces appeared at the whare we knew that it was going to be a great time. Seeing how much the students were engaged and excited certainly helped my energy levels. If the students were bringing it then I certainly had to.
We all met as one big group to start off our sessions. Here we did a physical warm up and then we discussed our objectives for the day! After that we would work in groups on different parts of the show!
This year we had two wonderful people work on our set and props. Mike and Nick worked on our concept ideas and designed us an amazing stage and of course the unforgettable splurge guns!!

Having the set and props definitely lifted the professional level from the students. This was now getting real and after 5 weeks and a bit we were ready!
We did two performances on our show case day. The first was to our primary school next door, expecting a few classes they were so excited to see our show that the whole school came! They were such a fantastic audience and the performers were feeding off their laughter and their applause! Next up was our students biggest challenge....... their peers. During the day all of the passion project groups had displays that parents could look at, we were the finale of our day with our show! Nerves were high ( including mine as I was on the sound desk again, no pressure ha ha )
Our kids always enjoy the music and drama we provide them to watch but this was for sure the quietest audience we have ever had! I mean that in a good way, plenty of laughter and applause but the audience were so engaged you could feel it!
Our hearts bursting with pride, we finally finished this mad, crazy year!! The show was a success, everyone was exhausted, apart from Mrs Clark who was already in the midst of planning next years show!! HA Ha ha!
Blessed to work with wonderful students and inspiring staff, we had for sure earned our summer!
2018 OUT ( MIC DROP)