The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, as part of Edith Cowan University’s Mount Lawley campus, is opening its doors to the public on Sunday 7 August from 10am until 4pm, for it’s annual Open Day event. Showcasing its wide range of performing arts courses and state-of-the-art facilities for prospective students, the WAAPA Open Day offers the perfect opportunity to take a look behind the scenes at Australia’s premier performing arts academy.

WAAPA offers full-time courses in Aboriginal Theatre, Acting, Arts Management, Broadcasting, Costume, Dance, Design, Lighting, Contemporary/Jazz Music, Classical Music, Music Theatre, Props and Scenery, Sound, and Stage Management. Entry is highly competitive, requiring audition and/or interview.

In addition to gaining information on these WAAPA courses, the Open Day provides opportunities to meet staff and students, visit rehearsals and classes, view exhibitions and watch performances.

Visitors will be able to sit in on voice and movement classes from the Acting program, open rehearsals of Jazz/Contemporary Music and Classical Music ensembles, and open classes and displays of student works from the Dance program.

Students from the Production & Design program will present guided tours all day. The Behind the Scenes tour explores the machinations of theatrical production encompassing the sound and lighting studios, costume and design studios, the Academy’s state-of-the-art theatres and the brand new Props and Scenery Construction workshop.

After many months of construction, WAAPA’s Production and Design team began moving into their new state-of-the-art workshop in May.

“ECU has provided WAAPA with the best scenery and props construction workshop of any theatre training institution in Australia,” said WAAPA Director, Professor Julie Warn.

“There are excellent facilities for set construction, timber work, welding, props making and for painting theatrical backdrops. There is ample space and wonderful natural light.”

“All of this is important as WAAPA produces more than two dozen shows every year – musicals, plays, dance and opera. Graduates from the ‘backstage’ courses at WAAPA are in high demand, working across the globe in theatre, film, television, festivals and major events.”

Stan Kubalcik, who is retiring next year after 17 years as WAAPA’s workshop supervisor, has seen plenty of his students make their mark in the arts industry.

“We have a very high percentage of employment of students from our courses,” says Kubalcik.

“A few years ago we established a one-year graduate position here which we now split 50/50 between the two top graduates. Every single student who has held this position is now working in an art workshop in Australia.”

WAAPA’s Production and Design courses have produced many thriving arts practitioners; a quick scan of the backstage credits on any theatre show in Australia will reveal a WAAPA graduate or two.

Award-winning sound designer Kingsley Reeve, who graduated from WAAPA’s sound course in 1995, was sound designer on Sydney Theatre Company’s recent production of Ruby Moon; 2005 graduate Claude Marcos is set and costume designer on the Melbourne Theatre Company’s upcoming production of Return to Earth; 2007 graduate Deborah Whiteley is resident stage manager at the West Australian Ballet; 2008 graduate Trent Suidgeest was lighting designer on The Sapphires, directed by Neil Armfield, which toured to London’s Barbican Theatre in March; 2008 graduate Alicia Clements designed costumes for Black Swan State Theatre Company’s recent production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Matthew Higgins, a 2006 Props and Scenery graduate, was Head Carpenter at WAAPA from 2008-09. He is now working at London’s prestigious National Theatre as a Project Draughtsperson and has been working on some high profile shows including a production of Frankenstein directed by Danny Boyle; and 2010 graduate Joshua Nuefeld walked out of WAAPA and into lighting on Jersey Boys, now playing at the Theatre Royal in Sydney. And there are many more stories just like these.

“ECU and WAAPA’s Open Day is a great opportunity to learn about how to become part of one of Australia’s best known and respected performing arts training institutions,” says WAAPA Director, Julie Warn.

“As well as finding out more about the specific courses on offer, prospective students, their families and any interested member of the public can have a good look over ECU’s Mount Lawley campus.”

ECU/WAAPA Open Day
Date: Sunday 7 August
Time: 10.00am to 4.00pm
Venue: WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, 2 Bradford St, Mt Lawley.

For further information email Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts