New Norcia Performing Arts Building Sneak Peek

We are only 4-5 weeks away from having access to our amazing new Performing Arts Facilities. The New Norcia building will be ready for operation at the start of next term and Mr McRae, Mr Murphy and Mr Collins were lucky enough to have a walk through last week. Below are some images of what will be our production performance space and also learning spaces for Drama and Dance classes. We are very lucky to have such amazing facilities and staff and students are very excited to be able to start using these very soon!!

Official Poster Reveal

After a lot of thought and a very difficult decision, we are pleased to reveal the winning design which will act as the official poster for the 2017 Senior Production of 'An Unspeakable Triumph of Supreme Brilliance'. Congratulations to Mya Ubalde (Year 10) who has won a $50 iTunes voucher for her efforts. This will be presented at the end of term assembly. Thank you to all students who enterered. There were some amazing designs and we were spoilt for choice!

Unspeakable Shenanigans Week 4

ACCENT WORKSHOP ONE

The question on everyone's lips this week was 'Are You Minnesota Enough?'. Special guest Julia Moody from the Acting department at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts conducted the first of three vocal accent workshops which will allow students to master and perform in the Minnesotan accent. She began with distinguishing the differences between the students' native accent and that of General American before a game of pass the clap using stereotypical Minnesotan phrases such as 'Oh Ya', "Aw Geez' and 'You Betcha'.

The students soon began to pick up the differences and enjoyed the process immensely. They will now conduct their own research around developing their own version of the accent for their individual characters. Below is a look into what they got up to with Julia.

OTHER SHENANIGANS

The production poster competition is now closed and all entries are being carefully considered. The winning design will be revealed next week and will begin to be advertised around the College and local community in the coming weeks.

Small props and pieces of set are now in the planning stages and will start to come together before the end of this term.

Mr McRae will be lucky enough to have a walkthrough of the new New Norcia Performing Arts spaces tomorrow which is where the Senior Production will be performed. If all goes to schedule, the facilities will be available for use from the beginning of next term!

See you next week!

Mr Chris McRae
Production Director

Unspeakable Shenanigans Week 3

The opening scene which introduces our audience to the Moss River players is now fully blocked and character is now the focus for our Senior Students. The cast took part in character workshops with the girls doing some character work with Assistant Director Miss Collender and Production Assistant Miss Goodwin whilst the boys participated in some character improvisation with Mr McRae and Mr Jackson. Scene One then took shape with some excellent interpretation and helpful feedback from the production team. 

VOICE WORKSHOP #1

Our focus now shifts to the first of our three Voice Workshops with Julia Moody next Wednesday in which the students will be working on mastering the Minnesotan accent. Some information about Julia's background is included below. She is currently working as the Head of Voice in the Acting department at WAAPA. This is set to be an amazing experience for the senior cast.

Julia Moody has a Bachelor of Arts from Curtin University (Perth), a Graduate Diploma in Voice Studies from NIDA (Sydney), is a fully accredited Associate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, and did her actor training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the United Kingdom. Julia has performed as an actor in Theatre, Film, TV, and Radio with companies right across Australia. She has worked as a Voice trainer and Consultant in the professional media with SBS TV and Radio since 1994, and with various other companies such as Channel 10,Open Channel, Public Radio News, 5UV and 6PR. She has run specially designed voice training sessions for professional speakers in all domains: the corporate arena; education; Theatre and Film; medical professionals and many others.

Julia has lectured in Voice at the Victorian College of the Arts School of Drama, the University of Ballarat Academy of Performing Arts, and is currently Head of Voice in the Acting Department of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts at Edith Cowan University.

SET PLANNING

A visit to WA Polystyrene this week will see the set planning begin with collapsible walls, falling doors and crumpling set pieces all in the pipeline. Stay tuned!

See you next week for more Unspeakable Shenanigans!

Mr Chris McRae

Production Director

New Facilities for Senior Production

This year's Senior School Production will be the first production to be performed in our new Performing Arts facilities. Set to be completed in a few short months, the facility will cater for Music, Dance and Drama and will be named 'New Norcia' after the Western Australian monastery town linked to Dom Salvado. We are very excited to have the opportunity to perform 'An Unspeakable Triumph of Supreme Brilliance' in the brand new Drama performance space and are looking forward to many more productions in this state of the art facility at Holy Cross College!

Unspeakable Shenanigans

We have already reached the end of Week 2 of Summer Term. Here are some updates from the Senior Production which is well underway.

REHEARSALS
Students this week were immersed into the world of 'An Unspeakable Triumph of Supreme Brilliance' by participating in a 15 minute 'Hot Seating' activity in which they explored the relationships between their characters. Questions were discussed and argued and students got to grips with what made their characters tick. This was followed by an intense rehearsal of the opening scene which really set the energy and 'craziness' of the play. The crew were also hard at work, in a planning meeting for all the various areas of the production team. The students are enthusiastic and it is definitely set to be a fun process.

POSTER COMPETITION
We have already received some amazing entries for our poster competition. The winner will be selected as the official artwork for the Senior Production and will feature on all promotion for the show. Entries close at the end of Week 5 and the winner will be revealed in Week 6.

UPCOMING VOCAL WORKSHOP
Week 4 will see the first of our Vocal Accent workshops with Julia Moody from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Julie specialises in using the voice in acting and will be focussing on the Minnesotan accent with our students in the first of three workshops.

Mr Chris McRae
Production Director

An Unspeakable Triumph Kicks Off For 2017!

The very first Holy Cross College Senior School Production is officially underway with the first read through of the script taking place this week. The students are already showing signs of what are set to be some very funny characters with some unusual quirks such as paranoia, egotistical personalities and arrogance. Don Zolidis' script is witty, sharp and very very funny with some brilliant moments.

In just three weeks, Head of Vocal studies from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Julia Moody will be visiting Holy Cross College for the first of three accent training workshops during which our cast will be working with the distinctive and challenging Minnesotan accent.

We are looking forward to what is set to be a very busy and fun term rehearsing 'An Unspeakable Triumph of Supreme Brilliance'

Mr Chris McRae
Production Director