NIDA presented three production seasons in its Anniversary year. The June and October Student Productions Seasons coupled with the Festival of Emerging Artists and the EXPONIDA Exhibition embraced every aspect of live performance at NIDA. The seasons showcased the incredible range of creativity in the theatrical and dramatic arts, from contemporary takes on Shakespeare to Australian premieres of new work, from musical theatre to monologues.
The seasons were marked out by a stellar array of leading industry artists and sponsors supporting and working alongside the NIDA students. They were also defined by the intense collaborations across all student disciplines to create works at every level of their production, both on stage and behind the scenes.
The three seasons produced 17 productions, which involved students across NIDA Theatres’ five venues. The productions were designed, constructed, costumed, stage managed and performed by NIDA Masters and Bachelor students across all disciplines.
The seasons presented a range of contemporary works that showcased the intensive, in-depth and rigorous training NIDA students receive and their own unique creative energy and artistry.
June Season of Student Productions
The Season featured British, American, French and Australian playwrights, including an Australian premiere by NIDA writing alumni Lewis Treston. It also included NIDA’s international guest director from the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin, Robert Schuster. The productions featured final year BFA (Acting) students working closely with leading international and Australian directors.
Sophie Wilde as Alice in Closerby Patrick Marber, directed by Mark Gaal, NIDA Executive Director Pathways and Partnerships. Set/props/costume design Kate Beere, lighting design Kate Baldwin, sound design Fiona Lloyd Harding.
Nicholas Drummond as Lorenzo, Charlotte Friels as Annie, and Olivia Mortimer-Eade as Tanya in LOVE by Patricia Cornelius, directed by Susanna Dowling, set/costume design Jake Pitcher, sound design Thomas Bensley, lighting design Jessie Byrne.
Thomas Russell as Dillon in MEAT EATERS by NIDA MFA (Writing) alumni Lewis Treston directed by Kate Champion, set design Grace Deacon, costume design Luke D’Alessandro, lighting design Phoebe Pilcher, sound design Ayah Tayeh.
Bronte Sparrow,Matthew Alexander, Mabel Li, Lewis Mcleod in pool (no water) by Mark Ravenhill, directed by Dr Benjamin Schostakowski, set/costume design Aislinn King, sound design Jennifer Jackson, video design Susie Henderson, lighting design Wun Zee.
Ethan Browne as Brother in Roberto Zucco by Bernard-Marie Koltès, directed by Robert Schuster, set/props design Camille Ostrowsky, costume design Olivia Rowlands, lighting/video design Aron Murray, sound design Justin Ellis.
October Season of Student Productions and EXPONIDA
The 60th Anniversary Season featured a stellar array of guest artists, including award-winning Australian actor and director Judy Davis as guest director, theatre director Kim Hardwick creating a new Australian stage musical, an Australian premiere written and directed by Michael Gow, and award-winning screenwriter/director Jim Sharman. The season included the first public performances by NIDA’s second-year Acting students in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (or What You Will)and Peter Weiss’s Marat/Sade in their first public production.
The cast and band in Starstruck The Stage Musical, based on the screenplay by Stephen MacLean, book by Mitchell Butel and Hilary Bell, directed by Kim Hardwick, musical direction Luke Byrne, set/props design Jake Pitcher, costume design Kate Beere, lighting design Phoebe Pilcher, sound design Justin Ellis. The cast included Diploma of Musical Theatre students.
Luke Visentin, Thomas Hughes and Anna Clarke in Shakespeare’sTwelfth Night or What You Will, directed by Jim Sharman, assistant director Miranda Middleton, set/props design Luke D’Alessandro, costume design Aislinn King, lighting design Ryan McDonald, sound design Valerie Lam.
Goldilocks, written and directed by Michael Gow, assistant director Flynn Hall, set/props/costume design Camille Ostrowsky, lighting video design Aron Murray, sound design Khyam Cox.
A scene from The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, directed by John Bashford and Gavin Robins, assistant director Forever Tupou, set/props/costume design Olivia Rowlands, lighting design by Susie Henderson, sound design by Daniel Herten, video design by Morgan Moroney.
Roman Delo as Allan Raleigh in God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, directed by Judy Davis, assistant director Sam Trotman, set/props/costume design Grace Deacon, sound design Cameron Smith, lighting design Finn Appleton.
EXPONIDA showcased all Masters and Bachelor of Fine Arts students in Costume, Cultural Leadership, Design for Performance, Directing, Properties and Objects, Scenic Construction and Technologies, Technical Theatre and Stage Management, Voice and Writing for Performance. It also included the work of students from the Diploma of Live Production and Technical Services and the Diploma of Screen and Media (Specialist Make-up Services).
Festival of Emerging Artists
The newly-named Festival of Emerging Artists showcases the MFA Directing and BFA Design for Performance students in collaboration with students from other NIDA cohorts and emerging guest artists in all fields. The Festival also included student mentors from leading industry directors, guest designers and guest technical theatre and stage management professionals.
The Festival presented a wide range of genres, including a monologue, dance-theatre, opera, musical theatre, a classic work by Brecht and a retelling of Goethe’s Faust.
Technical theatre and stage management in action for Amelié, adapted from the screenplay by Guillaume Laurant and Jean-Pierre Jeunet by Miranda Middleton, director, with set/costume design Hannah Sitters, lighting design by Phoebe Pilcher, sound design by Zachary Saric.
Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, arranged by Justice Jones, director, set/costume design by Meiko Wong, lighting design by Amelia Bruderlin, video design by Susie henderson, video systems and sound design Cameron Smith.
A Respectable Wedding by Bertolt Brecht, directed by Tait de Lorenzo, set and costume design Angus Konsti, lighting design Morgan Moroney, video design Isaac Barron, sound design Sybilla Wajon.
Miracle City by Nick Enright, music by Max Lambert, directed by Hayden Tonazzi, set/costume design Hamish Elliot, lighting design Jesse Greig, sound design Ella Van Dam, video design Susie Henderson.
When Vampires Shop by Melissa Bubnic, directed by Flynn Hall, set/costume design Stephanie Dunlop, lighting design Phoebe Pilcher, sound design Filip Wyker.
Flora by Forever Tupou and the Company, directed by Forever Tupou, set/costume design by Keerthi Subramanyam, lighting design by Amelia Bruderlin, video design by Susie Henderson, video systems design by Cameron Smith, sound design by Kaitlyn Crocker.Inspired by the poemFlora by Alison Whittaker
FAUST by Sam Trotman, inspired by Goethe’s Faust (Part One), directed by Sam Trotman, assistant director Marco Damghani, set/costume design by Angela Doherty, sound design Trillian Vieira, lighting design Morgan Moroney, video design Isaac Barron.
