FUTURE OZ 2021 LIVESTREAM
THE FIRST EVENT OF 2021
Join us in our first event of the year, featuring the ridiculously talented students of 2021 from Elder Con, FedUni, Queensland Con and VCA!
FUNDRAISER FOR STAGE A CHANGE
Our last event of 2020 targeted raising funds for the AOC Initiative and Stage A Change, but due to unforeseen circumstances with the fundraising platform, we've had to refund all the funds from the concert and we have yet been able to pay out Stage A Change.
With this concert, we hope to be supporting them by providing them with some relief for them to be able to continue their wonderful work towards diversity within the arts!
THE CAST
Graduating Music Theatre Students of 2021
ABIGAIL DIXON (SHE/HER)
Queensland Con
Born and bred in Manchester, UK, Abigail (she/her) fell in love with performing arts at the impressionable age of 6, watching the annual Christmas pantomime at the Oldham Colosseum. She has since integrated musical theatre in all aspects of her life, partaking in numerous acting courses in both the UK and Australia, and even performing during her career as a Registered Nurse.
During her Bachelor of Musical Theatre, at Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, Abigail has had the privilege of portraying the role of Paulette in Legally Blonde the Musical and will perform her graduating role of Rizzo in Grease this August (Dir. Alister Smith). Prior to formal training, Abigail has performed the roles of Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray, Ms Flemming in Heathers, Fiona in The Removalists and Susan in Ruben Guthrie. Abigail is delighted to be a part of Songs For A Future Oz, representing up and coming artists and cannot wait to enter the industry. She hopes to inspire others to pursue their dreams in becoming artists and celebrating stories through performing arts.
AIDEN WANG (HE/HIM)
Elder Con
Hailing from the Philippines, Aiden Wang is a 2021 Bachelor of Music Theatre graduate from the Elder Conservatorium at the University of Adelaide.
While at the Elder Conservatorium, he has appeared in Spring Awakening (dir. George Torbay), Mamma Mia! (dir. Zoe Komazec) and as Emcee in Cabaret (dir. Erin James).
He was also a semi-finalist for the Artist of Colour Initiative (found. Tarik Frimpong).
AMELIA BURTON (SHE/HER)
Queensland Con
Amelia Burton (she/her) is a born and raised Queenslander. Invested from an early age, favourite roles from her formative years include Carrie White in Carrie: The Musical, Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls and Miss Dorothy in Throughly Modern Millie. Currently in her third and final year of the Queensland Conservatorium’s Musical Theatre course, Amelia has also previously trained full-time at the Australian Dance Performance Institute. QCGU credits include Legally Blonde (Margot), The Boy Friend (Madame Dubonnet), Cloudstreet (Rose Pickles), Les Misérables and most recently, the role of Frenchy in Grease (Directed by Alister Smith).
Amelia is hardcore fan of old-school musicals and is keen to bring a little of that style to your screens!
ince our founding, Morgan James is one of our veteran team members. They bring their years of experience and skills to the forefront in helping our organization grow and succeed.
APRIL PULLEN (SHE/HER)
Elder Con
Originally from the Adelaide Hills, April Pullen is currently studying her final year of the Bachelor of Music Theatre at the Elder Con at The University of Adelaide. April has gotten to perform in two musicals with the ECMT; as Texas in Cabaret (dir. Erin James) and Fraulein Knuppeldick in Spring Awakening (dir. George Torbay). She recently featured in Lucky Seven’s music video ‘Cryin’ (dir. Emma Hough Hobbs and Lewis Kennedy).
BONNIE POYNDER (SHE/HER)
FedUni Arts Academy
Bonnie began her studies in 2019, when she moved to Ballarat to fulfil her passion for performing arts at Federation University. Whilst studying, she has been privileged to work on many productions including, “The Sentimental Bloke” playing Mrs. Mitchell, and the fair Helena in Shakespeare’s, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Before attending university, Bonnie was lucky enough to explore her other love of directing when she directed "Godspell”, while also playing the role of Judas. One of Bonnie's proudest experiences has been getting the chance to collaborate with Luke Di Somma and Casey Gould on the self-devised production, “Exquisite Corpse”, in which she wrote and performed in a piece titled, “The Last Ones Left”. Bonnie would like to expand this work, and hopes to further learn and explore her love of acting, writing, and directing.
