The Freddie J Gibson Fellowship Takes NIDA Alumni to Scotland and the West End
The Freddie J Gibson Fellowship is a new award designed to enable emerging theatre directors to undertake a period of study and collaboration abroad. The Fellowship is valued at $30,000 to cover travel, accommodation and other expenses, with funding distributed between two remarkable recipients.
The first recipient of the inaugural Freddie J Gibson Fellowship is Luke Rogers, who graduated from the NIDA Graduate Diploma in Dramatic Art Directing course in 2013 and is currently studying the Master of Fine Arts in Cultural Leadership. Luke is also the Artistic Director and CEO of Canberra Youth Theatre since 2019. The Fellowship will enable Luke to spend eight weeks in the UK (January / February 2024), to collaborate with the National Theatre of Scotland and undertake a unique six-week creative research project on their approaches to and models of developing and producing theatre.
Tait de Lorenzo has been awarded as the Highly Commended recipient of the Freddie J Gibson Fellowship. Tait graduated from NIDA's Master of Fine Art in Directing in 2018 and is currently the Associate Director on the West End season of The Picture of Dorian Gray starring Sarah Snook (NIDA alumna Acting 2008), having been the productions Resident Director for the 2023 and 2022 seasons. The Fellowship will allow her to remain in London for longer than her contracted time on West End's Dorian Gray to establish further work opportunities abroad such as strengthening her overseas connections and attending theatre shows. She is also a stage and screen director with a practice in new and multidisciplinary performance, and the director of independent theatre company KUNST.
Freddie Gibson was a renowned Australian theatre manager and producer. He was Executive Producer for many Garnett H. Carrol shows including The King and I, Carousel and Robert & Elizabeth. Freddie collaborated with entrepreneur Harry M. Miller on The Rocky Horror Show, Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar. He held a successful 16-year long tenure as the manager of the Theatre Royal which saw him produce numerous acclaimed shows such as Cameron Macintosh’s Australian productions of Rogers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song & Dance, as well as Cats, Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera.
Since 2014, Freddie Gibson’s $2.5 million bequest has provided NIDA with a substantial annual income for the production of plays involving professional artists and students and for student and graduate travel grants.
