Our Sandton adult class steal the show!

On Saturday 1st December our Sandton adult class ( at The Field and Study Centre) performed "Cinderella in Africa" to an audience of 200 people. They had the audience in stitches with cheeky innuendos, lots of audience participation, singing along with the cast and a grand finale which ended up with a custard pie on one of the Ugly sisters faces!
It is truly amazing how the drama programme helps adults to gain confidence and bring them out of their comfort zone. Most of the adult class have full time jobs ranging from a stock broker to an engineer with little or no experience of the performing arts. The majority of the class have only been attending since May 2012 and the standard  of their performance was truly incredible! We did have the odd xdrama student involved as well as Helen O'Grady teachers but the lead roles were played by our enrolled adults. Our guest appearance by Tim Hulse (Baroness Hardup), principal of Helen O'Grady Drama Academy Johannesburg South was a real treat as Tim was a professional actor in the UK before coming to South Africa!

Check out the photos with the production sound track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk0zUmjDEfY&feature=g-crec-u

Well done to all the cast and we look forward to seeing you next year !

Productions Sat 1st Dec 3.30-5.30pm show

Photos from our Farramere Upper Primary and Kempton Park studios.Great performances from all the classes.

The Helen O'Grady Drama Academy Johannesburg North Celebrated 10 years with all the staff in Style!

After 10 years of running my branch of the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy in Johannesburg, I treated my staff  to an amazing evening of fun and entertainment at Greensleeves Medieval Kingdom near Krugersdorp.
We were transformed back in time in every way, including dressing up, eating a 3 course  delicious meal with out knives and forks, sampling the traditional age old wine called Mead, and a laugh wrenching show which required audience participation. An evening of lighthearted debauchery was had by all. Not for the faint hearted- the wenches were at the beck and call of their Lords and woe betide them if they didn't obey! Some photos have been censored!

I am very proud of my wonderful staff who worked so hard through  out the year which cullminated in our fantastic productions. A big thank you to them all. And I would like to wish them and all our kids and parents a blessed and Happy Christmas and a prosperpus New Year

Anita Hollis

Principal  

Productions Friday 30th november 2012

Here are some great photos from the Edenvale (Edenvale community Centre) and Morningside (Ullman Park) studios.

Productions Thursday 29th November 2012

Here are some great pictures from our Benoni and Boksburg classes. The Boksburg Youth Theatre performed a play called "The Perfect Scandal". It was an intense play and  required strong characterisation skills. A very emotional ending!

Productions 24th Nov 2012

The Helen O'Grady Drama Academy Johannesburg North East has just put on 7 amazing shows with over 600 children performing and  2000 parents,family and  friends attending. The shows are an evening of entertainment show casing 5 different plays with children from the age of 5- 18 yrs. The performances were put on at Jabula Recreation Centre in Sandringham

Check out some photos from our first show which culminated with an outstanding performance of Cinderella in Africa by our Sandton Youth Theatre.

End of Year productions - dress rehearsals

All our classes are busy rehearsing for our End Of Year Shows starting Saturday 24th November.

Some of our Youth Theatre classes are rehearsing "Cinderella in Africa" , our very own version of the famous pantomime. Part of our Youth Theatre programme is to teach them diffrent styles of stage performance. Pantomime involves larger than life acting, audience participation and boys dressed up as girls!

The  Johannesburg North East Branch has 7 shows and all our welcome! Each performance will display the talents of our students ages 5 - 18 years. We even have an adult class.

VENUE: Jabula Recreation Centre,

               Cnr Athlone/ Anne St, Sandringham

DATES: Saturday 24th November

              7.30 - 9.30pm

              Thursday 29th November

              7.00- 9.00pm

               Friday 30th November

               7.00- 9.00pm

               Saturday 1st December

               3.30- 5.30pm & 7.30 - 9.30pm

               Sunday 2nd December

               3.00- 5.00pm & 7.00- 9.00pm

COST :  R50 adults

               R10 for child ( 5- 17 yrs)

Helen O'Grady student lead boy in Ian Gabriel's "Four Corners"

We are very proud of Jezreil Skei (aged 13 years) who attends the Ulman Park branch(Morningside)  of our Academy. He was chosen out of hundreds of boys auditioned in Johannesburg and Cape Town to play the lead role (Ricardo) in the film "Four Corners" directed by South African director Ian Gabriel.

Ian Gabriel's award winning feature film FORGIVENESS received critical acclaim worldwide ,and was heralded in a recent CNN report as one of ten best African films of the last decade http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/21/world/africa/best-african-movies/index.html

Jezreil or Jezie as  he likes to be called spent 7 weeks filming down in Cape Town. He had an amazing experience as he had to learn new skills including how to play chess, weaponry training and learn the local "language" of the Cape Flats gang mobs.

Four Corners is a coming of age story about a young boy at the crossroads in his life.  RICARDO's coming of age story highlights the positive outcome of the strength of family in the gang-torn communities surrounding Cape Town.The film will be released next year.

