NIDA’s End of Year Production Season has seenfour live NIDA productions across the campus telling stories of worlds in flux.NIDA CEO Liz Hughes said: ‘Performance innovation and collaboration is at the heart of NIDA’s core practice as we commit to nurturing the world’s best storytellers.’
Audiences were invited to journeyinto a magical forest, a world without electricity, God’s own country and a theatrical kaleidoscope through opera, myth, comedy and invention. The season included a special collaboration with the Sydney University Conservatorium of Music with A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The season opened with Mr Burns, a post electric play (above).
Anne Washburn’s international hit comedy dissolves the barriers between high art and pop culture and imagines a world whereThe Simpsons becomes the new bible, showing how the stories we tell make us the people we are. The play is written by Anne Washburn, with score by Michael Friedman and lyrics by Anne Washburn.
The production was directed by NIDA alumnus Alexander Berlage, with musical direction by Andrew Worboys. The set and costume design was by Isabel Hudson, lighting design by Isaac Barron and sound design by Kaitlyn Crocker.
A co-productionbetween NIDA and the Sydney University Conservatorium of Music at NIDA’s Parade Theatre presented A Midsummer Night’s Dream. With music by Benjamin Britten, the libretto is adapted from William Shakespeare by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears.
NIDA technical production and stage management, costume, design and props students combinedwith Sydney Conservatorium performers and guests, with NIDAdesign graduatesCamille Ostrowsky and Sabina Myers. The production was conducted by Stephen Mould, a Senior Lecturer in Conducting, Opera Studies andRepetiteurshipat the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and Artistic Director of the Con Opera.
It was directed by Kate Gaul, an award-winning director whose recent credits includeH.M.S Pinafore, Good with Maps, The TroubleWithHarry, The Ham Funeral.She directed Orlandofor NIDA in 2020. Kate is Artistic Director of Siren Theatre Co.
Love and Information (above) written by British playwright Caryl Churchill, who for many, Caryl Churchill is the world’s greatest living playwright. This contemporary masterpieceasks how our insatiable appetite for knowledge can be informed by our capacity for love.
The play was directed by Anthea Williams, an award-winning director, known for her productions ofWinyanbogaYuringa, Since Ali Died, Hirand Kill the Messenger. Her short filmSafety Net premiered as part of the 2020 Sydney Film Festival.
Whosespotisitanyway asks God’s Country (above).
Thischeeky, chargednew comedy from one of Australia’s most in-demand writers is a special NIDA commission written especially for the graduating actors. The play was commissioned by NIDA and written by Nathan Maynard, a Trawlwoolway, Pakana/Palawa man fromLutrawita/Tasmania. He was the 2019BalnavesAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Fellow at Belvoir.
The production was directed by Liza-Mare Syron, Co-Founder and Senior Artistic Associate of MoogahlinPerforming Arts, the leading First Nations theatre company in NSW.Liza-Mare has family ties to theBiripipeople and is currently an Indigenous Scientia Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts and Media at UNSW. Her directorial achievements includeThe Fox and the Freedom Fighters,The Weekend andRainbows End.
Read the programs of each show in the End of the Year Production Season here.
