If you are placed in a “Home Group” you will be in this class for the bulk of the week but will also be allocated an afternoon “Taster” class (also based on your rankings), which you will attend on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

Clowning

Discover the joy in letting go, finding the game and connecting through laughter. With its roots in physical comedy and being alive to the audience, clowning celebrates spontaneity, failure and vulnerability – foundational skills for any creative art. This energised and collaborative course will be game-based and explore classic clowning techniques to teach the basics of being silly on stage. Co-facilitators Sara and Sarah are excited to create a safe and inclusive space to play, to laugh and to nurture confidence and creativity in a brand-new clown collective.

Sara Hirsch (they/she) is a creative practitioner currently based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She studied clowning under the infamous John Wright during their training at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London and has been silly ever since. In 2020/21 Sara was part of the Wellington Feminist Clown Posse with Anya Tate Manning and Tessa Waters, and in 2021/22 she directed the clowning show Raw! Asmr (starring Amy Grace Laura) – winning awards including Outstanding Sound Design (Auckland Fringe Festival 2022), Best Solo Performance (Nelson Fringe Festival 2022) and Spectacular Organised Chaos (New Zealand Fringe 2022). Sara was intimacy and gender play consultant on the queer clown show Naturally Curious (BATs Theatre 2023) and has put her clowning to the test in her own shows and performances across the globe including at The Edinburgh Festival, BBC and as the UK poetry slam champion. Sara’s latest project consists of two children who will be in and out of the classroom at NYDS to help keep things light and playful!

Sarah Tuck (they/them), is an award-winning social entrepreneur, mental health advocate, facilitator, theatre maker and clown. They are personally known for their relatable and influencing energy, “undeniably funny” high-energy story-telling style and physical comedy. They are more widely recognised as an award-winning theatre performer, both nationally and internationally. (Best Theatre Show in Sydney Fringe Festival 2016, Young Innovator of the Year finalist 2017, TEDxWellington speaker 2017, and winner of the Wellbeing – Impact Award 2020.)

Dance & Choreo: Freestyle Academy

Get ready to pop, groove, and create in this hands-on dance class! You’ll dive into the basics of popping, and get a taste of Hip Hop’s rich culture and foundations. Along the way, you’ll learn to freestyle like a pro with cool tips and tricks to make your moves stand out. Plus, we’ll get creative with choreographic workshops where you’ll build your own dance phrases and experiment with different movement ideas. Whether you’re here to master popping, dazzle a dancefloor, or just have a blast exploring your own style, this class is all about letting loose and having fun.

If you love to dance but you’re not a dancer in your ‘normal’ life, or you sneak in a dance when nobody’s looking, then this is the perfect Afternoon Taster Class.

Seidah Tuaoi holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts in Dance from the University of Auckland. Seidah’s influences come from her involvement in street dance and the NZ freestyle/battle scene as a member of Projekt Team (Two and a Half Brownies) and LH Combined (Watch:MIN fams). Seidah explores the concept of fusing her cultural identity with the dance style ‘Popping’ as a way of navigating life in New Zealand as a Pasifika female. Coined as ‘popping puletasi’, she has developed this practice through video works, festivals, workshops, and dance battle exhibitions. Seidah’s most recent work Ko Au: Malosi, was directed alongside Josh Mitikulena and Projekt Team for the 2023 Hawkes Bay Arts Festival and at the 2024 Ladies of Hip Hop show performed at the Ailey American Theatre in New York.

Dare to do Shakespeare

Tackling Shakespeare can be a daunting task even for the most experienced of actors; we get so caught up in the text we forget that Shakespeare himself was an actor and wrote for actors, not academics. Shakespeare’s characters are funny, sexy, serious, smart, sassy and above all human. The course will concentrate on the simplicity of Shakespeare. His scripts give the actor ALL the clues needed to create the character and the drama. We’ll help you find the clues with London-based Globe tutor Michael, who is flying in specially for this week.

Michael Fenner is an actor, writer and a painter who has been leading workshops to all ages at Shakespeare’s Globe for the last 27 years. He has taught and directed in leading drama schools and lectured at university. As an actor he has been a member of the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare’s Globe, the English Shakespeare Company and appeared in the West End in London. He has made numerous TV and film appearances over the years.

Michael recently wrote and premiered a one-man show about Augustus John, the Welsh painter, set in his studio whilst painting a self-portrait as John. He is passionate about Shakespeare and one of his specialities is ‘demythologising’ the language and making Shakespeare simple and accessible. “I don’t necessarily like ‘verse-speaking’ and encourage my actors to use the language as naturally as their own.”

Drag School

Extravagance, fierceness, glamour, glitter and self-expression. Welcome to Drag School: an intensely fun week of lip sync, dance, clowning, makeup and character and costume design. In just 8 days, you’ll learn how to create slick, simple, sickening stage spots that’ll leave the audience’s jaw on the floor. Drag is a fast evolving performing arts industry in Aotearoa and NYDS Drag School is ready to prepare the never generation of superstars. This class is suitable for anyone interested in drag performance of any kind (kings, queens or in-betweens!), of any performance level or experience. Drag is a gear-heavy art form. Our Drag Class wardrobe of donated goodies is available but students are also encouraged to bring as much of their own gear as possible – particularly makeup and heels. A full list of ‘useful things to bring’ will be provided after enrolment.

