Expression of Interest

The Drama Victoria Theatre Festival is a revival of the Monash Schools Theatre Festival that seeks to nurture a new and exciting model for teachers and students. We are now entering the third year of this state-wide festival celebrating excellence and diversity in drama. Hundreds of Year 9 and 10 students come together for workshops and performances to create work and share ideas – not to compete, but to explore and learn what drama and performance means to different people.

Next year’s festival will build on the success of the past two years, as we take feedback from returning schools to make this a participant-driven event. We will continue to focus on the creative development of young theatre makers by giving them an opportunity to workshop creative ideas with their peers, learn new ways of approaching performance and, most importantly, to discover new creative perspectives to expand their engagement with drama. Participating students (Year 9/10) and schools will work across the period of the Festival, starting with a series of "stimulus day" workshops in early March held at Monash University. The ideas and skills generated on this stimulus day will be the first step towards creating an original performance work that the students will eventually share in ‘cluster performance groups’ hosted at local school venues towards the end of semester.
 
Want a better feel for what the Festival is like for the students?
Click here to check out a reel of some highlights from the first Festival in 2015.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Can the students rehearse an existing play?
Nope, this Festival is about creating new performance work. Each 10-20 minute performance will be student generated – written, directed and performed by the students – and based on the creative stimulus provided at the Monash workshop day. Works will be viewed by a panel who will provide feedback on performance, positively affecting outcomes for participating schools. Students will gain unique and valuable experience creating work alongside a diverse range of peers. 

How does the Drama Victoria Theatre Festival work with the school curriculum?
Some schools will use the devised performance as the focus for term two drama elective work while other schools take a completely co-curricular approach. We have had schools without a drama class participate, and we have had schools focus their first semester work on the outcomes of the DVTF. In 2017 we will be providing additional support for teaching and learning around the development of performance works, and will help find ways for schools within clusters to be in communication through the process.

Who is running the Festival?
The DVTF is curated by Drama Victoria in partnership with Monash University, and with an incredible baseline support from our six host schools. The Drama Victoria core team and Committee of Management work alongside a Festival Producer to manage all aspects of the Festival, and are further supported by a team of pre-service teachers attached to each performance cluster. The Master of Teaching candidates will be assisting in developing learning materials for participants, while the undergraduate pre-service teachers will work to assist the Festival achieve its key aims of collaboration and creative development.

Who are the hosts?
The six host schools have each put forward their interest in sharing their excellent theatre facilities with the community by hosting up to five other schools at their venue on the performance night.

What are the key dates?
- We will provide some guidance of things your students can start to think about early in term one in anticipation of the workshops, but no specific work on the performance piece will begin until the stimulus day
- You will participate in a single full day of workshops (the 'stimulus day') at Monash University in early March
- The students will then have two months to work on and develop an original performance piece
- In late May / early June you will attend your host school for a dress rehearsal during the day and a performance in the evening

Does the Festival cost anything?
An entry fee of $400 is payable*, which includes:
- Participation of up to 25 students from Years 9/10
- A full day of creative development workshops at Monash University (plus this year one workshop day will be held in Ballarat)
- Learning materials reflective of and based on intended outcomes from the creative development workshops
- Participation in dress rehearsals at your Host School
- Participation in the final performance at your Host School
- Dinner for your students at the performance evening
- Access to local networks within your cluster
- Marketing materials to encourage parents and friends to come experience the performance outcomes (note, there is no cost for audience members to attend)
- Access to a professional Producer for the duration of the Festival period (March - June)

* Assistance with fees and travel is available for schools in difficult circumstances: please contact director@dramavictoria.vic.edu.au
HOW TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST

Have a spare five minutes? Simply fill in this online form! This is an expression of interest only - you are not committing yourself to anything yet, just flagging that you are interested in being a part of the 2017 Festival - we will only ask you to commit once you are offered to be a particular performance cluster. Should we find ourselves with more applications than we can accommodate, selection will be based on the date of your EOI submission, school availability and geography. Although certain clusters tend to fill up very quickly we do our best to make sure everyone gets into their first or second preference if possible.

First round of offers will go out Wednesday 8 February but if you need more time please just email festival@dramavictoria.vic.edu.au and we can make sure you are a part of the 2017 Festival.

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* 1. First Name:

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* 2. Last Name:

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* 3. School

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* 4. Email Address:

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* 5. Mobile Phone:

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* 6. Alternative Phone:

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* 7. Please rank clusters in order of preference, keeping in mind that these will be the venue for your final performance:
We will attempt to place everyone in their first or second preference, but places can fill up quickly so please only select as many options as are appropriate.

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* 8. Please nominate ALL dates you are available to participate in the performance cluster:
The times of the performance days vary from cluster to cluster, but ordinarily will be an afternoon dress rehearsal with a performance starting at 7 or 7.30pm. The more options you have here, the higher the chance we will be able to get you into your first preference.

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* 9. Please nominate ALL dates you are available to attend the one-day Stimulus Day Workshop at Monash University (Clayton Campus) with your students:

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* 10. Approximately how many students will be participating in the workshops / final performance?

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* 11. What do you wish to gain by participating in the 2017 Drama Victoria Theatre Festival?
As we plan the Festival details we like to know what you can most get out of it!

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* 12. If you were a participant in 2015 or 2016, what would you love to see happen in 2017?
An exciting idea to encourage more collaboration between students, ways teachers can engage with other teachers more, etc etc.
If you would like to chat in more detail make a note and we will give you a call, or email festival@dramavictoria.vic.edu.au and I will get back to you.

Thank you for your interest, please make sure you click the DONE button below to submit your answers!

As mentioned already, the first round of offers will go out Wednesday 8 February, but if you need more time please email us and we can make sure you are a part of the 2017 Festival.

Should you have any questions or concerns whatsoever, or if you have filled out an EOI but your dates / situation has changed, please do not hesitate to contact festival@dramavictoria.vic.edu.au
 

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