Level Up! Fest 2024: Learning Festival for Drama CCA Educators by SDEA, in collaboration with NAFA and LASALLE

November is the month for Drama Educators to Level Up!

Level Up! Fest 2024 is a learning festival specially curated for the Drama CCA Instructors and Teachers-in-charge. It will address some of the sector’s competency gaps, advance capabilities of educators and encourage the development of holistic Drama CCA experiences for students in today's world.

This year, Level Up! Fest is presented in partnership with Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and LASALLE College of the Arts (LASALLE).

Gain new knowledge and strategies from 2 workshops designed and facilitated by faculty members from NAFA School of Arts Management, Dance & Theatre and LASALLE School of Dance and Theatre.

SDEA Members and NAFA/LASALLE Students and Alumni will be able to enjoy a 20% discount on registration fees.

Join us this November for your opportunity to Level Up!

Session 1

Our Modern World Through Shakespeare's Eyes. 

12 November | 10am - 1pm | LASALLE McNally Campus

Register for this workshop here.

Crack open Shakespeare's language to reveal the beauty and insights within his plays. Discover the loves, jealousies and social transactions that shine a spotlight on our modern world. Explore the experiences that transcend time and culture, enriching and enlightening our understanding of what it means to be human. Trainers Jeffrey Guyton and Matt Grey will take you on a refreshing journey through Shakespeare's work and will unpack the gifts he presented to future generations.

About the facilitator: Jeffrey Guyton

Jeffrey Guyton, began his acting career at the storied Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada as movement coach and apprentice actor. In his first season he won the Chalmer's Award for Apprenticeship and became a full company actor, also winning a Guthrie Award to study stage combat in London. He choreographed, assistant directed, and acted at the Festival for four seasons, playing in 15 productions. He has enjoyed a long, fruitful career, playing in many Theatres in the US and the Watford Palace Theater in England. 

About the facilitator: Matt Grey

Matt Grey is an award-winning actor and educator with over forty years of industry experience. He has acted, directed and taught acting internationally in Australia, Britain, France, India, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore. He acts regularly for Singapore's leading theatre companies. In 2013, he was awarded 'Best Actor' in the 13th Life Theatre awards for his portrayal of Sigmund Freud in Freud's Last Session.  

Over the last twenty-five years as an educator, Matt has assimilated established pedagogies into a process that promotes the actor's authenticity and credibility in realistic and stylised acting. Working in a multi-cultural context, his research enables his students to work across different modalities and develop a wide and flexible range of artistic responses in their work. 

Session 2

Acting into the Voice 

12 November | 2.15pm - 5.15pm | Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts

Register for this workshop here.

In this immersive two part workshop  acting and voice faculty will guide participants through the integration of acting skills and vocal techniques in order to create short improvised scenes.  

In the first part of the workshop there is a focus on spontaneity, creativity and extending a personal range of expression through acting exercises based on the work of Michael Chekhov. Using the first part as a foundation, the second part   extends this expressive freedom into vocal production including voice care, expressive speaking and performing text so that it can be understood end enjoyed by an audience.  

Participants in this workshop need not be actors, and it is suited to educators who are genuinely interested in exploring expressive communication and how acting and voice skills can be useful additions to making a drama classroom dynamic and inspiring for both teachers and students. 

About the facilitator: Andrew Mowatt

Andrew J Mowatt is a theatre educator, actor, and facilitator. Andrew has worked extensively in various contexts as a teacher and practitioner. Andrew’s specialized focus is the training of young actors and has a particular interest in teaching Stanislavski in innovative and relevant ways for local theatre students. A keen researcher Andrew holds an MA in Arts Pedagogy and Practice from Lasalle/Goldsmiths as well as an MEd in Drama from NIE in Singapore. As the Singapore theatre education scene continues to evolve and develop, it is critical to enable young people to choose relevant pathways, as an actor trainer Andrew is committed to creating these opportunities by researching and practicing both as an actor and as a teacher of the craft.  

About the facilitator: Tajiyah Sulwana

Tajiyah Sulwana is currently taking an MFA in Voice Studies: Teaching And Coaching at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She is a graduate of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts’ Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Performance Making (validated by University of the Arts London) where she received First Class Honours. She also is a recipient of the LBKM Prestigious Postgraduate Scholarship and the Margetta Bundy Education Award. She is a performer, performance maker and drama educator. Her personal practice revolves around evoking conversations of change through performances and through the voice. She experiments with voicework and voice technique as a devising tool to create. 

Recent works include Grief Chorus (Complicite Theatre), Sit Down Tragedy (Frantic Assembly), SainouStory (SainouSpace), Journey to Nowhere (The Finger Players) and 0.01 (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival/NAFA). 

Registration Fees

Public - S$25.00 per workshop
SDEA Members, NAFA/LASALLE Students and Alumni - S$20.00 per workshop