Students that are gender diverse, transgender or non-binary will be given priority, as a reflection of the rare and transformational opportunity drag experiences can offer to queer youth. If you fit this criteria, please mark this on your application. If you are uncomfortable or unable to mark this directly on the form, please reach out to @hugogrrrl directly.

If you suffer from sensory overwhelm, if wigs, high heels, scratchy costumes or loud music might be a struggle, then this class is not for you.

George Fowler is a rainbow diversity and inclusion consultant and a world-class drag performer based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. As his alter ego Hugo Grrrl, he won Season 1 of ‘House of Drag’, making him the first drag king and transgender man globally to ever compete in or win a televised drag competition. He won an Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian Award and a Wellington Theatre Awards “Theatre Angel” Award for outstanding contribution to professional theatre in 2020. He headlined the Austin International Drag Festival in 2019, and was nominated for Wellingtonian of The Year in 2018.

Drag photo credit – Auckland Live
Headshot – Roc Torio

Improv Comedy – Naked & Scriptless

Spontaneity and imagination is where every creative work begins, so why does improvising terrify so many of the industry’s top practitioners? Students will learn to embrace the fear and freedom of acting without a script, how to trust their instincts and find the comedy, tension and game of a scene with their fellow performers. This class will focus on storytelling, characterisation and grounded techniques that can be applied to improvised scenes and beyond, all taught by Lori and Leona.

Lori Dungey has been an actor, tutor and writer and for over 30 years, specializing in improvisation. She came to Wellington 20 years ago from Canada for an International Theatresports Tournament and never left. Based in Auckland, she works as an actor, tutor and Creative Director with ConArtists. She’s a 2-time World Theatresports champion and has performed in Canada, Singapore, Fiji, Australia, Germany, and all over NZ, including a successful season at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and the Hamilton Rose Festival with ‘Austen Found – The Undiscovered Musicals of Jane Austen’. Lori has performed in the Comedy Festival with ConArtists and at the Herald Theatre in Auckland for the Stamp season. Most recently she performed with ConArtists in their Enid Untold: Five Go Mad on Improv – an Enid Blyton themed play. Before the current global glitch, Lori travelled to Germany each year to attend Ring Co. Lori is also and experienced screen actor with acting roles in both film and television including Lord of the Rings films and the television series Xena and Hercules.

Leona Revell is a founding member and co-director of SpontaneoUS, the resident improv company for Centrepoint Theatre. With SpontaneoUS she is a two time National Theatresports Champion. Leona is a familiar face on stages around Manawatū as a multiple Regional Theatre Award winner, MCing multiple community events such as the Palmerston North City Council Christmas concerts and a judge at various Performing Arts competitions in the region. Recent credits include Gabriel in “An Act of God and Jeanie in “That Bloody Woman” at Centrepoint Theatre, Performer as part of the Lola and Friends ensemble and writing and performing in FWB – Friends with Boundaries with Regan Taylor. Leona is passionate about Theatre and making it accessible to the wider community, which fits in well with her role as Centrepoint’s Outreach Coordinator where she creates inclusive and wide-ranging community performance projects. Leona has experience tutoring adults and youth, neurodiverse and people with disabilities. When Leona has spare time, she embraces the Crazy Cat Lady within and fosters kittens for the SPCA and likes to craft up a storm.

Intro to Screen Acting – Two Classes

‘Get off your screens’ – a familiar cry. But at NYDS we want you on the screen. During this course you’ll discover what goes into effective on-camera work, what it takes to create a compelling performance, the challenges actors face, and the techniques they need. Students will become familiar with the unique processes necessary for the screen actor and learn the process from the inside out. This intensive course will challenge and inspire you. One of our classes is run by Will Wallace and the other by Miryam Jacobi.

Will Wallace trained as an actor at the Unitec Performing Arts School. His plethora of credits include roles in television and film, such as ‘Vermilion’; ‘Step Dave’; ‘Shortland Street’; ‘Legend of the Seeker’ and ‘Go Girls’ ‘Westside’ and ‘Head High’. Also an accomplished film maker and editor, Will runs Fiftyone50 Productions – a successful production company specialising in everything from actor showreels to drama, corporate and documentary films. Amongst all this Will also finds time to teach screen acting at Unitec.

Miryam Jacobi grew up in Hawke’s Bay, attending Hawke’s Bay Youth Theatre and NYDS before training at Toi Whakaari; NZ Drama School. As an actor, she starred in the indie features Follow the Random and There’s No ‘I’ In Threesome as well as popular local comedy series Auckward Love and Only in Aotearoa. An award-winning filmmaker, Miryam has shown narrative work at Show Me Shorts, Galway Film Fleadh, Melbourne Women in Film Festival, Vail Film Festival, Down Under Berlin Film Festival and more. In 2021, Miryam served as 2nd Unit Director on Amazon’s feature Don’t Make Me Go starring John Cho.

