Monday, November 13, 2006

Friday 3rd November, 2006 - Invisible Theatre plans for the Canoe Festival



Hi, I’m Cora Moabi, I’m 20 yrs old and I come from Misima Island in Milne Bay Province. I’m a student who is on work experience at Education Milne Bay (EMB), Alotau. I’m currently taking Communication Arts at the Divine Word University in Madang. I’m in my first year of studies and I’m currently on holidays in Milne Bay for three months. Being at EMB has been a new and challenging experience for me. There were some things that were new to me when I first started such as the weekly drama workshops and others which I was familiar with such as the group discussions of newspaper articles. All in all, it’s been good for me to take up and I’m beginning to enjoy it more.

Well, working with EMB for the past few days has been exciting but also there were a few things that made me feel nervous like acting but after all, everyone else in the group was taking part so it made me feel better. The experience gave me a challenge of what it would feel like to be out in the work force later on.

Jane McKenzie, a volunteer from Australia is currently helping out with the company’s drama group who are in the process of producing 6, 30 minute radio drama plays over the next five months. These plays will be broadcasted on Radio Milne Bay. In preparation for the drama recording, EMB has taken on interested people within Alotau.

Since I started, I have been participating with the members during their practice days. Apart from all the fun we have during the practices, I see there is always a message behind all the plays and the drama activities that we do. I thought the open discussions we always have after the drama practices were good. We sit down together as a group and air our views on current issues that affect PNG and also other parts of the world. These issues include HIV/ AIDS, Domestic Violence, and Good Governance which are the three main topics being addressed in the radio plays.

At the moment, Jane and the drama group members have organised an Invisible Theater piece which is going to be performed during the Canoe Festival this weekend. The Invisible Theater is a type of play that will be performed but not as in a normal drama scene where the audience is aware of the performance. This is a type where the drama will be performed without the crowd knowing about it. But as the play progresses, it will bring to the crowd’s attention issues that are affecting PNG.

This piece is looking at bringing to the public’s attention the major issues affecting PNG today. One of the issues to be brought out in this Invisible Theater drama is the service of the current operating passenger ship, M.V Milne Bay. The actors will be among the crowd as the show continues. They will try to raise their voices when bringing up these issues. Once the crowd notices that something’s going on, this is when the actors will talk about the issues to put thoughts into people’s mind. They will talk about the negative and positive sides of this passenger ship coming into Milne Bay Province. In one of the scenes, an actor’s purse will go missing. This will be the time when the issue of pick pocketing will be talked about as actors will raise their voices to alert the public. This will be done in a way that gets the people thinking and also voicing their opinions about the problems and good things this ship is bringing in.

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