HAPPIEST DAYS OF YOUR LIFE PRODUCTION WRAPS FOR 2016

The 2016 College Production of ‘The Happiest Days of Your Life’ wrapped on Saturday night with a sensational final show concluding what was a highly successful performance week. The four show run began on Thursday with a matinee for residents from Aegis Aged Care Ellenbrook (The Pines and Hermitage) along with students and staff from Swan Valley Anglican Community School. Our special guests enjoyed a wonderful morning tea prepared by Mrs Lewis and were very grateful to be invited to the show. SVACS Drama Teacher Meredith Corr gave a glowing review, saying “the enjoyment of each role was obvious onstage and each student brough their own quirks and personalities to the characters. Well done on a very slick production”. The cast and crew followed up their razor sharp matinee with their first evening show which was a huge success.

Two more evening shows followed on Friday and Saturday evenings to sellout audiences and the show was described by various audience members as being “hilarious”, “the best production Holy Cross has ever done” and Vice Principal Peter Collins stated “I have never heard an audience laugh so much at a school production”. The evening shows had an amazing energy and the cast were lifted by the audience’s engagement with the quick witted script. The performance run ended with an outstanding performance on the Saturday evening.

Huge congratulations must go to our talented cast: Max Hughes, James Evans, Calvin Thiel, Brianna Armstrong, Chardonnay Mitchell, Zoe Paluszak, Chloe Ryan, Josh Gethin, Lloyd Matias, Angela Gethin, John Paul Botha, Ben Sorensen and Beth Robinson.

Big thanks also go to our dedicated student crew: Jack Hammon, Kayla Castrianni, Casey Van Der Merwe, Kayla Collins, Rachel Joubert, Aran Burke, Alex Smilovitis and Will Evans.

As always, the production wouldn’t be possible without the dedication of College staff. A massive thank you the core team of Mr Chris McRae, Miss Jackie Collender, Miss Edel Maher and Mrs Emma Robinson for their amazing dedication to the show this year. 

The support staff team has also been instrumental this year and thanks must go to the following people for their hard work throughout the process: Mr Matt Smyth (Set), Mrs Colleen Azzopardi (Costume/Make Up/Hair), Mrs Jacqui Sanders (Budget/Front of House), Mrs Sarah Brown (Catering), Mrs Carolyn Jess (Marketing), Mr Chris Gooch (Media).

We were also lucky this year to have several external volunteers. So thanks must go to Mrs Rebecca McRae, Mr Ryan Lenard and Miss Laura Evans. 

Thanks to staff who gave up their time to supervise either at rehearsals or on performance nights: Mrs Anna Amatulli, Mrs Diane Oleynik, Mr Liam Benton, Mrs Toni Strong, Mrs Dorota Fretwell, Miss Sara O’Neill, Mrs Margaret MacMahon, Miss Kelly Bond, Mrs Carla Pastorelli and Miss Emma Pritchard. 

The production culture at Holy Cross College is as strong as ever and with some exciting new facilities on the horizon, we are set to expand even further in 2017. Well done to all involved in ‘The Happiest Days of Your Life’ in 2016. Until next year…..homo in omnibus!!

Mr Chris McRae (Production Coordinator and Drama Teacher)

Happiest Days of Your Life Opens To Rousing Reception

The 2016 College Production of 'The Happiest Days of Your Life' took to the stage for the first time on Thursday for two big performances.

Students went into hair and make up at 10am in preparation for the opening matinee. Energy was high and the anticipation of performance week was evident.

Miss Jackie Collender with Year 10 student Chardonnay Mitchell (Miss Gossage)

Miss Edel Maher with Year 10 student Brianna Armstrong (Miss Whitchurch)

Holy Cross welcomed residents from Aegis Aged Care facilities The Pines and Hermitage along with staff and students from Swan Valley Anglican Community School for the opening show. The residents enjoyed a wonderful morning tea, prepared by our amazing Cafe Coordinator Mrs Lewis.

The Happiest Days Set

College Principal Ms Mandy Connor with residents from Aegis Aged Care

The performance standard was particularly high, with students breathing life into the hilarious characters of Hilary Hall and St Swithin's Schools. The feedback from the audience was very positive and both residents and students enjoyed the performance thoroughly.

