Updates for SDEA members

Member Spotlight
The SDEA editorial team looks forward to featuring one member a month on our website. This feature will include::
1. A Short Bio
2. E-Interview
3. CV

Member Listing
We will also be listing all our members' names on the website.

This is so that our members will be publicly known as an SDEA member, to show the diversity of our members and showcase their expertise. This gives our members the platform for better visibility, connections and networking.

Elvira worked with Stephan Kaegan on the project, Roof, that features a blind musician who recounts his life experiences, with the audience on a roof top in Singapore City. Whereas Chee Keng worked with Lola Arias on the project Hotel, that involves interviewing four chambermaids on their life stories, to the re-writing and the reconstruction of their experiences through the use of visual installations, story-telling, in 5 of Ibis Novena's hotel rooms.

Their participation in Parallel Cities, allows them to make their observations, and document the process of creating with real life stories, understand the implications and complications involved, leading to creation of their research materials for SDEA.

The theme for Celebrate Drama 2012 is 'Connecting Communities Through Youth'.

Our team sat in the first rehearsal of a devised piece for Celebrate Drama 2012, comprising of teachers and students. We interviewed facilitators Ahmad and Marianne to find out more about what they feel about this piece, and their collaboration with SDEA.

E-Interview with Ahmad Musta'ain Khamis & Marianne Sim

1. What is the title of this performance?

"Just Stressed Lah"

2. We hear this is a devised piece with students and teachers - how exciting is this for you?

Ahmad: Both of us take on the role as facilitators, and we are very excited to be working with the kids. The kids are very intuitive and full of energy!

Marianne: This is my first time facilitating a teacher-student group, and it's very challenging and exciting for me. It is important to find the right balance between the students and the teachers. We have to make the games interesting, and different, as most teachers have already played these games. We have to take the experience to a different level for the participants.

3. What is your hope for this collaboration with SDEA?

Ahmad: It's a great opportunity to try out my skills as a drama educator (I'm taking a degree in drama education), and to know things on the ground with a hands on experience. It's also a wonderful opportunity to connect with the community, and to be able to see things from multiple perspectives.

Marianne: It is a good platform and opportunity for me to refine my skills, and knowledge, and take it to the next level.

Just Stressed Lah! is part of Celebrate Drama 2012, 1-2 June, The Arts House. Programme updates and ticket prices will be released in the next few weeks. For more information on Celebrate Drama, contact us at marketing@sdea.org.sg.

Rosie is a freelance theatre practitioner, facilitator and educator, working in numerous schools and running projects both in Singapore and in London. Rosie has been creating theatre with students for over 10 years, using theatre as a tool for expression and dialogue. She is currently on the SDEA Committee and the Head of Programming for Celebrate Drama 2012.

E-Interview with Rosie

1. How many years have you been a member with SDEA?

Officially, 3 years (i think!) At least, that's when I started paying membership fees!

2. What is your background in Drama Education?

I guess I specialise in Applied Theatre, doing theatre with different groups in non-theatrical settings. I love working with teenagers, and using drama to explore themes that interest them, and provoke debate and discussion. I did a Masters in Applied Theatre in Central School of Speech and Drama and am currently doing a Masters in Counselling, and would like to explore psychodrama, drama therapy, and using drama as a therapeutic tool in greater detail in the future.

3. Could you describe the group of people you work with?

I work with people from all over the place, there's no one specific group. I have worked with teenagers in private schools, independent schools, government schools; youth theatres; youth who have been considered "at risk"; transgendered young people. All sorts! I've also done a little bit of work with elderly people and I've taught primary schoolers and kindergarten kids! I focus a lot more on teenagers now though.

4. How do you overcome the difficulties/challenges you face in your work?

I talk to other people, that's one of the reasons I joined SDEA, so I could have a pool of people whose minds I can pick!

Usually I find that my students/participants help me overcome challenges in some way or other, talking to them about their lives and interests and listening to their stories or jokes usually brightens up my moments of frustration.

5. How do you want to further yourself?

Well, I'm doing my Counselling Masters, I'm also about to take a 4 day Art Therapy course, I would like to go on some psychodrama and drama therapy courses, I usually also see what SDEA has to offer and try and make it to those courses! I basically aim to learn in as many different ways as I can about all sorts of things! I constantly learn things from the people I work with, be it teachers, students, practitioners, or participants. Everyone has their own styles of working so I like to learn from all!

Rosemary McGowan - CV

Rosie did both her BA and MA in theatre, graduating in 2006 with an MA from London’s Central School of Speech and Drama. She has been a freelance theatre practitioner, facilitator and educator, working in schools and running projects both in Singapore and London since she was 17. Currently freelancing in Singapore, Rosie has taught in numerous schools, including teaching in-curriculum drama in Yio Chu Kang Secondary School. She is an adjunct lecturer at Singapore Polytechnic, lecturing and developing course material on the Applied Drama and Psychology Diploma.

