Technical Training

Ron started in theatre at the Ensemble in 1969 as a technical assistant and assisted in creating lighting, sound and special effects for many shows. He has been working in the performing arts ever since, principally as a sound designer and technician. Ron has worked with major companies from J C Williamson to The Gordon Frost Organisation with the Adelaide Festival Trust and the Queensland Performing Arts Trust. Head of Sound at the Sydney Opera House, Lecturer and technical assistant at NIDA and mixing the sound of the concerts for the Sydney Symphony and Opera Australia for the Sydney Festival at the Domain are some of Ron’s more recent accomplishments. Ron has owned and managed his own company for over 40 years, specialising in sound design, equipment and installations but has also designed and manufactured many electronic devices. This broad experience brings a unique perspective to Technical Training which has been realised in the many successes of previous students.

Characterisation, Shakespeare, Style & a Director of Student Productions

Clayton graduated from the Ensemble Studios in 1986. In 1990 he moved to the UK to take up a director’s scholarship with the Royal Shakespeare Company. While in the UK he worked as: an associate director at the CFTC in Birmingham (a theatre company renowned for physical and vocal interpretation of classic texts); a script analyst with the Birmingham Repertory, the Hampstead Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre; and, a teacher and director at the Guildhall acting school in London and the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama. In 1994, he wrote and directed Telling Tales, acclaimed as Critic’s Choice by London’s Time Out magazine. Directing credits include productions for five Edinburgh festivals, The Royal Shakespeare Company Winter Festivals (1994, 1995), the BAC, the Kings Head, Waterman’s and Cockpit theatres in London, The Birmingham Old Rep, The Leicester Haymarket (West End transfer), the Festival De Ferrara Italy, and five British Arts Council national tours with CFTC.

Physical Theatre

Lucy Egger has been teaching Movement at Ensemble Studios for two years. After completing her degree in Music Composition and Acting at the University of Wollongong, she went on to study with Jacques Lecoq for two years at his renowned physical theatre school in Paris. She has since performed and taught with Campagnie La Filante (France), Macnas (Ireland), Kiklos Teatro, Stabilimento Teatrale and Lingo Teatro (Italy), and London based Blue Inc with whom she devised, co-directed and performed in the hugely successful SPLICE which has toured Canada, USA, UK and France. Recent directing credits include "The Department of Nothing" for Ensemble Studios, and "The Popular Mechanicals" (with Tony Taylor) for Two-Way Productions. Lucy composed original music for UK company, Pants on Fire, for their 2005 production "Tossed" for which she received rave reviews. She will collaborate with them again in 2006, as well as continuing to perform and direct.

Acting (Theory/Workshop) & Psychology for Actors

Sharon trained at the Ensemble Studios. She has 25 years of experience as a professional actor, including numerous roles at the Ensemble Theatre under the direction of Hayes Gordon (including Chapter Two, I Ought To Be in Pictures & Jake’s Women). She has worked in small co-ops, theatre-in-education, mainstream Sydney theatre, radio, film and television. In 2001 she toured Victoria and NSW in David Williamson’s Face to Face, directed by Sandra Bates. She is a former artistic director of the Studios Repertory Theatre. She is a practising clinical psychologist / neuropsychologist and teaches at the University of NSW.

Acting for Camera

Teo trained at ATYP, Ensemble Acting Studios and the Atlantic Theatre Company. He has worked extensively in film, theatre and television.
Film : Safety in Numbers, Under the Radar, A Cold Summer, The Boys, Jet Set, Money Shot, Terra Nova, Square One, Sniper and Fatal Bond.

Theatre: Lawrence and Hollman, Angel City, Nijinsky at Twilight, Fortunes of Richard Mahoney, Galileo, Black Rock, Lost in Yonkers, Antony and Cleopatra, Trackers of Oxyrhynchus (STC) Men of Honour, Waiting Rooms, Mixed Emotions, Quartet for Rigoletto, Heartbreak Kid (Ensemble Theatre) Splendid's (Company B Belvoir) Reg Livermore's B ig Sister, Adventure at Whalers bay and Beyond Therapy.

