Celebrate Drama! 2012

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Drama is DIVERSE

Drama can extend beyond the stage to address social issues and create social change. How can it be used in a responsible and meaningful way by and for different youth profiles?

This year, the theme of Celebrate Drama! 2012 is ‘Connecting Communities through YOUth.’ It spotlights people working with and for youths, particularly in the area of social service and change. Join us at The Arts House for two days of workshops, presentations, performances and dialogues to develop your understanding of how drama can be used to engage youth in personal development and active citizenship.

Whether you are an educator, caregiver or social / health professional who works with challenged individuals or groups, you won’t want to miss out!

About Celebrate Drama!

Launched in 2005, Celebrate Drama! is SDEA’s local public outreach platform that showcases and celebrates the use of drama in everyday life. This Community Festival targets different groups every year with a diverse programme to encourage all round participation. It features performances, workshops, forums and installations. Download Programme Brochure


Performances

Just Stressed Lah!
Ahmad Musta'ain Khamis and Marianne Sim Performance and Discussion

Time: 7PM - 9PM

Duration: 120 minutes

Location: Play Den

Audience Capacity: 80

Ticket Price: $25 (Public), $20 (SDEA Member)

Just Stressed Lah! explores stress-related issues through the eyes of two distinct, yet complementary communities - teachers and students. This devised piece has the cast actively engaged in unearthing, prodding and confronting the voices that normally take a backseat in the classroom (or the corners of the staffroom). It is from this healthy, vivacious banter and some theatre magic, that these issues are foregrounded, with hopes that the audience will find it all insightful.

Kids Interrupted
Sangeeta Nambiar and Playacting Productions

Time: 2PM - 3.30PM

Duration: 90 minutes

Venue: Living Room

Audience Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $25 (Public), $20 (SDEA Member)

Dramatized Reading for Young Children - Workshop and Showcase. Join Sangeeta Nambiar as she takes you through a series of activities that encourage young children to be more involved with voice work and expressive reading. This will be followed by a short presentation of the children's work and a Q and A session facilitated by Christina Sergeant

Catch You When You Fall
Performance Showcase

Time: 7PM - 9PM

 Duration: 120 minutes

Venue: Chamber

Audience Capacity: 25 Ticket Price: $25 (Public), $20 (SDEA Member)

This showcase on original 10 minute plays created by students are based on given titles, 4 chairs and all the props they can fit in a big, blue IKEA bag. The plays show that with open communication and acceptance of people as they are - we can help in suicide prevention.

Workshops

Drama Tools in Counselling
Sharmini Winslow

Time: 10AM - 1PM

Duration: 180 minutes  

Venue: Blue Room

Participants Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $80 (Public), $60 (SDEA Member)

This workshop aims to equip participants with ideas for running group Counselling using drama. The session will cover establishing rapport and safety in the group; initiating spontaneity and building group cohesion; creating awareness in areas that clients need to address; and facilitating role play and effective group sharing after enactments. A simple model will be presented and participants will get to experience the process of a typical session run by the facilitator.

Rehab Theatre in Prisons
Peggy Ferroa

Time: 10AM - 1PM

Duration: 180 minutes

Venue: Chamber

Participants Capacity: 20

Ticket Price: $80 (Public), $60 (SDEA Member)

Any arts project in prisons is an obligation to help in the process of rehabilitation. Many inmates agree that change comes from within, from an individual’s deep desire to move out of the present cycle. How can theatre be used to work with inmates and the correctional institution to help shape the desire for change? This workshop deals with how to plan outcomes and assessments that help this journey.

Listen
Teng Zi Ying and Asyraf Aziz

Time: 2PM - 3.30PM

Duration: 90 minutes

Venue: Chamber

Participants Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $40 (Public), $30 (SDEA Member)

Listen is a workshop in collaboration with Action for AIDS designed to help participants identify the different modes of transmissions beyond the typically-known ones, recognize the stigma and discrimination that takes place both beyond and within people living with HIV (PLHV), and outline the importance of way we treat PLHV over the disease itself.

