For the past twelve years through its Bridge Project program, TheatreiNQ has been training the next generation of actors – many of whom have been accepted into the nation’s top acting schools.
This year is no exception with Bridge Project participants known as Bridgies, George Abednego and Alyssandra Higgins successfully auditioning for the National Institute and Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney and Lilly Bartlett off to 16th Street in Melbourne.
The Bridge Project was created by TheatreiNQ’s Artistic Director Terri Brabon and Associate Artistic Director Brendan O’Connor with the aim to train and guide regional talent towards a career in the professional industry.
Brabon said the training program was set up initially as a one year program, later expanding to three, after James Cook University pulled the pin on its creative arts department.
“We felt very strongly about there being an opportunity for young people to continue to pursue a professional career (in theatre), just as I had received and Brendan had received in this area. We started with a whole bunch of kids that we actually had worked with previously,” she said.
The pair based the entire training on how they were trained and the pitfalls and failures of our own.
“We were just trying to make sure that these kids got a full, balanced understanding of what life is as an actor, and give them the tools to just be an actor, and see it as a profession that they could achieve in,” Brabon said.
She said the program’s name derived from its intent.
“It’s in the title. It’s the Bridge Project to take them from here to there,” said Brabon.
“We had no idea what we were doing, but we also had no idea if it would work. All we knew was that we cared and that we were going to try.”
Since that first intake in 2012 the Bridge Project has grown in strength as the leading light in providing the region’s theatrical talent a seeding ground to be nurtured and to allow to grow.
But Brabon said all of the past graduates of the program always remained part of the TheatreiNQ family.
“The main thing I think about the Bridge Project, I feel, is that we never let go of them,” she said.
“We’ve always here for them, as our audiences have seen, we invite those young people back to perform when we can, when we have the opportunity and when we have the money.
“We’re always bringing them back to perform for their home crowd. Because the problem with us not having enough money here to pay people, is that we lose our talent all the time.
“Regions like Townsville always lose their talent because we just can’t afford to keep them here.
“I think that’s one of our main goals at TheatreiNQ is to try and train the talent, but keep the talent in this region and performing for the very region that has nurtured and support these kids, right from high school.”
Bridge Project graduate George Abednego said was faced with a choice after graduating from Ignatius Park College.
Go to university and study to become a nurse or trust his passion and follow his acting dream with TheatreiNQ. He mentally flipped his coin and auditioned for the Bridge Project – now he’s off to NIDA and living his dream.
He said being part of the Bridge Project gave him the skills to successfully audition for the Sydney theatre school.
“For the foundation work, I think TheatreiNQ, the Bridge Project work that we do here, mainly in second year, will translate smoothly into work we do in the NIDA training. I think it’ll be extremely helpful, and it’ll be one of a kind,” he said.
The twenty-year-old also a recipient of a Balnaves Foundation NIDA Scholarship for First Nation students.
“I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship while I’m studying at NIDA, and it’ll basically relieve all of the stress of moving and living down there,” Abednego said.
He is appreciative for the skills and mentorship he has received and will continue to receive from Brabon and O’Connor.
“I think because of the training you get at TheatreiNQ, it sets you up with the skills to live your life as an actor. I think that’s very precious, very I think everyone would be grateful.
“At my current point in life, I’ve made the right choice. I have not turned my head since coming to acting,” he said.
Fellow Bridge Project graduate Alyssandra Higgins still vividly remembers when she was performing in the Townsville Catholic youth arts festival Mulkadee as a Year Nine student and came to the realisation that the stage was her future.
“Doing the big show at the end I was looking out to the crowd and it was just this overwhelming feeling of this is what I’m meant to do in life,” she said.
While still in Year 12 at Ryan Catholic College she successfully auditioned for the Bridge Project and now two years later is also packing her bags for NIDA.
“Last year, my first year, I was able to do Year Twelve and the Bridge Project at the same time, which is really fortunate,” she said.
“While that was the right choice for me, because I knew I wasn’t going into that academic pathway, I was ‘no, this is 100% what I’m going to do’.”
Higgins firmly believes she would not have successfully auditioned for NIDA without having been part of the Bridge Project.
“It’s unlike anything else, because you’re at a young age getting professional training from professional actors and performers and directors. It’s just an experience that you gain all these skills, but also so much belief and confidence in yourself,” she said.
Higgins auditioned for both NIDA and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and is now bursting with excitement about heading to NIDA in Sydney for the next steps in her acting career.
“I’m super excited. I’m excited to see what I have to offer them and what they have to offer me, and to see where my training will lead me.
“You kind of feel in a little bit of denial that this is real, but, yeah, it’s so exciting.
“Moving to a big city. It’s terrifying, but also extremely exciting and it’s just going to be a really amazing experience,” she said.
Former Cathedral School student Lilly Bartlett is joining 16th Street in Melbourne for a one year program.
16th Street opened its doors in 2009, founded by Artistic Director Kim Krejus with a vision to create and a space for actors to gain respect for the craft of acting, improve skills and a develop a strong work ethic.
Bartlett said after three years in the Bridge Project she wanted to spread her wings down south.
“I auditioned for 16th Street as something to keep me accountable for the whole year. Learn new skills and new training from a different company and a different perspective. Also to discover other people in the industry and make connections that way as well,” she said.
She also strongly believes the Bridge Project has set her up for success to in her audition for 16th Street and also give her the skills to succeed.
“I definitely am the actor and person I am today because of the Bridge Project. I’m very grateful for the training that they have given me. I’ve definitely found the confidence and worth in myself that this is a thing that I can do, and that I’m really passionate about acting, and I have TheatreiNQ to thank for that,” she said.
While at school she was drifting towards the arts and her drama teacher at the time, Bonnie Nicholas, suggested she do a North Queensland Theatre residency week (at TheatreiNQ).
During the week she saw the TheatreiNQ production of The White Rose and the Red.
“That was the first professional theatre show I had ever seen and it just completely changed my life,” Bartlett said.
“I fully had a mind blown thing that acting was what I wanted to do and I wanted to be on stage with them (TheatreiNQ). I wanted to be involved in it every way I could.”
Bartlett also auditioned for the Bridge Project while in year 12.
“I’m very grateful that my life has played out like this because I’m definitely not the person I am today without the Bridge Project, let alone the actor,” she said.
Bartlett can’t wait to move to Melbourne.
“I have lived in Townsville my whole life, so I’m very excited. Living in Melbourne is something that I’ve always wanted to do, hence why I’m going there. But I’m really excited just to discover the industry down there and figure out life as an actor,” Bartlett said.
Brabon said that Abednego, Higgins and Bartlett and other Bridge Project graduates would not have found success without the support, not just of TheatreiNQ but the Townsville community.
“It takes a village and this town is really incredible in how it supports its young people and all the different sort of opportunities that are actually here for young people,” she said.
“I think it’s important to remember all the other groups and school teachers and this town’s really, really special in that way.
“So thank you to Townsville. I think also, from these kids,” she said.
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