Archive News Education

The following news items represent a selection of the MED Education projects that take place throughout each year.

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 2008: 

• The Last Polar Bear project - A special public event took place on Thursday 27th March, from 6.30pm, Coombeshead College Theatre, Newton Abbot. A series of curriculum-based and out-of school activities on climate change have taken place at Coombeshead College since January 2008.  MED helped co-ordinate the inputs, including film workshops for Year 8.  More about The Last Polar Bear.

• The Last Tree Puppet Workshop. On 16th February '08 Education Officer Carly Mays ran a family learning puppet-making workshop in Haldon Hills. At the Centre for Contemporary Art in the Natural World, families created puppets based on the story of The Last Tree, using materials found in the forest.

• Fairy Tale Workshop at Kenn C of E Primary School

We had a great start to the New Year at Kenn C of E Primary School on Monday 14th January 2008. We ran 3 workshops across the morning with years 2 to 6. It was a very creative morning of learning more about Cinderella and making up our own fairy tales!

2007:

• The Mine

Moretonhampstead Primary School pupils successfully performed their play The Mine, in front of their school, friends and family on Friday 7th December. MED Theatre worked with Year 6 pupils for 8 weeks on this playwriting project.  The group wrote their own play, which explores the history of the tin-mining industry on Dartmoor through a story about medieval schoolchildren and some unexpected visitors from outer space!

• Dartmoor Myth-making workshop at Marlborough Primary School

We very much enjoyed working with Year 6 pupils at Marlborough Primary School, Plymouth on the 5th December.  The group learned about Dartmoor myths and created drama based on their own myth ideas.

• DARTFEST

Congratulations to Wild Nights Young Company on their first Dartfest Playwriting Festival held on the 23rd and 24th November.  We hope to expand the opportunities provided by this project in 2008.

• The Children's Castle

MED Education worked with our Wild Nights Young Company to produce a promenade performance at Castle Drogo. Performances took place on the 15th and 16th August. Check this link for more information; The Children's Castle.

• Coombeshead College Media, Summer Holiday Project. Radio Playwriting for 10-15 year olds. - Summer Holidays 2007

MED Theatre spent a week with a group of 12 young people, exploring the myths of Dartmoor, and visiting Wistman's Wood. The group were inspired to write their own radio play, which they then acted out and recorded as a radio play.

• The Walk To School - Friday 20 July 2007

Widecombe Primary School Year 6 pupils wrote, directed and acted in their own play. The production was based on the history of their school, in the context of the anniversary of the move of their school to it's current site. They played Victorian schoolchildren, caught up in the Jan Coo myth. They performed to parents, friends, teachers and fellow school pupils.

• Lost Roots - film project. June 2007.

MED Education and the Wild Nights Young Company worked in collaboration with Coombeshead College Media and two independent film-makers to make the First Light funded short film, Lost Roots. For more information, click to; Lost Roots

•  ACTION DRAMA - Festival of nine short plays: 

The Power Struggle, by Derek Keeping. 2007.

MED Education worked with 11 undergraduate students at Exeter University on their “Applied Drama” module. The students ran a course with participants from the local area. MED Theatre supported the students in their role as mentors and workshop leaders. Each participant wrote, acted in and/or directed their own plays which were shown at a mini-festival, Exeter University, on Friday 11 May. The project was supported by the Aimhigher Peninsula Programme, through Community Action at Exeter University. MED Theatre is excited to learn that several of the participant's are now forming their own theatre company to develop new writing - we look forward to seeing their first production!

• The Snow People and The Glowing Rocks. 

  BOVEY TRACEY STUDENTS SAVE THE WORLD! Students at Bovey Tracey Primary School recently worked with MED Theatre to explore issues of Climate Change by writing and performing a play titled The Snow People and The Glowing Rocks. The writers explored global warming through a creative storyline of parrallel worlds.

   

Performed for the first time on Thursday 25th March, this was a great success for the team of playwrights. The 20 Bovey Tracey Primary School pupils wrote, directed and acted in their own play.  Visit the Photo Gallery for pictures from the performance.  Photo Gallery.

•  Cassiterides - The Romans on Dartmoor: The community company production completed a very successful run in March. Congratulations to all involved. Workshops exploring Cassiterides were held for MA Applied Drama students at Exeter University and GCSE Drama students at West Exe Technology College, Exeter. We really enjoyed exploring the play with these groups.

          2006:

•  The Evacuees on Dartmoor: Pupils of Moretonhampstead Primary School worked with MED Theatre to write their own play set in WW2. The pupils explored the stories of groups of children living in and evacuated to Dartmoor during the war. They performed this to their school, parents and friends on the 18 th December, 2006.

•  The Miller's Tale:  MED Theatre Education is seeking funding for the continuation of an exciting interactive performance piece for KS2 pupils. In the play, the young participants are invited to meet a Victorian Flour Miller. During the course of their tour of his flour mill, he is arrested and accused of tainting the flour...the pupils help decide his fate. A pilot study with three local primary schools was completed in November, 2006, and proved a great success for MED Theatre and the Museum of Dartmoor Life.