ISTA

"Hundreds of theatre kids coming from all around Asia, all learning, collaborating, and devising theatre creates such a fun, inspirational, and meaningful environment. I've made some great friends, and learnt so much I can bring back to IB Theatre, and to everyday life!" - Tanay 

"The whole trip was a fantastic learning opportunity to enhance my theatre skills, and experience a global perspective on what and how theatre can be." - Advay 

"Everything was great. The water puppetry show was amazing and while all of the ISTA workshops were great, it was very cool how there was one which was specific to Vietnam and localised in the form of the Tuong workshop. It was amazing to learn about a completely new performance art form of theatre and especially one that is specific to the place we visited, which felt very fitting for IB because in Theatre we learn about different theatre traditions from around the world. The way Tuong combined amazing traditional singing and super cool unique instruments with storytelling in the form of physical gesture and dance (as well as extremely dramatic dialogue/song) was super cool and the way they represented an entire battle through musical instruments or a woman turning into a fox through physical gestures was incredible." - Ishaan 

"I thoroughly enjoyed Hanoi. I thought it was really a unique experience that helped made put into perspective what IB theatre would be like. I really liked that each workshop we did was created so we could apply it to a corresponding part of the IB. I also loved the cultural elements woven into the whole experience. Having a day of workshops and then getting to go out and watch a traditional show or a show curated by one of the workshop leaders was really interesting." - Spencer 

Some of our IBDP Theatre students had the opportunity to participate in the ISTA TAPS programme over one of the weekends in October where they had an amazing time in the 3-day intensive training learning from international theatre practitioners and interacting with other IBDP Theatre students from all around Asia.   

We spoke to a few of our Grade 11 and Grade 12 IBDP Theatre students who attended the programme to hear about their experience and takeaways. You can watch their interviews below and hear from the students first-hand! 

Previously, UWCSEA East has been a member school of the International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA). This is a very highly regarded worldwide association for schools that teach both Drama and Theatre. ISTA runs a large number of festivals across the world to offer students with an interest in Drama the opportunity to work with experts in the field to develop their skills and meet students with similar interests from other countries. 

Each year, UWCSEA East students attend a Middle School Festival in South East Asia. This is a unique opportunity for Drama students to extend their Drama skills in an internationally acclaimed environment. The quality of instruction and activities at the festival have been extremely high with experienced Drama and Theatre experts leading the ensemble and performance processes.