2015 has been an awesome year for the Drama department and we are excited to share with you some of the highlights. We have a really strong drama community at LPHS and we are proud of each and every person who has contributed to our success.

We started the year with the exciting news that 4 students had been awarded an NCEA scholarship in Drama. Having worked for a year on the performances that they presented, it was great to have such success.

Congratulations to Josephine Devereux who got one of a handful of outstanding scholarships and had a near perfect score across the board. She was also awarded the Performing Arts Scholarship by the University of Otago. In addition to Josephine, Connor Seddon, Kyra Gilles and Saskia Rushton Green were awarded scholarships. All of these students worked really hard and have contributed hugely to Drama in the school. Congratulations to you all. 

We also had the pleasure of announcing our Drama Prefects and Fortune Theatre ambassadors. After applying to take up the role of Drama Prefect, Jamie Moore, Pippi Miller, Luke Major, Casey Wheeler and Harrison Kennedy were invited to take up position. Many thanks to them all for being so wonderful this year. Jamie Moore and Jimmy Robinson have been our Fortune Theatre Ambassadors and they have been instrumental in forging links between the students and the stage. Thanks to them and to Shannon Colbert, the Education Officer. 

Theatre trips this year to The Fortune Theatre have been fantastic with over 100 students at each performance. The seniors have seen: Outside Mullingar by John Patrick Shanley, Punk Rock by Simon Stephens and Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies. The juniors joined us for the amazing Hound of the Baskervilles by Stephen Conny and John Nicholson. The actors of Punk Rock came to the school for a forum and were asked questions by the seniors who had studied the play in class. We will be sad to say goodbye to the wonderful Lara Mcgregor who has stepped down as Artistic Director. The forum nights have always been enriched by her input and help inform our own work. We also took the opportunity to see two Verbatim plays by Talking House productions; The Keys Are In The Margarine and Be\Longing. A great deal was learnt in the performances and after show chat with directors Cindy Diver and Stuart Young. 

Shakespeare has been a huge part of the year for us. We started in early 2015 casting and rehearsing a 15 minute entry for the University of Otago, Sheilah Winn, Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand regional festival. Having located and been granted the performances rights to perform a bilingual piece, we set about casting and rehearsing. This was the first time that this text had been performed and we had a huge task ahead of us. Jacobi Kohu Morris and Pippi Miller in the lead roles did a great job and the outcome at regional festival was great. We were off to Nationals in Wellington for the second year as Otago representatives. However, we had even more exciting news: Luke Major and his cast were chosen as the student directed representatives for Love's Labor's Lost.  LPHS represented very well indeed with Pippi Miller being awarded second place for her student directed Macbeth. 

Nationals in Wellington was an amazing experience. We set off for our adventure with Ms Johnson and performed at the world famous St James Theatre. Much fundraising was done to get us to Nationals. Sincere thanks to everyone who helped. Whilst in Wellington we saw A Servant Of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni and Second Afterlife by Ralph McCubbin Howell at Circa Theatre. In addition to performing, we also took part in workshops with international directors and actors. But most importantly we performed both scenes. This was a highlight for all involved and we were delighted to be part of such an amazing festival.

Awards evening proved very emotional for us all as we collected a number of titles: Outstanding Performer Peter Vere-Jones Award donated by Peter Vere-Jones: Reva Mereaira Grills, Othello, Logan Park High School, Outstanding Student-Directed Costume/Design Bernina Award donated by Bernina NZ Ltd: Love's Labor's Lost, Logan Park High School, Very Courteous and Cooperative School Backstage Organisers Award donated by SGCNZ: Logan Park High School, Best Voice Projection [Whole Cast] Algate Award: Othello, Logan Park High School and Most Thought-Provoking Performance SGCNZ/Sheilah Winn Award donated by SGCNZ / [the late] Sheilah Winn: Othello, Logan Park High School. Phew! What an awesome weekend. Thanks to Clare Wood, Erina Caradus, Siale Tunoka and Jane Johnson for helping. 

Following on from this, Reva Grills, Jimmy Robinson and Luke Major were invited to join the company of the National Shakespeare School Production, in Wellington. Out of the whole festival of thousands of students and hours of great performances only 24 get picked. A huge honor for these three! They had an awesome time and got to perform in Parliament Building in Wellington. After an exhaustive week they were all glad to be home in Dunedin and filled with confidence and excitement. 

Jimmy Robinson and Luke Major will be New Zealand representatives in 2016. They have been asked to travel to The Globe, London to perform on the most famous stage in the world.They are members of the New Zealand Young Shakespeare Company 2016 and we couldn't be more proud. A huge achievement as only 24 out of the whole of New Zealand are chosen to go. Congratulations to them and best wishes for their adventure. Fundraising has started to help them get to The Globe. 

We were also delighted to be the first school ever to be part of the lunchtime theatre at Allan Hall at The University of Otago. We performed to a great crowd and it was a really special honor to perform at the University of Otago. Many of our former students are at the University and have continued with Theatre Studies. Thanks to Hilary Halba and Marty Roberts. 

Next came the New Zealand Theatre Federation One Act Play competition. Congratulations to the students who took two plays to Invercargill to the regional festival. Directed by Tash Gosling, Alesha Jane Bowen and William Kilgour Hand, they did an excellent job. Harrison Kennedy and Jimmy Robinson picked up best actor awards. Congratulations to everyone in\involved.    

Pippi Miller and Luke Major have just been awarded the University of Otago Performance Scholarship for 2016. Well deserved. Congratulations and good luck in your studies at Otago University.