ISTA-Scene June 08

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Alan HayesDavid LightbodyMike Pasternak and Sherri SuttonTexas TAPSjust want to sleep on the field. I think I justtried to drink some water and juice toovercome my sleepiness. The impact thatISTA will have on me for a long time wouldbe that it is never too hard to make newfriends. I have made so many friends in thistrip and it is amazing for me to understandthat to make a new friend, all you need iscommunication.Students from Regent’s School Pattaya– KGV HIGH SCHOOL FESTIVALLaura RandI have decided to sign up to haveanother opportunity to explore the differentaspects of theatre when working in anensemble and to make friends fromdifferent countries and schools in theproCess. My first impression of the hostcity on my arrival was that it is a verydeveloped country but having culture at thesame. I was not nervous about anything atthe beginning of the festival as I have beento ISTA before this but I was excited to seewhat the theme was for this ISTA trip andhow I and the other students were going touse it. At the end of the first day, I felt moreat ease with the people I was working withas I have spent my first day getting toknow them on our trip to the Buddha. Thebest quality of my ensemble leader is thathe made us want to produce the piece weproduced and from this, I have learnt how14 | Scene | 2007-8 June Issue 4to interpret and use props differently. Thehighlight in my opinion was the finalperformance because that was when allthe ensembles gathered together andjoined their pieces to make one big piece, itwas a highlight because it was interestingto see what everyone else had producedduring their ensemble sessions. The impactthat this ISTA experience will have on me inthe long term is that I have made newfriends and acquaintances and know moreabout working together in an ensemble andbeing more open-minded to other people’sideas and suggestions. The three wordsthat describes ISTA for me are enjoyable,educational and an opportunity forexperience!Katie SmithI signed up for ISTA because I lovedrama, my teacher recommended it andbecause students from my school who hadbeen before told me it was really amazingand that it would greatly improve my dramaskills. At first I was nervous about howdifficult the ‘learning’ part would be andwhat if I didn’t meet the expectations of theteachers? But when the weekend started Irealised that everything was taught in arelaxed way and that it wasn’t like being inclass and that no one wanted anythingfrom you that you weren’t willing to give.And now, looking back on the trip, I learntso much without actually realising it at thetime. I think that I learnt the most in myensemble group led by Jesse; I particularlyenjoyed exploring different ways of showingdramatic tension and have found it to besomething that I have used a lot in mydrama lessons. Also, Jesse was a greatteacher, mainly because he didn’t act like ateacher and was cool, but also because heunderstood we were teenager and madethings interesting for us.One of the best things about ISTA otherthan drama was being in a foreign countryand staying in a host family because for meit brought me closer to the people whowere doing ISTA with me. My firstimpression of Hong Kong was “Oh myGod, it’s so cold” and that it had a lotbuildings and things going on and wasreally happening and cultural but stillmodern. My host family was really nice andwelcoming and made the trip a lot easieras I had people who could explain to meabout Hong Kong.Overall, ISTA was a fantastic experienceand at the end of it I felt quite strangebecause I had done so many things andmet so many people in one short weekendthat I couldn’t really get it through my headwhat I had been through. In the long termISTA has defiantly helped to open my mindto different ways of expressing myselfthrough drama as well as introducing me topeople who I’m now going to keep incontact with.ISTA was – IntenseSurrealTiringAmazingPaula HakkajaThis was the second year that Iparticipated in an ISTA festival. Last year'sexperience made me to sign up for it againand I don't regret it. Hong Kong has alwaysbeen one of the dream destinations for meand therefore as the opportunity arose I gotexited beforehand. Furthermore, the daysbefore the festival were quite intense as allof us were excited about host families,workshops, ensembles and new peopleduring the event.The host families varied in theirnationalities and backgrounds, which madethe experience even more engaging for thestudents. My host family originated from theUK, which meant that I was part of morewestern lifestyle. It was a good