Success Stories
We are proud to say that many theatre and screen luminaries in this country went to Toi Whakaari.
Natasha James
Natasha graduated from the Entertainment Technology programme in 2000 and has been touring the world ever since. Starting out at Downstage Theatre as the full time Stage Manager, Natasha is now in constant demand as a respected freelance production and stage manager and lighting designer with a penchant for dance productions.
Natasha is currently touring 14 venues across the UK as the Production Manager for Twelfth Floor dance company. Other roles have included Production Manager for Construct (On The Boards Festival, Seattle, USA); Assistant Head of Lighting 08 NZ International Festival of the Arts, Production and Technical Manager Instructions for Modern Living, (Intrepid Theatre, Victoria, Canada, Push Festival, Vancouver, Canada, Bite Festival, Barbican Theatre, London, Tauranga Festival of Arts, Christchurch Festival of Arts, AK07); Assistant Stage Manager, World of Wearable Arts; Assistant Technical Director, Taranaki International Festival of Arts; Tour Manager and Stage Manager Into The REM Zone, (Capital E National Theatre for Children & Footnote Dance); Lighting Designer, Paua, (Downstage), Shinning City (Circa), Lullaby Jock (Centrepoint Theatre), King and Country (National Tour) and STRATA (Taki Rua Productions).
Nigel Scott
"My second year secondment gave me a crucial advantage when it came to getting employment in an industry that's notoriously hard to break into. I was offered my first job before I left the course because my employers had met me, had worked with me and knew what I was capable of."
Nigel Scott initially trained in computer science, and then graduated from the technical course at Toi Whakaari in 1995, where he has tutored sound design ever since. Recently Toi Whakaari recognized his work by gifting him the inaugural award for graduate excellence.
Nigel is a senior sound operator at Peter Jackson's Park Road Post Production Studio in Wellington, which houses world class sound recording and mixing stages as well as film editing and development laboratories. Nigel came to Park Road having worked as a music editor and co-ordinator for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong. Before that he was employed around the world as a freelance sound engineer, working at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 as well as several international theatre festivals and high profile corporate events. He has worked on many NZ International Festivals of the Arts and was Head of Sound for national tours of Chicago and Blood Brothers.
Claire Gilligan
"The knowledge passed on by the tutors, both resident and guests, is hugely valuable for life in the real world of this industry. When I first arrived in London in 2002 I was up against many graduates from English drama training schools. NZ Drama School has a great reputation all the way over here and that has assisted my climb on the career ladder."
Claire Gilligan graduated from Toi Whakaari in 2001 and spent a year freelancing for Te Papa, the Royal NZ Ballet and NBR NZ Opera as a lighting and AV technician. She travelled to London in 2002 and worked at a lighting hire company - where she rose to Deputy Hire Manager. Claire also worked follow spots at the New Wimbledon Theatre and the Royal Opera House.
In 2006 Claire became Head of Projection & Deputy Lighting on the UK tour of Jerry Springer: The Opera. She was then Production Electrician for the tour of Slava’s Snow Show. At the end of 2006 Claire was appointed as a Lighting Technician at the English National Opera, where she works on up to five ENO shows in repertory at any one time, as well as with guest companies such as the English National Ballet and the BBC's Royal Variety Performance.
THOMAS PRESS
After graduationg from Toi Whakaari in 2005 Thomas has established himself as a Wellington-based sound designer, composer and lighting designer and completed a Bachelor of Music in Composition at the New Zealand School of Music. Credits include sound design and operation of Taki Rua's Mark Twain and Me in Maoriland for the NZ International Arts Festival and ATC’s Romeo and Juliet and an exhibition at Toi Poneke- Arts Centre Nag in collaboration with Marcus McShane; sound designer and composer for a slightly isolated dog's production of Death and the Dreamlife of Elephants, sound designer for Almost a Bird Theatre Collective’s production of Wolf’s Lair (BATS, Circa and the Basement Theatre), music and lighting design for Java Dance’s production of How Big is Blue (Capital E); music composition and sound design for Downstage’s production of Dracula.
"Toi Whakaari provided me with a great opportunity to meet and work with a range of students and practitioners across a multitude of disciplines. Many of whom are now my colleagues and peers. Whilst at Toi, I gained an appreciation of how a career in the entertainment industry can be a life long journey, constantly changing and throwing up surprises. I particularly valued working with the Directing students, trying out things we might not have otherwise had the opportunity to explore. Since graduating I have worked predominantly as a sound designer/composer and constantly call on a range of skills I learnt at Toi Whakaari."
More than 85 other people have graduated from the Entertainment Technology course and around 85% of those are still working in the industry with jobs as wide ranging as model makers, mechanists and multimedia operators.
A selection of our successful grads includes:
- Nigel Scott & Peter Edge - worked on the triple Oscar winning sound editing team at Park Road Post who produced King Kong and Lord of the Rings
- Pornsupasri (Pook) Berrigan - the Manager of the International Division of the Bangkok Children's Discovery Museum.
- Thomas Press- Freelance sound designer and nominee of several Chapman Tripp awards
- Nicole Cosgrove - winner of several Chapman Tripp awards and a model maker at Weta Workshop
- Glen Crighton - Commercial Producer, The Edge, Auckland
- Sefton Bates - Warehouse Manager, MJF Lighting
- Sonia Hardie – Stage Manager at Downstage Theatre
- Natasha James – Lighting Designer and Assistant Head of Lighting at The NZ International Arts Festival
- Ross Gibbs - Freelance Set Designer and Chapman Tripp award winner
- Austin Mather – Technical Operations Trainee at TVNZ
- Justin Gregory – Producer at Radio NZ
- Vicki Cooksley – Operations Manager at Metro Productions
- Kate Robertson – Head of Department, Technology and Management, at Toi Whakaari
- Sean Coyle - Programme Leader, Pacific Institute of Performing Arts (PIPA), UNITEC
- James Kearney - Head of Lighting, Royal NZ Ballet
- Hadley Thomson - Video Conference Coordinator, NAB, Melbourne
- Van Locker - Production Manager, Dancenorth, Australia
For the most recent information about what our graduates are up to check out our Grad Newsletter.
