From Winter School to Work Experience

The past few months have been exciting for our State Educate program, with large numbers of students attending performances of Hibernation, our Winter School program, and our largest ever Work Experience group. This program is made possible through the generous support of our Education Giving Circle.

Almost 1,400 students and teachers attended our recent season of Hibernation, which ran from 13-28 August. We’ve seen some truly meaningful engagement with many of these students, several who’ve taken the time to write to the Company about their experience.

“I went to go see Hibernation last night and I was up the rest of the night thinking about it. Wow! Just wow! That was an incredible, profound piece of theatre!” said Kate, a Year 12 Drama student. “It is such an important piece of theatre because it is a wake-up call, and a call to action for our society to pull it together and start making a difference! … I wanted to applaud this incredible piece of theatre and congratulate everyone involved.”

Year 11 student James said: “I have been thinking about this thrilling production and the more I do so the more I love the play… I would like to say that analysing such an inspiring performance will be a pleasure. You guys are inspiring a new generation of actors – what you’ve done is beyond brilliant.”

Students were also able to take advantage of State Educate resources, including a study guide, interview videos and guides on how to write reviews. These resources add value and depth to students’ experiences with us.

Winter School is a new program in 2021, building on the success of our popular Summer School program. Held from 12-16 July and led by local actor Ellen Steele, Winter School provided an opportunity for participants to learn a variety of skills designed to build an ensemble, bring characters to life and create bring work from the page to the stage.

We had a huge amount of interest in Winter School, including from two students whose participation was made possible through sponsorship. We join those Woodville High School students in thanking Astrid Deen and Meredith Whiting for their generous support.

Our Work Experience week ran from 16-19 August and it too saw great take up with 19 enthusiastic high school students joining the program. This is the largest Work Experience group we’ve had to date. Coming from as far away as Whyalla, Kadina and Yorketown, these students spent four days learning about all aspects of theatre production, from script analysis to marketing, set design to Laban movement analysis. They spent time examining the script for Hibernation and attended a performance – the first time that two of the students had seen live theatre!

Next up, we’ve planned a week-long regional workshop program for young people in Port Augusta, Roxby Downs and Peterborough. We’re working with Country Arts SA to reach out to schools and assist with transport for students with the intention to offer these workshops in October 2021.

Support for State Educate comes from the Education Giving Circle. Find out more about how you can become an Education Giving Circle member here.