APAC Theater Takes the Show on the Road

From February 24th to February 28th, AISG’s performers travelled to HKIS in order to participate in this year’s APAC Theater, a competitive event in the APAC Performing Arts category. Students who attended the APAC festival were part of a two day workshop where they engaged with students from other schools in order to enhance their skills and learn new ones in the workshop. During the workshop, student performers came together and collaboratively designed a performance. With little help from the directors, the student body composed of 60 students came up with one amazing performance on Saturday the 27th.

AISG Theater Director Mr. Sinclair says that the students practiced diligently and did great. The things he loves about APAC Theater are the collaboration between student performers and the initiative that they have to take in order to design and create a show that will widen all eyes. In an e-mail interview, student performer Nikita Gohil told me a little more about the experience:

What new things did you learn this year?

On the first day of APAC we went through different workshops on different aspects of the theater. One of them was masks, in which we learnt how to convey a message or show something without using your face. This was unique because actors usually rely on their face, but in this workshop we worked with only our bodies. Another work shop was acting in which we all performed monologues written by other students. Those who chose that workshop had to memorize the entire monologue and perform it the next day, so we developed our memorization. And the final workshop was musical theater, in which we gained the confidence to perform in front of an audience and share our talents.

How do you think the AISG performers did at this year’s APAC Theater?

I think we all did really well. All of us chose different workshops for our final performance, so we were all spread out. Sam, Belle, Cassidy and Katie did masks and it was such a unique thing to see as I had never seen them perform in this theatrical manner before. Han, Sinou, Mango, and Gloria shared their amazing musical talents. Rusha and I performed unique monologues that were relatable as well as humorous.

What would you say about the overall season this year?

All the schools in this division became really close in the few days we were together. It was a great season in which I got to learn more about different people and cooperate to make a spectacular performance to present on the last night. I cannot wait for APAC to roll around again next year.

Not only was the experience of learning new skills to apply in their trade, student performers were also able to enjoy the beautiful campus of HKIS. Student performer Gloria Huang told reporter Yan Li, “The hosts were so nice, and the HKIS campus was really pretty because you can see the ocean from there. I got a workout from walking up and down the stairs. The whole experience was really rewarding, and I made a lot of new friends there.”

APAC Theater of 2015-16 gave both student performers and onlookers that saw the performance live at HKIS or through the live stream a magnificent show that was the result of a hard work. With the talent that runs through the veins of AISG’s student performers, APAC Theater of 2016-17 will be an extension of what is already great.