Acting and Theatre
The VCA Acting and Theatre program produces some of Australia’s finest practitioners in both traditional and contemporary theatre.
Study Acting and Theatre at the VCA
Our Acting and Theatre program draws together the elements of contemporary theatre practice – writing, theatre making, devised work, actor skills, direction and stagecraft.
At undergraduate level the program is designed to train actors and theatre makers, incorporating voice, movement, performance and stagecraft.
Our graduate students focus on performance writing, theatre direction, theatre making, screen acting and voice acting. Their research contributes to the theory and practice of theatre in Australia.
BFA Acting and BFA Theatre
Our students work creatively and collaboratively to explore contemporary and traditional theatre and performance practice. They investigate their craft intellectually while contributing to the creation of new works for public performance.
Studio practice is the core of the training with an emphasis on collaboration with skilled staff, industry figures and peers.
Acting and Theatre Courses
Undergraduate
Visit the University of Melbourne course site to find out more on undergraduate courses
Graduate
Visit the University of Melbourne course site to find out more on graduate courses
Want to know more?
Get information on the courses you’re interested in, or ask our team a question.
2025 Graduating Season
Take a look at the exciting performances of our graduating Acting and Theatre students.
View nowOur people
Showcase
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A Little Touch of Chaos
-VCA Music Theatre & VCA Design and Production present 'A Little Touch of Chaos'.- Performance
- Graduation Show
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Tales from the Arabian Nights
-VCA Acting & VCA Design and Production present 'Tales from the Arabian Nights'- Performance
- Graduation Show
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we are all animals
-The Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music present 'we are all animals', an interdisciplinary Dance work in collaboration with Design & Production, Music Composition and Music Performance students.- Performance
- Graduation Show
VCA events
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MUSE Festival 2026
7 July 2026 - 9 July 2026Experience a free program of new works by the next generation of artists! MUSE Festival is a celebration of the fine arts and a complete takeover of the Dodds Street Performing Arts Building (879) on the University of Melbourne’s Southbank campus, home to the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. H...- Event
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MUSE Festival 2026
7 July 2026 - 9 July 2026Experience a free program of new works by the next generation of artists! MUSE Festival is a celebration of the fine arts and a complete takeover of the Dodds Street Performing Arts Building (879) on the University of Melbourne’s Southbank campus, home to the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. H...- Event
View event -
MUSE Festival 2026
7 July 2026 - 9 July 2026Experience a free program of new works by the next generation of artists! MUSE Festival is a celebration of the fine arts and a complete takeover of the Dodds Street Performing Arts Building (879) on the University of Melbourne’s Southbank campus, home to the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. H...- Event
View event -
Master of Music (Orchestral Performance) Showcase Concert 2026
Wednesday 29 July 2026 7:30pm - 9:15pmJoin our Master of Music (Orchestral Performance) students in their annual showcase concert. You will hear the entire cohort perform alongside elite musicians from our city’s professional orchestras. The concert will be introduced by members of the ensemble and directed by Richard Davis and Tim B...- Event
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Classical Voice Mega Day 2026
Sunday 2 August 2026 9:30am - 6:00pmWe are inviting high school students and singing teachers with an interest in classical voice to join us for a celebration of all things singing with Conservatorium staff, students and alumni at a free Classical Voice Mega Day. Participants will engage in workshops, masterclasses and rehearsals, ...- Event
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Earth-Like
Wednesday 5 August 2026 7:00pm - 8:15pmQuercus Trio, pioneers in celebrating Australian horn trios, present trios by Don Banks and John Polglase alongside Stuart Greenbaum’s horn trio “Earth-Like,” a world premiere exploring our search for habitable worlds and what makes us human. From cosmic conditions for life to intimat...- Event
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Southbank Series: In Full Flight
Saturday 5 September 2026 7:30pm - 9:00pmThe second concert in the Southbank Series draws together four composers across three centuries, each with a distinct voice. Program Igor Stravinsky Danses Concertantes Carl Nielsen Flute ConcertoLisa-Maree Amos, Section Principal Flute Paul Stanhope ApolloLudwig van Beethoven Sympho...- Event
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Collisions 2026
5 August 2026 - 16 September 2026Collisions brings together musicians, dancers and artists for a night of cross-disciplinary improvisation and collaboration. Celebrating spontaneity, experimentation and the new - Collisions is a series of interdisciplinary improv nights curated by students from the Conservatorium Jazz and Im...- Event
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Keyboard Festival 2026: Dmitri Shostakovich’s Complete Preludes and Fugues Opus 87
31 October 2026 - 1 November 2026The Keyboard Area staff of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music invites pianists and music lovers alike for a rare opportunity to hear the complete 24 Preludes and Fugues of Dmitri Shostakovich at the 2026 Keyboard Festival. Among the most distinguished pianists in Australia, these performan...- Event
View event -
Keyboard Festival 2026: Dmitri Shostakovich’s Complete Preludes and Fugues Opus 87
31 October 2026 - 1 November 2026The Keyboard Area staff of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music invites pianists and music lovers alike for a rare opportunity to hear the complete 24 Preludes and Fugues of Dmitri Shostakovich at the 2026 Keyboard Festival. Among the most distinguished pianists in Australia, these performan...- Event
View event -
Gender Defying Jazz 2026
8 November 2026 - 6 December 2026Gender Defying Jazz (GDJ) is a program run by Andrea Keller, Head of Jazz & Improvisation at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne. Beginning in 2017 and originally called Girls Do Jazz, the name of the program has been changed to Gender Defying Jazz, to more truly re...- Event
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News
Theatre for young audiences should be seen as critical for children’s cultural agency
18 May 2026
Young children are spending less and less time outdoors. Most Australian preschool children don’t play outside every day....
