After working with young people and seeing the effects of bullying, domestic violence and the resulting low self-confidence that comes with it, Gina Pearce decided to do something about it.
The Kelmscott mother, whose husband works as a drama teacher at Kelmscott High School, realised there were no drama classes or other activities in the local area so she, and her daughter Anya Pearce, decided to form their own drama group called Dramability Inc.
“It’s a great way of learning a lot of skills; fine motor skills, teamwork, and self-confidence,” Anya Pearce said.
“My mum is a former disability and youth support worker who saw something was needed for the young people in the area to help them cope with the traumatic situations many of them had been through.
“Drama helps build self-confidence and can help people make friends they didn’t have before and she realised it is a good tool for anyone.
“She started running sessions with Active Foundation and with the Red Cross, Lady Lawley College near Cottesloe and the clients seemed to really enjoy it and the staff said it was awesome,” she said.
The drama sessions run by Gina Pearce soon became so popular that help was needed and that’s when her daughter Anya, who had recently finished university, decided to join in.
“It was a lot of work because she was by herself so she stopped at the end of 2015 and was doing it casually and then I finished uni and majored in Language and Cultural Studies and Creative writing and wasn’t sure what I wanted I wanted to do and had a lot of spare time,” Anya Pearce said.
“I was only working part-time so I got in contact with the City of Armadale to find a venue and they thought it was a fantastic idea to get it started.”
Drama is very much about including everyone as there can be someone playing a seven year old through to parts that require someone in the 80s.
At the moment we are looking for enough participants to start up all-inclusive session for anyone from the community and are happy to run sessions exclusively to disability service providers and we are prepared go to them.
“We won a social media campaign called #socialinclusionmatters and prize included $250 to go towards a local community project of your choice so we are going to run free sessions for youth at risk, so we are looking to find a free space and people to participate.
Dramability has sessions which run for an hour and include posture and movement exercises, character development, improvisation, scene workshopping and costume parades on Monday from 4.30pm to 5.30pm at Kelmscott High School’s Performing Arts Centre.
To become involved call Anya Pearce on 0452 321 880 or email anya.dramability@outlook.com.
