Once Were Warriors Launches Educational Resource

For immediate release.
April 8, 2004.

ONCE WERE WARRIORS LAUNCHES EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE

A new education resource release by the musical drama Once Were Warriors will allow New Zealand school students will soon be able to experience the thrills and challenges of staging a major stage musical.

As part of its commitment to New Zealand Theatre in Education, the ARTCO is releasing a unique interactive e-book resource to intermediate and secondary schools.

The first of its kind in the world the resource will provide teachers and students to engage with a number of topical educational, artistic, social and health issues related to this iconic cultural work in an entertaining and interactive way.

The resource has been designed for use by the whole school community across a range of subjects including; drama, music, dance and visual arts, media, English, Maori, health, technology and design.

The cd-rom, ‘Once Were Warriors On Stage’ has been written by playwright and Head of Head of Drama, Epsom Girls Grammar School, Susan Battye, and the interactive components by Epsom Girls Grammar School's Intranet designer, Ian Allan.

The resource also contains interviews with key production team members, video clips, biographies, a synopsis, press releases, musical score and script excerpts and web links.

A key aspect is The Life of a Scene in which a key scene from the musical is tracked from conception to production. Students are able to interact with characters by placing them on the Once Were Warriors stage set and manipulate them in order to make decisions about staging for themselves.

NCEA related activities are embedded in the work so that teachers will find it easy to enable students to meet learning an assessment objectives in Drama, Dance, Music, English, and Maori. Health and Technology topics are covered in this comprehensive resource which will continue to be of use long after the production has finished its New Zealand tour.

‘Once Were Warriors On Stage’ will be demonstrated at its launch at a media lunch for the production on Tuesday 13th of April in Auckland.

ENDS.

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