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
University of Melbourne confers Honorary Doctorate on First Nations theatre practitioner Rachael Maza AM
19 December 2025
The University of Melbourne has conferred an honorary doctorate on Rachael Maza AM, one of Australia’s most respected First Nations theatre practitioners and cultural le...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
New adaptation of Rebecca is visually haunting, but misses the core tensions of the original story
7 October 2025
Melbourne Theatre Company’s (MTC) latest offering is a striking adaptation of the 1938 gothic novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, writes Dr Sarah Austin from VCA Theatre....
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
Hutchinson Indigenous Fellowship supports projects exploring truth-telling and celestial knowledge
11 September 2025
Themes of truth-telling, celestial knowledge and divinity will be explored as part of two new Indigenous theatre and circus projects supported by the 2025/26 Hutchinson Indige...
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
- Indigenous Arts and Culture
Destiny is a fierce new stage show exploring love, loss and rebellion under the shadow of apartheid South Africa
28 August 2025
Award-winning playwright and actor Kristy Marillier’s new work, Destiny, is an ensemble drama set in 1976 South Africa, against a backdrop of rising resistance to the aparthei...
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
Vivid, thrilling and ghastly: new theatrical adaptation of The Birds evokes climate disaster, terrorism and lockdown
29 May 2025
Malthouse’s new production of The Birds is a thrillingly realised take on the 1952 short story by Daphne Du Maurier. Adapted by Louise Fox and directed by Matthew Lutton, this...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
The subtle theatre of Australia’s election season
28 April 2025
Australian politics tends to shy away from grand spectacle, but Albanese and Dutton both need to reassure a restless public that, amid global chaos, Australia remains anchored...
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
Unique performance co-created by VCA Theatre students to feature at Alter State festival
1 October 2024
An innovative durational performance event created by Joshua Pether in collaboration with Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre) students from the Victorian College of the Arts at th...
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
Magnificent and humbling: Paris opening ceremony was a tribute to witnessing superhuman feats of the extraordinary
29 July 2024
...
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
'I didn’t know theatre for young people could be so radical and innovative': Meet VCA graduate Sophia Derkenne
9 July 2024
Meet Sophia Derkenne: an artist, and graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre) program at the VCA. Hear from Sophia as they share insights on how their VCA training shap...
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
'We need your voice, not the voice you think the world needs': Meet VCA grad Amy Sole
29 February 2024
Amy Sole is a Wiradjuri and Worimi theatre maker and graduate of the Master of Theatre (Writing) at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). Since graduating in 2020, Amy has...
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
VCA graduate Maki Morita on the power of community, creativity and theatre
29 February 2024
Meet Maki Morita: a writer, performance-maker, and graduate of the Master of Theatre (Writing) program at the VCA. Hear from Maki as they share insights on their craft, valuab...
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
‘There’s always an opportunity somewhere’: Meet VCA alum Jacob Boehme
1 February 2024
Meet Jacob Boehme, a Narangga and Kaurna man and graduate of the Master of Writing for Performance program at the Victorian College of the Arts. As founding Creative Dire...
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
- Writing
Meet Mr Vic NAIDOC 2023
7 July 2023
Wamba Wamba and Ngarrindjeri playwright, Brodie Murray, was awarded the title of Mr Vic NAIDOC 2023 at the recent Victorian NAIDOC Awards....
