‘ONSTAGE’ HSC DRAMA NOMINATION
Congratulations to Year 12 Drama student Hayley D’Cunha for her OnSTAGE Individual nomination. Her individual performance that she presented for her HSC practical Drama examination has been nominated for possible inclusion. OnSTAGE is an annual showcase of the very best HSC Drama performances and individual projects and will be held at the Seymour Centre, Sydney in 2024. To put this into perspective, on average, three thousand students undertake the HSC drama performance exams each year and maybe one hundred to one hundred and fifty students are nominated for onstage. It also means that Hayley will have received an excellent mark for her performance.
Hayley’s performance was based on the Tennessee Williams masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire. Her character, Blanche Dubois, is the image of a southern belle. Charming, stylish, collected and strong. But underneath all this, Blanche is hiding a pain that threatens to overwhelm her. She deals with it by focusing her attention on her sister Stella and her troubled marriage to Stanley, an alcoholic WW2 veteran, that is the antithesis of everything Blanche has been raised to see as decent and proper. Hayley collated this monologue herself and worked incredibly hard to make this the best monologue it could be.
Her teacher Mr Hayden said; ‘Hayley has a natural talent for performance, the ability to communicate subtext and connect deeply with the audience, leaving them breathless and affected. I’m incredibly proud of Hayley’s work and as a drama teacher, humbled by this tour de force. Hayley has a bright future in performance and I have no doubt that we will see her on the stage of the Oscars one day, accepting the award for best Actress’.
Congratulations also to the great work done by our HSC Drama teacher Mr Hayden in the short time he had to work with the class. He has been a wonderful addition not only to the CAPA faculty and our school community.
Mr Stephen Peters
Leader of Learning CAPA
