Waimea wins Stage Challenge

SARAH YOUNG - THE LEADER

Last updated 05:00 19/05/2011

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Waimea College overcame some "nail-biting" moments to win the regional Stage Challenge competition at the Trafalgar Centre last Tuesday night, with their computer game-inspired entry Virtual Reality.

The last time the college won was in 2008, with Nayland College dominating the competition since then. Nayland finished second this year.

Waimea's executive student producer Travis Mills said he was extremely proud of the students.

"They were so fantastic they did everything right. They definitely had nerves but they put them to the side and went out there and gave it their all."

He said whatever happened, he would have been proud of them.

"We managed to bring together all walks of life from across the school."

He said he had been a bit nervous after the dress rehearsal.

"It didn't go quite according to plan."

Pirate warrior Georgia Winter had fallen off the stage and been taken to A&E only to later break her finger during a sword fight on the big night - and the rehearsal performance was flat and did not have its usual energy, Travis said.

"I think they panicked because they were used to practising on a smaller stage.

"But they got over the nerves after a couple of goes, and it started to get better, and I thought, 'Hey, we might be OK'."

Another stress-inducing worry was the set, which had to be moved on and off the stage in less than four minutes, he said.

"It was so heavy. The first time the crew practised moving it, it took them 15 minutes and that was only a week ago.

"It was quite a nail-biting experience."

But the backstage crew pulled through, managing to get the set on and off in about three minutes, and won an excellence award for their efforts.

The college won four other excellence awards in costume, choreography, student leadership, and community building, he said.

The performance was filmed, and will be sent up to Auckland for judging alongside other regional winners from around the country. It will also be screened on television later in the year.

The students will be presented with their trophy at assembly.

Garin College also did well, coming third with their Beyond This Point entry, and taking away eight awards.
"They really stood up after all the sweat, toil and all the worries over the term," teacher Vince Fox said.

"They couldn't have asked for anything more their performance was magnificent, and they were very proud of their achievement against the big schools."

Garin's entry told the story of a couple of children who stayed behind after a school trip to the museum, and sneaked into the displays which came to life.

Dancing their way through Egyptian mummies, outer space, and kings and queens, the scene moved from good to evil until the children themselves were trapped, "immortalised", in the display themselves, Vince said.

Apart from a couple of minor costume glitches, it all went to plan, Vince said.

The students had driven the entire project themselves, with year 13 leaders Hannah Gibson, Emily Graham, Annabelle Nichols, and Jeanie Winter doing a fantastic job, he said. Year 12 student Holly Tipler also played a key leadership part, as she gained experience to take over the reins for next year's entry.

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Tapawera Area School also entered the Stage Challenge, impressing with its performance of The Wild Wild West.