IMAGES FROM THE ART AND DRAMA STUDY TOUR TO NEW YORK CITY
In April I had the privilege of travelling to New York for an Arts and Drama Study Tour . The trip lasted for 10 days , and in those 10 days we managed to see five shows , do six workshops , tour two universities , visit two galleries and explore a massive chunk of New York .
We spent a surprising amount of time just travelling from place to place , giving us the opportunity to take in the sights , try the food and generally enjoy the atmosphere of New York and its surrounding suburbs . A pastime of many boys in our free time was to check out the various thrift stores on the streets and collect as much American clothing as we could get our hands on to bring back home .
A highlight for me was touring the Juilliard School – the famous school of the arts . It was so inspiring walking through the halls , hearing the music , watching the students rehearse and being bumped into their performing arts spaces . It gave me a great understanding of what is required to attend a place like that , and made me reflect on our amazing spaces at Scotch that are so similar in design and size .
As part of the Drama tour we undertook workshops on improvisation , dance , stage combat and audition , all held by
professionals in the film and theatre industry . I found the audition workshop was my favourite , as I was able to show my audition piece to a fresh set of eyes and was given feedback from a casting agent as to how it could be improved for casting calls .
Most evenings , both the Drama and Arts students got to watch a play or musical . We saw The Life of Pi , The Play That Goes Wrong , Camelot , Fat Ham and Sleep No More . My favourite was Sleep No More , an immersive experience based on Shakespeare ’ s Macbeth . Instead of sitting in a conventional audience , the play takes place throughout a multi-storey building , with different actors playing out different storylines simultaneously . Every member of the audience puts on a mask , and then they were able to freely roam the building as they saw fit . At the end , everyone had a personal experience different from the person next to them . I loved the way it made me feel a part of the narrative , not just a member of the audience .
I ’ ll remember the whole experience fondly ( maybe except for that one time I was scammed at a food truck ). It has given me so many great memories that I ’ ll never forget . This trip has been an absolute highlight of my time at Scotch , and something I wouldn ’ t hesitate to do again . JAMES TALBOT www . scotch . vic . edu . au Great Scot 59