A theatre prduction about the Pike River disaster has just won a Whanganui school the country's highest secondary school theatre award.
Whanganui High School performing arts teachers say five student choreographers are largely responsible for the success of 29 Below, the production that has just won the national Stage Challenge.
Millie Manning, Grace Jones, Bolu Adesanya, Sophie Rofe, Gabby Fantham and Shaila Hawkins say they put a lot of thought into dealing with the sensitive subject of mining disasters.
"We did not want to be insensitive to Pike River families who have lost loved ones in mining disasters but at the same time we wanted to add some quirkiness and fun," said Grace.
The group say that songs like Working in the Coalmine were obvious choices but they spent a lot of time deciding on songs that would work for the production.