Blog

Hub Spotlight – Antonia Prebble

1.Tell us about your role in “Westside” for which you recently won the NZ TV Best Actress Award.

II play Rita West, who is the matriarch of a family of criminals. She is an absolute gift of a character…

Hub Journals – Kristella Finocchiaro

Who Says Life Isn’t A Musical?

If you’re busy with 3 jobs, dance class, choir and general life events in one week, to add another commitment, an 8 week Musical Theatre Masterclass, with a final showcase would be insane...

Hub Blog – George Konstand

Lone Star

Actor, YOU get paid to act. So, who are YOU?

I hold an interesting position because I sit on the fence between “the artist” and “the business”, I get an insight into both, I empathise with both…

Hub Journals – Kristella Finocchiaro

A Job Well Done…

Honestly, if someone told my younger self that I’d be loving an office job in my 20’s, I would have laughed at them...

Hub Spotlight – Kat Hoyos

1.Tell us about your role in the new comedy flick “Chasing Comets”.

I play The Rev’s (George Houvardas) daughter Dee. Dee is the real deal. Aussie, genuine, a bit of a tomboy and the moral compass for Dan Ewing’s character “Chase”…

Hub Spotlight – David Thacker

1.Tell us about your role in the new comedy flick “Chasing Comets”.

I was one of the Executive producers, unit base managers and acted in the film. It was a all hands on deck experiences so if you I could help out in other areas I did…

Hub Spotlight – Jeremy Waters

Hub Spotlight – Alex Beauman

Melbourne WebFest 2018 Keynote Speech – By Julie Kalceff

We met award-winning writer, director, producer Julie Kalceff at the Melbourne WebFest on the weekend of 30th June 2018. Her opening night speech was inspiring and powerful, so we thank her for providing a copy that we can share on our blog page…

Happy Birthday Kevin!!! 

Kevin Jackson is one of the country’s most experienced acting teachers. And NIDA was fortunate to have Kevin’s skill and talent for more than twenty years, and for us Kevin was the founding coach of The HubStudio..

Hub Spotlight – Ana Maria Belo

1. Tell us about your current role in “In The Heights”. What’s the experience like so far?

I’m playing Camila Rosario. The mother to Nina Rosario and wife to Kevin. In a word I would describe Camila as PASSIONATE.

Hub Spotlight – Sam Anderson

1. Tell us a bit about your upcoming one man show BI-CYCLE.

I wrote this solo performance piece after taking indoor cycling class in NYC for two years at an awesome place called Soul Cycle. BI-CYCLE centres on an indoor cycling instructor, “Sammy Steel”

Hub Blog – Shuang Hu

It is a new year and it has started with a boom. In the wake of that ever-inspirational speech given by Oprah at the Golden Globes, one thing is certain – 2018 is the year of change; for our industry and for women.

Hub Spotlight – Alastair Osment

1.Tell us a bit about some of your recent or upcoming projects.
A short film I produced and acted in ‘A Note To Self’ just premiered at the Made In The West Film Festival and will now do the festival rounds. I was honoured to be nominated for…..

Hub Blog – Mental Health In The Arts

Dr Mark Seton

To the public, actors are a source of both admiration and bemusement! Actors are praised for their vulnerability, raw emotions and ‘nakedness’ (figurative or literal). But for the many ‘jobbing’ actors there are also the judgements about “getting a real job” or “suffering for your art” or being treated by a director as a “warm prop”…..

Hub Spotlight – Claire Lovering

1.Tell us a bit about some of your recent or upcoming projects.

I recently played Honey in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at Ensemble Theatre, I’m currently having a great time performing in Dinner for Sydney Theatre Company and am very much looking forward to doing Top Girls with STC in January next year!

Hub Spotlight – Stephen Mahy

1. What’s it like being cast in Mamma Mia The Musical?

I’m really excited to be doing such an iconic show. I’m playing opposite one of my friends, Sarah Morrison. So that’s icing on the cake. 

Hub Spotlight – Takaya Honda

1. You have not only acted on screen but you’ve also taken on the role of producer, director, and writer. Which position have you enjoyed the most or are currently interest in pursuing further?

Outside of acting, I would love to direct more. I can write, but I wouldn’t consider myself a writer. Realistically I’m looking for a writing partner I gel with, but this type of creative partnership can be…

Hub Spotlight – Charmaine Bingwa

1. Tell us a bit about your upcoming role in American Beauty Shop.

American Beauty Shop is a heartfelt play about the true cost of dreams for a group of brave women in challenging circumstances; Mid-West America, post 2008 global-financial crisis is the backdrop. I play Meg, a tough…..

Hub Spotlight – Leigh Scully

1) Tell us about your new project, The Shape Of Things – how did you get involved?

The show is being put on by RP Theatre and Film, which is made up of Cameron Pascoe and Dominic Russell, and runs from August 22^nd – September 2^nd. Cameron and I…

Hub Spotlight – Samantha Dodemaide

1. You’ve recently been cast in The Wizard Of Oz as Dorothy – tell us what it’s like to take on such an iconic and memorable character. 

