1998

Rock n Roll Eisteddfod? Not any more. After 12 years of being just a South Australian event by ourselves, we have now joined the Australian, and in fact World wide event, THE ROCK EISTEDDFOD CHALLENGE. A new event, with new rules, at least for us.  Penalties when you are slow or not organised or fall outside the guidelines. Well you just have to be organised, rehearsed and committed to the project. I can say with all honesty that the 1998 cast and crew were exactly that.  They were a pleasure to work with.  Hardly any absence from rehearsal, full on when we were working.

 Week 1 of  term 2 - auditions commence following a decision to adopt the theme that the Japan Tour Cast used for a presentation to the National ACHPER Conference at Union Hall in January.  Health related, anorexia, a current issue.

 Week 2 of  term 2 - Rehearsals commence. Choose a cast? Who will be the images of the young girl, Adrienne Semmens from year 9 and Rhiana Wadin from year 8. Select the friends, the model images, the Barbie Doll images, the Sales images or Pill Wizard and Pill Girls, and the Aerobics for the exercise image.

 What to do for the set? See Gerry Stevens and the students from the set construction course in SACE 1. Design, modification, construction. Select a team of 20 students for the stage crew under the direction of Mark Hawes. Always we strive to do what hasn’t been done before, be visually stunning and have a section where the audience wonders, “ How did they do that?”

We choose a moving set with magic as the theme, reveals by using curtains controlled by the crew, shadow images that appear for dramatic effect and a levitation scene.

 Week 2 of term 3 - Dress rehearsals.  Frantic to get the sets painted, the choreography finished and polished, the characterisations strong, large and believable.  Lots of input from lots of people, Martin Fraser backstage, Ian McCloud and Robyn Callan on stage and ex-student Todd Patrick for polishing and aerobics. We were ready.

 Wednesday, week 4 of term 3, August 13 - Our heat day at the Festival Theatre. How different to other years? Completely. There all day, warm up dance session in the seats for all the schools, able to see all the schools rehearse and give them support. A real cooperative environment for all staff and students involved. As they say at the Eisteddfod, “ A real “VIBE”.  Selection for position on the night, Weatherly was last on the line and really got no choice. However everyone did great and we scored really well from the judges, at least we thought we should. Great introduction to the piece from Deb Patritti, our student co-host.

Comment of the night in the interviews after the piece from Mark Hawes: “ Yes our Set Course Students designed the sets and made models and presented them, and then Mr Weatherly changed them to what he wanted”. Thanks Mark!

 Saturday morning, SAFM. Are we nervous? Yes, but shouldn’t be as we are listed in the 14 finalists. More rehearsals, restaging to the new size stage, resetting the positions of the sets, how do we get up a narrow ramp and set up in 4 minutes to avoid penalties. Done! Easy? Well not quite but its ready.

 Friday, week 8 of term 3, September 11 - Finals day at last at the Entertainment Centre. Bus travel courtesy of Doug Vaughan. Huge numbers of people, big crushes, long day but fantastic.   Weatherly in the middle of the line  for choices  THIS TIME, ( good sound to that, maybe do an Eisteddfod piece to that title? too late, already been done, pretty successful too), we are on seventh, good spot. Crew were fantastic, three minutes to set up, costumes by Jan McCloud and the wonderful group of mums were so appropriate, hair styles by  Bernie Wadin and Robyn Callan were unbelievable, makeup by Mrs Marshall, Catie Medlin, Danielle Campbell and Jenny Hilterbrand was stunning, lighting by Ben Hibbert and Mat Sinclair totally illuminating,  cast were fabulous, I couldn’t have asked for more cooperation, enthusiasm and performance. We had  excellent student representatives to answer the questions put at the end in Vanessa Brady and Belinda Jones ( Belinda actually made THE GATHERING place - hey,  that’s a good title for an eisteddfod too - what? been done? )

 Then the performance, in front of 6,000 people in the audience, what an experience to experience and remember. The judges gave very  complimentary comments, and we thank our School Judge, ex-student Melissa Jan for her work at both heats and finals.

 And the results? Well we did great, Second to Seymour College  and the Deakin University Technological/Engineering Award and the Ninemsn Set Design and Staging Award.

The music was "Mia Salva" by Faithless off the REVERENCE album.

Thanks to all who were involved in any way, shape or design for such a rewarding and enjoyable experience.

Rhiarna Wadin                       Slim Girl

Adrienne Semmens                 Fat Girl

Jenna Inerson                          Friends

Deborah Maxted

Alanna Tulloch

Carly Vertue

Vanessa Brady            Fashion Editor

Kristen Carmen                       Models

Melissa Best

Lisa Gray

Alicia Holt

Amanda Marshall

Jenny Mikolaj

Melissa Oxlade

Leila Pardon

Emily Parker

Beth Tomlin

Kylie Viska

Emilt Dorman             Photographers

Leila Seith

Brooke Ward

Kim Wagenknecht

Ingrid Gray                             Barbies

Emma Lowe

Carmen Brady                           Dolls

Felicia Dennert

Kiara Edwards

Janelle Fisher

Jenna Harrington

Jessica Payne

Vikky Wilson

Maria Yates

Veronica Bailey                   Pill Girls

Nicole Burner

Shiloe Ebert

Sarah Johns

Lauren Pascoe

Sabrina Phillips

Siobhan Phillips

Aaryn Thomas

Linda Ventura

Pill Wizard           Kinsleigh Johansen 

Aerobics Instructor       Carlie Hunter 

Aerobics Dancers           Lee Delaney 

Cheryl Haynes

Belinda Jones

Le Hong

Amanda Passingham

Jessica Schmidt

Chelsea Wilkinson

Catherine Wright

Doctor                  Robin Tatlow-Lord

  Crew                        Janelle Aitchison

Melissa Beckett

Lorralei Burton

Kalista Campbell

Alana Corsey

Ben Donohue

Alisha Durrant

Jessica Francis-Staite

Bethany Gigger

Mark Hawes

Nick Koumbenakis

De'arne Morphett

Kate O'Driscoll

Jenny Pilkington

Angela Potter

Zoe Rowsell

Joanne Rzesszuto

Adam Schmidt

Victoria Skinner

Matt Stevens

Danielle Wyatt

Student Co Host            Debra Patritti

Support                           Ian McCloud

Doug Vaughan

Robyn Callan

Burnie wadin

Ben Hibbert

Mat Sinclair

Melissa Best

Jenny Hilterbrand

Danielle Campell

Melissa Jan

Martin Fraser

Gerry Stevens

Bob Weatherly