But while I was there, I tried to discover if the performing arts of any kind are taught in schools on any of the many islands that make up this beautiful country?

Well, the answer is most likely no, but you’ll see below an image of a theatre building for youth. This was effectively a youth centre of sorts, with privately funded training programs for disadvantaged and/or unemployed youth. The workers were proud to show me around the centre and I discovered one of several programs included teenagers rehearsing and performing plays on a simple stage.

I also passed another building (unfortunately closed at the time) for the Vanuatu Amateur Theatrical Society.

So even though acting is not formally taught in the schools of Vanuatu, my travels indicated at least a presence of theatre performances of some kind in the capital Port Vila.

Avila College is a Catholic girls school in Melbourne, situated in Mount Waverley with a student enrolment of 1150.

The job will most likely entail teaching Years 7-10 Drama, with the extra curricular activities of contributing a Drama item or two to a Creative Arts Festival in May and coordinating a Years 7-10 festival of student-written plays in November.

The job is advertised as English/Drama, with the split being about half/half between the disciplines.

See last Saturday’s Age newspaper for advertisement or online details (including online application form) are located on the school website here.

Applications close September 12.

Justin Cash