Jezie, like most of the drama students who attend the Helen O'grady Drama Academy Johannesburg North East belongs to Take 10 Casting Agency, our sister company.The performance skills taught at the academy certainly help our students to achieve success in the  TV and film industry.

Helen O'Grady students cast in "Long Walk to Freedom!"

We are very proud  that 4 of the  drama students from The Helen O'Grady Drama Academy Joburg North East  were cast out of hundreds to star in the international film " Long Walk to Freedom" .

Sinakho Motsepe
Role : Tembi (Mendela's son age 6yrs)
Benoni LP

Khumbuzile Maphumulo
Zeni(Mendela's daughter age 8 yrs)
Benoni LP

Joshua Manana
Tembi (Mandela's son age 11yrs)
Boksburg UP



Refilwe Charles
Zinzi ( Mendela's daughter age 12 yrs)
Kensington UP



Most of the Film is being shot  in Cape Town so our kids  have had the great experience of filming in the new Cape Town studios.
Mendela is played by a very well known British screen and TV Actor Idris Elber ( Ghost Rider, Thor, Legacy, Luther) and Winnie played by an equally famous British Actress Naomie Harris( Pirates of The Caribbean, Trauma, Miami Vice ).

The film will be released next year so be sure to go and watch it!!


All the students at this  branch of the Helen O'Grady drama academy are signed up with our casting agency - Take 10 Casting. Our International drama programme certainly helps our students get cast in films, TV series as well as numerous TV ads.



Workshop and Wine evening a great hit !

The parents of our Kensington and Sandton Youth Theatre classes were treated to a Work shop and Wine evening. Parents bought food and drinks and sat around tables while their sons and daughters entertained them with a evening of comedy and drama . The workshop included improvisations, scripts, monologues and theatre games !



Poor Poochy! We even had a real live dog make an appearance!



 

                                                                                         

At the end of the evening many of the students were presented certificates and trophies.

We were particularly proud of Arianna Cottino who received her 300 lesson trophy (seven and a half years attending the Academy). Well done !

Lower Primary Classes Sparkle on Parents Day

All the  Lower Primary classes  in the  Johannesburg East branch of the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy treated the parents to a  sparkling show. Part of their performance was to act out a "Mime to Music" which is a story to music which involved  movement skills including time and  space awareness as well as listening skills. We encourage our children to understand that  good body coordination is as  important as vocal skills in developing self confidence and being a great actor.
The  children acted out "The Christmas Decorations" and  impressed their parents as they pretended to be  decorations  popping out of the Christmas decoration box on Christmas eve and at midnight  made their way onto the christmas tree.Check out some of our children in action !

Preparing for Parent Day!

All our students are rehearsing for our parent days coming up over the next three weeks. All 600 students attending the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy Jo'burg North East will be show casing some aspects of our internationally  acclaimed programme to parents, friends and family.

Our Lower & Upper Primary Bedfordview classes , held at the Jeppe Quandom Centre, had their dress rehearsals on Saturday . The Lower Primary class had fun being " A School Orchestra"  whilst our Upper Primary classes dressed up for  a short scripted scene  called "Ulysses and The Sirens"- a piece set in the times of Greek Mythology

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Ready Steady Cook!

Our Lower primary classes have had great fun this week, dressing up as little chefs and having a cooking competition with imaginary food!! Kensington Lower Primary classes held at the Kensington Tennis and  Bowling Club on Thursdays pulled out all the stops with fantastic chef's hats, aprons and cooking utensils. The kids are encouraged to use props in preparation for their end of year production. The drama  programme helps develop self confidence as well as social and communication skills . Above all , it's great fun!!!

Corporate Drama : Adding a Magic Ingredient To how You Present!

The strategic director of  SMV South Africa, a global  media company approached the Academy  to present  a workshop which could help bridge the gap between business and drama.The company have many fantastic presenters but the idea was to push the boundaries and make them " sparkle". A two hour workshop involved  group bonding exercises, relaxation and vocal training, lateral thinking, bringing to life a power point presentation and dealing with the unexpected ! Besides teaching them new skills , great fun was had by all!

Our workshops  can be tailored  to suit the needs of the client and can vary from a two hour workshop to an 8 week course (one hour a week ).

Helen O'Grady drama student finalist at IMTA Awards in July 2012

Well done to Katleho Mallela (age 17 years) who has reached the finals of the IMTA awards in July 2012. Katleho has been attending the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy in Kempton Park for the last 5 years. Our Youth Theatre  programme which focuses on performance has certainly helped her to become such a wonderful performer.
 The  IMTA holds a number of competitions for  Actors, singers and dancers to demonstrate their potential .The agents, personal managers and casting directors who are judging are not only scoring the participants, they're also scouting for new talent to represent or cast.
Katleho, as are all the kids who are with the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy Johannesburg North East belong to our casting agency Take10. Katleho was recently featured in a PSA  advert  for Aids. The casting directors were very impressed with her.
Lets keep our fingers crossed for Katleho at the Awards!