STUDENT PRODUCTIONS June 2021 nida.edu.au/june-2021
WELCOME I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we learn and tell stories, the Bidjigal and Gadigal people of the Eora nation. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders past and present who have cared for land, water and story on these lands for generations. We also recognise the work and strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, workers and creatives within the NIDA Community. Sovereignty was never ceded. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land. It gives me enormous pleasure to welcome you to another outstanding June Season of Student Productions at NIDA. The focus on digital and emerging technologies is now embedded in NIDA’s core practice as we commit to creating and nurturing the world’s best storytellers and unlocking the power of the performing arts across stages, screens, future media and beyond. These four, fully-staged NIDA productions tell stories that will surprise and shake. With live cinema, an urban mystery, an urgent demolition and a flagship partnership – this is a season of shapeshifting. Change is in the air. Certainties are challenged. The past and present collide. Eat Me is a series of four short new Australian plays in one night, devised and produced in a unique collaborative process with NIDA, Sydney Theatre Company’s Emerging Writers Group, and Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (CAAP) with leading writers and directors. Metamorphosis is a big and bold interpretation of a classic Franz Kafka, directed by NIDA Course Leader Dr Benjamin Schostakowski. We’re delighted to welcome Kate Champion back to NIDA, directing Hilary Bell’s confronting Perfect Stranger, where the world of audience and performer collides in a revolving world. Award-winning Heather Fairbairn disrupts accepted modes of storytelling with Alice Birch’s exposure of patriarchy REVOLT. SHE SAID. REVOLT AGAIN. This season gives all our students the opportunity to push boundaries and engage with industry representatives, agents, theatre and event companies, film, and television producers. The state-of-the-art performance spaces they work in, as well as the experts they have access to at every step of the creative process, are what makes NIDA one of the world’s top performing arts educators. It is fantastic to see the outcomes of the hard work of the incredible group of talented and passionate students and practising artists from diverse backgrounds and from all over Australia. We couldn’t present any of these high-calibre productions without support from the Australian Government, our Principal Partner for Property Services ARA, our Major Partners Technical Direction Company and Canon Australia, our Corporate Partner YouTube, our Supporters Tempus Two, Young Henrys, Media Super and Screen Australia, our Legal Services Supporter Kay & Hughes, our Event supporter Fourth Wall and the trusts and foundations and the generous individuals who make up our donors and supporters. We hope you enjoy these live productions.
– Liz Hughes, CEO
June Season of Student Productions 2021 Rehearsals
Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka Translated and adapted by David Farr and Gísli Örn Garðarsson Directed by Benjamin Schostakowski NIDA Theatres, Reg Grundy Studio 11,15–18 June, 7.45pm 15 June, 1pm Running time 90 minutes Metamorphosis will be performed in one act with no interval It is one of the most famous opening lines in literary history: As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis is a delightfully strange fable that reaches universally into the darker side of the human condition – isolation, estrangement, and fear of something or someone that represents the ‘other’. The theatrical potential in this fable is compelling: the magical realist overtones, the melancholic setting, and at its heart, a story that is psychologically complex but narratively to the point. This adaptation for the stage was originally created by David Farr and Gísli Örn Garðarsson for a 2006 coproduction by the Lyric Hammersmith London and Vesturport, an Icelandic theatre company. The compact and thoughtful theatricalisation of the text offers a playground of rich potential for a team of theatre artists to create from. With some consideration, we arrived at the idea of working in the form of live-cinema to provide a multifaceted theatrical experience for audiences to fall deep into the dream or nightmare, as it were. For the actors, designers, technicians and makers who collaborated on this production, on offer was the opportunity to draw from powerful techniques of storytelling in both live performance and cinema as art forms. The process of creation has been principally experimental and altogether thrilling to witness. It is an exciting glimmer into the creative potential of our next generation of professional artists. – Benjamin Schostakowski, Director
Presented by NIDA BFA Design for Performance, BFA Costume, BFA Properties and Objects, BFA Scenic Construction and Technologies, BFA Technical Theatre and Stage Management, MFA Directing and final year BFA Acting students.
Company
Gregor Grete Mother Father Stietl/Fischer
Philip Lynch Julie Bettens Alyona Popova Riley McNamara Flynn Barnard
Director Benjamin Schostakowski** Assistant Director Amy Sole Set Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Video Designer Sound Designer
Soham Apte Blake Hedley Nathan Sandy Joel Mallett Trillian Vieira
Voice Coach Gavin Leahy * Movement Coach Troy Honeysett*
Production Manager Zac Saric Stage Manager Chloe Langdon Assistant Stage Manager Christopher Milburn
Construction Manager Lynsey Brown**
Props Supervisor Isabell De Laurentis Costume Supervisor Ori Hiser Head Electrician Scott Cleggett Video Systems McLane Catterall Design Assistants Taylah Miller Madaleine Cooper Costume Assistant Laura Moschner Props Assistant Jess McIntosh Sets Assistant Eryn Douglas Tommaso Patelli Cinematographer and Camera Operator Carter Cheng* Camera Operators Keelan Ellis Daniel Story
Mic Technician Isobel Morrissey
*Guest artist **NIDA staff
Thank you to AFTRS, Kim Batterham Head of Cinematography at AFTRS and Carter Cheng, guest student artist, AFTRS.
Graduating students 2021 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting)
G abriel A lvarado
H annah Julii A nder s on
Fly nn B arnard
Julie B et tens
O liv ia B ourne
S haw C ameron
R yan Ennis s
A my Joyce
Libby Kay
A lfre d Kouris
A shan Kum ar
A ri Ma za Long
Charlot te L uc a s
Philip Ly nch
Wern M ak
B raydon May
Riley McNam ara
A lyona Pop ova
Harrison Q ua s t
C onnor Reilly
Mem a Munro
Chris t y Tran
Eb ony Tucker
Adolphus Wayle e
L ucy Jauris to
S am antha Manning
S iobhan Nealon
A ngelina Meany
H ayden Relf
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Costume)
Elsb eth C ameron
B ethany Hew it t
O ri His er
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Design for Performance)
S oham A pte
B lake He dley
Hannah Tayler
H annah Yardley
A my Jack s on
Pho eni x Mckay
Is ab ella S altearn
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Properties and Objects)
Hunter D epalo
Danielle G uyot
Rachel Hallet t
Is ab ell de L aurentis
Zo e M anning
Rhyanna M ar tinus s en
Z achar y Por telli
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Scenic Construction and Technologies)
C atherine Imer
M at thew Hinton
Z achar y W hite
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Technical Theatre and Stage Management)
Elif A kgul
Is a ac B arron
K aitly n Cro cker
S ophie Jone s
Leia Lois a
Alex Makaronopoulos
Jo el M allet t
K r ys telle Q uar term ain
Jame s Rawlings
S aint Clair
Nathan Sandy
Z achar y S aric
Mellit a Ver tigan
Trillian V ieira
Sy billa Wajon
S ophia Wallace
Rik iah L izarraga
A my S ole
A lexei Ymer-Welsby
Master of Fine Arts (Directing)
Eve B e ck
Madeleine D iggins
S amuel Jing
STUDENT PRODUCTIONS JUNE 2021
NIDA employs a wide range of industry professionals on both a part-time and casual basis who teach students across all the courses. NIDA would like to acknowledge and thank all members of staff who have shared their expertise with the 2021 students.
NIDA is grateful for the support of our corporate partners, trusts and foundations, supporters and donors.
Principal Partner for Property Services
Major Partners
Corporate Partner
Legal Services
Supporters
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The National Institute of Dramatic Art is supported by the Australian Government