- Theatre
- Wilin Centre For Indigenous Arts And Cultural Development
- Victorian College of the Arts
Won’t somebody please think of the children? Their agency is ignored in the moral panic around drag storytime
30 April 2023
In this article, Sarah Austin and Jonathan Graffam O'Meara from VCA Theatre challenge the moral panic surrounding Drag Storytime events and call for a more nuanced understandi...
Oh naur: Why TikTok is laughing at the Aussie accent
16 February 2023
at the Aussie accent
Amy Hume, Lecturer in Theatre (Voice) at the VCA spoke with The Age about the Australian pronunciation of the word 'no'....
The Grief Trilogy: VCA alum Liv Satchell's plays explore connection in the face of loss
16 February 2023
Liv Satchell is a writer, theatre-maker, dramaturg and facilitator who graduated from the VCA in 2016. Building on the work she created for her Master of Directing for Perform...
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Alumni
- Writing
- Theatre
PhD student Meta Cohen plays at the intersection of queerness, theatricality and sound
19 January 2023
Meta Cohen (they/them/she/her) is a composer, sound designer and dramaturg with work spanning music, theatre and interdisciplinary art. Meta’s music has been commissione...
- Research
- Theatre
- Alumni
- Victorian College of the Arts
Head of Theatre, Associate Professor Chris Mead discussed his latest book on ABC Radio National
1 August 2022
Listen to Associate Professor Chris Mead, Head of Theatre at the VCA as he discusses his new book 'Wondrous Strange: Seven Brief Thoughts on New Plays' on ABC Radio National....
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Staff stories
From Melbourne to London with promiscuous/cities
19 July 2022
by Sarah HallFor two decades, Professor Alyson Campbell has straddled the worlds of the academy and independent theatre, while recognising a tension between the two....
- Theatre
- Staff stories
- International
Palawa and Wiradjuri theatremaker Nicola Ingram on why she makes theatre
31 May 2022
Nicola Ingram is a proud Palawa and Wiradjuri woman from nipaluna, lutruwita (Hobart, Tasmania) and a 2021 graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting). Though now a passion...
- Wilin Centre For Indigenous Arts And Cultural Development
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Wilin 20th
'Good art can re-wire our brains': Meet Dr Kat Henry, Theatre lecturer at the University of Melbourne
16 December 2021
Photo credit: Southbank NewsDr Kat Henry is a theatre director and the coordinator of the Master of Theatre (Directing) program at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). Her...
- Theatre
- Staff stories
- Victorian College of the Arts
Art, identity, and 'in time': Meet Alkisti Pitsaki, Master of Theatre (Directing) graduate
14 December 2021
After graduating with a BA in Theatre Arts, Greek student Alkistis (Alkisti) Pitsaki wanted to find a graduate course that would help her develop as a director and support her...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Alumni
Meet Chris Mead, Head of Theatre at the University of Melbourne
6 September 2021
Associate Professor Chris Mead joins the Victorian College of the Arts as Head of Theatre following roles at the Melbourne Theatre Company, PlayWriting Australia and Sydney Th...
- Acting
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Meet Raimondo Cortese, course coordinator of the Master of Theatre (Writing) at the University of Melbourne
13 October 2020
Writer and playwright Raimondo Cortese has written more than 30 plays which have been performed in more than a dozen countries, including Features of Blown Youth, Ro...
- Theatre
- Writing
- Victorian College of the Arts
Feral queerness – an interview with Associate Professor Alyson Campbell
1 March 2021
Running interference? Going feral? Alyson Campbell discusses her research projects and strategies relating to her own queerness and the queerness of others....
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Research
- Theatre
Dr Sarah Woodland: 'Social justice is a connective tissue in my applied theatre work'
16 February 2021
In her role as Dean's Research Fellow in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, Dr Sarah Woodland leads a portfolio of research entitled 'Performing Justice: Arts-Led Approaches...
- Research
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
Portland House Foundation Harry Hains Memorial Scholarship provides new opportunities in Film and Television at the Victorian College of the Arts
8 January 2021
Determined to support equal access opportunities in the arts, The Portland House Foundation has awarded the inaugural Harry Hains Memorial Scholarship in Film & Television...
- Giving
- Prizes and Awards
- Film and Television
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Andrew Upton at the VCA: 'The blank page is humiliating, shaming, disgraceful, terrifying'
24 November 2020
Last week, VCA Master of Theatre (Writing) Coordinator Raimondo Cortese spoke with Australian playwright, screenwriter and director Andrew Upton about his career, training, pe...
