Hope lives on for aspiring actors

Over the holiday period, hundreds of aspiring stage actors and music theatre performers in Australia will be licking their wounds after being rejected by their preferred performing arts colleges.

Over the holiday period, hundreds of aspiring stage actors and music theatre performers in Australia will be licking their wounds after being rejected by their preferred performing arts colleges.

Over 1,500 students each year go through the NIDA auditioning process while Music Theatre lovers gravitate towards the popular degree course at WAAPA. The vast majotrity of these talented and hard-working applicants are rejected. Many decide to throw in the towel and resign themselves to amateur dramatics. What a crying shame this is for the rest of us!

The good news is they can dust off the NIDA monologues and WAAPA songs they have been rehearsing for so long and re-use them for late round auditions in mid-tier colleges and boutique training institutions across the country, which offer equally-good alternatives for talented performers to pursue their dreams.

One of these specialised institutes is the Actors College of Theatre and Television (ACTT), which is holding ‘Late Round’ auditions for entry into their 2011 Advanced Diploma and BA Degree ‘Professional Actor’ program and their Certificate IV in Music Theatre, from January 6 to 13 January, beside Central Station in Sydney.

If you thought mid-tier colleges like ACTT are not worth considering then you are in for a surprise. One look at the graduates shows they include Australia’s acting golden boy Firass Dirani (Underbelly:The Golden Mile, The Killer Elite), TV stars Matthew Holmes (Sea Patrol) and Socratis Otto (Wolverine, The matrix Reloaded) and up-and-coming stage performers Fayssal Bazzi, Chloe Schwank and Layla Estasy.

ACTT’s Professional Actor Program, immerses students in the same ‘Morris System’ of studio-based training as Jack Nicholson and Johnny Depp. Students attain an Advanced Diploma in three years, with an optional forth year for a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Stage and Screen Acting. The 1-year Certificate IV in Music Theatre trains students in Acting, Singing and Dancing (The Triple Threat) and is a foundation in music theatre for people who want to audition or go on to higher level training.

For anyone who has not prepared any audition pieces, ACTT also offers a 5-month Certificate III in Theatre and Screen Performance (also available part-time) as well as courses in Technical Production. So this Christmas don’t despair, you can still follow your dreams and keep reaching for the stars in 2011!

For more information visit www.actt.edu.au or call (02) 9213 4500