CAMPBELL BONELLO (HE/HIM)
VCA
Born and raised in Melbourne, Campbell has had a passion for Music Theatre for as long as he can remember. After performing across Melbourne as a child in a plethora of shows, in 2019 Campbell embarked on a journey to begin his professional training when he was accepted into the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). In the same year, he was invited to perform his self-devised Drama Solo at the VCE Season of Excellence, Top Class at the Melbourne Arts Centre, and continued presenting his piece along side a Q&A at multiple VCE Drama Workshops across Victoria.
In his final year of study, Campbell has appeared in the variety show, ‘Mongrel’ (dir. Maude Davey), ‘The Hello Girls’ as Wesson (Dir. Jason Langley). Later this year he will perform as a solo vocalist in the Arts Centre Melbourne’s Morning Melodies and in ‘Sweet Charity’ (Dir. Jayde Kirchert). Campbell is excited to be performing in this concert and thanks the team at Songs for a Future Oz for making this event possible.
CLUANIE SWANWICK (SHE/HER)
FedUni Arts Academy
Cluanie is 21 and studying a Bachelor of Performing Arts at Federation University (BAPA). Since joining her high school in 2013, she has been a cast member of all Newhaven College school productions. Cluanie first took the stage as a member of Wonthaggi Theatre Group in their production of “The Diary of Anne Frank”, for which she won a Gippsland Associated Theatre (GAT) award for her portrayal of the title character ‘Anne Frank’. Since joining Federation University Cluanie has had the privilege to be a swing in her second-year production of “The Sentimental Bloke” and has even created a mini musical called “The Last Ones Left” in her 3rd year self-devised production “Exquisite Corpse”. Cluanie has an innate passion for both musical theatre and acting.
ELIZA O'CONNELL (SHE/HER)
Elder Con
Eliza is thrilled to be a part of Future Oz’s 2021 concert not only to be alongside such fabulous performers, but also because it signifies the approach of graduation. Originally from Sydney, Eliza moved to Adelaide to become a part of Elder Conservatorium’s first Music Theatre cohort. Whilst at the Elder Conservatorium, Eliza has performed in Cabaret (dir. Erin James) as Fraulein Kost and Spring Awakening (dir. George Torbay) as Frau Bergman. She’s also excited to perform as Tanya in ECMT’s Mamma Mia (dir. Zoe Komazec) at the end of September. Additionally, Eliza has recently performed as part of the Adelaide Choir for Storeyboard Entertainment’s Chess (dir. Tyran Parke).
ELYENA BELONOGOFF (SHE/HER)
FedUni Arts Academy
Elyena is currently in her final year of study at Federation University’s Arts Academy completing a Bachelor of Performing Arts. Originally hailing from Rockhampton, Queensland, Elyena discovered her love of the theatre and performing at a very young age. During her time at the Arts Academy, Elyena has had the privilege of playing Rose in The Sentimental Bloke (dir. Anthony Crowley), and performing in the ensemble of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (dir. Ross Hall). Elyena has taught jazz, tap, and musical theatre at several dance studios in Rockhampton and Ballarat over the past 5 years, and has choreographed many solo and group routines for dance students of all ages. Following her graduation at the end of this year, Elyena is excited to move to Melbourne and pursue a career in the performing arts industry.
EMILY-GRACE WILLIAMS (SHE/HER)
FedUni Arts Academy
Emily-Grace has never known a life without theatre. From the age of five, Emily-Grace has always been surrounded by Melbourne theatre and the arts, taking part in singing lessons and local theatre productions. Age 21, in her final year at Ballarat Arts Academy studying the Bachelor of Performing Arts, Emily-Grace holds credits of Alice in Vinegar Tom, Shakespeare’s A Mid-summer Nights Dream, and this year’s self-devised work of Exquisite Corpse. Emily-Grace’s passion in pursuing the performing arts as a career truly sparked with the opportunity to perform on Broadway, with the company Manhattan Concert Productions from 2017 to 2019 in productions of Crazy For You (25th anniversary), Broadway Classics at Carnegie Hall, and The Scarlet Pimpernel.
