Int'l school to build playhouse

Int'l school to build playhouse

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The British International School (BIS) is planning a US$5 million
performing arts center, which it says will be the largest and
most-modern in the city.

The center, to be built on the school's campus in Bintaro,
Tangerang, will also be open to the public.

BIS principal Peter Derby-Crook said on Wednesday the project
was in line with the school's focus on the arts and sports.

"Performing arts and sports develop a sense of confidence,
leadership and teamwork in children," he said. "We already have
state-of-the-art facilities for sports and we will soon complete
the performing arts center."

The center will include a 800-seat theater for large drama
workshops that can be scaled down for smaller productions.
Designed by New Zealand architecture firm Beca, the construction
of the center will start next year with a completion target of
2006.

The new facility will join the Jakarta Playhouse in Pasar
Baru, the Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center Playhouse in Cikini
and the Balai Sarbini in Semanggi, all in Central Jakarta.

Performing arts is an integrated part of the BIS curriculum
and students are encouraged to participate early on, starting
with simple role play in theater classes to fully produced plays
at secondary level.

Other facilities at the school include an Olympic-sized
swimming pool, soccer fields and a fully equipped science and
technology center.

Nindy, 16, who studies drama at the school, said she enjoyed
attending BIS because of the diversity of the students.

"By studying here, we get to interact and make friends with
many people from different countries and cultures," she said.

BIS was established in 1973 by the British and Australian
embassies in Indonesia. The school was previously located in
Permata Hijau, South Jakarta, but later moved to its new 18-
hectare campus in Bintaro in 1993.

Currently, there are 950 students enrolled in the school. Some
20 percent of them are Indonesians. BIS started to accept
Indonesians four years ago.

The tuition fees for each student are about US$13,000 per
year.