Theatrefest
28 Aug
Six of our senior students attended Theatrefest in Nelson recently.
Hokitika Dramatic Society’s youth contingent, which is made up of six Westland High School students, performed recently in Nelson at the Upper South Regional Festival of Theatrefest New Zealand. The cast performed Promaggedon by Dan Dietz, directed by Alanna Nicholls. The cast, made up of Sam Nicholls, Lily Day, Rishjarn Hereaka, Jeannelize Diplock and Siobhan Thornley, recently performed their play at the Old Lodge Theatre’s one act play production.
In Nelson, they competed against troupes from Blenheim, Havelock, and Christchurch (x2). The show went ahead despite some unplanned drama involving the Red Door Theatre’s staff. The Hokitika youths kept spirits high and remained positive during the several hours-long delay.
The youths’ patience and high-energy performance was rewarded with multiple awards: Alanna Nicholls received a certificate of merit for directing; Siobhan Thornley’s scene when ‘Kimmy’ comes back from the dead was awarded an ‘outstanding moment of theatre’; Jeannelize Diplock was awarded for her outstanding acting; and Rishjarn Hereaka won the category of ‘excellence in music and sound’ for his transformation onstage from a folk singer/songwriter to a swaggering ‘Elvis’.
“It was an interesting new experience, ” said Alanna Nicholls. “It was made so much less stressful and more fun by the rest of my incredible cast and crew.”
Hokitika Dramatic Society president, Jane Brownie said “we’re immensly proud of these very talented young people. The awards came well-deserved, after a lot of hard work. We would like to acknowlege the support from the students’ families and from committee members, Helen Rose and Lisa Reinhardt.”
