In the second week of the July school holidays, 20 lucky scouts and venturers (who can rustle up the all inclusive $450 fee) will get to spend a week with expert photographers, honing and refining their skills.

The National Scout photography school is the only one of its type in New Zealand and it is for all Scouts and Venturers interested in digital photography. For a whole week the students are immersed in the fun and exciting world of photography. It is headed by professional photographers with the assistance of keen amateur photographers who all volunteer their time to enable young people to realise their dreams.

This year’s course will be local – at Brookfield.

• Full week’s schedule
• Promotional poster

Gang Shows are a lot of work, but an immense amount of fun!  For those of you not familiar with them, Wikipedia says the following:

A Gang Show is a theatrical performance with a cast of youth members of Scouts and Guides. Adult leaders and parents help out behind the scenes. The aim of the shows is to give young people in Scouting and Guiding the opportunity to develop performance skills and perform in a close to professional theatrical environment. Opportunities are also afforded to young people to work backstage, in front of house roles and as musicians in musical items and in the pit band.

The 2012 Gang Show season is getting into gear – auditions are coming up and NOW is the time to start to get involved.

Auditions

• Saturday 12 May – Sunday 13 May

Any uniformed member of Brooklyn Scouts may audition to be in the cast of HVGS 2012.  However, you must be 10 years old as at 24 September 2012. (HVGS = Hutt Valley Gang Show.)  The auditions are on the afternoon of Saturday 12 May 2012 and Sunday 13 May 2012.  To audition you must register online in advance.

Commitment Required of Cast Members

• Rehearsals start Monday 4 June (holiday monday)
• Every Sunday afternoon until September show date

If you get accepted, you can’t let the show down!  All members of the cast are expected to attend ALL rehearsals (even if it’s raining / cold / the season finale of Twilight).

The first rehearsal is 10am – 5pm Monday 4 June 2012 (Queens Birthday Monday). Rehearsals will be held from 1-5pm (with early and late calls one hour either side) every Sunday thereafter through to the performances in September. This includes the Sundays of the July school holidays.

More detail

On auditions…

Once you have registered we will get back to you with your the time that you have been allocated – this will be on the day you have indicated on your online registration. Don’t worry if you don’t hear from us straight away as it often takes a little while for us to process the audition registrations. If you have any questions please email Maggs Kerslake, HVGS Production Administrator at [email protected]

All people auditioning will be organised into groups of up to 10 people. The audition process will involve the group going to four bases over the course of about an hour and a half. At each the first three bases you will learn a song, some movement and some drama. At the fourth base you will then “show us your stuff”. We will try and keep it as easy and relaxed as possible so there is nothing to worry about. You do not need to prepare anything in advance for your audition.

On rehearsals

All cast members are also required to be at the two full weekend Gang Show Camps on 22-24 June and 31 August- 2 September 2012; and the two weekend theatre rehearsals on 8-9 September and 22-23 September 2012. Of course cast members must also be available for all of the performances (24-29 September 2012).

PLEASE make sure that you (and your family) are prepared to make this commitment before you decide to audition.