EMILY MCDOUGALL (SHE/HER)
FedUni Arts Academy
Emily has been involved in theatrical productions since the age of 10, confirming her passion for musical theatre. Currently 20 years old, she is in her final year of a Bachelor of Performing Arts at Federation University Arts Academy.
During her time at the Arts Academy, Emily has performed in productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Sentimental Bloke, and Exquisite Corpse, a self-devised work. She has also competed with outstanding results in a number of Eisteddfods in both Classical and Musical Theatre Voice. Emily hopes to continue pursuing a career in the musical theatre industry, and is very excited to be a part of this project.
HANLON INNOCENT (HE/HIM)
Queensland Con
Hanlon is a versatile musician and performer hailing from Launceston Tasmania currently in his third year of the Bachelor of Musical Theatre at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. 2021 has seen Hanlon perform in It’s Only Life at the Conservatorium, and as a soloist in the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural Musical Theatre Gala, featuring Simon Gleeson and Lorina Gore. He is appearing in the Conservatorium’s upcoming production of Grease as Doody. With a background in jazz and choral music, when he isn’t acting for stage Hanlon is regularly gigging as a singer and guitarist in a vast array of contexts both in and outside Queensland.
JOHN MONDELO (HE/HIM)
Elder Con
John is currently in his 3rd year of study at the Elder Conservatorium of Music. He recently performed his self devised show Bite Sized Cab and hopes to perform more of his own work in the future. He has featured in Cabaret (ECMT, dir. Erin James), and has performed as Georg in Spring Awakening (ECMT, dir. George Torbay) and Thuy in Miss Saigon (Stray Cats Theatre, dir. Karen Francis). John is also a budding MD and arranger, having professionally Music Directed the premiere of Miss Westralia (Perth Fringe, dir. Kylie Maree) and working as Assistant MD on Cabaret. John has completed a BA in Classical Voice at the University of Western Australia, the Certificate course at WAAPA in Musical Theatre, and the Music Theatre Intensive at the Stella Adler Studio NYC.
LILY O'SHEA (SHE/HER)
FedUni Arts Academy
Originally from Ballarat, Lily’s passion for theatre began at a young age, acting, singing and dancing in both Ballarat and Melbourne. Lily’s theatre credits while at Federation University include Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a Swing in The Sentimental Bloke and collaboratively devising and performing in Exquisite Corpse. Lily looks forward to continuing to create and develop her own work, as well as pursuing commercial music theatre in the future.
LUCINDA WILSON (SHE/HER)
Queensland Con
Luci is currently in her third and final year of her Bachelor of Musical Theatre degree at Griffith Conservatorium. She has had the pleasure in performing roles such as Polly in ‘The Boyfriend’, Pilar in ‘Legally Blonde’ and is currently in rehearsals for her 3rd year production of ‘Grease’ where she is cast as Sandy. Luci has a soft spot for legit musical theatre and has loved performing with Amelia and Hanlon on their piece ‘I’ve Decided to Marry You’ from a ‘Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder’.
MILO HARTILL (SHE/HER)
VCA
Milo Hartill is a Melbourne based, Perth born performer in her final year of VCA’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre, and this year was awarded the Lionel Gell Foundation Scholarship for Musical Theatre. In 2018 Milo completed her Diploma of Musical Theatre at WAAPA. In 2020 Milo was a finalist in the inaugural AOC initiative organised by Tarik Frimpong, and also had her burlesque debut at Oddball: 2020 Vision, at Connections nightclub in Perth, which has started a wonderful career in the drag and burlesque scenes of Melbourne and Perth, with other venues including Sircuit, Rainbow House Club and Poof Doof. Recently Milo has done campaigns for Frank Body, Target and Dangerfield, and a TVC for google.
Milo is set to play Charity in VCA’s final Musical of 2021, Sweet Charity, and is excited for her professional debut in Melbourne Theatre Company’s, 'Cyrano' in August of 2021.
