The Scene Project
Suitable for Years 7-12, The Scene Project is Queensland Theatre’s largest educational offering. It builds connection, wellbeing and collaboration by empowering participants to engage in the creative process of theatre making in a way that resonates with them and their community. Now in its 12th year, the program has a long history of bringing valuable insight into the development of new work, and for igniting ownership and passion within participants across the state.
The Process
Each year Queensland Theatre commissions a new play specifically for The Scene Project and its participants. At the end of term 1, Teachers engage in a Professional Development opportunity designed to build and strengthen the teacher toolkit to deliver and create for the project. Over Term 2, the secondary school participants are tasked with creating their own unique version of the work of up to 15 minutes. Outcome Days are held in Performing Arts Centres across Queensland in Term 3, where participants then share their work with each other, before watching a team of professional actors from Queensland Theatre perform a full version of the play under the same parameters.
BY SAM FOSTER & HAYDEN JONES 2025
Bailey, Ash, and Charlie are sick
of being asked the same question:
“What will you do when you finish
school?” It’s 2025. It’s impossible to
know what the future holds…isn’t it?
When the students attend a compulsory
meeting in the Guidance Officer’s room,
they are drawn to a mysterious box
in the corner. Bailey, Ash, and Charlie
find themselves on a wild and surreal
adventure through multiple realities, as
they attempt to Recalibrate and gain
clarity about their futures.
A sci-fi time-travelling extravaganza, Recalibrate is full of wacky, zany characters perfect for exploring comedy, imagination work and playful physicality with your students. Utilising direct address, narrators and meta-theatrics, this piece dives into themes of identity and growing up in a manner that is both relatable and highly engaging for students.
BY WENDY MOCKE 2024
A foreign species is vowing to conquer the earth. And they’re starting with the seas. Now, whales and orcas, custodians of these waters, must put aside all their differences, and their years of bad-
blood, in order to defeat this new threat.
Set entirely under the sea, Flowers in Antarctica will see students undertake an animal transformation as they embody the whales and orcas of a threatened oceanic habitat. Written with tongue in cheek humour and youthful flair, the language of the text is familiar and playful, whilst still impactful in it's exploration of relevant themes. This is a bold and exciting piece that invites imagination to be ignited both in design and performance.
BY STEVE PIRIE 2022
In a world where your status as a well-behaved, contributing member of society is dictated by a Points system, every action matters. The innovative Points system ensures that your behaviour and character are constantly monitored and evaluated. Starting with a gift of 1000 Points, your every decision will either add to or subtract from your total. Virtuous actions increase your Score, while less desirable behaviours lead to deductions. This system is not a restriction of your freedoms; you are still free to make your own choices. However, be aware that every choice has consequences.
A Thousand Points from Zero is a work of late capitalistic joy fused with a Choose Your Own Adventure novel. Blending drama and comedy, this piece is an excellent case study of balancing light and shade, providing a range of dramatic emotions for students to theatrically explore.
BY DAVID BURTON 2020
In the not too distant future, coming-of-age is a little different. Thanks to a fantastic scientific discovery, wisdom no longer comes with age. Wisdom now comes with a strict pharmaceutical regimen, and it’s all government mandated. But an idyllic, strictly regulated existence free of the shackles of aging isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. When side effects start to spread and citizens become aware of the lengths the state will go to maintain order, the only answer is revolution..
Wisdom examines the morality of eternal youth, placing a satirical twist on the coming-of-age narrative. Set within the realm of speculative theatre, the text focuses on a variety of sociopolitical issues suitable for secondary-aged students, such as government policies and mandates, authoritarianism, propaganda, science and genetics. With references to pop culture, this black comedy will resonate closely with younger generations. Designed to be versatile, the script can be approached in a multitude of ways, offering various gender-neutral character roles, a Greek chorus and the option for audio/visual multimedia.
BY ANGE BETZIEN 2019
On board flight 404 a photojournalist settles in for another normal journey, but when their fellow passengers start seeming a little too familiar they’re forced to confront the subjects from all the photos they’ve shot across the years. Faced with a career’s worth of documented trauma,
conflict, hardship, and grief the photojournalist, stuck in a tin can thirty thousand feet in the air, is forced to question the ethics of bringing about change one photo at a time.
The Shot is a global gothic play, presented in magical realism, which explores the haunting effects and questionable ethics of photojournalism. Its diverse genre and narrative style encourage students to push boundaries in their creative process and performance. Set within an international airport, 40,000 feet in the air on board flight 404, the script requires audio and visual media but still allows freedom to explore the space, offering creative flexibility in dramatic action, character portrayal, and language to suit different interpretations.
BY MERLYN TONG 2018
Ancient myths and legends from around the globe are reimagined into modern day moments in this series of intriguing vignettes. Good Grief pays tribute to Greek, Chinese, Aztec, Japanese, Norse and other potent tales through peering into the windows of disparate lives in flux and transformation. We are left wondering if we, as human beings, are ultimately connected; if we all share the same fundamental need to love, and experience the same landscapes of lost and longing, hope and hunger for life.
Good Grief is a mosaic of myths and legends that forms an image of love and grief. Written in a series of vignettes, students have the opportunity to embody multiple characters each processing grief through a different mythological cultural custom. With reoccurring motifs, the themes can be discussed and studied by unpacking the imagery. With an ever-present Chorus and the lingering of ghosts, this play instils one major idea: What is grief if not love persevering?
BY MAXINE MELLOR 2015
Konstantin, Nina, and Masha want to soar far and free from the stultifying artificial lake estate where their parents idle away their time. They do not want their dreams and desires to be eroded into disappointment, despondency, meaningless rage, and callousness; they do not want to
become like their parents. But it’s hard to leave the nest with clipped wings. Will these fledglings
have the strength to hold their weight against the pull of the lake?
The Fledglings explores three complicated, intertwined characters as they try to escape their small town filled with parental pressure and expectations. Through the watchful eye of the Seagull, this tale of regret and too many things left unsaid allows students to analyse what lies hidden beneath the surface. By asking the question, "Will I fly or will I fall?" students are enveloped into a world of young love and the clipped wings that stem from loneliness left to fester.
BY DAVID BURTON & CLAIRE CHRISTIAN 2014
There's a bomb in the school. The bomb is going to explode. The school has been evacuated and we meet the misfits, the perfectionists, the drama queens and the socially awkward. More than an angst-riddled exploration of 'teenage issues', The Land Mine is Me asks the audience to consider, how far do you have to push before someone explodes?
The Land Mine is Me is an episodic coming-of-age narrative, jam-packed with monologues and relevant themes for students to explore. The piece offers students an opportunity to expand on their vocal technique, memorisation, characterisation and physicality. It blends comedy and drama to effectively capture the essence of adolescence and growing up.
