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 Final year BFA Acting students Understudies Diploma of Musical Theatre Diploma of Stage and Screen Performance
We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we learn and tell stories, the Bidjigal people. 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.
WELCOME I am truly thrilled to welcome you to the 2022 June Season of Student Productions at NIDA. After the many restrictions placed on us and other performing arts organisations over the past two years, it is exciting to open the doors to our theatre venues and present these four beautifully and thoughtfully created productions. As a training ground that is one of the most powerful launchpads for entertainment industry professionals in the world, NIDA never shies away from stretching the creative storytelling muscles of its students or addressing some of the most important and difficult issues in society today. This season of productions is deeply affecting, its themes and performances will resonate with audiences and create unforgettable theatre experiences. This June Season showcases the work of 130 students who have been studying for their Bachelor of Fine Arts Degrees in Acting, Design for Performance, Technical Theatre and Stage Management, Scenic Construction, Costume and Props, Master of Fine Arts in Directing, as well as Diplomas in Musical Theatre and in Stage and Screen Performance. It also features the creative vision of our Artistic Director in Residence, David Berthold, and a stellar group of professional artists he has brought together to lead the students in these productions. Joining David, director of the musical Falsettos, are two world-renowned creatives – musical director Michael Tyack AM and choreographer Kelley Abbey. Three outstanding directors take the helm of vastly different plays. Tasnim Hossain, who has just completed a six-month term as NIDA’s Artistic Associate, directs the deeply personal and challenging Paula Vogel play, How I Learned to Drive, and Claudia Osborne directs a chilling and provocative new interpretation of the classic Australian Gothic tale, Picnic at Hanging Rock. Dr Benjamin Schostakowski, NIDA’s Directing Course Leader directs a new version of Chekhov’s The Seagull in a live cinema event, in collaboration with AFTRS. 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 stateof-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 dramatic 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, Principal Patron First Nations Program The Balnaves Foundation and Major Partners Technical Direction Company. We are grateful to 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
By Anton Chekhov In a version by Benjamin Shostakowski** NIDA Theatres, REG GRUNDY 10,11,14–18 June, 7.30pm 14, 16 June, 1pm 18 June 2pm Running Time: 75mins, no Interval
In this live cinema remake of Chekhov’s masterpiece of theatre about the theatre, the love lives of four artists intertwine and unravel as cameras document their intimate interactions. In the middle, Konstantin has a vision for the future of theatre – it needs new forms, or it should cease to exist altogether. Directed by Benjamin Schostakowski (Metamorphosis) in a partnership with AFTRS, The Seagull is a moving examination of the artist in life and in love.
Company CAST in order of appearance
Konstantin Masha Medvedenko Sorin Akardina Trigorin Nina Understudies
Harry Stacey Olivia Inwood Jackson Jones Harlee Timms Tamara Foglia Castaneda Arun Clarke Isobel Ferguson Alyssa Peters*** Luke Hill-Smith***
Director Benjamin Shostakowski** Set/Props Designer Lachlan Odgers Costume Designer Meg Anderson Lighting Designer Eleanor Weller-Brown Sound Designer Cameron Russell Video Designer Bella Thompson Voice & Dialect Coach Raechyl French* Assistant Directors Jessica Ramsey (MFA) Nicholas Bradshaw (MFA) AFTRS Cinematography Consultants
Alex Shingles^ Anna McGirr^ Jesse Phillips^ Kevin Nguyen^ Samuel Bader^ Tommy Thoms^
Production Stage Manager Deputy Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager
Jordan Jeckells Bernadett Lorincz Arwen Davidson Sherydan Simson
Construction Manager Lynsey Brown** Costume Supervisor Tamsyn Balogh Caristo Properties Supervisor Luca Kovacs Head Electrician Jordan Magnus-McCarthy Scenic Construction Assts
Gareth Sole Hamish Guinn Jack McNiven Nathan Lockyer
Costume Maker Costume Assistant Props Maker Props Assistants Asst Set/Props Designer Asst Costume Designer Mic Technician Floor LX/Camera Operator Floor LX/Camera Operator Technical Assistants
Oliver Hall Giulia Zanardo Ally Vyner Georgia Raczkowski Alexander Mills Geita Goarin Edison Heartly Adetokunbo (TK) Abioye Jemima Owen Sithu Jason Aung Claire Edmonds-Wilson Kirsten Drake Yasmin Breeze Samuel Scott Topaz Marlay-Cole
* Guest ** Staff ***Diploma of Stage and Screen Performance ^AFTRS Master of Arts Screen: Cinematography
A special thank you to AFTRS and Kim Batterham, and to the Sydney Theatre Company.
