Tate says you need to send in essentially a CV of what speech and drama has played in your life, what you want to do, and all of the reports on your senior module marks.
“It felt like one in a million chances of that happening and it was just amazing to find out I had won that scholarship.
“It’s been quite a start to the year.”
As well as a monetary prize, the scholarship was also exciting because of the national recognition received as top in the grade, Tate says.
Ihita says when she received the scholarship she was shocked and it was quite a surprise, especially as she had done grade 7 a year earlier than she was supposed to.
“I was excited when I found out because I know how big of a deal it is.”
She says one of her favourite character pieces she has done was last year from the satirical Catholic School Girls, and that she really enjoyed performing it.
Tate says last year the character piece he did was from One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, playing Harding who went through a complete mental breakdown.
“In this moment it’s very powerful, just seeing him break and realise that everything he knows is fake.”
This year Tate is sitting his first Associate Diploma (ASB) and Ihita is sitting Grade 8.
Ihita says she is looking forward to doing her first Shakespeare performance this year, and Tate says for the ASB’s first module he has to do a 15-minute programme where character, prose and poem pieces all link together under a theme.
They say many hours are put into each module, as you have to learn all the lines, practise your performances, learn all the theory, and in some cases research the theorists or playwrights.
Tate was also a Geyser Community Foundation - Associate of Speech NZ (for Rotorua residents) recipient, along with Ella Broadley Hannah Seo, and Nancy Farmer.
He was also the Rotorua Civic Arts Trust Senior Award recipient, with Matthew McFayden receiving the Junior Award.
