Young playwright Aaron Blackledge has an agenda, reports Marjorie Cook, in Wanaka.
Instead, the former Mt Aspiring College pupil decided to gain more performing arts experience with a view to resubmitting his application for 2012.
Keen for a career in theatre management, Mr Blackledge had his biggest opportunity to learn the ropes during the Festival of Colour, in April, when top New Zealand theatre director Sara Brodie appointed him the production manager of Riverside Drive.
Mr Blackledge has since worked on productions for Mt Aspiring College and Holy Family School, and Wanaka's annual musical productions Stars in Your Eyes and Best of the Best.
Now, he has written and is directing his first play, Three Blue Dresses, inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with the help of a modest Wanaka Arts Council grant.
"It's slightly hard to know what they [Toi Whakaari] are looking for but I think this will help. It is management and that's what I am applying to do," Mr Blackledge says.
He is not sure whether he could be a playwright, but he saw value in trying, so he could better understand what other people involved in productions go through.
"I've devised scripts before through school drama courses, but everyone does that. This is my first whole play that has been written down," he says.
Mr Blackledge has been working with Mt Aspiring College drama pupils since February on various projects and endures plenty of good-natured ribbing from the teenagers as they try to correct him.
"One hardest part was getting everything grammatically correct: spelling, punctuation etcetera, as they keep reminding me. Another hardest part was keeping the characters consistent and not having plot holes and creating tense moments ... and keeping it not 100 pages long," he says.
Three Blue Dresses has been written for a younger audience and is in its fifth draft.
Mt Aspiring College drama teacher Anna Shaw mentored him and the script has continued to evolve in rehearsals as Mr Blackledge looks at it afresh through director's eyes.
"I can't see how I could have had a character 100% developed because there's always something an actor would bring to it. Also, I worry. I am a 19-year-old guy and all my leads are girls. Would a girl phrase a line that way? And I think they do.
"There hasn't been any parts that sound manly ... I would be interested to see if anyone comes up to me afterwards and says `I can see Aaron in that script'," Mr Blackledge says.
Mr Blackledge is excited about opening night and keen to thank the actors and supporters.
"After the first read-through, I wondered if I would think 'Wow, I wrote this'. But it wasn't really like that. Now I am further down the track, I'm thinking 'Those ideas are mine. I want this to be the best it can be' ... The best thing will be seeing my words come to life, seeing the enjoyment of it all. And by the end of it, I will have a sixth version of the script that's been performed on stage," he says.
Catch it
Three Blue Dresses is being performed by year 11 NCEA drama students from Mt Aspiring College. Two school performances are planned. There will be one public performance at the Lake Wanaka Centre on October 4, at 7pm (tickets $10).