change, as Icome from Europe and quite often get tomiss European customs and food. Thisbrings up another pleasant factor for me inHong Kong – the cool weather.The workshops in ISTA were also verystimulating. They were not only fun, butalso practical. We learned many new skillsthat can be applied in the drama at futureperformances. For instance, I learnedabout seven energy levels of a human andhow they affect performers, characters andthe audience. Furthermore, I discoveredthat important part of the performance isan occupation of a space on stage – how acertain position of a neutral body in spacecan appeal more dramatically thanexaggerated actions. Therefore performers,directors have to think about the positionson the stage even more.Working as an ensemble is animportant factor of every production.Compared to the previous year, theensemble was more consistent. Ourensemble leader involved everyone in thebrainstorming process and therefore everyperson had some of their ideas applied tothe final performance. Although in thebeginning, it was difficult to apply all thedifferent ideas to one production, in theend everyone listened to each other more.Overall, it was great to meet so manypeople with the same interest at once. Thedifferent cultures of all the students werecontributing to my personal development.However the time in Hong Kong waslimited and the only local culturalexperience was gained when we went tosee a monastery. Also we did not haveenough time to socialize with our friendsand this made the leaving especiallyheartbreaking.Matthew GalvinISTA was a very helpful program not justfor drama but for daily life, it really openedmy eyes and allowed me to experiencemuch more than what I was expecting. Imainly wanted to go to ISTA so I couldimprove on my drama skills and also tomake lots of new friends, which I did.My first impressions of Hong Kongwere mainly put into two words: Cold &Lights and where ever I went it seemed likeboth of those words were always there.
Before and during the festival I didn’t feelnervous nor did I feel scared I was alwaysmyself during the festival and I neverchanged. After the first day I made a lot ofnew friends and I learnt more about ISTAand what I will be doing during the course.With my host family I again experienceda lot but it seemed that the whole time withthem was enjoyable. My ensemble leaderwas very down to earth and could relatereally well to all of us, some main qualitieswere definitely to have fun and to try newthings also she never got angry she justalways stayed chilled. A technique that Icertainly learnt was vocally making calmnoises like wind etc also there were a lotmore trust exercises used so that helpedas well. A major moment in ISTA was whenthe final performance was performedbecause I got to watch what everyone hadmade and decided to put on. One of myfriends was chased by someone with aknife and really shook him up along withme and my other friends. The ISTAexperience has made me want to go backbecause it was just so fun.Three words that describe ISTA: JustHavin Fun!The student ensemble from WesternAcademy of Beijing reflect on theirfestival experience in NEW DELHIPetra AdamovaBefore ISTA I didn’t know how toMIME, how to develop on my own ideasand how to trust other people.During ISTA we had 2 workshops inwhich we learnt different techniques ofacting. One of the workshops that I didwas MIME, and I really enjoyed it, becauseI have never done MIME before. We learnthow to do the moonwalk, how to pushsomething and then fall, how to do tug ofwar with each other and many other reallyinteresting things. I wasn’t really good atthe moonwalk, because it was the first timethat I have done it so I didn’t have thatmuch experience as other people.The other workshop that I have done wasDEVELOPING ON YOUR OWN IDEAS.Before this workshop started I thought that itis going to be a workshop where you justwrite down your ideas and thoughts and thenexpand on them, but it turned out to be thecomplete opposite. We had to think of anidea and then other people will tell you whatto do to make it better, and then they changethe characters, setting and the ending andyou end up with a different story. I reallyenjoyed this workshop and I don’t think thatthey should change anything about it.Most of the time on ISTA we spend withour ensembles, which are groups in whichwe would create a play that we wouldperform at the end of the festival. I reallyliked our ensemble leader, because he was“ISTA was a life-changing experience.”Nicholas Oravetz, Student,Jakarta International Schoolfunny, and very creative. Our play took placein the desert and we exchanged roles as wewent