Xavier College is committed to ensuring all students have regular opportunities to explore their artistic potential, and this includes involvement in producing live theatre.
Our main productions each year, which are open to all students in the relevant year levels to participate in, are the Senior and Junior musicals. The Senior Musical is done in collaboration with Genazzano FCJ College. Auditions are held in later Term 3 and open to all students from Year 9 to Year 11. The rehearsals run throughout Term 4 and we open to packed houses in the Eldon Hogan Performing Arts Centre in late February, allowing Year 12 students to enjoy the experience without it interfering with their academic studies in that year. Previous Senior Musicals include the very first school production of Wicked in Australia, The Sound of Music, Seussical, Sweeney Todd and Guys and Dolls amongst a great many others.
The Junior Musical allows students from Year 5 to 8 to participate in a similar experience usually held in early Term 3, also in the Eldon Hogan Performing Arts Centre. Students experience the rigors of learning lines, choreographed dance routines and the complex harmonies for junior versions of contemporary Broadway Musicals, including Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Madagascar and many others.
Students in Years 10 to 12 are also invited to audition for a non-musical production held in Term 3 called the Winter Play. This is also done in association with neighbouring girl’s schools, such as Genazzano and Loreto Mandeville Hall. These productions are sometimes performed in the Crypt Drama Studio or in the Eldon Hogan Performing Arts Centre, depending on the demands of the staging. Past productions have included Macbeth, The Tempest, Our Town, The Ladykillers, The Visit, Our Country’s Good and many others.
All these productions feature high production values including elaborate sets and professional lighting and sound designs to ensure the activity provides each student with the opportunity to feel involved in a main stage experience. Many of our students go on to participate in theatre in University and some have made this their profession.
Our Year 9 boys are also given an opportunity to audition for the Genazzano Year 9 production produced at Genazzano. Similarly many local girl’s schools , such as Sacre Coeur and MLC invite our senior students to audition for their musical productions across the year.
All drama subjects offered in the Senior Campus, including Theatre Studies feature performance opportunities. Our Drama students often create short performances to enhance the Creative Arts festival in early Term 4.
Throughout the year students who love the chance to get up and improvise with others can do so as a Theatresports activity included in our various Sports carnivals, such as the Summer carnival, St Ignatius Day and the Winter Sports carnival.
The experience of participating in a live theatre production builds confidence and performance skills as well as broadening a young person’s social circle. All our productions are carefully curated, managed and delivered with a view to making the experience a positive and enriching one, that students will always remember long after they have left school.