- Alumni
- Theatre
- Writing
- Victorian College of the Arts
Meet Alyson Campbell, Associate Professor in Theatre at the University of Melbourne
17 September 2020
Associate Professor in Theatre Alyson Campbell is a freelance director and dramaturg with an astounding 30-year career, and teaching credits that feature the School of Creativ...
- Staff stories
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Meet Jane Schon, Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre) student at the University of Melbourne
21 August 2020
"Risk-takers are so much more interesting to watch," says Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre) student Jane Schon. With journalism and marketing skills, Jane is looking to create a...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Meet Steph Kehoe, Course Coordinator of the BFA (Theatre) at the University of Melbourne
31 July 2020
Steph Kehoe has worked as a teacher, director and performer in Australia, Europe, the Americas and Asia. She trained under Jacques Lecoq at Ecole International de Théâtre Jacq...
- Staff stories
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Meet Henry Kelly, Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre) graduate at the University of Melbourne
16 July 2020
Henry Kelly graduated from the first cohort of the re-imagined Bachelor of Fine Art (Theatre) course at the Victorian College of the Arts. Life has presented many highs and lo...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Alumni
Meet Morgan Rose, graduate of the Master of Theatre (Writing) at the University of Melbourne
16 July 2020
Morgan Rose is a graduate of the Master of Theatre (Writing) (formerly Master of Writing for Performance) program at the Victorian College of the Arts. She works with teens th...
- Alumni
- Theatre
- Writing
- Victorian College of the Arts
Dear Australia – new Australian performance writing
10 July 2020
Playwriting Australia’s (PWA) Dear Australia offers bite-sized monologues that give voice to the hopes and fears of Australians facing the persistent threat of COVI...
- Alumni
- Theatre
- Writing
- Victorian College of the Arts
Protect your voice on Zoom, with vocal coach Amy Hume
1 June 2020
For the latest in our How To series, voice coach and VCA Theatre (Voice) lecturer Amy Hume gives some clear tips on protecting your voice while working and playing online...
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
Alumni collaborate on Asia TOPA's The Seen and Unseen
31 January 2020
Eugyeene Teh and Adena Jacobs met at the VCA in 2007. 13 Years later, they’re collaborating with fellow Australian theatremaker Jenny Hector, Indonesian artist Kamila An...
- Alumni
- Design
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Robert Walton on Child of Now and bringing your heart to work
10 January 2020
A creative trailblazer, Victorian College of the Arts Theatre lecturer Robert Walton has been credited with creating the world’s first piece of iPad theatre and has tour...
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Theatre
- Research
Chris Kohn, VCA lecturer: putting diversity centre stage
28 November 2019
Since 2016, Chris Kohn has been working on a PhD looking at theatre made by people with intellectual disabilities and those identifying as neurodiverse. Right now, though, he'...
- Research
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Richard Frankland says 2002 play about deaths in custody is sadly still relevant
24 October 2019
Richard Frankland is not surprised his 2002 play about deaths in custody, Conversations with the Dead, is being restaged or that the story is still topical....
- Wilin Centre For Indigenous Arts And Cultural Development
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Five Questions for Caitlin Overton, Master of Theatre (Directing) student
16 October 2019
Having grown up in rural NSW, VCA Theatre student Caitlin Overton is looking for ways to bridge the gap between rural and metropolitan creatives....
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Meet Claire Bird, Theatre student at the University of Melbourne
20 September 2019
Claire Bird is studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre). She talks about the moments of discovery while studying and the importance of failing gloriously....
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
What's a girl? Just ask Ellen Grimshaw
2 September 2019
Ellen Grimshaw graduated in 2018 from the Victorian College of the Arts with a Master in Writing for Performance. Here she discusses her new show, inspired by her work for the...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
New graduate-level voice training for stage and screen at the University of Melbourne
27 August 2019
A new masters course has been launched to provide students with industry-leading knowledge and skills to work as a professional voice coach in the performing arts, film and te...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Meet Kliment Poposki, Master of Dramaturgy, University of Melbourne
1 May 2019
It was a long journey for Kliment Poposki from science to Dramaturgy, but now he can’t imagine doing anything else....
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Alumni
Capital D Disability in Theatre with Julie McNamara at the University of Melbourne
18 April 2019
Julie ‘Mack’ McNamara, an Honorary Fellow at VCA Theatre and the Artistic Director of Vital Xposure, one of UK’s leading disability led touring theatre compa...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Winging It – a web series produced by the University of Melbourne
11 January 2019
“Heaven has been corporatised, and no-one hates his job more than Michael …” Winging It is a seven-part web series developed as part of a Faculty of Fi...
