Arts News Term 1, Week 1

Welcome to 2025
The performing arts team are excited for the year ahead and looks forward to seeing as many students participate in a range of events and activities throughout the year. 

Firstly, there are a couple of staff changes for the year ahead. Anna Richardson, Director of Co-Curricular Arts, is now on maternity leave and has been replaced by Jo Mayne for 2025. 

Jo is joined by Sue Bealing, who replaces Arts Facilitator Laura Hewetson. Jo and Sue are in the WN Performing Arts block office opposite the Black Box.

Term one kicked off with our Arts Sign up day, where students had the opportunity to be involved in a plethora of arts activities: dance groups, theatre sports, bands, orchestra, and visual and creative art groups. There is also a new Concert Band on offer. There are so many options to keep students engaged, enriched and experiencing all that Arts at SMC has to offer. Some of the co-curricular groups will require an audition (such as the Chamber Choir), and some only run during specific terms, so it’s always worth talking to the tutors to find out more. 

The full Arts Co-curricular timetable will be coming in the next newsletter.

And, of course, soon enough, we'll be getting the wheels in motion for our Senior school production, which will be announced soon! Look out for all the audition information in the coming weeks. 

Here are the events coming up this term:

Wk 4 Co-curricular Arts Sign up day Tuesday 28 January -  SMC Atrium 

Senior Production Auditions Tuesday 18, Thursday 20 & Sunday 23 February - CLA

Chamber Choir Workshop Friday 21 & Saturday 22 February - CLA

Wk 10 Itinerant Music Concert #1  Monday 31 March 3:45pm - 5.30pm - CLA
Orchestra Extravaganza  Wednesday 2 April - 7pm - Christ’s College

Twilight Concert Thursday 3 April - 5:00pm -7:00pm - CLA

Holiday NZ Dance Made Exchange Friday 5 & Saturday 6 April - Rangi Ruru

SGCNZ Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival Saturday 5 & Sunday 6 April - Regionals 
Click here for more information

Whoop, whoop…Success stories over the holidays.   

Sadhbh (Sam) O’Neill (Year 11) is performing in Top Dog’s Richard III at Mona Vale from 5 Feb. Sadhbh has also been selected for National Youth Drama school. 

Harriet Thorp (Year 13) is also in Top Dog’s Richard III. 

Tessa de Wit (Year 11) has been cast in Ovation Theatre’s The Music Man. Tessa has also been cast in The Court Theatre’s upcoming youth production, Spongebob Squarepants.

Rose Griffiths has been asked to model dancewear and be an ambassador for Allstars Dance and has recently attended a National Dance School ballet intensive in Wellington. 

The following students sent audition tapes for an upcoming feature film to an open casting call. After a recall, Kylana Peauia-Symonds (2024, Year 13), Tessa de Wit (Year 11), and Rose Griffiths (Year 9) are all still considered for roles. 

Emily Davis (Year 12) is auditioning at The Court Theatre for a role in the Laramie Project (part of the Pride season).

Charlotte Stockman (Year 7) is in Luminaire’s Pirates of the Curry Bean production. 

CJay (India) Horrey (2024 Year 13) performed as Mustardseed in Canterbury Youth Theatre’s A Midsummer Night's Dream, and she will next perform in Top Dog’s Richard III. CJay has postponed her plans to join the army this year because she was selected to go to The Globe with the 2025 NZSW Shakespeare Fest reps. 

Exam Success

Anjali Selvarajah gained her ATCL Drama Performance Diploma with Distinction. Congratulations!