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ISTA Telunas will not take place 2023/24 - we predict we will be hosting again in 25/26!
Tropical ISLAND ISTA
BACKGROUND:
ISTA hosts a few special festivals a year at historic or ecological locations that allow the artists to incorporate the environment into themes for the festival. Four years ago after an ISTA festival in Singapore, I spent the day touring a fishing village off the coast of Singapore with a couple of ISTA artists. We began to talk about the crazy idea of a Tropical Island ISTA. I ran this idea by the ISTA office to see if it was just too insane and impractical. Almost immediately I had a reply: "When?" followed by "Where do we sign up?" One year later 100 students from 3 brave schools embarked on the first ever Tropical Island ISTA. They were thrown together with four energetic and talented artists passionate about their area of expertise, and dropped onto an isolated paradise-like location. The magic that was created can never be duplicated, but we are up for the adventure again... and hope you are ready to join in the fun.
What is ISTA? The International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA) - website
An organization of schools and theatre directors from around the world.
Since 1983, ISTA has sponsored annual theatre festivals at various locations around the world.
At each festival students from various schools meet for 3-4 days to perform and discuss, act together in ensembles, while specialized workshops given by professional actors, directors, choreographers and playwrights.
Part of the ISTA experience is that students are home-stayed with a family from the hosting school.
What is Different About This ISLAND Festival?
* This is a workshop model festival. Instead of 8 different ensembles working towards one final performance, each student will choose a style of theatre and an artist to work with for the majority of their time, allowing them to really get invested and work on solid skill building.
* Instead of being hosted by a family from the local hosting school, students will share cabins or dorms at the resort with students from the other schools.
* At every festival we usually do a field trip called the "Out and About." For the Telunas festival the field trip is the journey to get there!
* Students will also choose two additional workshops to allow them to explore other areas of interest.
* There will also be down time to explore the beauty of the island, swim in the ocean, jump off the high jump and take part in local games with your workshop groups.
* Students will leave from Harbourfront at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday and will return on Sunday at 4 pm.
PHOTOS FROM THE LAST FESTIVAL: LINK
Quotes from students who took part 2 years ago: LINK
Which Schools are Taking Part?
Singapore American School
International School of Beijing, China
Bangkok Patana School, Thailand
Dulwich College, Singapore
Australian International School, Singapore
Where are we going? We are going to a small, rustic resort located in the Riau Islands of Indonesia. The resort is owned by three American families who live in nearby Batam. We will first take a ferry from Singapore to Sekupang (Batam), Indonesia and then a long-boat ride to the resort at Telunas Beach.
Festival Title: Message in a Bottle
Starting Point: As the students leave the shores of one land and venture to the ISLAND, the trappings of their old culture and status will be stripped away. The core workshops will provide the opportunity to explore the conflicting human impulses which are magnified in this land far from home. Strangers thrown together must learn to survive not only as an individual, but as part of a group. New identities will begin to emerge, formed from shared experiences. Ideas will rise and philosophies will fall as the newly formed tribes construct a shared mythology and explore their new culture through their chosen art.
Workshop Model Festival: Students will have an opportunity to choose one of 5 specialties. (1 to be announced as our African Theater specialist is unable to attend)
Clowning
Storytelling
Physical Theater
Dance
1. Clowning with Matt Godfrey
Misfits of Madness
Clowns are the misfits of society. They are different, they are unique, they step outside of what is expected and help the rest of us get through another day. This core workshop will delve into one of the origins of the modern clown - the outcast society of individual misfits. At times funny and sad the individual clown challenges, pokes fun at and mocks the madness of the world that surrounds it, however without a group of misfits to protect it, the individual clown will not survive. The Misfit Clown Tribe is an outcast society holding a mirror up to the madness.
2. Storytelling with Chris Sallisbury
Songlines from the Sand & Sea: A song, Storytelling & Movement Workshop
The goal of this core workshop is to discover new horizons within our practice, ourselves and each other. Meeting a new land means exploring new possibilities for story making and fresh, exciting interactions with the elemental forces of nature. With a bardic eye, we can translate our discoveries into meaningful words, images and movement to create an island songline, to express our experience of what it means to be part of a new, vital, emergent island culture…
3. Dance with Jez Gregg
4. Physical Theater with Keriann O'Rourke
Cost & Commitment
The cost for ISTA Telunas will be $900 SGD.
This covers transportation, ferry, long boat to the island, speedy clearance for immigration, 3 nights accommodation, all meals, ISTA registration, and chaperones.
As well as the 4-day festival, participants will be asked to attend one meeting every second week starting the week before Spring Break. The meetings are to build ensemble within our SAS group and to help prepare them for working with the actors.
CONFLICT: Students taking part in the second semester MS dance show cannot audition for ISTA as we will be away the weekend of the show.
When and where are the auditions? (Forms are now live!)
Auditions for Telunas will be Monday, December 5 at either 3:05 to 4:20 or 4:30 to 6 pm.
There will be a maximum of 30 spots available in each slot. In order to claim a time, you must have completed both the parent online form and the student online form.
You will then be sent an email to confirm your time.
PARENT FORM: LINK
STUDENT FORM: LINK
Auditions will take place in the MS drama room. (S106)
An email will then be sent to those students being invited back for a callback. Those students will be asked for two references from their classroom teachers to establish that they can handle missing 2 days of schools and also that they would be a good representative for SAS.
Call backs, will be 3:15 to 5:30 pm on Friday, December 9 (Students will need to plan to take the 6:15 activity bus or arrange transportation.)
What is the Audition Process?
Students do not need to prepare anything for the audition!!!
Students will be selected based on their enthusiasm for acting, their commitment to the SAS theater program, their ability to work with others, and their ability to act responsibly as a representative for SAS.
Students will be asked to participate in various independent and group drama activities.
A panel of 3-4 teachers will take part in the selection process.
What can parents do to help?
Talk to your child about their comfort level regarding being away from home for 4 days.
Fill out the online parent permission form to help us know your child better.
Encourage your child to look at this chance to audition as a learning experience.
Help your child understand that we can only take a representation from each grade level.
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