From the book by Joan Lindsay Adapted by Tom Wright NIDA Theatres, SPACE 8-11, 14 -17June, 7.45pm 11,14 June, 1pm 18 June 10.30am, 3pm Running Time: 90mins, no interval
St Valentine’s Day, 1900. A picnic to Hanging Rock on a hot summer afternoon. Four school girls from Appleyard College and their teacher mysteriously vanish whilst climbing the rock. Only little Edith, who comes screaming down the rock, is recovered. A hallmark of the Australian Gothic, Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock has remained a beguiling nightmare within Australia’s collective cultural imagination since it was first published in 1967. In Tom Wright’s 2016 adaptation, five contemporary schoolgirls retell, re-enact, and are eventually consumed by their attempts to evoke the moments surrounding the fateful day at the rock. Directed by NIDA alumna Claudia Osborne (Destroy, She Said), Picnic at Hanging Rock is a chilling excavation of a dark Australian myth that will send shivers down the spine.
Company CAST in order of appearance
Michael Irma, Policeman Sara, Edith Mrs Appleyard Albert, Mademoiselle
Clare Hughes Iolanthe Hattie Clegg-Robinson Janet Anderson Jessica Bentley
Understudies
Elodie Westhoff*** Swanika Ramkumar***
Director Set/Props Designer Costume Designer Lighting & Video Designer Sound Designer Assistant Directors
Claudia Osborne* Hailley Hunt Kathleen Kershaw Jodi Rabinowitz Madeleine Picard Ryan Whitworth (MFA) Pratha Nagpal (MFA)
Production Stage Mgr Deputy Stage Mgr Assistant Stage Mgr
Jessica Pizzinga Amy Norton Julianna Stankiewicz
Construction Mgr Joshua Abbott Costume Supervisor Lucy Francis Properties Supervisor Tallulah Baran Head Electrician Chris Milburn & Video Systems Scenic Construction Asst Gareth Sole Specialty Costume Maker Ally Vyner Costume Assistant Danielle Schache Costume Buyer Oliver Hall Properties Assistant Grace Maccan Asst Set/Props Designer Paris Koppens Asst Costume Designer Andrea Knezevic Mic Technician Claire Edmonds-Wilson Floor LX/Video Systems Samuel Scott Floor LX/Video Systems Kirsten Drake Technical Assistants Adetokunbo (TK) Abioye Jemima Owen Yasmin Breeze Sithu Jason Aung Topaz Marlay-Cole
* Guest ** Staff ***Diploma of Stage and Screen Performance
Schubert’s Impromptus, Op 90, D.899: No.3 in G Flat Major (Andante) played by Sally Whitwell Thank you to ABC Classic and Sally Whitwell, Andrews’ Shoe & Bag Repair, Andy Murray, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Canberra Girls Grammar, TDC (Technical Direction Company), Theatre Star Pty Ltd and The Uniform Exchange.
Music and Lyrics by William Flynn Book by William Flynn and James Lapine NIDA Theatres, PLAYHOUSE 8-11, 14 -18 June, 7pm 11, 15 June, 1pm 18 June 12.30pm Running time 2hrs 35mins, including interval
This Tony Award-winning musical by William Finn and James Lapine is a hilarious and heartrending story of a modern New York family at the end of the 1970s revolving around the life of a gay man Marvin, his wife, his lover, his soon to be bar mitzvah’d son, their psychiatrist, and the lesbians next door. Intelligent and subversive, it exposes all the messiness of loving and growing up. This visionary musical theatre work is directed by David Berthold (Holding the Man), with music direction by Michael Tyack AM (Come From Away), choreography by Kelley Abbey (Dancing with the Stars) and is a timely and tender reminder that love can tell a million stories.
