We caught up with Master of Fine Arts (Design for Performance) student and NIDA Open tutor, Charlotte Mungomery. She’s been working on Performance Lab, which is a year-long NIDA Open program running from February to December for young artists wishing to engage in a focused, practical performing arts training program.
NIDA Open tutors are experts from within the industry and can also be NIDA students who have already completed extensive training.
Where are you from? Sunshine Coast, QLD
Describe your first ever theatre experience? My first ever theatre experience was as a nine-year-old seeing our small town’s local stage production of To Kill a Mocking Bird. While I was too young to understand most of the content of the performance, which took place in a tiny war memorial hall, it was quite an informative experience for me.
What’s the best thing about your job? The best thing about my job is that we get to create and share stories that have the potential to ignite a sense of awe and curiosity in audiences.
What inspires you? The teams we collaborate with, and the idea that through the art of performance we can create magical, ephemeral experiences.
How is the Performance Lab show coming along? The Performance Lab show is shaping up to be a really unique adaption of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It has been such a thrilling experience thus far to see a group of young performers owning the Shakespearian text and making it their own. The world we are creating is a playful, shocking and very relevant one!
What’s coming up for you in 2017? I am currently working as production designer on NIDA’s show SALEM, which opened last week. Later in the year I am collaborating with NIDA’s Director of Acting, John Bashford, to design the Jacobean Tragedy The Changeling and also collaborating, as set designer, with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra on their first Opera performance Bittersweet Obsessions.
For more information about NIDA Open’s holiday programs visit the website.