The Moresby Arts Theatre on Tuesday, 3rd August 2022 initiated their Youth Arts Program [YAP] with students from Tokarara Secondary School and also students from the University of Goroka.
According to Dr. Jane Awi, this is the 7th year to run a successful program. Dr. Awi is a lecturer at the UoG and she also currently occupies the role as executive director for the Somare Research Institute, of which she heads 7 of the institutes.
Dr. Awi explained that the YAP is a 6 week program for high school students [NCD schools in particular] and through the program, they help students to portray a representation of social issues and highlight key community issues. To unpack issues which is then complimented with theatre training.
Through this, Dr. Awi stated that the students are given the necessary tools to represent these issues.
The first 2 weeks of sessions will be held at MAT and after that the students will return to their school for the next 4 weeks of project development.
They were scheduled to start last week, but due to the unrest in the city, they moved their start date to this week.
“Then on the 6th week, they will return to the theatre to stage their performance, so they will do a performance as a project and it will be for about 4-5mins,” she said.
The best performance or the most outstanding student drama will win prizes.
The program is a partnership between the Moresby Arts Theatre and the UoG since 2016 and this year is the 7th year of partnership between both bodies.