For years, Alicia has wanted to take a show on tour. It's a great team-building exercise, it gives opportunity for growth for our actors and it's loads of fun! Taking 13 young people to a different state, what could possibly go wrong!?
Well.... nothing, as it happens. When Alicia floated the idea of entering the Seymour One-Act Play Festival (SOAP) back in April, she was met with an incredibly positive response, so she forged on. Them when the seniors performed Know Your Role in July, and audiences raved about it, she knew she had found her play. 11 of the original actors were able to attend (sadly Brielle ended up unwell and subsequently had to pull out) and 3 other AAYT actors bravely put up their hands to learn the whole play with only 3 rehearsals, none of which would be on the actual performing stage. Such courage!
Nine parents came for the trip, a number of them driving other young actors and having them under their care in the cabins we booked at the Big4 Caravan park in Seymour. Most drove for 8 hours to get there. Arriving late Friday night, we settled into the various cabins then headed out to dinner.
Saturday morning, our last actor flew in and we rehearsed for the third and final time (the only rehearsal with the full cast present) and then bumped into the theatre for the performance. Our actors had only glimpsed the stage prior and had never walked on it. Unfortunately, the tech was bumpy - stage lights were working sporadically - Charlie had to deal with a blackout in the middle of his monologue and Katelyn had to deal with a number of errant sound cues thanks to an incompetent sound operator (Alicia's first and hopefully last foray as a tech!!). All our actors continued as if nothing had happened - absolute professionals - and the audience exploded with applause and appreciation.
We stayed to watch some other performances and partake in some homemade goodies served up by locals, and then left to explore Seymour. After a hearty dinner at Rook's Pizza and Diner, we headed back to the Seymour Performing Arts Centre for the adjudicator's notes. Well! We were bowled over by the response. We won a number of awards and stayed to discuss with the adjudicator, Sasha Kerdel, who was effusive with praise over our actors performance, both onstage and off.
We were thrilled and humbled to receive the following awards——
Best Youth Performance
Best Youth Male - Vaughan Galloway
Best Youth Female - Maddy Wehner
Youth Encouragement Award - Imogen Starr
Best Director - Alicia Zorkovic
A massive weekend for everyone, such a wonderful positive experience. Huge thanks to the parents who attended with us - couldn't have happened without them - Nicky, Alex, Belinda, Emily, Michelle, Alex, Steve, Nicolle & Clayton. Legends all.