FALSETTOLAND was produced Off-Broadway by Maurice Rosenfield and Lois Rosenfield, Inc. with Steven Suskin National Tour originally produced by The Old Globe Theatre, Artistic Director Jack O’Brien Managing Director Tom Hall FALSETTOS was originally produced on Broadway by Barry and Fran Weissler BY ARRANGEMENT WITH ORiGiN™ THEATRICAL ON BEHALF OF SAMUEL FRENCH INC., A Concord Theatricals Company
Company CAST in order of appearance
Marvin Whizzer Mendel Jason Trina Charlotte Cordelia Jason Understudy Understudies
Ethan Bourke James Caspersz-Loney Fabio Jaconelli Jensen Mazza*^ Julien Daher*^ Georgia O’Brien Jessica Parris Helena Cielak Robbi Morgan*^ Ellie Carragher*** Jack Madigan*** Jock Lander*** Madeleine Palmer*** Mae Li Cowell*** Tom Kelly***
BAND Piano Michael Tyack AM* Keyboard Matthew Reid* Drums Cypress Bartlett* Woodwind Andrew Robertson* Director David Berthold** Musical Director Michael Tyack AM* Choreographer Kelley Abbey* Set/Props Designer Benedict Janeczko-Taylor Costume Designer Ruby Jenkins Lighting Designer Tim McNaught Sound Designer Chloe Adele Langdon Cultural Consultant Moira Blumenthal* Intimacy Consultant Shondelle Pratt* Assistant Directors Emma Whitehead (MFA) Chinmaya Madan (MFA)
^Jensen Mazza (7, 9, 11 mat, 14,15,17 June) ^Julien Daher (8, 10, 11, 15 mat, 16, 18 June) ^Understudy Robbi Morgan (18 June mat)
Production Stage Mgr Deputy Stage Mgr Assistant Stage Mgr Assistant Stage Mgr Child Coordinator Dep. Child Coordinator
Ethan Hamill Grace Sackman Ethan Coombes Naomi O’Connor Alexis Worthing Carol Gonzales
Construction Mgr Costume Supervisors Props Supervisor Head Electrician
Angus Nott Lily Mateljan Jasmin Gray Jules Bisschoff India Lively
Scenic Construction Assts Costume Assistants Costume Buyer Props Maker Props Assistant Asst Set/ Props Designer Asst Costume Designer Mic Technician Floor LX Technical Assistants
Jack McNiven Nathan Locheyer Sam Hernandez Emily Christie Kit Moore Oliver Hall Ally Vyner Samantha Lim Alexander Mills Angelina Daniel Elle Fitzgerald Topaz Marlay-Cole Yasmin Breeze Adetokunbo (TK) Abioye Claire Edmonds-Wilson Jemima Owen Kirsten Drake Samuel Scott Sithu Jason Aung
* Guest ** Staff ***Diploma of Musical Theatre
Thank you to Chameleon Touring Systems and to Real World Technology Solutions.
by Paula Vogel NIDA Theatres, STUDIO 7-11, 14 -18 June, 7:15pm 10, 17 June, 1pm 18 June 11am Running Time: 100mins, no interval
Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece of the contemporary American theatre is a funny, confronting ‘60s coming-of-age tale that charts a complex, sexually abusive relationship between a young girl and an older man. With wry humour, Li’l Bit looks back at the driving lessons with her uncle that extended well beyond learning the rules of the road. Directed by Tasnim Hossain (Yellow Face), this remarkably timely and moving memory play takes us to the heart of a rural Maryland family and shows us the strength of a survivor.
“HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE” received its world premiere at The Vineyard Theatre, New York City Off-Broadway Production produced by The Vineyard Theatre in association with Daryl Roth and Roy Gabay
Company CAST in order of appearance
Li’l Bit Uncle Peck Female Greek Chorus Male Greek Chorus Teenage Greek Chorus
Evelina Singh Louis Delaunay Henbest Grace Eirini Stamnas Chris Northall Ahunim Abebe
Understudies
Alexander D’Souza*** Attu Ngor***
Director Set/Props/Costume Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designer Intimacy Consultant Voice & Dialect Coach Assistant Director
Tasnim Hossain* Jade McElroy Pip Morey Keelan Ellis Shondelle Pratt* Raechyl French* Sudip Sauden (MFA)
Production Stage Manager Deputy Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Construction Manager Costume Supervisor Props Supervisor Head Electrician Scenic Construction Asst Costume Assistant Costume Buyer Props Assistants Assistant Designer Technical Assistants
McLane Catterall Maddison Craven Abby Dinger Poppy Townsend Nick Day** Esther Zhong Connor McCool Isobel Morrissey Hamish Guinn Jaspa Frankish Oliver Hall Freyja Meany Alexander Mills Max Shanahan Adetokunbo (TK) Abioye Claire Edmonds-Wilson Jemima Owen Kirsten Drake Yasmin Breeze Samuel Scott Sithu Jason Aung Topaz Marlay-Cole * Guest **Staff ***Diploma of Musical Theatre
THE SEAGULL Director’s Note
The Seagull is Chekhov’s 1895 masterpiece of theatre about theatre. A beautiful and strange tragicomedy on art, love, and visions of the future dreamt by artists stuck in the present. Our production strips back the original 14-large cast to 7 key characters and finds a contemporary form in live cinema. At the centre of the play stands Konstantin who has a burning passion for ‘new forms’ of theatre. In a fusion of live performance and cinema, he discovers a new way to document, dream, reflect and understand the thrills and aches of love and living. He is an auteur in search of truth in art. As French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard famously quoted ‘Photography is truth. The cinema is truth twenty-four times per second’. A new form is possible in live cinema. Our Seagull waltzes between ‘slice of life’ theatrical realism and stripped-back contemporary metatheatre – a world of artists and art-making process: cameras, exposed sets, backstage dressing rooms, light, and the theatre space itself. At the heart, we hold dear Chekhov’s intricate character studies which make the play what it is. The talents of the student artists who present this production are nothing short of remarkable. How exciting to see the sparks of a future industry firing in a rehearsal room and finally here on stage and screen.
- Benjamin Schostakowski
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK Director’s Note Bringing Tom Wright’s adaptation of Picnic At Hanging Rock to the stage is no mean feat. Of its performers, it requires total vocal dexterity, and the ability to seamlessly slide in and out of multiple characters and performance styles; of designers and technicians, the challenge of realising Hanging Rock, the central symbol of the work, which can (for obvious reasons) never be actualised. Embracing every task with courage, generosity, creativity and extraordinary dedication, the NIDA students have made what might have been a daunting task, a joyous one. In 2022, the five young women onstage play all the parts. They retell, relive and recontextualise the events that followed the disappearance of Miranda, Irma, Marion and Miss McCraw. Grappling with this trauma, we witness both the characters, and the school girl storytellers that embody them, reckon with white colonial Australia’s misguided desire to control, and sanitise what is both untameable, and unclaimable. It has been a pleasure to work with the students over the past few months to bring this Australian tale of myth-like proportion to NIDA audiences. I am deeply grateful to the tenacity and exuberance of NIDA students, who always ensure that a room remains thoughtful, fun, and laughter-filled. - Claudia Osborne
FALSETTOS Director’s Note
