DAHDAH'S DRAMA

DRAMA CLASSES

Teaching drama classes for all ages, letting kids enjoy themselves by putting on voices and advancing their skills in acting.

Simon John Dahdah

WWC: 2569200E

Valid for paid and unpaid work

expires 14/12/2027

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE TEACHER

It all began nine years ago with an assignment on Hugh Jackman...

My primary school project led to to me performing in Melbourne, Perth, and my hometown Sydney. Now I run my own business teaching people how to entertain kids, and teach drama on the side.

Book me in for drama classes, and watch your kids come to life!

BOOK DRAMA CLASSES NOW

Email: simondahdah@humormeentertainment.com

phone: 0406 931 215

price: $10 per kid for an hour, classes run 2 hours, (1 hour primary school classes) max group size of 15 students. Call out fee of $30, no fee if 10 or more students in class.

Location: I come to you! Form your own group or join one of mine, and I'll bring everything needed and teach at your home.

A LOT ABOUT THE TEACHER

MY EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS

I've had a plethora of experience in drama. Check out what I've done!

Director and actor of the Augustine Academy’s The Princess Bride

In 2022, I took the job of directing and performing in Augustine Academy's stage rendition of the 1987, cult-classic movie, The Princess Bride. As it was my first time directing a play of this magnitude and having full creative license, we toyed with the idea of doing a stage rendition of Disney's Tangled or The Greatest Showman. After encountering road bumps in changing these modern, fast-paced films in stage performances (where some scenes were less than a minute before having to undergo a stage transition) we (Ben McCabe, the director of Augustine Academy and I) decided to go with a students suggestion of The Princess Bride. As an older film that had no computer generated effects, they made full use of their handcraft sets, letting scenes be up to eight minutes long, and often reusing sets. This was perfect for a minimalist stage rendition of the film, and as such we got to work bringing the beloved movie back to life in our own style.

Now directing sixteen other teenagers in a play that had no budget was not an easy task, but through dedicating an hour each school day (that often stretched to an hour and a half or sometimes even two) to rehearsals, we managed to create a play that was celebrated by the locals of Tumut as: "The best played this town has seen in twenty years!" This was achieved through giving out smaller tasks (such as costume design, set design, props, and having a stage manger) to some of my fellow students, allowing me to be freed up to have more creative energy towards the play, while also endowing them a sense of responsibility.

This experience was the most hands on yet, and has allowed me a first-hand taste of the challenges and joys of directing a large-scale production with actors ranging from ages of 15-18.

My Time with Youth Mission Team Australia

I served with Youth Mission Team Australia, performing in and assisting the direction a variety of charades, skits, dramas for high school students around Victoria and Western Australia, with cohorts being as large as 300 at a time.

Here, we were taught how to exaggerate body language to engage high-school students humorously and effectively during charades lasting three to five minutes. I was also able to further my adaptive and improvisational skills when I was performing with student volunteers who provided challenging and spontaneous interactions with my character, providing to some of the most hilarious memories I have to date.

At YMT, we also learned how to effectively portray serious, multi-levelled characters who struggle with many contemporary values relevant to a high-school audience, leading to my skills being developed not just in the slapstick area, but also far more serious roles.

Through this experience, I learned (through many mistakes) the simple but incredibly difficult art of putting yourself out their to engage the audience. As a missionary, it is by the nature of your job that you encounter people who are going through all sorts of different struggles and come from a diverse range of backgrounds. As an actor, its the exact same deal. As such, I am incredibly grateful for the experience because it further advanced my skills to forget myself, not take myself too seriously, and become less self-conscious. At the end of the day, acting is about engaging an audience, and you do this by having fun! I'll use my time at YMT to try spread this message to my students, especially those who are a little more hesitant (as I was) in putting yourself out there and having a go.

"Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking... don't they?"

The Scarecrow In Covenant Christian School's The Wizard of Oz

In 2019, I audition and received the role as 'The Scarecrow' in Covenant Christian Schools performance of The Wizard of Oz. My performance as The Scarecrow was one of my first real and prolonged exposures to acting, leading to me learning the fundamentals of acting that had not already been instilled in me through classes.

Here I learned the effort involved in putting on a show through attending rehearsals for an extra six months that the chorus, how to work with and supporting the director of the play to creating an engaging performance my lead role, how to maintain energy and discipline for four nights, and possibly the most nerve-racking of all: How to sing and dance my solo 'If Only I Had A Brain', FOUR TIMES for crowds between between 300 and 400.

It is for this experience I am truly grateful, as it gave me an insight to the terror every good actor feels when they are about to go on stage, letting it be easier for me to empathise with students who aren't as comfortable as others when it comes to acting.

Poncho the Clown for Circus McCabe

For a time, i was... a professional clown. I hold my head up high, because all jokes aside it was some of the most fun I've ever had.

While my other experiences mainly revolved drama with young teenagers and young adults, this experience brought me face to face with the joy of entertaining the younger ages.

My job involved creating and acting in slap-stick skits and mimes to entertain the families of rural towns in NSW, and what a time we had! The Circus McCabe Oddities and I would roam around fairs and events, and my job ranged from teaching kids to juggle to improv dance parties! sometimes I'd start the conversation with younger kids, sometimes they'd come up to me, shyly asking for a balloon animal. This experience gave me further experience in interacting with kids from a variety of different backgrounds, giving me skills I transfer into my drama classes with the younger age demographic, which focuses more on fun and drama games, laying the foundations for skills to be learnt when they are older.

<--- A beautiful poem an audience member wrote after witnessing one of our acts.

Other experiences

My love of drama classes stems from when i was a student in Covenant Christian School and Marian Street Theatre for Young People, where i studied drama for five years. It is through these experiences I based my Drama classes around, being inspired from the professionals in the field of drama teaching.

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