Stage School offers several streams of training which, depending on the age of the student, can be conducted separately or concurrently. Most streams have a hierarchical structure wherein students may be promoted to a more advanced group, based on the student's skill level and experience.
Young Australian Broadway Chorus
In 1995, the company established four theatre ensembles with a strong musical theatre focus. In 1999, these groups expanded to become what is now known officially as the Young Australian Broadway Chorus (YABC), the stream which trains students in singing, dancing and acting.
The YABC's first performance was held in 1999 at the National Theatre in St Kilda - a gala performance much simpler than the more extravagant shows that are put on in the same theatre by YABC students today. [2]
As of 2022, YABC classes are held in 4 locations across Brisbane.
Australian Youth Theatre
The Australian Youth Theatre (AYT) is the drama branch of Stage School's performing arts training activities which originally traded in the 1980s as the Victorian Children's Theatre. While trading as the Victorian Children's Theatre, the course focused largely on improvised drama, but eventually the curriculum was expanded to include script work and acting for the camera. [3]
As of 2022, AYT classes are held in 4 locations across Brisbane.
Beginners OnStage
Beginners OnStage was established in 2008 as a program for students aged 5 to 7 years as a gateway into the world of performing. In Melbourne, classes now run for 3 and 4 year olds where they learn the foundations of performing arts.
As of 2022, Beginners OnStage classes are held in 4 locations across Brisbane.
Australian Boys Dance Academy
The Australian Boys Dance Academy (ABDA) was established in 2014 in Melbourne as a safe and supportive environment for boys aged 6 to 18 to learn an array of dance styles. ABDA teaches students Hip-hop, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, and more.
The Talent Company of Australia
The Talent Company of Australia (TCA) is Stage School Australia’s professional talent agency, offering established and up-and-coming actors high-quality representation to secure work in the entertainment industry.
Created in 2003, the TCA has built a solid reputation and relationship with leading casting agents both locally and internationally. TCA talent have appeared in TV, film, theatre, commercials and web series.
In addition to providing talent management services to students, the TCA provides skill-building workshops throughout the year. [4]
Productions
Stage School Australia also operates as a performing arts company and have been producing multiple stage productions bi-annually for two decades. Stage School Australia have done seasons of original plays and musicals as well as many theatre classics including; The Conference of the Birds, Godspell, Man of La Mancha, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Oliver!, Rags, Salad Days, Wizard of Oz, Spring Awakening, Seussical TYA, Conference of the Birds, Disney Alice in Wonderland Jr, Disney Aladdin Jr, BABE the Sheep-Pig, Disney The Little Mermaid Jr, The Secret Garden ~ Spring Version, Disney Beauty and the Beast Jr, Honk! Jr, Shrek Jr, Wicked, Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr, and Les Miserables.
Tours
Since 1996, Stage School Australia has conducted many tours in Australia and internationally. Stage School Australia have toured to countries including; France, Germany, Greece, Singapore, Italy, the United States and England.
YABC and AYT touring groups have performed in a variety of high-profile venues including Disneyland. Disneyworld, Disneyland Paris, Theatre Row, Universal Studios, Smithsonian Institution, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, York Theatre Royal, Soho Theatre Pegasus Theatre Oxford to name just a few.
Lisa McCune is an Australian actress, known for her role in TV series Blue Heelers as Senior Constable Maggie Doyle, and in Sea Patrol as Lieutenant Kate McGregor RAN. She has won four Gold Logie Awards.
Eddie Perfect is an Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, comedian, writer and actor.
The Queensland Performing Arts Centre is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre and is located on the corner of Melbourne Street and Grey Street in Brisbane's South Bank precinct. Opened in 1985, it includes the Lyric Theatre, Concert Hall, Playhouse and Cremorne Theatre.
Mount Scopus Memorial College, commonly known as Mount Scopus, or just Scopus, is an independent Modern Orthodox Jewish comprehensive co-educational early learning, primary, and secondary day school, located in the Melbourne suburb of Burwood, Victoria, Australia. Since 2007, Rabbi James Kennard has been principal of Mount Scopus Memorial College.
Queensland Theatre, formerly the Queensland Theatre Company and Royal Queensland Theatre Company, is a professional theatre company based in Brisbane, Australia. It regularly performs in its own Bille Browne Theatre and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre's Playhouse.
Victorian Opera is an opera company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded in 2005 by the Victorian Government as a replacement for the Victoria State Opera. It commenced operations in January 2006 with Richard Gill as Artistic Director. Richard Mills is the current Artistic Director. The company is supported through government funding, patron contributions and corporate sponsorship.
The Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in Cabaret, Dance, Theatre Companies, Independent Theatre, Musical Theatre, Contemporary and Experimental Performance and Opera in Melbourne.
Ceremonial dancing has a very important place in the Indigenous cultures of Australia. They vary from place to place, but most ceremonies combine dance, song, rituals and often elaborate body decorations and costumes. The different body paintings indicate the type of ceremony being performed. They play an important role in marriage ceremonies, in the education of Indigenous children, as well as storytelling and oral history. The term corroboree is commonly used to refer to Australian Aboriginal dances, although this term has its origins among the people of the Sydney region. In some places, Aboriginal people perform corroborees for tourists. In the latter part of the 20th century the influence of Indigenous Australian dance traditions has been seen with the development of concert dance, with the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) providing training in contemporary dance.
Theatre of Australia refers to the history of the live performing arts in Australia: performed, written or produced by Australians.
Performing arts education in Australia refers to the teaching of different styles of creative activity that are performed publicly. The performing arts in Australia encompasses many disciplines including music, dance, theatre, musical theatre, circus arts and more. Performing arts education in Australia occurs both formally and informally at all levels of education, including in schools, tertiary institutions and other specialist institutions. There is also a growing body of evidence, from the Australian Council for the Arts and the Parliament of Australia, showing that First Nation's participation in the arts and culture has significant economic, social and cultural benefits to Australia and further supports the outcomes of the Australian governments ‘Closing the Gap’ campaign. There has been an increasing number of scholarships opening up in educational institutions for Indigenous Australians aimed at encouraging this participation in the arts.
Meryl Tankard is an Australian dancer and choreographer who has a wide national and international reputation.
The Theatre Development Fund (TDF) is a not-for-profit performing arts service organization in New York City. Created in 1968 to help an ailing New York theatre industry, TDF has grown into the nation's largest performing arts nonprofit, providing support to more than 900 plays and musicals and returning upwards of $1.5 billion in revenue to thousands of Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway music and dance productions.
Short+Sweet is a multi-form arts platform presenting festivals in theatre, dance, music-theatre, comedy and cabaret co-ordinated in multiple counties globally. The unifying feature of all works presented at the festival is they must be no longer than ten-minutes. Their flagship festival is Short+Sweet Theatre Sydney, the largest ten-minute play festival in the world.
Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School (VCASS), is a government-funded co-educational selective and specialist secondary day school, with speciality in the performing and visual arts, located within the Melbourne Arts Precinct in Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1978, VCASS teaches students from Year 7 to Year 12; and has an enrolment of 370 students.
Simon Gallaher is an Australian singer, actor, director and pianist.
The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music (FFAM). It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the university.
Rochelle School of the Arts (RSA) is a K–8 magnet school in Lakeland, Florida that has a specific focus on art-related subjects. It offers a variety of classes, such as Art, Band, Dance, Orchestra, Theatre, and Vocal. Rochelle has many different other classes that students can participate in such as keyboard, creative writing, photography, television production, robotics, theatre tech, musical theatre, art, women's choir, men's choir, Treble Choir, Show Choir, Physical Education and handbells. There are many clubs at Rochelle that do not have a class such as, Rocketry Club, Chess Club, Junior Thespians, Ukulele, SSYRA club, National Junior Honor Society, P.E.A.R.L.S, Math Counts, Golf Club, Recycling Squad, and Robotics.
Lucy Maunder is an Australian cabaret and theatre performer. She originated the role of Lara in the Australian premiere of Doctor Zhivago opposite Anthony Warlow, and has toured with her own cabaret Songs in the Key of Black, releasing an album with the same name. Maunder toured with the national touring company of Grease playing the role of Rizzo. She then starred in the role of Miss Honey in the Australian tour of Matilda the Musical, replacing Elise McCann. In 2021-22, Maunder starred as the adult Alison Bechdel in the Sydney Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company's co-production of Fun Home.
Ainsley Melham is an Australian actor, best known as a former member of Australian children's musical group Hi-5 from 2013 to 2016 and for playing the title role in Disney's Aladdin in Australia and later on Broadway.
Rachel Cameron was an Australian ballet dancer and teacher. She was one of the leading dancers in early Australian ballet in the 1940s, performing with the Borovansky and Kirsova ballet companies, and was one of the first ballet dancers in Australia to reach the rank of principal. After emigrating to Great Britain she was an inspirational educator of ballet teachers at the Royal Academy of Dance in London for over forty years. In 2010, she received the Royal Academy of Dance's prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award in recognition of her outstanding services to ballet.
