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Prize-winning works of ‘budding bards’ to be performed

August 31, 2006

MantleCoward.thumb.jpg“Budding Bards”, a newly-established competition to encourage school-age playwrights in regional NSW, will culminate in an awards evening at The University of New England on Friday 8 September.

The Executive Dean of UNE’s Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies, Professor Victor Minichiello, will announce the winners of the UNE School Drama Monologue Prize (UNESDP) during the evening, and UNE Theatre Studies students will perform the winning dramatic monologues. The free event will be in the Arts Theatre at UNE, starting at 6 pm and continuing until about 7.30 pm.

“We encourage all the students, their families, and community members to come and celebrate our local and regional talent and support budding young Australian writers,” said the competition’s organiser, Dr Lynn Everett.

Dr Everett, a lecturer in UNE’s School of Education, explained that the competition, which was held for the first time in July this year, would become an annual event. “The competition links with and supports the Higher School Certificate Drama syllabus,” she said, “in which students perform a monologue as part of their assessment. The UNESDP helps students to develop dramatic expression by writing a script that explores themes relevant to their own lives.”

“The mono-drama gives students an insight into the work of playwrights through the development of character and dialogue,” she continued. “Creative self-expression is especially important in isolated and rural areas, where teenagers have fewer opportunities to voice their feelings, thoughts, and unique life situations in artistic ways.”

The UNESDP is open to all Year 10, 11 and 12 students – at both government and non-government schools – in NSW. For more information, contact Dr Lynn Everett on (02) 6773 2723.

Friday 8 September is UNE Open Day 2006. As part of the Open Day program, Theatre Studies students will give short performances in the Drama Studio (School of English, Communication and Theatre), scheduled for 11.15 and 11.45 am. The UNESDP awards evening will be a fitting finale to a day of celebration and excitement.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here, taken in the Drama Studio, shows Dr Martin Mantle directing Theatre Studies student Kate Coward in a rehearsal of one of the monologues.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at August 31, 2006 11:40 AM