THE community will be centre stage this week with the finals of Youth on Health Festival held at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre on Friday and Saturday.
Among the finalists are local schools John Tonkin College (JTC) and Mandurah Catholic College (MCC), which are both taking on this year’s theme, Our Community in the drama category.
JTC’s performance of What Can You Do? talks about the importance of first aid and how few people know how to apply it in an emergency situation.
“We play on flashbacks a lot,” drama teacher Conor Gregory said.
“It’s easier to cover what we wanted that way and it brought tension and emotion to the story,” student Katlyn Malazian said.
The story came from Marion Palmer, a drama teacher at the school who first got the ball rolling for this year’s entry before Gregory took over.
Palmer’s friend was first on the scene to a car accident and it was her first aid knowledge which was the difference between life and death for the person in the accident.
The experience translated well into a script, with the school picking up the Creative Storytelling Award at the heats.
“I think what I learnt from the experience was exactly how many people don’t know first aid,” Katlyn said.
“It really can be the difference between life and death.”
MCC’s Behind Close Doors, uses The Wizard of Oz to discuss the issues in society which are usually ignored.
With the Tinman representing substance abuse, the Scarecrow representing depression and the Lion representing hostile family environments, Dorothy realises the community of Munchkinland isn’t as perfect as it seems and asks the wizard to help.
“We decided there are problems in society which may not get acknowledged,” student Jessica Fenton said.
“But because it is such a serious subject, we decided to take a light-hearted approach by using The Wizard of Oz.”
“Some issues which we covered we aren’t that familiar with,” student Luke Mahnoy said.
“I think it opened our eyes a little bit because we needed to make it as realistic as possible and be considerate to anyone going through these issues.”
Complete with munchkins, flying monkeys and Glinda the Good Witch, MCC recreated the movie classic on stage though the sets and constumes, which won them the Excellence in Costumes and Scenery Award at the heats.
YOH Fest gives thousands of high school students throughout Western Australia the opportunity to take part in a revolutionary approach to health education.
Delivered by Community Solutions and its festival partners Act Belong Commit and Healthway, the annual arts event requires high school students to get together to construct and perform their own dance sequence, drama play or visual art piece on a relevant youth health theme.
YOH Fest chief executive Rhys Williams said the festival attracted record entries and this year’s theme, Our Community had been well executed.
“We’ve been thrilled with the level of excellence displayed by entrants this year; this event just continues to improve,” he said.
“From its humble beginnings as a local Mandurah event with 10 schools participating at Mandurah High School in 1998, YOH Fest now attracts around 250 entries a year, with more than 2000 active student participants.
“Today YOH Fest has peer audiences of 50,000 WA pupils between the ages of six and 17, provides health curriculum assistance to 150 teachers and is shared with audiences of over 5000.
“We are delighted that YOH Fest is clearly providing a relevant platform for WA’s youth to explore health and social issues and having great fun while they do so.
“We would love to see the local community, as well as family and friends attending the event, to support the local schools that have made it to the finals.”
For more information go to manpac.com.au or call 9550 3900.