Ann Phie

I spent a month at Pokhara and got to meet and work with the staff and pupils from Gyanodaya Secondary School. The students gave me the warmest welcome and were open and ready from the first minute on. Even though their timetable is challenging, with classes, sports, fundraising and creative activities, we found time to have regular workshops in creative writing and theatre.
The two highlights for me of course were the two plays I got to (co-)direct: A play written by the students themselves about climate change and performed in Nepali at the Mountain Museum and a half hour version of Romeo and Juliet, performed at the Once Upon a Time Restaurant. For this last piece we had two weeks time and the students didn’t only perform in shakesperean (!) english, but also found their own words, sang, created images and worked together as a group of talented young artists.
I hope I can come back some time to see them and the comitted school management, who made this work possible again and maybe start yet another little project. – Ann Phie