After-school drama classes
Term 2 - 2024
Day of Classes
Wednesdays from 4:00pm – 5:00pm: Primary drama class. Any students in Years 3 to 6 can be involved in this class
Wednesdays from 5:15pm – 6:15pm: Senior drama class. Any students in Years 7 up to Year 12 can be involved in this class.
Class teachers
Blake Selmes (Main Class Teacher)
Blake is Lieder Theatre’s current Artistic Director. He is a performer, director, designer and musician who has worked on over 30 Lieder Theatre productions, both appearing on stage and taking on backstage roles. He has also performed in Sydney Shakespeare festivals and worked with Moresby Arts Theatre in Papua New Guinea.
As a director, his most recent productions of Charlotte’s Web and Hir by Taylor Mac were critical and commercial success for the company and involved many Lieder Youth Theatre students both on stage and behind the scenes.
He is an experienced children’s entertainer and early childhood educator, film maker and graphic designer, working for organisations such as Hume Conservatorium and Oxfam.
An experienced performer and director, Blake has a wide range of experience in both the performance and technical aspects of theatrical productions.
Jock McLean (Casual Class Teacher)
Jock is an experienced teacher with a wealth of knowledge about drama, theatre, and stagecraft. He has acted in several shows for Lieder Theatre Company and has served as dramaturg on a number of productions.
Jock has is also an accomplished director of young people having directed over 30 plays with an emphasis on. Shakespeare (Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth and The Tempest), Brecht (The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Mother Courage and Galileo) and 20th century Australian Drama (Away, The Floating World and Blackrock).
He ran the popular Lieder Youth Theatre programs for 4 years; directing young people in 4 plays and over 10 Eisteddfod entries. Jock also held teaching positions with Goulburn High School and Canberra Grammar School within both their English and Drama departments.
Class Sizes
Primary Class
The primary drama class will have a maximum of 24 students So, once we reach that limit with each class, we won’t be accepting anymore new students for that term.
Senior Classes
Join us in term 2 for the exciting return of SLAM - Stop Looking at Me! - our senior youth theatre showcase!
The senior class will have a maximum of 24 students each. So, once we reach that limit with each class, we won’t be accepting anymore new students for that term.
Cost
Cost for each class is $80.00 for a regular 8-week term, and $100.00 when participating in a special project, such as a youth theatre performance.
To move with the times, we encourage participants to do cashless payments by using TryBooking to either make payment in full for the term or to use the option to pay via 4 instalments using a personal PayPal account.
If the cost is prohibitive, please feel free to discuss alternative financial arrangements. Send and email to liedertheatre@gmail.com
Term Dates
Classes are scheduled to align with the NSW school term, excluding weeks 1 and 10. This will equate to 8 sessions for the term. This may differ for special projects. If terms are longer or shorter, we will adjust start/finish times to suit. Any changes will be communicated to participants in person and via email.
Student involvement in mainstage and foyer theatre productions
Students who are cast in productions at Lieder Theatre have the option to continue with their drama class and attend rehearsals for the show they have been cast in, or to commit to rehearsals only and not continue with their classes for the times they are part of productions. If students opt to only attend rehearsals their fee for drama classes will be honoured through their involvement in the show.
Showcasing students
Depending on the level of student involvement in classes, there will be opportunities for students to perform in front of an audience. This audience could be made up of their peers or family members. This type of performing will be different to student involvement in mainstage and foyer theatre productions. Showcasing students to their peers and family will very much be focussed on students’ acting and not so much other production or design elements that are associated with our mainstage and foyer theatre productions.