on, no one was the main character.Amelia WillsI enjoyed meeting new people andworking together in an ensemble. I likedworking in an ensemble because at first wewere all quiet and shy. After we hadworked together for a day we started towork together well and make new friends.Staying in India was pretty cool too.Our host family was extremely nice andfriendly. They also had a big house and twodogs. I had a good time shopping, going tothe mall, playing games, and eating junkfood with them.Now that I’ve gone to ISTA not reallyknowing anyone (in the 2006 one of mygood friends was in my ensemble so Ididn’t talk to as many people), I’ve gottento know people from Manila, New Delhi,Dubai, Qatar, and many other places. Ihope to continue talking to them andremembering all of the things we wentthrough together.I enjoyed working in the workshops Me,Myself, and I, and Slow Motion. I likedlearning how to do things in slow motion. Iknow how to fall and how to die in slowmotion. I learned that the illusion of slowmotion in theater is helped by facialexpression.In Me, Myself, and I, I learned thatactors often do the stereotypical things thatreal people don’t actually do. These arecalled beautiful lies. A good way to preventyourself from telling beautiful lies is to actonly for yourself. If you pretend that theaudience isn’t there, and not to look atanyone else, you’ll do something originaland be ‘real’ on stage. To read somethingthe way that you, not anyone else wouldsay, or without making it sound likesomething that came out of a book is tohave someone else read it to you, and thenrepeat it again the way that you would sayit. It then sounds like you have just thoughtof it and are saying it.My favorite moment was when we liftedTamara. We had just gotten the performancejust right. The performance was going reallywell, and then we lifted Tamara higher thanwe had ever done before. I heard theaudience gasp, and I knew that that we hadfinally gotten it perfect.This ISTA was different, but just asamazing as our ISTA. If I could do it again,I’d do it again and again, until I got tired ofit (which might take a while). I hope toalways remember the awesome time I hadand to get myself into high school ISTA so Ican do it again.COMMENTARY ON THE FESTIVALEXPERIENCERoots and Wings was the theme of thisyear’s International Schools TheatreAssociation middle school festival. Prior toattending the festival, held this year in NewDelhi, India, the eleven students from theWestern Academy of Beijing spent timeFrankfurt High School FestivalTop: The Frankfurt staff team - from L to R- Debbie Kidd, Tara Brodin, Sherri Sutton,Sam Yates, Dan Heffernan, Chris Craig,Thom Gain, Kristen Van GinhovenBottom: From left to right – AnnieMcManners (festival host), staff members –Kristen Van Ginhoven, Tara Brodin,Sherri D Sutton, Debra Kiddexploring the theme to try and find a way ofdramatizing the idea. On the first day of thefestival, along with 13 other schools,performed the piece they had devised andreceived very positive responses.We arrived in New Delhi a day ahead ofthe festival in order to take in the sights ofthe old city and spend a little timeexperiencing some of the vibrant anddynamic culture India has to offer. Ahighlight of the day was visiting the... andwalking through the 1000 year oldstructures, full of history that filled the park.We finished the day off with a trip to theDilli Haart market, a colourful shoppingexperience.The festival opened with a bang. A trioset the front garden of the school alive withaction. The prancing of the puppet horse, thedancing of the slightly built Indian boy bothmoving to the complicated beat of the drum.175 students participated in the festival,all with a strong interest in theatre andperforming.The ensembles spent time togetherdevising their component of the finalperformance. These were held in variouslocations including fabric tents erected onthe field and in a local park. The studentsalso participated in specialist workshops, 3of these from the Indian culture.The evenings were filled with frivolity. Aninternational fayre with rides and food onoffer from various countries on one eveningand a Bollywood party on the other. At theend of each day the students returned totheir host families.The final performance, based on an oldstory from India, was beautifully presented,with all students playing a part to bring thestory to life through movement, dialogue,sound light and a final song.Lindsay AtkesonI think that ISTA was one of theScene | 2007-8 June Issue 4 | 15
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ISTA-Scene June 08

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