Feeling Special
Kenneth Kwok

Time: 10AM - 1PM

Duration: 180 minutes

Venue: Living Room

Participants Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $80 (Public), $60 (SDEA Member)

This interactive workshop will immerse participants in an introductory Forum Theatre experience designed for teenagers to address the issue of bullying. Ideal for teachers in a secondary school or tertiary education setting.

Devising Drama for Youth at Risk
Oniatta Effendi

Time: 2PM - 5PM

Duration: 180 minutes

Venue: Blue Room

Participants Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $80 (Public), $60 (SDEA Member)

This 3-hour workshop will look at two specific projects which were crafted and facilitated by Oniatta with Youths-At-Risk. The projects are “Hello Hero!” and “- am.” “Hello Hero!” was a heartwarming project that engaged youths from homes in a letter writing process through the process of drama. The resultant letters are heart-wrenching moments filled with heartfelt regrets, apologies, ambitions and aspirations.

Forum

Guiding Youths in using Drama for Social Change

Time: 3.30PM - 5PM  

Duration: 90 minutes

Venue: Chamber

Participants Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $25 (Public), $20 (SDEA Member)

With more young people using drama to work with voluntary welfare organisations and community groups, this forum aims to identify and clarify:

  • planning considerations when embarking on Social Change projects
  • requirements for the supervision of young people by VWOs/Teachers
  • how to set and manage outcomes
  • the ethics involved in using applied drama for social change
  • the knowledge, skill-sets and time frame required
  • concerns regarding emotional and physical safety, including confidentiality issues

Panelists on the forum will include representatives from MOE and international schools, MCYS (Youth division), the National Arts Council, a Voluntary Welfare Organisation, and teaching artists. They will talk about their personal experiences as well as engage in a Q&A with the audience. This forum is moderated by Kenneth Kwok.

Performances

The Journey
Down Syndrome Association, Performance and Discussion

Time: 2PM - 3.30PM  

Duration: 90 minutes

Venue: Play Den

Audience Capacity: 80

Ticket Price: $25 (Public), $20 (SDEA Member)

A sudden dream jolts a man out of his daily routine and sets him on a journey of discovery. Is the journey real or is it still part of his dream? What will he discover? Conceptualised and directed by Julius Foo and assisted by Jean Ng, this piece is performed by 9 persons with Down Syndrome and one person with Autism. The performance combines movement and music with some text. There will be a talk-back after the show to share the process.

Self:Harm
Theatre:Connect, Performance and Discussion

Time: 2PM - 5PM

Duration: 180 minutes

Venue: Chamber

Audience Capacity: 80

Ticket Price: $25 (Public), $20 (SDEA Member)

Self:Harm is a devised performance that stemmed from a need to address an "Issue" that is never discussed, at least, not in public. Written and created entirely by the young people in Theatre:Connect, Self:Harm will bring to lif young people's lives and what we can do to make it a little easier. Following the performance, there will be a discussion on the process of devising a piece on a sensitive and potentially risky topic.

Catch You When You Fall
Performance Showcase

Time: 7PM - 9PM

Duration: 120 minutes

Venue: Chamber

Audience Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $25 (Public), $20 (SDEA Member)

This showcase on original 10 minute plays created by students are based on given titles, 4 chairs and all the props they can fit in a big, blue IKEA bag. The plays show that with open communication and acceptance of people as they are - we can help in suicide prevention.

WORKSHOPS

Connecting to the Community
Dr. Jennifer Kulik

Time: 10AM - 1PM

Duration: 180 minutes

Venue: Blue Room

Audience Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $80 (Public), $60 (SDEA Member)

During this workshop, participants will learn about a local community drama program designed to help strengthen intergenerational understanding. This VIA project used Reminiscence Theatre and Playback Theatre strategies to build relationships between students from Victoria Junior College and elders from the Touch Centre during an 8 week programme. This workshop will be facilitated by Dr. Jennifer Kulik, designer and facilitator of the project, and students / elders involved in the project.

