Showcasing the creative flair and talent of its students, NIDA presents its 2015 end-of-year production season featuring cutting-edge directors and playwrights leading five full-scale student productions from 14 – 27 October.
Award-winning director Craig Ilott returns to NIDA to direct a newly created work, Stranger I Am. This moving piece set to an original score by acclaimed contemporary composers iOTA and Caitlin Park, follows a young woman’s journey of discovery after losing her mother and will to live.
“I have enjoyed being at NIDA working on this piece as it is important to engage our theatre-makers of tomorrow in the creation of new work,” said Ilott. “The production will feature exciting new music, bold aerial work and the talented NIDA students so I encourage everyone to come and see this unique piece of theatre.”
NIDA Acting Lecturer Kristine Landon-Smith steps into a directing role for Louis Nowra’s Capricornia. Set in the 1930s Northern Territory, this is a story of love, deception and cultural identity, exploring the complexity of racial tensions through the narrative of one family and the tight knit community in which they live.
Two NIDA graduates have teamed up to deliver the hilarious new work, Reagan Kelly. Written by Lewis Treston and directed by Matilda Award-winning director Ben Schostakowski, this is a tale of rebellion and destruction told through the eyes of a strong and determined young woman.
Directed by Elsie Edgerton-Till and written by Ella Hickson, Boys is a powerful production that explores the harsh reality of life for a generation torn between action and inertia as they transition into adulthood. Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls completes the October season. Susanna Dowling directs this thought- provoking play that celebrates women’s achievements while questioning the nature of individual success at the expense of others.
Throughout the October season audiences will also have the opportunity to hear exciting new works by NIDA’s graduating Writing for Performance students in Naked – a series of free readings every evening. There will be two per evening from 5.30pm to 6.45pm.
Explore a world of props, costumes, audio-visual work, renderings and model boxes in NIDA’s annual exhibition that celebrates the work of our graduating students in EXPONIDA, 14 October – 28 November 2015.
Stranger I Am*
Devised and directed by Craig Ilott / Score by iOTA and Caitlin Park
NIDA Theatres, Parade Theatre
Performances: 16 – 23 October 2015
Reagan Kelly*
Written by Lewis Treston / Directed by Ben Schostakowski
NIDA Theatres, Studio
Performances: 16 – 24 October 2015
Top Girls*
Written by Caryl Churchill / Directed by Susanna Dowling
NIDA Theatres, Atrium
Performances: 17 – 27 October 2015
Boys**
Written by Ella Hickson / Directed by Elsie Edgerton-Till
NIDA Theatres, Space
Performances: 15 – 26 October 2015
Capricornia**
Written by Louis Nowra / Directed by Kristine Landon-Smith
NIDA Theatres, Playhouse
Performances: 14 – 24 October 2015
For more information, visit: www.nida.edu.au/student-productions for details.
Image: courtesy of NIDA
* Featuring NIDA graduating Acting, Costume, Design, Production, Properties and Staging students.
** Featuring NIDA second year Acting students and graduating Costume, Design, Production, Properties and Staging students.