Expand your career opportunities with Sydney’s Theatre and Performance Studies program

Our Theatre and Performance Studies program looks at a broad range of aesthetic, social and everyday performances across theatre, dance or live art, to the performative dimensions of politics, sport, cinema and popular culture.

The discipline of Theatre and Performance Studies attracts global academic visitors and boasts renowned research staff and professional artists-in-residence while offering state-of-the-art facilities and curriculum to equip our graduates with a competitive career edge.

Our graduates pursue diverse career paths, from professional theatre, production management and drama teaching while others leverage the discipline’s insights and research in areas like law, medicine, public administration, social justice, and foreign affairs.

We recently caught up with four of our graduates to discuss their professional journeys, exploring how a major in Theatre and Performance Studies has shaped and influenced their careers.

Augusta Supple graduated in 2001 with Honours in Theatre and Performance Studies.

Augusta’s academic background has shaped a career pathway that boasts breadth and diversity. From commissioning and producing new Australian playwriting to managing an arts centre and recently as a founding director of a new publishing house, her journey has transitioned between many countries and across art forms.

Now, Augusta is working as a cultural strategist, where she shapes policies and initiatives to increase participation in the arts and create pathways to sustainable careers for local artists.

What knowledge and skills did you gain from your studies?

Theatre and Performance Studies informed both the incidental and monumental decisions within each part of my career. My studies offered me the rare opportunity to gain insight into practices of culture and the industry through various contextual lenses, this was central to developing new ways of thinking, encouraging curiosity and discovery.

What motivated you to pursue a major in Theatre and Performance Studies?

I was interested in theatre and performance in my younger years and when I commenced my studies, a world of infinite possibilities opened for me through being exposed to new ways of appreciating and perceiving a range of diverse cultural contexts. I felt certain that exposure to a broad array of interests – beyond performance making practice - could lead me to greater appreciation for the history and diversity of the discipline.

Since graduating in 2019 with majors in Chinese Studies, Music, and Theatre and Performance Studies, Tiffany Wong has established a foot in the theatre industry.

Tiffany founded Slanted Theatre to spotlight Asian-Australian artists. Going into the fourth year, her company has completed ten projects and worked with over 130 Asian-Australian artists.

While running an independent theatre company, Tiffany is also a freelance director. She is currently rehearsing for Atlantis at New Theatre and the Associate Artists at Bell Shakespeare.

How has studying Theatre and Performance Studies shaped your career?

I’m always thinking about performance, from designing a play and selling tickets to creating a rehearsal room that is safe and comfortable. I aim to analyse even micro-details of the characters like how they speak, and their use of gestures particularly when looking at works from different cultures within the Asian diaspora.

What knowledge and skills did you gain from Theatre and Performance Studies?

Theatre and Performance Studies shaped my understanding of the dramatic structure, theatrical history, and cultural contexts. Exposure to different types of performances and theatrical productions, nurtured my analytical skills particularly when viewing a script, production, or rehearsal.

After graduating in 2002 with a double major in Theatre and Performance Studies and History, Amy Hardingham began her rewarding career in youth theatre. 

Amy has worked in theatres across regional Australia in roles such as artistic director, educator, and creative learning. Working closely with young people and teachers, ignited Amy’s aspiration to pursue an education degree. 

Now, Amy is a performing arts secondary school teacher where she delivers the drama syllabus and produces and directs new theatre works with her students. 

How has studying Theatre and Performance Studies shaped your career? 

As a director, particularly of young people, I resonate with the approaches of practitioners I was exposed to in Theatre and Performance Studies. I take inspiration from feminist directors whose auditions, rehearsals and devising practices motivate me to work collaboratively in a way that empowers people who don’t consider themselves “actors” and is inclusive of everyone involved.

What motivated you to pursue a major in Theatre and Performance Studies?

I was always interested in theatre. A major in Theatre and Performance Studies meant I could expand my thinking around theatre and performance, continuing to develop that passion through theoretical lenses such as feminism and social justice. 

Lincoln Gidney graduated in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education. He is now based in Melbourne and Sydney pursuing a fruitful career in theatre and education.   

Each day offers Lincoln new opportunities to expand his expertise, one day he may be preparing for a show and the next will be filled with meetings, developing creative scripts with actors, or teaching his drama students. 

His appetite for collaboration, invention, and ambitious creative leadership is where Lincoln’s passion for theatre lies. 

What motivated you to pursue a major in Theatre and Performance Studies?

In high school, a passion for theatre was ignited within me but I knew from my limited onstage endeavours that pursuing acting wasn't the right pathway forward. I found myself increasingly fascinated with the construction and analysis of performance as a whole. When applying at Sydney I decided Theatre and Performance Studies was the perfect avenue to gain a deeper understanding of everything live, enacted, and performed.

How has studying Theatre and Performance Studies shaped your career? 

The conceptual basis of my work largely lies in the ideas explored in the Theatre and Performance Studies major. When articulating a concept in design developments, the rehearsal room or onstage it is enormously valuable to support ideas by pointing to a diverse range of artists and theories. I also rely on the technical, practical, and analytical skills learned in Theatre and Performance Studies, as a teacher and a director I must be fluid and responsive, accepting the unexpected and the diversionary while maintaining momentum towards our goal.  

Hero image: Students in PRFM1603: Placemaking and Performance participating in a workshop led by Naarm/Melbourne-based artist Luke George, a former resident artist with Theatre and Performance Studies in 2023. (Photo: Lawrence Ashford)