Rosie was the Associate Artistic Director of Buds Theatre from 2006 to June 2010; co-running the weekly Buds Youth Theatre sessions; co-deciding Buds Theatre Company programme line-ups; and co-creating and running classes for Buds Playhouse. At the end of 2010, she started Theatre:Connect with Hannah Grant (UK), an international, cross-cultural youth theatre that creates relevant and issue-based work with, by and for young people. Their first project My Identity:My Area looked at the concept of identity in London and Singapore. Upcoming projects include Self:Harm (June 2012) and The Horizons Project for the London 2012 Olympic Games. More information is available at http://theatreconnect.com

As a theatre practitioner, Rosie has acted in, directed and produced a range of productions including Rumors and The House of Bernarda Alba (Methodist Girls Secondary School) Tape and The See Saw Tree (Buds Youth Theatre); Death and Dancing, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Shagaround and Colder Than Here (Buds Theatre Company); and in March 2012, Sonnets for An Old Century (Skinned Knee Productions).

As an Applied Theatre Practitioner, Rosie mainly works with teenagers using theatre to explore potentially difficult and sensitive youth-related themes and issues. Recognising a growth in her role as a listener and advisor, she began a Masters in Counselling (Monash University) in 2011 and combines both her knowledge of theatre and counselling throughout her work.

Rosie has been a proud (official!) member of SDEA since 2009 and became a committee member in 2011. Having volunteered in Celebrate Dramas 2007-2009, she took a running jump this year and plunged head first into Head of Programming for Celebrate Drama! 2012 - Connecting Communities through YOUth.

• Have the players stand in a tight circle, with their hands in the center.
• Then have them grab other hands at random.
• The puzzle is for the whole group to work together to get themselves untangled.
• Sometimes you'll find that the group has actually formed several smaller circles.

Source: http://improvencyclopedia.org/games//Human_Knot.html

SDEA will be getting full time staff soon and the office will be opened from Monday to Friday 2-6pm from 2nd February 2012.

If you need to pop down to the office, please give Peggy a call at 97408913 to make arrangements.

Spend a day with us at SOTA’s Studio Theatre, viewing student performances and sharing stimulating discussions about theatre and film making with young people.

This forum is part of a two-week educational exchange between Hong Kong School of Creativity (HKSC) and School of the Arts (SOTA) in partnership with Dramabox.

Featuring on panel discussions alongside students from Hong Kong and Singapore are the culture figure Danny Yung (Zuni Icosahedron & HKSC), May Fung (HKSC), Kok Heng Leun (Dramabox), Kenneth Kwok (NAC), Sean Tobin (SOTA) and Wang Jiunn (SOTA) and many others.

Come and share with us in discussions about pedagogy, philosophy, programmes and policies, and how we can keep progressing towards greater achievements in creative education and empowerment for our youth, as we consider the cultural backdrops of Singapore and Hong Kong.

This programme will be of value for anyone interested in, and involved in creative and educational work with young people.

The forum is free of charge and food will be provided for lunch and tea breaks.

Details:
Thursday February 2, 2012.
9:00 am – 5:45 pm

For free registration please email thomas.ong@sota.edu.sg, with the subject heading YOUTH FORUM no later than Thursday 30 January.

Include your name, phone number, organisation, role/position, dietary requirements.

Teachers can work with project facilitators to identify students who are not necessarily from drama clubs to participate in these free workshops that will explore relevant, pertinent issues with your students in a fun, engaging and creative way.

An Empty Bowl specifically targets lower secondary students who know people at risk of becoming Anorexic. This workshop will address the issue of Anorexia Nervosa among youths and adolescents through the employment of a series of creative and interactive dramatic activities.

An Empty Bowl Workshop Details:
Age group: Sec 2
Number of sessions: 2 sessions
Duration: 2 sessions, 1.5 hours/session
Number of students: 10-20

Listen - a workshop that aims to raise awareness of the impact and dispel misconceptions of HIV/AIDS. It is broken down into 3 phases, each consisting of a performance and dramatic activities.

Listen Workshop Details:
Age group: Sec 2
Duration: 3 sessions, 3hrs/session
Number of students: 10-20

The facilitators of these workshops are current Singapore Polytechnic students who will be closely mentored by SDEA member and theatre practitioner, Rosemary McGowan, as well as a professional psychotherapist who has experience in the particular issue. All sessions will be held at your school.

SDEA will also be presenting a devised piece at Celebrate Drama. It will feature teachers and students who may or may not be from the same school working together as artists on stage. This will be mentored by SDEA Vice President, Elvira Holmberg, and is organised by Marianne and Ahmad.

Email us at sdeaconnect@gmail.com with the title of the Workshop, "Enrol for An Empty Bowl and/or Listen" to sign up or find out more details!

We speak to a diverse group of practitioners, educators, administrators and advocates to try and arrive not so much at a definitive but a collective account of how drama education has evolved in Singapore over the decades. By bringing together a range of individual stories, this issue hopes to take the first step in establishing a record of our challenges, struggles, victories and aspirations both as a profession and as a community.

A very special feature of this issue is the tributes that contemporary drama educators pay to the heroes who have inspired their work.

Stay tuned for more updates on the release date of Dramatise 6.

You can also contact us at sdeaconnect@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Committee member Fanny Kee got this little social together, ordered a sumptuous buffet and made sure everyone was well looked after. Well done, Fanny!