Several hours later, Opening Night was upon us and after a superb dinner (again, thanks to Mrs Lewis), students were back in hair and make up and preparations began for the first evening performance. The audience on Thursday night received the show particularly well with some audience feedback including: "Absolutely hilarious" and "The best and funniest play Holy Cross has done". Students left on Thursday night with the adrenaline of a truly wonderful performance running through them.

Miss Gossage (Chardonnay Mitchell) strips for games behind the oblivious Billings (Calvin Thiel)  

Tassell (James Evans), Pond (Max Hughes) and Billings (Calvin Thiel) attempt to hatch a plan to keep the parents in the dark. 

Mrs Peck (Chloe Ryan) and Rev Peck (Josh Gethin) arrive at Hilary Hall to pay a visit to their daughter Julia. 

Mrs Sowter (Angela Gethin) and Mr Sowter (Immanuel Matias) are not impressed with the 'feminine influences' at Hilary Hall. 

Pond (Max Hughes), Miss Whitchurch (Brianna Armstrong), Miss Harper (Zophia Palusazk), Tassell (James Evans) and Miss Gossage (Chardonnay Mitchell) hope for good news from the Ministry. 

Friday evening saw a packed house for the third show and what an audience it was! Jokes flew thick and fast and the cast fed off the energy of the audience. College Vice Principal Peter Collins was quoted as saying "I have never heard an audience laugh so much" at a school production. The students were on a major high after the Friday show as were the staff.

Barbara Cahoun (Bethany Robinson) is all smiles for Miss Harper (Zophia Paluszak)

Hillary Hall and St Swithin's will now welcome the Meadowvale Academy for Backwards Boys and Forward Girls. 

Pond (Max Hughes) introduces Tassell (James Evans) to the unimpressed Miss Whitchurch (Brianna Armstrong)

Hopcroft Minor (Ben Sorensen) attempts to strike a deal with Rainbow (John Paul Botha)

Students are now gearing up for their final performance of Happiest Days, which will be presented to a full house on Saturday night. Special guests will include members of the College Senior Leadership team and adjudicators from the Drama Production category of the Catholic Performing Arts Festival. The students are set to go out with a bang and wrap up what has been an amazing eight month process which has included many laughs and resulted in some fantastic friendships. It will be a bittersweet night for our six Year 12 students who will see the curtain fall on their final Holy Cross College Production and their Secondary School Drama journey.

2016 Year 12's Kayla Collins (Make Up Manager), Casey Van Der Merwe (Artistic Manager), Rachel Joubert (Sound Manager), Jack Hammon (Stage Manager), Kayla Castrianni (Props Manager) and Max Hughes (Pond) with Mr Chris McRae (Production Coordinator and Drama Teacher)

Production Week Arrives!!

It's that time of year again and production week has rolled around. We are now only two days out from our first performance of 'The Happiest Days of Your Life', Holy Cross College's sixth College Production!

Sunday saw the the bump-in of the stage, final set pieces, lighting and sound equipment, which was expertly handled once again by our tech extraordinaire Ryan Lenard, from Getting Technical. Students were straight into hair and make up in preparation for our first full tech/dress run at 10:30. Overall, it was absolutely fantastic to see the whole show come together for the first time in what was a long but very rewarding day.

We now turn our attention to performance week as we gear up for four shows across Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Logistical details for the shows are as follows

Matinee Performance: Thursday 16 June
Doors Open 11:45am
Performance Starts: 12:00pm
Interval Approx 1:00pm
Show Concludes Approx 2:15pm

Evening Performances: Thursday 16, Friday 17 and Saturday 18 June
Doors Open: 6:15pm
Performance Starts: 6:30pm
Interval Approx 7:45pm
Show Concludes Approx 8:45pm

Saturday Evening is now SOLD OUT with Friday evening close to full capacity as well. There are still plenty of seats remaining for Thursday evening which will be a Student Special night with all student tickets being $7.

We look forward to what is set to be a very busy but exciting week ahead and look forward to presenting the show to the Holy Cross College Community!

Mr Chris McRae
Production Coordinator and Co-Director