- Film and Television
- Writing
- Interactive Composition
- Theatre
- Acting
- Victorian College of the Arts
Meet Tom Richards, Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) graduate, University of Melbourne
7 November 2018
Tom Richards auditioned three times before getting into the VCA’s Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) – so has it been worth it?As told to Kelly Southworth....
- Acting
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Meet Sarah Vickery, Master of Directing for Performance student, University of Melbourne
18 October 2018
Directing plays for Mardi Gras, tackling the challenge of academic study, and developing work that tackles provocative social issues – for Victorian College of the Arts...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Acting it Out: a new VCA Theatre initiative to increase diversity
15 August 2018
The Victorian College of the Arts’ new outreach program aims to support students from Indigenous and culturally diverse backgrounds. By Susanna Ling...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Alumni
Hollywood actor Jane BadlerHains: from V to the VCA
10 August 2018
Earlier this week, actor, singer, producer, and philanthropist Jane BadlerHains visited the Victorian College of the Arts to share the story of her decades-long performing car...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Acting
Hell’s Canyon playwright Emily Sheehan and actor Conor Leach in conversation
31 July 2018
Hell’s Canyon, the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights’ Award-winning play by Victorian College of the Arts graduate playwright Emily Sheehan, will show at the&nb...
- Writing
- Theatre
- Alumni
- Acting
- Victorian College of the Arts
How to throw a stage punch (and keep your teeth)
21 July 2018
...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Staging change: supporting diversity in Australian theatre
13 July 2018
The Victorian College of the Arts is offering a Diversity in Theatre program from August to September to support authentic representation of people of colour on stage. Cessale...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
The theatre of fake news: Polygraph speaks truth to a post-truth era
13 July 2018
In a time characterised by fake news and political dishonesty, how are we to understand truth? Such is the subject of enquiry in Polygraph, part murder mystery, part...
- Production
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Five questions for Chris Kohn, Coordinator of the Master of Directing for Performance
4 July 2018
Victorian College of the Arts tutor and PhD candidate Chris Kohn is currently researching the connections between collaborative theatre creation, ethics and intellectual disab...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Staff stories
Meet Kim Ho, Master of Writing for Performance student
18 June 2018
Having majored in English and Theatre studies and having already written two full-length plays, Kim Ho decided to apply for the Master of Writing for Performance to gain more...
- Writing
- Theatre
- Alumni
- Victorian College of the Arts
Patrick White Playwrights’ Award recipient Kim Ho: putting cross-cultural stories centre stage
29 May 2018
Kim Ho is a Melbourne-based playwright, actor, and the 2017 recipient of the prestigious Patrick White Playwrights’ Award for his play Mirror’s Edge,&nbs...
- Writing
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
The Crucible: outworn or reborn?
25 May 2018
It’s the 17th-century witch-hunt story everybody knows, but what relevance does Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible have today? Acclaimed theatre director Adena...
- Theatre
- Acting
- Music Performance
- Victorian College of the Arts
How I launched a web series concept then lost control
12 April 2018
Masterminding a cross-disciplinary project for 126 students was hard – but not a patch on those feelings of professional redundancy. By Andrew O’Keefe,...
- Film and Television
- Interactive Composition
- Production
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Vanitas has been nominated for a Webby – vote now
9 April 2018
An immersive art app developed by Victorian College of the Arts lecturer Robert Walton is in the running for the Oscars of the internet. By Robert Walton, Lecturer i...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
- Prizes and Awards
Comedian Louisa Wall: ‘You don’t need people to want you’
26 March 2018
Billed as a perennial millennial who does cabaret like you’ve never seen it before, Louisa Wall’s DIY approach to theatre and comedy is paying off, with a second s...
- Alumni
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Frances and the Inclusion Rider? We need equitable access to arts training
6 March 2018
The concept of the Inclusion Rider has suddenly hit the mainstream following its use by Frances McDormand in her Oscar acceptance speech yesterday. What might this mean for ac...
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
Listen: For the love of the stage, featuring Rinske Ginsberg
14 February 2018
From an improvisational trapeze performer and fire eater in the 80s to a celebrated Melbourne Fringe ‘living legend’, movement lecturer Rinske Ginsberg reflects on...
- Acting
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts
AntigoneX: Greek tragedy, with beach balls
17 January 2018
Victorian College of the Arts Senior Lecturer in Theatre Dr Zachary Dunbar is the writer, director and producer of a riotously reimagined version of Sophocles’ Anti...
- Alumni
- Research
- Theatre
- Victorian College of the Arts