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The Christmas Break was a little longer for 6 Transition Year students who got the opportunity to partake in the Civic Theatre's Tenderfoot program. Tenderfoot is a drama and theatre program for TY students where they get a chance to take part in the production of a play and see what theatre is like on a professional level. The program has been running for well over 15 years, directed by Veronica Coburn. In the program, students take roles in all major positions; Stage Management, Lights & Sound, Costume and of course acting, all with well experienced mentors to guide them.
The program lasted for the first three weeks of January and had the students in the Civic Theatre Monday to Friday working on a whopping 7 pieces total. 4 of these were plays written by 2023 TY students in Tenderfoot's Summer writing program and 3 were written by the casts of the plays. These pieces included regular plays, interpretive dance routines and a film too!
One of the students who was on the film team, had this to say about the program:
I joined the film crew led by my mentor Ian, alongside a team of six others. Together, we delved deep into the intricate understandings of cameras... We made our short film "The Dinner Date," a thrilling short film packed into just three intense minutes. It's a dark comedy. Ian's guidance on angles and techniques allowed us to unleash our cinematic creative freedom.
Even after tenderfoot, we have another project in the editing stage (Ian also showed us the software used for editing major films and we edited our first short film on it)
A horror trailer called "THE TENDARRFUTT" is our next project.
This opportunity wasn't just about filmmaking; it was about having fun, making friends and gaining valuable experience for the future.
I would recommend this programme to upcoming TY's because its not just theatre kids and in all fairness they are all very down to earth people, but also other opportunities with tech as coding, editing and music making.
Tenderfoot was an experience that definitely wasn't just for acting. It brought together 60 young people to work on something and be apart of something greater. But above all else, it was an opportunity to meet a lot of new friends and make countless memories that won't be forgotten.