NIDA Director in Residence David Berthold (left) In Conversation with Jeffrey Seller. (Photo: Tony Mott)
NIDA CEO Liz Hughes (left) with Jeffrey Seller. (Photo: Tony Mott)
NIDA welcomed Jeffrey Seller, the multi-award winning and original producer of musical Hamilton, for an inspiring conversation with NIDA Director in Residence David Berthold and students.
Jeffrey Seller won four Tony Awards for Best Musical for Rent (1996), Avenue Q (2004), In the Heights (2008) and Hamilton (2016) and is ranked as ‘Broadway royalty’ by The Guardian. He spoke about abouthis journey as a producer of a string of landmark musicals, his commitment to keeping shows accessible to young people with the creation of Broadway’s first lottery ticket policy, the phenomenon that is Hamilton, and what he sees as the future ofAmerican storytelling throughmusical theatre.
‘Everyone at NIDAwasso excited to welcome Jeffrey, one of the world’s leading producers, with a fantastic track record of success and innovation in musical theatre,’ saidNIDA CEO Liz Hughes.
Michael Cassel Group is behind the Australian production of Hamilton, which opened at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre. Cast and crew include no less than 14 NIDA alumni, including ShakaCook (Acting, 2012) as Hercules Mulligan and James Madison. The production also welcomed several NIDA Technical Theatre and Costume students on backstage work placements.
‘Hamilton is an incredible production with rich modern storytelling that continues to inspire our family since we saw it overseas. It is fantastic that Sydney audienceshave the opportunity toexperience one of the world’s great musicals being brought to us by talented local artists’,saidLiz Hughes.
Jeffrey Seller (centre) with third-year NIDA BFA (Acting) students (from left) Connor Reilly, Umima Shah-Munro, Adolphus Waylee and Julie Bettens. (Photo: Tony Mott).
This event marks the launch of the 2021 NIDAInConversation series, which successfully ran online in 2020 with guests including Joel Edgerton, BarrieKosky, Robyn Nevin, KateMulvany, ShariSebbensand Peter Sellars.
The 2021 series will be curated by writer and director Beck Cole, writer and dramaturg for stage and digital media TasnimHossain, actor Bridie McKim, director Darren Yap, playwright, screenwriter and multi-disciplinary artist AnchuliFelicia King, and theatre and opera director Imara Savage.
The recording of this event will be accessible from early April on theNIDA website In Conversation page and NIDA’s Facebook page.