Television: Playschool, Love Bytes, CNNN, Farscape, Above the Law, Stingers, Wild Side, Water Rats, GP, The Feds

Rehearsal Techniques & a Director of Student Productions

Michael Karaolis is a graduate of Ensemble Studios. As an actor his theatre credits include "Money and Friends" by David Williamson and "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller for the Ensemble Theatre.
He has directed several productions for the Ensemble Theatre: "Alarms and Excursions", "Men of Honour", "Ten Unknowns" and "Aunty and Me".
Michael was also Artistic Director of the Rep Theatre Company for 5 years.

Production

Rebecca is a graduate of the Ensemble Studios. She works as an actor, singer, dancer, choreographer & pianist and has been performing on stage since she was very young. She has performed in a variety of productions, including musicals (touring internationally), cabaret, mainstream theatre and theatre-in-education. She regularly performs cabaret in clubs & venues throughout NSW. She has been teaching at the Ensemble Studios for 4 years. In recent years she has choreographed production numbers in Ensemble Studios graduations. She also teaches singing and piano in her studio in Marrickville.

Voice & Dialect

Natasha is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art Voice Studies (NIDA). Natasha has worked as a voice coach on theatre productions including Svetlana in Slingbacks for Company B Belvoir and the NIDA productions Counsellor at Law and As You Like It. Also for NIDA, she was the vocal coach for the Directors’ Project The Perfect Servants, tutors for their Open Programme, for 3rd year full-time drama students and is a corporate trainer. Natasha also performed in Carol Churchill’s Cloud Nine and in The Illusion at Darlinghurst Theatre. Recently she directed In-Exile at ATYP. Natasha regularly conducts voice courses which includes her unique course Devising Through Voice for primary and secondary schools.  

Fencing

Long term member of Rozelle Fencing Club and the Sydney University Fencing Club Wayne has been fencing since he was fourteen and is known as an elegant but formidable swordsman. He has also been an untiring coach at local High Schools and his deep interest in History and his long association with the Ensemble Studios has made him an authoritative Choreographer.

Dance & a Director of Student Productions

Nicole graduated from the Ensemble Studios in 2004. She has studied various forms of dance for over 20 years, completing her BAL exams with honors. Her professional work as an actor/singer/dancer includes multiple tours of India, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei and Hong Kong for Millenium Entertainment International. For Bazmark she performed in Barry Kosky’s Lights, Camera, Chaos. She has also appeared in several Australian tours for ABC for Kids and Come Alive productions. For the Ensemble Studios she has directed Girl, Interrupted, Bombshells, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me and choreographed Playing Small, Gulls, Snoopy and several graduation showcases. She is currently director of HGR’s schools touring program.

Acting (Theory/Workshop) & a Director of Student Productions

Leo is a graduate of the Ensemble Studios. He has a BA and an MA in Directing and works as an actor, writer, director and teacher. As an actor, he has appeared in a wide variety of plays, including Latin Lovers & Instantkarma (Bondi Pavillion), The Collection (Fig Tree Theatre), (Parramatta Riverside Theatre) and Once a Catholic, The Good Doctor and Sugar and Spice (Rep Theatre). In 1998 he wrote and performed a one-man show, I\'m Not a Comedian, I\'m Lenny Bruce, at the Stables Theatre. In television, he played the lead role in the award-winning short film The Dealer and has appeared in A Country Practice. He directed The Grass is Greener at the Pilgrim Theatre in 1995 and has directed a number of workshop productions at the Ensemble Studios, including The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and The Real Thing.

Technical Training, Entertainment, a Director of Student Productions

Joddi trained under Hayes Gordon at the Ensemble Theatre and has 10 years’ training as a classical singer. She has worked for 30 years backstage in theatre, as Lights & Sound Designer and Operator, Stage Manager, Technical Director and Director. Her experience spans a wide range of productions, venues and budgets – from shoestring theatre-in-education shows by struggling co-ops to rock concerts, plays, operas and major musicals by commercial managements and State arts bodies. She has also directed plays & musicals for the Ensemble Studios

Acrobatics & Stretch

Darren Vizer has over 10 years experience as a professional Choreographer, Teacher & Dancer. He has worked with Opera Australia, Opera Qld, Sydney Dance Company, Australian Dance Theatre, and Transitions Dance Company, London. He is a graduate from QUT Dance Brisbane and Laban Centre for Movement & Dance, London. Darren is a former Australian Trampoline Champion.