Foundation

Legacy Gift of Class of 2021

Thank you to members of our community who have supported our students. The Class of 2021 proudly continues the Legacy of previous Yr 12 cohorts, and  through their efforts have been supporting the Belinda Oxley Scholarship Appeal and sustainability initiatives of the School.

Their final fundraising initiative for this year is a memorable Yr 12 Tea Towel and Tote Bag, featuring students’ and selected staff hand-drawn faces. To pre-order these wonderful gifts and memorabilia, please visit HERE.

Congratulations to our Yr 12 students for continuing this tradition and BIG thank you to Ms Sarah Matthews, Dr Meta Regis and other Redlands staff for supporting this wonderful initiative.

Our Alumni Share their Memories

It was wonderful to watch the Grease the Musical the Movie over the weekend and I am sure it has brought much joy and happiness for many members of our community. This is certainly another masterpiece to add to the collection of incredible musical productions at Redlands. I have asked two of our graduates about their experiences behind the scenes.

Andie Pettersen, Class of 2016

Andie is a Drama tutor at Redlands, working in the Performing Arts program and teaching the Film Production course that started it all – full circle! Filming behind the scenes is still her annual highlight, and seeing new generations of students take on that love for the stage, capturing the energy of their experiences, remains a privilege.  

“I was involved with nearly every Redlands production during my time as a student – from 2012’s Curtains to 42^nd Street, Footloose, Wizard of Oz, and Oliver!  in 2016. I was on stage for Curtains, but in the Film Production crew for the rest, and we worked on Behind the Scenes videos for every show; it was a really unique way to be involved with the shows. As someone who loves stage productions but prefers not being on the stage, it was a role I cherished and the highlight of my year.  

Though I had great experiences every year, my favourite show was definitely Oliver! It was my Year 12 production, so I was heavily involved in the process, and close with a lot of the cast. I think everyone involved had an absolute blast with the accents, costumes and songs. I’m fairly sure I still know the words to every song from all our shows, though luckily I’ve never (yet) been asked to give a rendition of “Let’s Hear It For The Boy”. 

My time spent working alongside the staff, cast and crew every year helped me discover a love for theatre that I hadn’t anticipated. I finished my bachelor’s degree in Theatre and Film last year at the University of Notre Dame, one of the best experiences of my life, and it’s a little cliché but I really have the Redlands performing arts family to thank for opening that path up for me. The energy of stage work is completely unique; being able to fall in love with it during high school, and to carry it with me into my professional work now, is an amazing gift.”

Oliver!, 2016, The Concourse

Patrick Friedlander, Class of 2019

“2020, the year following my graduation from Redlands, was an incredible year. After a gruelling audition process, I moved across the country to Perth to complete a Diploma of Musical Theatre at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). Of course, COVID-19 did have a very large impact on the course (and the whole country for that matter), resulting in me having to spend most of the first semester back in Sydney in lockdown, doing the course via Zoom. As I’m sure you can imagine, trying to learn through digital means for a performing arts course was rather difficult. At the end of last year, I went through yet another round of auditions for all the major Arts Schools around Australia in the hopes of getting a position in a Bachelor of Music Theatre course, which I was successful in doing so at WAAPA, meaning that I have the next 3 years here in Perth! I do miss Sydney and my family and friends but visiting is difficult as COVID has meant that I have just completed 14 days quarantine for the third time in 12 months!

There are so many amazing memories I have about the musical productions at Redlands; the week at The Concourse, the incredible costumes and many more. However, the thing I loved most about the musical was the inter-year group mingling. Being able to create such close friendships in the musical with people in other Year Groups who I may not have had the chance to meet otherwise is such an incredible experience. These friendships lasted all throughout the remainder of my time at Redlands and even beyond that (I still talk to them now despite living on the other side of the country!).

One of the best examples of this that I can remember so vividly is when I was in Year 9 rehearsing at the Concourse for Oliver!, the first Redlands musical I was a part of. Somehow throughout the rehearsal period I had befriended Bella Dougall, a Year 12 student and the Arts Captain at the time. I found myself sitting there, a year 9 student eating my lunch with a Year 12 student, discussing topics ranging from what we wanted to do after school all the way to people in our Year Groups that we thought were cute. I still look back at that and think about how cool it is that the divide between Year Groups that is often present in school was so beyond obsolete in that environment.”

Trivia Night for Redlands Community

A very popular Trivia Night is here again this year for our families to enjoy on Sunday 15 August, 5.30pm via Zoom. For bookings and further information, please visit the RPFA page.