Wakatipu High’s officially the best theatre school in the country after cleaning up at Theatre NZ’s national TheatreFest Showcase finals in Christchurch last weekend.
The 17-strong troupe of Year 9 to 13 actors and technicians beat 51 theatre groups from around NZ, including 33 schools, two youth groups and 16 adult teams to win best overall production, best youth production and best production of a NZ play, while Year 13 student Rochelle Tickle won best new director and Bethany Graf, Year 12, won the distinctive emerging talent award.
Teacher-in-charge Jake Hansen’s ‘‘absolutely stoked with this fantastic result’’.
‘‘This was a student-driven effort where they used all the elements we teach in the classroom and put it all together for a really brilliant production.’’
They performed NZ playwright Ken Mizusawa’s one-act play That Time, That Place about a young woman, played by Bethany, preoccupied by the unexplained disappearance of a boy during high school.
Hansen lauds the ability of the group to transition between physical to realism theatre, two distinct styles the play calls for.
Clever sound and lighting complemented the acting to ‘‘bring to life the minimalist set’’, he says.
Rochelle is a ‘‘bit shocked and pretty proud of myself’’ for all the awards, especially the Drama Development Trust Award for new director.
‘‘The cast and the crew were all so in credibly supportive of me directing them.
‘‘Even though the majority are my classmates and my good friends they all took me so seriously and listened to what I said.
‘‘And having Jake, Mr Hansen, as my teacher led me to make all the directing choices that I did.’’
She says winning the individual award is ‘‘really reassuring’’ and will push her to pursue directing and teaching theatre more in the future — she flew to Wellington the day before the finals for a first audition for Toi Whakaari, NZ’s top performing arts school.
The winning cast and crew comprise: Rochelle, Bethany, Baster Bamford, Billie Carey, Tomas Colby, Emily Gilbert, Indy Hamilton, Luana Kirchoff Pereira, Rowan Leftley, Maddox Newell, Eden Prytherch, Ruby Pullar, Tara Rooney, Sofia Sharpe, Lucy Singleton, Jack Speedy and Ava Weston.
