The 4th International Online Meeting/Festival – Youth Theatre On Air ‘Theatre in front of a microphone’ kicked off on Saturday, April 22.
This program was initiated in 2020 by Poupoulos Theatre Visual Arts Centre in Thessaloniki, Motivation in Art in Paphos, Cyprus, and Creative Drama & Arts of EKM during the pandemic.
The Greek Language and Culture Schools of the Greek Community of Melbourne have consistently participated in the program and won major awards in the ‘Expatriate Hellenism’ category.
More than 200 students from the schools have participated in the program, indicating their interest in international programs and their eagerness to build communication bridges with Greek children worldwide.
Dr Stavroula Nikoloudi, the category judge, who is the coordinator of the Greek Program at La Trobe University, commented on the outstanding effort of all the students.
“Theatre in front of the microphone offers an opportunity for children and young people to use the Greek language and improve their spoken language,” Dr Nikoloudi said.
“I judged their effort for the liveliness and theatricality I heard and felt as a listener and I hope they will have fond memories of this special experience.”
The schools participated in the competition with the following drama/narrative works:
– Doncaster Friday’s Sixth Form Unit presented the myth of ‘Love to the Sun’ from Greek mythology.
– The first and third grades of the Bentleigh unit narrated the myth ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’ from the book ‘Greek Mythology, Stories’ by Syrtmos Kapoutsis, Greek Mythology, Stories, ed. Diaplasi.
– The Sixth Form of Balwyn’s unit narrated the folk song ‘They took Polynesia, they took her’.
– A sixth-grade student in the City unit told the story ‘Would you give me your hair?’ by Polymatidou Eleni, published by Grafima.
– Bentleigh’s Sixth Form unit recited the poem ‘The Madman’ by Ulysses Elytis, from the collection ‘The Sun the Eliator’.
– The first-grade class of the Learning Unit told the improvised story ‘The Treasure Hunt’.
– The Learning and Balwyn units were the two schools awarded for their participation.
Congratulations were given to the students and their teachers, Katerina Manolakou from Balwyn and Vangelis Kapsalis from Learning, for their hard work and the students’ performance.
The two winning plays will be broadcast by ERT3 on 9.58FM in Greece, by RIK1 first program in Cyprus, and by SBS Greek in Australia in the coming days.
The organisers expressed their gratitude to the state radio stations and radio producers for their continued support since the first broadcast in 2020.
