The Scene Project

Each school will present their 15 minute scene at an outcome day facilitated by Queensland Theatre at regional and metro performance venues throughout the state. On this day a cast of professional Queensland Theatre actors, working under the same minimalistic parameters as students, present a full interpretation of the play.

The Scene Project is about collaboration, acknowledging students and teachers as artists, building confidence, and encouraging live performance in a professional space and manner. It is also an excellent way of participating in professional development and enhancing existing curriculum or co-curricular activities in schools.

The final phase of the project is a learning forum that allows students to acknowledge the skill and artistry of their peers as well as engage in robust discussions around process and performance building.

The Scene Project is suitable for students in Years 7-12.

Word from the writer...

In June of this year, I fell into an Orca wormhole and to be honest, I haven’t crawled my way out of it #NoRegrets! Plastered all over the news and throughout the digital junkyard that is social media, were reports and commentary regarding Orcas attacking yachts and sinking them into the ocean blue. The orcas of the world decided that it was time to strike back and I WAS HERE FOR IT.

The reality is that, according to scientists one Orca may have been traumatized by a boat and, in its own agony, attacked a boat in revenge, and other Orcas learnt to do the same. So, what we were seeing was a series of Orcas attacking boats and their children learning to do the same thing.

As I fell deeper into Orca territory, I began to think; What are the Orca's trying to tell us though? Orcas are highly intelligent marine creatures who are social, emotional, and conscious animals with complex cognitive abilities. What if they're trying to communicate something that is far deeper than what we are currently grasping at? We as humans have plundered the seas, used their ocean homes as waste lands and continue to gradually fracture the balance of an ecosystem that many Indigenous cultures teach; 'If we take care of it, it will take care of us'. Being that at that time I was having all these thoughts, I was working as an actor in the 2023 Scene Project, and I started to think of young people and their relationship and future with the Animal Kingdom.

I hope this story sparks something in young people to be more curious about how the animal kingdom may feel or think about issues that are affecting ALL OF US.

With love,

Wendy x

September 2023

Ancient rivals and custodians of the sea, Whales and Orcas live in understanding and fear of each other. For centuries they've always had a shared enemy: HUMANS.

Now the seas are warmer, the ice caps are melting, it's affecting everyone in the ocean world. But that's not what's drawn everyone to the urgent Ocean Tribal council. The arrival of a foreign species off the coast of Manus, Papua New Guinea, is creating more of a threat. An alien life form planning to seize earth from the sea up.

Sahul and Sunda, a teen orca and teen whale, daughters of their pod matriarchs, could be what everyone needs to save the planet and the animal kingdom as we know it.