About the session

This session took place Friday 11 December 2020, 1.30-2.30pm AEDT.

This session will offer an overview of the key ideas and themes from the week of conversations, presentations and workshops. It will also suggest some key learnings and take-home messages, and open up to a discussion about how we move into the future from here, as a unified, more inclusive industry. Time will be allocated for questions, reflections and comments from attendees. Hosted by Jayde Kirchert and  Fiona Choi.

About the speakers

• Jayde Kirchert

  Jayde completed a Bachelor of Music Theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) and after a brief stint working in professional music theatre as an actor, she turned to before directing and writing. In 2014 she completed a Post Graduate Diploma of Arts majoring in Anthropology (University of Melbourne) and is currently undertaking a Master of Fine Arts (Music Theatre) at VCA (University of Melbourne).

  She has directed and written multiple critically acclaimed productions through her company Citizen Theatre, of which she is Artistic Director. Most recent Citizen Theatre works she has led as director/dramaturge include Forgotten Places – an immersive experience at Chapel Off Chapel and Kingston Arts Centre (supported by City of Stonnington and City of Kingston) and When The Light Leaves at La Mama Theatre (supported by the City of Melbourne) and Gasworks Arts Park. As a writer and director she has created Ascent for Theatre Works’ 2018 Melbourne Fringe Festival program (supported by ShowSupport), Nude for the 2014 Melbourne Cabaret Festival and remounted in 2015 at the Alex Theatre and in 2021 will unveil the world premiere of her new sci-fi feminist music theatre work Mara KORPER at Theatre Works in 2021 (supported by the City of Port Phillip and Faculty of Fine Arts & Music, University of Melbourne).

  Jayde is thrilled to be the 2020 recipient of the Monash University Jeanne Pratt Artist In Residence commission, along with Peter Rutherford, to create a new feminist Vaudevillian spectacular, The 100 Year Revue.

  In addition to being a lecturer and teaching artist at VCA, she has also been a director and dramaturge for many new Australian works for the Melbourne Cabaret Festival, Poppy Seed Festival, Melbourne Comedy Festival and at VCA, as well directing VCA Music Theatre’s Morning Melodies concert at Hamer Hall in 2019.

  Jayde’s extensive background in dance and physical theatre converges with her training and research in music theatre and feminist dramaturgies, giving her work a distinctly elegant, yet playful and at times subversive aesthetic, and a consciousness that allows her work to speak to pertinent social issues of our time.

• Fiona Choi

  Fiona Choi is proud her performing career features so many diverse & authentic stories. She is well-known to theatre-goers for her recent roles in MTC’s Torch The Place, Golden Shield & The Lady In The Van, as well as her acclaimed one woman show Dragon Lady: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong originally created for the 2019 Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

  A graduate of WAAPA Musical Theatre, Fiona was an original member of the Australian companies of RENT (Cameron Mackintosh) Mamma Mia! (Dainty/Littlestar) and Metamorphoses (MTC)

  Fiona then spent 15 years living in New York, where she appeared Off-Broadway in The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream & The Silken Phoenix and guest-starred on television in Homeland, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Person Of Interest, The Big C & The Newsroom. She was also involved in the development of many new musical works including Apathy: The Gen X Musical, FAMBAM360, Happy People by Matthew Lee Robinson, and The Street (MITF nominated Best Actress).  Fiona also worked extensively as a casting director and resident director during her years in NYC.

  Today, Fiona is perhaps best-known for Benjamin Law’s SBS Comedy The Family Law, for which she has received an AACTA nomination (Best Performance in Television Comedy) as well as 3 Equity Ensemble Awards.  Other recent television highlights include Mustangs FC, The Letdown, Utopia, Wentworth, Get Krack!n & My Life Is Murder.

Please note there is no recording available for this session.

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