News & Events

"Making a Dramatic Difference"

Publish Date: 23/01/2009

Approaching the end of my third, and final, year of the European Theatre Arts course at Rose Bruford Drama College, I am seeking a means of putting my acquired theatre knowledge and experience into practice, in a new and dynamic context, as well as fulfilling my desire to work with people, and particularly children, from different cultural backgrounds. Liaising with a colleague, Lauren Hopkins, we have decided to carry out a Theatre Research Project at SMD Boarding School, in Kathmandu, Nepal. The School is keen for us to spend seven weeks with the children in order to strengthen the already well-established links between it and St. Julian’s. These links include two ex St. Julian’s students volunteering at SMD on their gap year, collections within St. Julian’s for the SMD children, a SMD Scholarship student studying the three-year IB at St. Julian’s, and a visit and presentation from the director of SMD, Shirley Blair. The project will run from July to September 2009, and involve the development and realisation of a series of Drama workshops, geared towards education and individual development, culminating in a final ‘Carnivalesque’ performance. Through the development of a successful practice, we will use this Project as the commencement of a three-year plan of Drama workshops, for future work with children from different environments and contexts, ranging from teaching public school children, to volunteering at an orphanage. “In 1987, Thrangu Rinpoche founded SMD Boarding School near the Great Stupa in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal, with the aim in mind of serving the needs of children from the Himalayas where there are no schools. In order to relieve crowding at the main school, Rinpoche opened SMD Branch School for Monks, in 2002. The Branch School is located at Namo Buddha, on the rim of the Kathmandu valley”. SMD Schools provide education, housing, medical and dental care to hundreds of mountain children. Most of the children are from isolated mountain villages in the north of Nepal, but culturally and linguistically they are Tibetan, and their thinking is Buddhist. Rinpoche’s long-term aim is to preserve the culture, language and the Buddhist way of life of the Himalayas, and to give Himalayan children the tools to build a better future, so they can help their own people when they grow up. One way of accumulating these tools is through the help of volunteers who work at the school and offer the children different perspectives and cultural understandings. In promoting creativity and the use of the imagination, working with skills focused on particular art forms is a huge contribution to the children’s education and growth. Enabling them to explore issues and obtain new skills through an enjoyable and practical medium provides them with an opportunity which they would otherwise never have. Furthermore, artistic interaction in English is a practical method of improving the children’s language skills and widening their worldly perspectives. Therefore, we aim to use Drama as a basis for a process of individual, social development for the children, enabling them to improve individual, group and team-building skills, through a range of individual and ensemble exercises. We will work within the requirements of the School curriculum, to provide the children with a subject that is currently not on offer, but that goes hand-in-hand with their classical Tibetan opera, Nepali pop music, Tibetan and Nepali folk dance, and Tamang folk dance classes. We will spend the first week learning about, and planning the workshops around, the practical and theoretical teachings of the tenets of Tibetan Buddhism. The workshops will be both educational and enjoyable, to provide maximum benefit to the children, many of whom have been orphaned, and the majority of whom are unable to return to their home villages during their holidays, due to snow- or monsoon-bound trails, and recent unrest. We will encourage the children’s awareness of social and cultural issues within, and outside, their own environment through artistic means, such as the use of Forum Theatre, and an exploration of traditional and cultural Nepali and British images and stories. We also aim to develop Public Speaking skills, which are an important part of the School’s education. We wish to embrace a cultural exchange between Europe and Nepal, through a process of mutual learning, as we work towards building the children’s performance skills and encouraging participation in events such as at their traditional festivals: “We have Cultural performances at the drop of a hat. The kids are eager to showcase their skills in the traditional songs and dances of the Himalayas. Quite often, the kids organize the entire event by themselves, including printing invitations, doing the sound system, etc. Kid power!” We aim to stimulate possibilities for future education for the children. Most of them complete SMD in Year 10, as the School is too over-crowded to offer Years 11 and 12, and the children cannot afford the tuition fees for the urban and for-profit Schools that offer the final two years. Using the workshops as a means of self-expression, confidence-building and self-presentation, the Project will provide necessary life-skills for entering future careers. In order to fulfil our objectives for the Project, we are seeking sponsorship for resources, including theatrical props and costumes, materials, photocopies and images, and recording devices. This will enable us to offer a wide-range of opportunities and a large quantity of different theatrical forms throughout the Project, as well as the staging of a successful final performance that will demonstrate acquired skills and the outcome of the workshops. These tangible resources will then be kept by the children, and used for continual individual development and possible future Drama work within the School. In this way, the funding will provide future opportunities for both the children and the Project. Possible Sponsors or financial contributors will benefit from this Project by providing education and entertainment for underprivileged children, and encouraging cultural diversity and an exchange of cultural knowledge. They will also be provided with our final ‘Project Report’ completed after the seven weeks, and our ‘Video Journal’ of the workshops. We are keen for the Project to be used as a publicity tool for the Sponsor, demonstrating the opportunities available to any committed individuals, and the importance of supporting Schools such as SMD. If you would like more information, or would like to contribute to the Sponsorship for the Project, please contact us on georgiamunnion@hotmail.com, or through our Webpage: makingadramaticdifference.wordpress.com. We need your help in order to, “Make a Dramatic Difference” to the lives of Himalayan children at SMD Boarding School. Thank you very much! Georgia Munnion

Source:
Georgia Munnion (Former Pupil 1990 – 2005)