Letters to Africa

Last season, Theatre Direct launched its first annual arts education residency for local schools with a unique program from a multidisciplinary team of artists from the acclaimed Stuttgart-based Akademie Schloss Solitude for students of Dovercourt Junior Public School. The idea of the program was to engage young people in a process of creation which went beyond the “delivery” of curriculum based skills. Our goal was to encourage a true artistic exchange and collaboration that inspired the idea of schools as potential centres of community and creativity where young people, professional artists, parents and educators can come together around art. (to learn more about last year's project click here.)

This year, we chose to create our residency around the themes and issues central to Binti’s Journey, the stage adaptation of Deborah Ellis’ acclaimed novel The Heaven Shop, exploring the impact of the African HIV/AIDS pandemic on young people through the eyes of a remarkable girl 13-year-old girl, orphaned along with her siblings. While Binti is a fictional character, her story is a common one for so many young people living in Africa today. Deborah Ellis documented dozens of their stories in the non-fiction companion work titled Our Stories, Our Songs: African Children Talk About AIDS. It was these two works that inspiredthe process for Letters to Africa, our project with grade 7/8 students at Kent Senior Public School.

-- Lynda Hill, Artistic Director

to download PDF of Final Report for Letters to Africa

Theatre Direct thanks UNICEF for making these study guides available.

to download The Heaven Shop Study Guide

to Download Our Stories, Our Songs Study Guide

Creation and Arts Education Project
From Theatre Direct
at Kent Senior Public School

November 12 to December 1, 2007

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