Inter School Drama Challenge (Apna Arts)
Date: 29.September.04 – 10.December
These extra curricular workshops took place over a period of 10 weeks at Djanogly City Academy, Greenwood School and Indian Community Centre and eventually Manning Girls School. The workshops had their fair share of challenges but mark an important step in exploring innovative ways of reaching Asian communities via theatre and education.
The workshops explored issues of Asian teenage identity. Young people expressed a strong desire to explore their own creative and cultural influences i.e. Bollywood, Hip-hop, dance, comedy, bilingualism etc. By the end of the sessions each group had devised a short performance piece. The workshops culminated in these groups coming together to perform these pieces for each other in a sharing event. The event also hosted a fun group workshop, a group discussion of each other’s work and a theatre career talk by Phil Green from Clarendon College.
Trainee Practitioner Development: Trainee practitioners worked alongside professional practitioners to deliver these school workshops. Trainee practitioners were able to gain invaluable experience over these 10 weeks as they got opportunities to lead parts of the session. Also as Asian role models, young people were greatly encouraged by their presence.
A special thanks to Paolo Allen for consultation on planning of workshops.
For more information contact Apna Arts