The Theatre Department at SUIS Gubei has seen many firsts this past year. Recently we held the very first Theater Festival Week at Gubei, in fact this is the very first Theatre week held at any of the XieHe campuses. The week started off with a wonderful presentation at the flag raising ceremony. This was on the importance and benefits of theatre presented from our very talented Ms. Jiang, Ms. Tang and Thomas Chen who is the first ever theatre prefect in this newly assigned role.
Every day the Theater department had created ways to immerse teachers and students into the magical world of theatre. All of our theatre students from grade 9 to our grade 12 IB Theatre students performed in a variety of performances including Physical Theatre, Greek, French Farce, Mime, Musical Theatre and so much more. During break and lunch times we allowed staff and students to take pleasure in watching the phenomenal professional productions of “Hamilton” and the National Theatre’s “Frankenstein” in our drama black box studio, and allowed everyone to let loose a little by donning a costume and visiting the open sea as a pirate or as a cowboy in the wild west.
During the week we held an evening of Theatre which we called the “Theatre Festival Evening” where we invited parents and guest from outside to gaze in wonder as the school campus was buzzing with excitement and performances were taking place simultaneously in the black box studio and the auditorium. Audiences could freely go between both rooms to enjoy a variety of performances.
One performance in particular that was incredibly successful was an original play written and directed by our phenomenal, incredibly passionate and talented Theatre prefect, Thomas Chen.
“As the first Theatre Prefect in the Gubei community, I embrace the high expectations from my peers and the personal goals I’ve set for myself. One of my main objectives is to establish a Theatre Team, aptly named Breaking Brilliance. Being a pioneer in this role means exploring diverse pathways and experimenting with various approaches. I believe that launching our journey with an original piece of theatre will elevate our community’s creative expression and showcase the incredible talent we possess. “SE7EN” is an original piece of immersive theatre I have written and created. It is a murder thriller focusing on the cause and effect of a series of tragic events while incorporating elements of the seven deadly sins.”
“I prioritize both inspiration and originality, making it my mission to present the community with fresh content. However, the success of this endeavor relies heavily on the trust and dedication of our talented actors and crew. It is a privilege to collaborate with such inspiring individuals, and I eagerly anticipate sharing our next project with the community. I hope that for those who came along we allowed you to see how diverse and awe inspiring theatre can be. Finally I would like to inform you of our next performance which will be our Chinese production. We hope you can all come to support and enjoy our phenomenal talented theater students at Gubei.” – Thomas Chen, Theatre Prefect.