Using Arts in Classroom to Develop Community
Dr. Jennifer Kulik

Time: 2PM - 5PM

Duration: 180 minutes

Venue: Blue Room

Audience Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $80 (Public), $60 (SDEA Member)

During this workshop designed for educators and teaching artists, participants will identify elements of strong classroom communities, learn and share arts-based strategies to develop trusting and comfortable classrooms, and engage in hands-on activities that can be used in the classroom.

Drama for the Intellectually Disabled
Edith Podesta

Time: 10AM - 1PM

Duration: 180 minutes  

Venue: Living Room

Audience Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $80 (Public), $60 (SDEA Member)

This workshop centres around the practical use of the actor's body in space and in relation to other actors so as to develop spatial, dynamic and aesthetic awareness. It further examines movement through Anne Bogart's viewpoints and calls upon the principles of Laban and Animal work, and the late teachings of Stanislavski on actor's physicality and element work.

Drama for the Physically Disabled
Edith Podesta

Time: 2M - 5PM

Duration: 180 minutes  

Venue: Living Room

Audience Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $80 (Public), $60 (SDEA Member)

This workshop is a practical introduction to devising physical theatre with disabled and non disabled actors. It will explore various entry points into devising designed to both inspire actors and jump-start the creative process at all levels.

To Timor With Love
Shalyn Yong and Fatin Syahirah

Time: 11.30AM - 1PM

Duration: 90 minutes

Venue: Chamber

Participants Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $25 (Public), $20 (SDEA Member)

This workshop shares the framework and strategies of an interactive drama programme crafted to help children of the young nation of Timor Leste. Through drama, children gained ownership of their healthcare and increased their awareness of the different diseases and the preventive measures that can be taken. Children were enrolled as members of a Health Army, fighting against different ‘Unhealthy Monsters’ by dramatizing how diseases common to their nation can be cured.

An Empty Bowl
Joseph Tan and Afriyanto Ayub Performance Workshop

Time: 10AM - 11.30AM

Duration: 90 minutes

Venue: Chamber

Participants Capacity: 25

Ticket Price: $25 (Public), $20 (SDEA Member)

An Empty Bowl approaches the issue of Anorexia through exploring a story, interacting with different characters, and solving dilemmas through drama. Participants place themselves in various situations and attempt to assist a protagonist face their problems. Through the use of drama, participants learn and understand Anorexia Nervosa from the perspective of the someone who has Anorexia. Participants will learn the various factors and consequences of this disorder and how they can help someone if they think he/she is anorexic.

1 & 2 June, Friday & Saturday, Full-Day Exhibition, Installation, Roving & Interactive Performances!

To Timor With Love

Exhibition

Venue: VIP Room

This exhibition shows how drama was used to basic hygiene skills to young children in Timor Leste.

Sensing Time
Shireen Abdullah and Abhishek Cherian George

Venue: Foyer The installation will explore how memories are expressed and retained, and, which of the senses lead in the forming and recalling of the memories. Sensing Time is meant to be a multi-sensory, free flowing experience (not documentary or factual) that will wash over the audience. It is hoped that the installation will trigger the audience's own memories and, upon reflection, offer some interesting perspectives on how memories are created and recalled.

Puppets on Wheels
Roving Performance

This free roving performance features wheelchair-bound children who are proud to present their new performance skills to you.

Say No to Dengue
Interactive Performance

Venue: Gallery

This piece combines both Forum Theatre and Theatre-in-Education for lower primary school children. It explores the plight of two housewives. Mrs Lim keeps her house Dengue-free, while Mrs Tan remains completely ignorant that her house is on the way to becoming a dangerous breeding hotspot. Mrs Tan’s attitude takes for a turn when her son contracts Dengue Fever and the NEA Officer, together with his fleet of trainees, steps in to save the day. The NEA Office imparts his knowledge and Dengue-prevention techniques which is a valuable take-away for all.