They are certainly some big shoes to fill, in fact some big, very red sparkly ones! It’s a pretty special experience to step into such an iconic role and to be trusted and given the chance to make it your own…

Hub Spotlight – Arka Das

How was working on the film LION alongside Dev Patel and Rooney Mara?

Working on LION was an amazing experience. I tracked the project from when the book was commissioned to be a film. I didn’t know at the time the film was going to be so successful…

Hub Spotlight – Emm Wiseman

Throughout your career what has been your favorite project/piece of work?

It has to be working on my most recent project, Winchester. It was such a pleasure having the opportunity to work on an international film, on home turf and surrounded….

A Trip Down Memory Lane – 6 Years of The Hub.

We live in a world that is constantly moving. The rapid pace of our daily lives is almost too fast to keep up with. Technology is always increasing and corporations steadily growing….

Hub Spotlight – Briallen Clarke

Actor

Describe being cast in Muriel’s Wedding the Musical?

I’m extremely excited to be cast in this show. The audition process was one of the most challenging I’ve faced so it was a great joy to get the call saying I got the job….

10 Questions With…. Jo Briant. 

Actor / Casting Agent

1.What was your first acting gig? 

I was 5 years old and I sang inch worm inch worm in a production in London. Loved it. My first paid gig was Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls straight out of Drama School. It was very hard not to corpse on stage every night it was so much fun. And my first professional TV show was playing the lead….

Ten Questions With…Damon Herriman

Award Winning Actor

1. When you were 6 years old what did you want to be when you grew up?

A policeman! A few years after that, and until I was in my mid-teens, I wanted to be a vet. I never wanted to be an actor. When I was acting as a kid (mostly between ages 10 and 12), I viewed it as …..

Hitting The Motherlode

Rebecca Hansford – Master of Journalism Student at UTS

Being a mother working in theatre can be challenging. Evening performances mean it’s almost impossible to be home to put children to bed, and rehearsal rooms are not known for welcoming babies. Motherlode is a new play which places the reality of motherhood firmly at centre stage, and is performed by all female cast…

10 Questions With…Dean Carey. 

Director / Founder & Head of Actors Centre Australia

1. When did you become interested in the performing arts?

I grew up in a very conservative household and suburb in what was then an extremely boring Melbourne. TV was one of my escapes, particularly science fiction. But moreover films which took my breath away, for example, To Kill A Mockingbird. I began, for the first time…

10 Questions With…Lyn Pierse. 

Actor / Improvisation Coach

1. When you were 6 years old what did you want to be when you grew up? I don’t know what I wanted to be when I was 6. I loved singing and I wanted everyone to burst into song and sing in spontaneous, perfect 3 part harmony and know how to all dance the same steps in perfect formation, just as they did in the movies. I couldn’t figure out why this didn’t happen in real life. Why didn’t everyone know the same song and dance as me? They did in the movies. By 7 or 8 I started forming people into groups and teaching them games and songs. Now that’s embarrassing…..

20 things I’ve learned in 20 years of acting

Michael Booth – Actor / Film Coach

1. The character doesn’t know it’s a comedy. Don’t play for laughs, and always let the truth get in the way of a good gag. 2. Your first idea is an idea. And probably a clichéd judgement. Confidently try something else. That’s what rehearsals are for. And explore the wrong ideas. You will find contradictions and levels……read full article. 

Two words that can accelerate your acting career 

Angela Ford –  Actor / Mindset Coach

I´d love to share with you two specific words that I notice help quiet the critic in the mind of top performers. I´ve observed actors who work with these two words, can tap into a greater sense of play and daring during important auditions, and care less for what others think….

Why Do I Act?

Joel Jackson – Actor 

There is no right or wrong answer and it is entirely subjective. But, acting to me is a fascination, an obsession. It came out of nowhere, I wanted to be a musician or a carpenter and then acting found me. I chased in it libraries and throughout history into the now. This is how I’ve arrived at why I act today, my reasoning and explanation for my place in the chain as a craftsman of one of the oldest  and most profound professions in the world….

Daniel Monks

Actor / Film Maker / Writer

The Accessibility Of Acting 

My name is Daniel Monks and I am a disabled actor. My mother was an actress, a graduate of NIDA, and when she was seven months pregnant with me, she performed her one-woman show, From Here to Maternity. Ever since I was born, I have felt I was made to do this. I feel like my body, my mind, my heart is built for this bizarre, magical, weird thing called acting….

Pip Edwards 

Actor / Coach 

Ten Questions With…Pip Edwards

1. When you were 6 years old what did you want to be when you grew up?

I didn’t have sense of actually ‘being’ anything. I still don’t.  I was a very physical kid, always climbing things, couldn’t much keep me still. I also LOVED dressing up… and yes, performing. I guess I wanted to join the circus!

Sonny Vrebac

Actor / Producer / Entrepreneur

Busting The Starving Artist Myth

You’re a performer, you’re probably somewhere on the 20s spectrum and like the rest of us, you’ve been conditioned to accept the romantic notion of the struggling artist. We’re as afraid of taking a gig ‘just for the money’ as we are about admitting that we vote liberal…..