ISTA 2016 - Anna Capri Year 8

About two weeks ago, Mr. Burt brought a group of 16 students, including myself, to this year’s ISTA (International School Theatre Association) that was in Penang, Malaysia. It was hosted by the International School of Penang or otherwise known as Uplands.  We had more than 20 teachers and ISTA artists and more than 100 students from across Asia with us. There were schools from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Kuala Lumpur and of course, Hong Kong!  
 This year’s theme for the festival was: the unknown, so during the festival we talked about what the unknown sounded like or felt like and our reactions to it.  The first day we all took the time to familiarize ourselves with our ensembles (groups). The first day was also the longest, as we had different workshops and then a disco later on. On the second day, we had an outing to Georgetown to look at the street art, and then all the groups worked on our final performances that we shared on the last day.  
 In the end, my friends and I thought ISTA was an amazing experience (of course!) that honed our drama skills and gave us the opportunity to meet people from different countries that shared our passion! The instructors really let us be creative and let our imagination go with everything that we did! You always end up hoping that you’ll relive it somehow, and you do if you go again the following year. But the people that you meet and the memories that you make are unforgettable. 
 Anna-Capri Do  
Year 8 B ​