Full-of-life educational discovery
Lively performances of original plays for children incorporating spoken word, music, song and dance and bespoke workshops were created and delivered across North Australia by TAE.
Origins
An important precursor of Taking Liberties is The Theatre as Education Project (TAE), founded by Gunduz Kalic and company members in the Northern Territory in the late 1980s at what is now Charles Darwin University.
The TAE Experience
Lively performances of original plays for children incorporating spoken word, music, song and dance - such as Chitter Chatter and Mr Collywobbles is Too Busy to name two - as well as bespoke workshops were created and delivered. TAE emphasized experiential learning through theatre, with workshops involving storytelling and role-playing to develop creativity, communication skills, social awareness and critical thinking.
Journey Across Australia
Moving its touring base to Bundaberg, Queensland in 1991, the Project toured outback and regional Australia. Highlights include visiting/touring remote Indigenous communities stretching from Arnhem Land to the WA border (The Jason Programme) and towns in the mining and grazing belts around Longreach and Barcaldine Qld.
Partners in Learning
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Unique in its approach to theatre in schools, TAE provided a fun and creative way for children and adults to learn and grow. Balancing responsibility to students, parents and staff and to their craft as artists, TAE members Steve Hyde, Mick Earnshaw, Maggie Marchant, Georgina Robertson, Kirsty Burke, Mark Power and Mary-Clare Milikins, along with Tony Sozynski, worked closely with teachers and schools to create theatre experiences with current, relevant subject matter closely linked to the curriculum.
TAE's Impact
The TAE project was devoted to theatre as a full-of-life means of educational discovery and cognitive and life skill development for students, teachers and parents. It delivered hundreds of performances for many thousands of students.