Stories in the Wall – Metamorphisis is a major collaboration between Arts Centre Melbourne, selected Victorian primary schools, a creative arts therapist, professional playwrights and emerging composers.
In the second half of 2021 we worked with three primary schools in South East Gippsland that had been impacted by the 2020 bushfires; Buchan Primary School, Nungurner Primary School and Tambo Upper Primary School. The project began with a dramatherapy workshop where students were invited to reflect on the challenges of the previous years, and the strengths needed to overcome them. These were turned into stories inspired by the hero’s journey – tales of transformation, resilience and renewal. Students worked with professional playwrights to turn these stories into scripts. The results are a diverse and wildly imaginative collection of short audio plays. We challenged the kids to include not only speaking parts, but ideas for sound effects and music too!
Kids then moved from the Writers’ Room to the Recording Studio with mobile recording equipment set up in classrooms, halls and portables at each of the schools.
Once the plays were recorded, we then began an artistic collaboration with the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Music - the proud home of the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Emerging composers created original music and sound design specifically for each story to fully bring them to life!
You can read along to all of the scripts in our Metamorphosis Scriptbook.
After you’ve listened to the stories and read along in the scriptbook, you can learn more about creating your own audio play with our Write it! Perform it! Record it! learning resource. This resource, designed for upper primary school students is jam packed full of activities centred around creative literacy, drama and digital art. Pick and choose the activities of your choice, or follow along to create your own radio plays using iPads in the classroom.
Supporting partners:
Arts Centre Melbourne acknowledges the support of the Department of Education and Training, Victoria, through the Strategic Partnerships Program.
University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. Special thanks to Associate Professor Mark Pollard, Head of Interactive Composition.
How does my school get involved?
Email schools@artscentremelbourne.com.au
Visit www.artscentremelbourne.com.au to explore our extensive schools, families and youth programming.
Student playwrights and actors:
Writers and Performers:
Tambo Upper Primary School:
Rylee Rijs-Lugton, Tasmyn Crawley, Jayden Kohte, Megan Cross, Hudson
Roberts, Isla Blake, Reagan McCole, Joe Murphy, Iris Miller, Tyler
Mitchell, Kaila Kohte, Jem Beal, Iylah Taylor, Tex Cerda, Harry
Spooner, Ruby McTaggart, Charlotte Ottosson, Rosalie Pearce, Cooper
Lack, Marlee Thorp, Tyson Johansen, Gemma Brumfit, Ollie Hodson.
Nungurner Primary School: Amber Kleinitz, Rusty Thorn, Olivia Rossi, Lisa Schaedle, Tom Robertson, Juliet McGinty, Katie Bourke, Jack Eastley, Jordan Van Dam, Osgar Johanson, Luke Bury, Lillian Edwards, Belle Naylor, Lexie Adam.
Buchan Primary School:
Zoe, Roman, Luca, Robbie, Jack, Archie and Skye.
Composers:
Thomas Fernando, Lili Wymond, Di Drew, Brandon Yang, Pendar Shekarian , Luke Perry, Dion Spyropoulos, Winter McQuinn, April Guest, Benji Colbourne, Rory Vagg, Simon Zinzovski.
Playwright Teaching Artists:
Zoey Dawson is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter based in Melbourne. She has been nominated for several Greenroom awards, including Best New Writing (Conviction). She teaches Contemporary Scriptwriting and Radical Performance Writing at the University of Melbourne.
Dan Giovannoni is a playwright and arts educator. He has written plays for adults and children. Recent credits include HOUSE and Bambert's Book of Lost Stories (both Barking Gecko Theatre Company), Air Race (Arena Theatre Company), Merciless Gods (Little Ones Theatre), Jurassica (Red Stitch Actors' Theatre), and with Amelia Chandos Evans, Cut Snake and Mad as a Cute Snake.
Bridget Mackey is a playwright, dramaturge and performance artist. Recent plays include Love/Chamberlain (Theatre Works, 2019), Kindness (Flight Festival, Theatre Works, 2015). Notable works with performance collective The Hunt include: Woman In Car (Melbourne Fringe Festival Liveworks Experimental Arts Award winner, 2017), and Quarry: A Story about Grief (Heathcote Digital Art Prize, shortlisted 2020). Bridget studied acting at Flinders University and holds a Masters in Writing for Performance from the VCA.
Emily Sheehan is a playwright and dramaturg. Her plays include Monument, Hell's Canyon and Daisy Moon Was Born This Way. Her plays have been developed through Melbourne Theatre Company's Cybec Electric, Playwriting Australia's National Play Festival and the Red Stitch INK development workshops. She lectures in Playwriting at the University of Melbourne Victoria College of Arts.
Deirdre Marshall is a theatre maker and arts educator. She writes and directs plays for children and young adults and has toured her work overseas. Originally from Melbourne, she now lives in Stratford, on the lands of the Gunaikurnai people, where she teaches theatre performance and playwriting to children and teens.
Amelia Evans is a Melbourne based writer, director and dramaturg for stage and screen. Most recently she has written and directed Mad as a Cute Snake with Dan Giovannoni (Theatreworks 2019) and TRAPS: A Romantic Comedy for the Modern Sociopath (Melb Fringe 2017) and written Atomic (Malthouse 2018)
Drama Therapist – Amanda Musicka-Williams
Amanda is a dramatherapist trained in the UK who has worked in Australia for eighteen years with a diverse range of client groups, these include young people with disabilities and adults in community mental health care settings. She recently completed PhD study which explored relationships and interpersonal learning through group dramatherapy alongside adolescents in special education.
Acknowledgements:
For Arts Centre Melbourne:
Creative Producer: Joshua Cowie
Creative Learning Team: Eva Popov
Senior Producer, Creative Learning: Cynthia Nolan Myers
Recording Engineers: Joshua Cowie, Eva Popov, Patrick Telfer
Website and graphics: Ann Tran
Booklets design: Jade Louise
Learning Resource: Emily Sheehan
For the Department of Education and Training:
Special Thanks to Michelle Hibbert, Kelly Duncan, Kerriane Crane