TAFE SA’s Technical Production students are gaining real-world experience through creative collaborations with local theatre companies, including No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability.

The arts students worked with No Strings Attached on their recent production, Ark, designing and building the set to meet director Paulo Castro’s creative vision while navigating challenges such as budget constraints and deadlines.

Lecturer Casey Van Sebille says the program works with local theatre groups whenever possible because it provides valuable experience for students and raises their profile in the industry, while also supporting grassroots theatre.

“What’s valuable is that we’re working with professionals. We have students who are fairly raw in terms of industry experience talking to professional designers and directors, working on a professional show,” he says.

“Problems are thrown at them out of left field and that happens in theatre all the time. When you have a training program that doesn’t have the industry context, it’s all nice and neat but it takes out the hurly burly problem-solving and difficult things you need to be able to resolve.”

For Ark, the Technical Production team needed to create a set that evoked a seaport at night, working with a small budget, a bold creative vision and the strict requirements of the venue, Adelaide Festival Centre’s Space Theatre.

They rose to the challenge, building an 18m jetty from recycled pallet timber and using other thrifty design measures including layers of silver insulation to provide a shimmering water effect.

The jetty was designed to be portable, with interlocking joinery allowing for quick set-up and bump out at the end the season.

No Strings Attached describes the partnership as a “true win-win” and says it’s grateful to Casey and the Technical Production students for the creativity, passion and commitment they bring to each project.

Last year, students created a set for Construct, a No Strings Attached production at the House of Possibilities, and worked with Flying Penguin on American Song at the Goodwood Institute.

“American Song required a stone wall to be built and as the show goes on, they continue to build the wall, and one of our tasks was to make the fake rocks,” Casey laughs.

He says the creative collaborations enable students to work at different venues and understand their scale and the restrictions they may place on a production.

This is all in addition to the experiences they gain at the Adelaide College of the Arts (AC Arts), working on student productions and collaborating with students from the Performing Arts, Music and Sound Production, and Screen and Media programs.

More information about Live Production and Technical Services courses is on the TAFE SA website.

Pictured: Actors from No Strings Attached rehearsing on the jetty created by TAFE SA students.