015 – AusAct: The Australian Actor Training Conference 2018

March 2019

Editors

Robert Lewis (Charles Sturt University, Australia)
Zoë Hadler (Charles Sturt University, Australia)
Jhi Rayner (Charles Sturt University, Australia)

Preface

The first AusAct: The Australian Actor Training Conference (held in September 2018) that formed the basis of this special issue of fusion journal emerged as a result of discussions between colleagues in the Acting discipline at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga. They were interested in the state of actor training in Australia and the most effective way to discuss this was to create a platform for practitioners, academics and pedagogues to celebrate, interrogate and showcase actor training methods that have been created and developed in Australia.

Performance practitioners, directors, teachers, academics, postgraduate students and performers were invited to attend to discuss and demonstrate their original pedagogies and methodologies that have been developed in Australia and that have been inspired by the environment, land, the Australian performing arts industry, the Australian values and culture. In general, presenters were encouraged to discuss the need for uniquely Australian performer training pedagogy, the link between Australian values and culture and actor training, the role that place, space, environment and land plays in the development of training methods, and finally, the involvement of technology in actor training.

The conference hosted 18 paper presentations, 12 of which have been published in this edition of fusion journal. The conference also included six workshops and two performances throughout the two days. Presenters discussed intercultural fusion, actors’ health and wellbeing, place-based performance training, gendered casting and technology in actor training.

Contents

Download complete issue | Issue 15: AusAct The Australian Actor Training Conference 2018

Editorial

Editorial: Actor training in Australia
Robert Lewis, Zoë Hadler and Jhi Rayner

Keynote Address

Finding the light: Acting as an artistic and social project
Terence Crawford

Reviewed Articles

Actor training in portfolio careers: Flourishing in a creative career beyond “Luck”
Elizabeth Blackwood, Lotte Latukefu and Mark Seton

Brisbane Junior Theatre: A new theatre paradigm
Jack Bradford

Vocal resonance: Optimising source-filter interactions in voice training
Zac Bradford

Within and between: Integrative performer training and the sword
James Harrison

Perform “the space”, not “in the space”: Incorporating place, environment and imagination in integrative practices
Robert Lewis and Dominique Sweeney

Monologuing the music: A new actor training practice for new times
Nicole Stinton

“Make it so…”: Communal augmented reality and the future of theatre and performance
Shane Pike

Empowering the next generation of actors through the creation of student-centred self-devised dramatic work
Andrew Lewis and Lyndall Adams

The role of the director in Australian actor training: An exploration of dialogic leadership as a pedagogical practice for Australian directors and acting teachers
Gabrielle Metcalf

“Had I been there, which I am a silly woman”: Dealing with gendered casting in an Australian tertiary setting
Kim Durban

“When you cry you really cry”: Playing with actors’ emotions
Soseh Yekanians