For Tasmanian creatives Erin Lewis and Lily Wooding, the journey to NIDA has been long and deeply rewarding. With Erin pursuing her Master of Fine Arts, Dramatic Writing, and Lily thriving behind the scenes, completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts, Technical Theatre and Stage Management, these friends from Orford are now building artistic futures side by side, not only as classmates but as housemates and artistic collaborators.
Master of Fine Arts, Dramatic Writing student, Erin Lewis, described Orford as, “A small place, but it is also incredibly beautiful. You have such a connection to nature and animals and the sunsets are just gorgeous.”
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Technical Theatre and Stage Management (TTSM) student, Lily Wooding, said, “I live in Orford but went to the Friends school in Hobart for year 11 and 12, so I would travel four hours return every day, but Orford is such a beautiful place to live, it was worth it.”
The two students met through their mothers who worked together and became good friends, Erin recalls that when they first met, Lily told her that she was applying to NIDA.
Erin said, “I had taken some NIDA Open courses during high school, staying with family in Sydney during the summer holidays and a lot of my favourite writers and actors had gone to NIDA, so it was really great to be able to apply for the Master of Fine Arts, Dramatic Writing course and get in!”
Lily chose to study the Bachelor of Fine Arts, Technical Theatre and Stage Management, given her love of backstage production work she had done in Hobart. “While working on plays in Hobart, everyone would talk about NIDA.”
“I had always loved theatre work since I was little, but in the past five or six years, I have really loved doing things backstage. I got into stage management and some technical roles at school, and then I started working on productions outside of school, and I just I really loved it. So, I really wanted to study it.”
On the subject of writing, Erin shared, “I’ve always just loved stories, and when I attended the NIDA Open courses I had wanted to be an actor. Then I discovered that I really love the creation of stories and putting those words together, so my love of writing evolved naturally from my love of performing. I especially love writing for dramatic performance because you get everyone involved. It is a very collaborative process. Because as a writer, you are often by yourself, so when developing a script for stage and screen, you get to discuss and collaborate with other creatives which is just fantastic.”
Lily is the recipient of the Anthony and Jacuqeline Kerwick Scholarship, which she applied for just before submitting her course application. On the benefits of having scholarship support at NIDA, Lily said, “Being a scholarship recipient has been so helpful, it’s made living and studying here so much easier, because Sydney’s so expensive compared to living in Tasmania.”
For Erin, receiving the Tim Fairfax AC Scholarship has really allowed her to fully focus on the course work, which she said, “Has just been so good. It has allowed me to have that creative thinking time, and I have been able to explore the breadth and space of my work and to just focus on my writing and take full advantage of the course, which has been fantastic”.
On studying at NIDA, Lily shared, “I am really loving it. The hours have been long because we are coming straight out of student Winter Production Season, where I got to work closely with props and costume students backstage on the play, No Particular Order, which was wonderful. I’m really looking forward to Spring Production Season and doing a lot of that work. It’s been so rewarding, so great. I’ve met great people. I’ve learned so much. It’s been wonderful.”
Erin said, “What has been so fantastic about NIDA is that it’s just such a beautiful, artistic community, you get to meet so many people who are very invested in their creative fields. Being part of NIDA allows you to see all the different offerings, and fully appreciate the whole environment.”
Erin and Lily are sharing an apartment and feel even closer now that they’re on this journey together. Erin said, “Next term we have a class together which we’re really excited to do. It’s a podcast.” As collaborators, Erin will write the podcast which Lily will technically produce, giving them the opportunity to work on a class project together despite studying different disciplines.
Lily said, “I came into the TTSM course really wanting to do stage management, which I still do love. But this course has really opened my perception on the technical aspects of backstage Theatre, which I’m really enjoying. I would really like to move into production management in musicals and plays. That’s what I’m really interested in.”
Erin said, “Studying Dramatic Writing at NIDA has helped me understand who I am as a writer. I came to this course to strengthen my practice, to really grow and explore assorted styles. The course has helped me grow as an artist and really understand the type of stories I want to write and tell, I would especially love to tell female led stories, something a bit quirky, a bit whimsical, maybe a screenplay starring Pedro Pascal!”
Offering advice for anyone who wants to explore studying at NIDA, Erin said, “It has just been the most fantastic journey, and we need different voices from right around the country, not just from the East Coast. So come and share your stories at NIDA.”
Lily concluded, “Don’t let living on a completely different island dissuade you from applying. I know of five Tasmanians studying at NIDA, it is a big community, and we support each other.”
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*Header image: Right to left: Erin Lewis and Lily Wooding at NIDA. Photo by Amy Joyce.