Drama and Applied Theatre Students to Visit Chile

Students from the BA Drama and Applied Theatre Studies programme at St Mary’s University, Twickenham will visit Santiago, Chile, in April as part of a theatre outreach programme with Sename, a local non-governmental organisation. There are 14 students taking part in the trip, with Academic Director for Drama Programmes Mark Griffin and Programme Director for Drama and Applied Theatre Julie Spencer accompanying them. The trip will see the students lead applied theatre workshops with young people who no longer live with their parents and young offenders that have committed petty crimes. The students will be working for seven days, conducting the workshops with the aim to encourage the young people involved to take positive actions in the future. The trip is entirely self-funded by the students and will cost each of them £1,400. To raise funds they have organised a drama showcase in the Students’ Union, two students were sponsored to climb The O2 Arena, and held a faculty event, which included wine tasting, a raffle, and auction, amongst many other smaller fundraising activities. Overall the students have managed to raise £13,350. Second year BA Drama and Applied Theatre Studies student Aliyah Forde said of the trip, “I am extremely excited to have been given the opportunity to go to Santiago, Chile with my class. Its amazing that we will get to travel internationally and use what we learn in class to help those that are less fortunate than us, especially as they are young children who will are facing major decisions in life.” St Mary’s is the first university to take Applied Theatre to Chile and it’s a Drama St Mary’s will make use of the opportunity to establish its and the University’s reputation. Mark Griffin and Julie Spencer will be visiting the University of Chile to speak about St Mary’s and the study of Applied Theatre, which will see them conducting workshops for 80 Chilean students. If you want to support the expedition, you can donate here: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/7uTi8/ab/c4HTB2/.