Miryam co-founded production company 2113 Creatives and has produced and directed commercial content for WellingtonNZ, Sir John Kirwan Foundation, Fonterra, MediaWorks, Look Good Feel Better NZ, Eden Park, Auckland Theatre Company, Diabetes NZ and more.

Musical Theatre

Know all the words to “You Will Be Found” by heart? Regularly find yourself binge watching “Hamilton”? Cant Stop your toes from tapping along to “You Cant Stop the Beat”?

Then this class is for you!

Students in our popular Musical Theatre class will unite with kindred spirits from across Aotearoa New Zealand as they get put through their singing, acting and dancing paces. In recent years NYDS Musical Theatre students have studied and performed extracts from Spring Awakening, ‘Little Shop of Horrors, Jesus Christ Superstar, Dear Even Hansen, Come From Away and Blood Brothers. Sign up for our Musical Theatre course if you are up for a challenging week of all singing, all acting and all dancing fun!

Trace Tidd fell in love with Musical Theatre as a child, and has never been far from the stage since, performing in countless shows and concerts around New Zealand. Trace gained qualifications in Musical Theatre and Acting from Wellington Performing Arts Centre (now Whitireia) and holds a Diploma in Contemporary Vocals from Excel School of Performing Arts. Trace is the owner and principal of Stage Door Performing Arts Academy Ltd in Whakatane. She is also a private singing teacher and works professionally as a performer, Theatre Director, vocal director and performance coach. She loves all aspects of the performing arts, but is particularly passionate about coaching young people in the ‘ways’ of Musical Theatre.

Stage Combat

Warm up your battle cry and stretch out those muscles, things are going to get physical. Stage Combat will give you the skills to create dynamic and effective fight scenes while keeping you and your partner safe. We’ll look at techniques used in theatre, television and film and look at how we can physically define different characters and storylines with these and many other skills and techniques.

Allan Henry discovered Stage Combat in 1999, when he was a student at NYDS. There he met his eventual teacher and mentor, Tony Wolf. Allan has been teaching workshops and choreographing for professional and educational institutions across New Zealand at the highest levels, yet he always looks forward to returning to NYDS. He always relishes the chance to provide people with the skills and confidence to use their own natural creativity and personal talents to create safe, effective staged violence.

Tyler Wilson-Kokiri (he/him) (Ngaati Porou), graduated from Toi Whakaari in 2016 and has worked in the Stage and Screen profession since, in a variety of roles. He is an actor, voice actor, stage combat choreographer, writer, producer and Professional Wrestler. Some of his Screen Credits include Shortland Street, Ahikāroa, and Not Even, as well as a multitude of Stage Credits including the recently renewed Pop Up Globe performances of Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet, and Albert Belz’ Astroman.

Stand-up Comedy

Become a stand-up superstar. Though you’ll find comedy writing in lots of different places – TV, film, live shows – the basics remain the same. James will focus on the fundamentals of writing, performing, mic technique and stagecraft, while also exploring how those basics can be used in different places and in different careers. If speechmaking, debating, or presenting in front of people is part of your life (or NCEA obligations), this is the class for you. The skills gained in this class can help you become more effective and funny in any setting.

James Nokise has worked as a comedian for over 20 years, both at home and abroad. During that time he has won most of the comedy awards in the country, performed critically acclaimed shows in places like New York, Edinburgh, and Guam, fronted TV series, podcast series, and created Wellington’s longest running political satire series.

Through his start in comedy he has also found himself working as a theatre maker, puppeteer, columnist, sports reporter at the Rugby World Cup and the Olympics, and a comedic decolonising poet touring British Museums. Amazing where learning a bit of stand-up can take you.

Voice for the Performer

Voice is the biggest asset of a performer. A strong and confident voice that is willing to play and try new things is the voice that will succeed in this loud world.

Join Tessa on a week of play and exploration of the human voice using the medium of ‘Voice Over’. Learn the fundamentals to enhance your own natural voice. Experience vocal shaping as you move from a slick commercial retail voice to a character in a video game. Learn to shift your voice to learn the general American accent, a must have for every performer! Learn to love the sound of your own voice as you experience using a professional microphone, listening back to your vocal creation, with curiosity of all the sounds you can make.

Voice is not about perfection, it’s about expressing who you are and not being afraid to make noise!

Tessa Livingston is the In-House Vocal Coach and a Voice Agent at BigMouth Voices. Working with Demo Reel Production and Audition Management for talent on the books. Her working background is as a speech pathologist, vocal coach, voice over artist, actress, podcaster and content creator.

Signed with both an acting and voice agency, Tessa is skilled in commercial voice over, character voice and accents. She has voiced for companies such as Google, Air New Zealand and Toyota. She specialises in voice health, safety and production for vocal performers. With a background in drama teaching, acting, and a graduate of ‘The Actors Program’ Tessa is able to build confidence in the performers she works with. She is all about empowering people to feel how your voice is produced in the body for the most reliable and successful outcome. Voice is for fun, let’s start using it that way.