We've got the power!

In this week's fashion challenge, we encouraged wild self expression as we created super hero-popstar outfits. Aesthetics is often an important part of design: so we wanted them to upcycle something good looking! We gave the squad a mixture of vintage garments (from the 70's and 80's of course), other textiles and interesting materials (deflated mylar balloons, faux fur pieces, mesh) and asked them to make a new and theatrical outfit. The emphasis for this class was also on fun- can they make something playful and unexpected? You bet they can!

                               

Many of the kids worked in groups, using fast sketches to merge their ideas. Armed with scissors, colourful duct tape, safety pins and elastics this was an exercise in creative destruction. Sometimes we have to take something apart to design something better. In our fashion remixes we support girl and boy power, drama and individualism.

Girl Power!

Setting the scene

The audience is waiting. Lights dimmed.Cellphones off. A hush through the theatre. The curtains draw back….

Stars twinkle down on a crackling campfire in this outdoor scene.

This week we captured that magical moment with our set design workshop. The challenge: how to make a story come alive on stage. In this workshop we are set designers and production managers.

Since kids are instantly compelled to imagine stories, they easily grasped the idea of using a scenic back-drop to establish the time and place of a play.

A good set can also give dramatic context for the mood of a story. How can we use the space, colours, textures, shapes to create a particular atmosphere? Is the story scary, funny or just plain weird?
This gloomy blackened interior had a touch of Ibsen about it…

And sometimes, a set can also give us hints about the characters.

Amongst these puppets, the protagonist is an aspiring mad scientist -who turns her bedroom into a laboratory. The table in her bedroom is filled with test tubes and beakers.

Three of our student designers decided to tackle Jurassic Park. One of them ambitiously merged Jurassic Park with Star Wars and embarked on a fusion set. We were impressed at how three children working side by side, happily created their own designs on the same theme, with enthusiastic cross-pollination. In one Jurassic park, the set was multi-purpose. One configuration showed a lush prehistoric forest. Flip the flooring over and reverse the trees and you get a sleek research laboratory. This student took on the challenge to create a set that transforms over time. 

Nice foreground layering elements- add to the depth in this forest.

Some of our designers used the set to create a story of their own: Good day, bad day. The narrative arose out of the design. This part of the set shows Boby Joy's bedroom, with a fake turf play area. 

And this set, with its blocky characters is based on the computer game Minecraft. A team of designers brainstormed on how to turn this video activity into a stage concept. 

Stairs pass through the foreground into the audience.