Like many of the students and faculty at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Master of Fine Arts (Design for Performance) student, Maya Cranny, has an innate desire to create.
Image: Maya Cranny sizes up some of the costumes for The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Like many of the students and faculty at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Master of Fine Arts (Design for Performance) student, Maya Cranny, has an innate desire to create.
‘My father was an Art Director. Early in his career he worked in film, on things like set design and art direction. In his retirement years, he moved across to theatre design, which was on a smaller scale. So growing up around that has definitely influenced me. He was an inspirational figure in my life, and was always encouraging my two brothers and me to follow creative pursuits for our careers � to follow something that we were passionate about and make it our job, rather than just something that paid the bills,’ said Cranny.
Creative interests have been � and still are � a cornerstone to Cranny’s higher education. After graduating from Coffs Harbour Senior College, she studied a bachelor degree in Fashion Design at the Whitehouse Institute in Surry Hills.
‘I’ve always been interested in theatre design and design in general. When I completed my degree, I decided that I wanted to do something more theatre-based, something closer to costume design and design for performance. So subsequent to two years of travelling around Europe after I graduated from university, I applied for NIDA’s MFA (Design for Performance) degree and was fortunate enough to get in.’
‘It was an incredible feeling when I was accepted into the course. After taking two years out to travel prior to getting in, I was full of drive and determination, and wanting to get as much out of the degree as possible.’
Cranny is now into her second semester at NIDA, and during this time � as well as exploring new technologies, practices and ideas � she has worked as Costume and Puppet Designer on The Caucasian Chalk Circle, which was part of NIDA’s June student production season.
‘I’ve grown and learned so much in the six months that I’ve been here. We have a class of seven which means we have the opportunity to work closely with our tutors and mentors. It’s been a huge shift coming from a fashion background into costume and theatre-based design, but we’ve covered so much in relatively short amount of time.’
‘The stand-out project for me so far this year was working on The Caucasian Chalk Circle. The scale of the production was huge. Working at the creative front of a whole team of undergraduates was such a valuable experience and a wonderful opportunity. I developed some really great relationships with some of the students. We also got to work with international director Prof Egill Heiðar Anton Pálsson. He brought in so many fresh ideas and it was such an incredible experience. Myself and another NIDA student who worked on the production recently met up with him in Berlin and he showed us the theatre he teaches at.’
Cranny also spoke of why her Design for Performance training at NIDA is unique, and encouraged potential students to really consider this as a destination for their studies.
‘I don’t think there’d be any other university that’s set up to provide the huge amount of experience that this course offers. The fact that part of the training involves being at the forefront of the undergraduate degree students for the design element of a full-scale production is huge. We’re leading everyone and they’re working on the designs that we’ve come up with � that’s such an incredible concept and it really sinks in when the productions are underway and you’re looking at the reality of it all. When we enter the industry, it might actually be a while before we reach that kind of scale and responsibility, so to have it now while we’re in training is quite remarkable.’
To learn more about NIDA’s MFA (Design for Performance) course, visit the webpage.
For an in-depth look at all our courses, NIDA is holding an Info Night on 16 August at NIDA in Kensington, 6�9pm. Register your attendance in advance as places are limited: https://www.nida.edu.au/form/forms/nida-info-night-2017-registration-of-interest .
