On Saturday, April 22, the opening ceremony of the 4th International Online Meeting/Festival – Youth Theater On Air “Theatre in front of a microphone” took place.
It is a program that started in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, with the organisers of the Poupoulo Theatrical Visual Arts Center in Thessaloniki, Motivation in Art in Paphos, Cyprus and Creative Drama & Arts of ECM.
The Greek Language and Culture Schools of the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) participates every year winning important awards in the “Expatriate Hellenism” category.
So far, more than 200 students from our schools have taken part in this program, a particularly significant number, which indicates their interest in participating in international programs and building communication bridges with Greek children all over the world.
This year our schools participated with 6 theatrical/narrative works in the category, some of which were distinguished with awards.
Characteristically, the judge of the category, Dr. Stavroula Nikoloudi, coordinator of the Greek Program at La Trobe University, commented on the excellent effort of all the students: “Theater in front of the microphone offers an opportunity for children and young people to use the Greek language and improve their oral language. I judged their effort for the liveliness and theatricality that I heard and felt as a listener, and I hope that they will have fond memories of this special experience.”
This year our schools participated in the competition with the following theatrical/narrative plays:
- Year Six students of the Doncaster Friday unit narrated the story of the ‘Love to the Sun’ from Greek mythology.
- Year 7 & Year 9 students from Bentleigh narrated the story of “Orpheus and Eurydice” from the book by Syrmos Kapoutsi Greek Mythology, Stories, published by Diaplasi.
- Year 6 from Balwyn school narrated the folk song“ Piran tin Polin Piran tin”
- The student from Year 6 from GCM’s city School narrated read the story “Tha mou harizes ta mallia sou? “ from Polymatidou Eleni,published by Graphima.
- Year 6 students from Bentleigh Campus recited the poem “To trelovaporo” from Odysseas Elytis from his poem collection “O Ilios o Iliatoras”
- Year 7 students from Mathesi school narrated the the improvised story “To Kinigi tou Thisavrou”
The two schools awarded for their participation are the Mathesi and Balwyn School.
Congratulations to our students and their teachers, Ms. Katerina Manolakou from Balwyn and Mr. Vangelis Kapsalis from Mathesi, for their work and the wonderful result!
The two prize-winning dramas will be broadcasted in Greece by ERT3 at 9.58fm, in Cyprus by RIK1 Proto programma and in Australia by SBS Greek in the coming days. We would like to thank the state radio stations and radio producers for the support.
We are happy to know that this institution will continue and we are ready with our students to register for the Youth Theater On Air 2024.