Music theatre can unlock the best of music and theatre. It imposes musical and lyrical order on story and emotion that can, paradoxically, unleash the head and the heart. I knew of Falsettos, but not well. When Tasnim Hossain and I searched for chamber musicals that might suit the six actors in the Singing Actor stream of the Acting BFA, Falsettos stood out. The more I listened to it, the more I was in awe of it. I cried in the gym. I couldn’t bear to give it to another director. I know of few music theatre works that are as uncompromising as Falsettos. The characters are exhibited in all their flaws. William Finn’s central achievement is to make these horribly flawed people somehow shine. They are all of us, even though we might not want to think it. How do we hold to the ground while the ground keeps shifting? How do we break through the games? How do we make family? How do we love? What a joy it’s been. My wonderful colleagues Michael Tyack AM and Kelley Abbey poured their insight and skill into every note. Moira Blumenthal generously shared her experience of Judaism. Jensen Mazza and Julien Daher (joined by Robbi Morgan) graced us as professional guest artists astoundingly not yet in their teens. But of course we’re all in service to the NIDA students. On stage and off, they have devoted themselves, with full heart, to this most insistent and inspiring work. It’s a work that takes no prisoners, but these students have pried it open. I’m in awe of them, too. - David Berthold
HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE Director’s Note
Working with NIDA’s students is always a joy, and that has been no different on How I Learned to Drive. Our rehearsal room has been filled with laughter and beautiful work. What has been different is the process put in place to support everyone as we delve into incredibly difficult subject matter. Every student, from cast to stage management, has opted into this production with full knowledge of what the play deals with, and has been able to access support from NIDA’s counsellors during rehearsal hours. We consulted with Associate Professor Michael Salter, who works with adult survivors of child sexual abuse, about the impact of trauma on dissociation and memory, and what healing looks like for survivors. We have also worked with our intimacy coordinator, Shondelle, since the first day of rehearsals to create a safe environment to explore. We have taken long breaks, listened to both Vivaldi and Harry Styles, pinned cheerful pictures of cats around the rehearsal room, and approached the work gently. My hope for all students involved across this production, from first years to Masters students, is that they enter the industry with a toolkit to bring complex work to life. As artists, we care immensely about our work, but this process has focussed on extending that same care to each other. It’s been a pleasure and an honour to bring How I Learned to Drive to NIDA’s audiences. It remains a shining beacon of what theatre looks like when it centres the voices of those who have survived. - Tasnim Hossain
Rehearsals
THE SEAGULL
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK
FALSETTOS
HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE
Graduating students 2022 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting)
A hunim A b eb e
Janet A nder s on
Je s sic a B entley
Ethan B ourke
Jame s Caspersz-Loney
Helena Cielak
A run Clarke
Hat tie Clegg-Robinson
Isobel Ferguson
Tam ara Foglia Castaneda
Iolanthe
Louis Delaunay Henbest
Clare Hughe s
O liv ia Inwo o d
Fabio Jaconelli
Jack s on Jone s
Chris Nor thall
G e orgia O’ B rien
Je s sic a Parris
Evelina S ingh
H arr y St acey
G race Eirini St amna s
H arle e T imms
O liver H all
L ily M ateljan
E s ther Zhong
K athle en Ker shaw
Jade McElroy
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Costume)
Tamsy n Balogh-Caristo
L ucy Francis
Ja smin G ray
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Design for Performance)
Me g A nder s on
H ailley Hunt
B ene dic t Janeczko-Taylor
Ruby Jenk ins
L achlan O dger s
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Properties and Objects)
Tallulah B aran
Jule s B is s chof f
L uc a Kovac s
C onnor Mc C o ol
A lly Vy ner
M adis on W illiams
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Scenic Construction and Technologies)
Joshua A bb ot t
A ngus Not t
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Technical Theatre and Stage Management)
McL ane C at terall
S cot t Cle gget t
Zoe Davis
Ethan H amill
Jordan Je ckells
Chlo e L angdon
Je s sie Mc G uigan
T im McN aught
Pip Morey
Je s sic a Piz zinga
Jo di Rabinow it z
B ella T homps on
Eleanor Weller-B row n
A lex is Wor thing
Je s sic a Rams ey
Sudip S auden
Emm a W hitehead
R yan W hit wor th
Master of Fine Arts (Directing)
Nichola s B radshaw
Chinm aya Madan
Pratha N agpal
NIDA employs a wide range of industry professionals on both a part-time and casual basis who teach and mentor students across all the courses. NIDA would like to acknowledge and thank all members of staff who have shared their expertise with the 2022 students.
NIDA is grateful for the support of our corporate partners, trusts and foundations, supporters and donors. Principal Partner for Property Services
Principal Patron First Nations Program
Major Partner
Corporate Partner
Supporters
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