MITCHELL ROBERTS (HE/HIM)
VCA
Born, bred and based in Melbourne, Mitchell is a well-rounded actor, singer, dancer and musician. Mitchell began his training in Music Theatre in 2018 by attending Showfit under the guidance of Scott Johnson and Matt Frank and went on to study a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Music Theatre) at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). At the VCA, his credits include a featured role in the self-devised variety show, ‘Mongrel’ (dir. Maude Davey), ‘The Hello Girls (Dir. Jason Langley) and Herman in ‘Sweet Charity’ (Dir. Jayde Kirchert). Mitchell’s musician credits include ‘Brightstar’ (MD. Nathan Firmin), ‘The Last 5 Years’ (MD. David Wiskin) and ‘Rain or Shine – The Judy Garland Story’ (MD. Rainer Pollard).
IG:@mitchrob12321
NAVA REVALK (SHE/HER)
Queensland Con
Nava is a dedicated and enthusiastic performer. With Persian and Dutch-Australian heritage, she is truly a multicultural artist. With music at the core of her childhood, Nava’s love of musical theatre grew, providing her with many opportunities including two tours of America as a featured soloist with the Australian Youth Performing Arts Team. For Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Nava has performed the roles of Hortense in The Boy Friend and Brooke Wyndham in Legally Blonde the Musical. She hopes to work for greater unity in diversity through her career, transforming culture through the power of the arts.
NICOLE RAMMESH (SHE/HER)
Elder Con
Nicole is thrilled to be a part of the first graduating class of the Elder Conservatorium Music Theatre course. Nicole will be playing Ali in ECMT's upcoming graduating musical Mamma Mia (dir. Zoë Komazec). Her most recent works include Cabaret (ECMT, dir. Erin James), and featuring in the Adelaide choir for Chess (Storeyboard Entertainment, dir. Tyran Parke). Since her performance in Spring Awakening (ECMT, dir. George Torbay), she became a semi-finalist in the AOC Initiative. She was also involved in the feature film Songs For A New World (dir. Mitre Khammash) as the 2nd camera assistant and as cast. She also starred in #nofilter (Velvet Chase Productions, dir. Daniella Candida) in the Adelaide Fringe Festival. Other works include Miss Saigon (Metropolitan MT Company, dir. Ben Saunders), Grease, Hairspray (Harvest Rain, dir. Callum Mansfield). Prior to Australia, Nicole was involved in the Singapore Youth Festival.
NINA CARCIONE (SHE/HER)
Queensland Con
Born and raised in Fremantle, WA, Nina grew up surrounded by her Greek and Italian family, and was fortunate enough to be supported to pursue performing from a young age.
Prior to her training at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, she completed a Diploma of Musical Theatre at Brent Street in 2017, where she played Olive Ostrovsky in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. During her studies in Brisbane, Nina has been grateful to play Serena/Dance Captain in Legally Blonde, Maisie in The Boyfriend, and Jan in Grease (dir. Alistair Smith).
As graduation approaches, Nina looks forward, and is committed to seeing the industry become an inclusive, safe space, where we can all share our stories with love. <3
VIRGINIA CASHMERE (SHE/HER)
VCA
Virginia is a Melbourne-based performer, interested in a range of artistic pursuits. Virginia’s professional debut was in film and television, working on shows such as ‘Underbelly’, ‘Angry Boys’, ‘Offspring’ and ‘Wentworth’. Performing as Megan in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s productions of ‘The Ghost Writer’ (dir. Julian Meyrick) and as Trixie in ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ (dir. Gale Edwards), Virginia’s passion for live theatre was ignited and then strengthened when she was lucky enough to work on her first musical as Young Lisa in ‘Moonshadow’ (dir. Andres Albien), at the Princess Theatre in 2012. Virginia is also a passionate singer-songwriter, and has recently started singing with an 80’s pop cover band, Stand and Deliver. During her final year at Victorian College of the Arts, Virginia performed in a self-devised performance, ‘Mongrel’ (dir. Maude Davey). She is also very excited to play Louise in ‘The Hello Girls’ (dir. Jason Langley) and Rosie in ‘Sweet Charity’ (dir. Jayde Kirchert) later in the year.
ZAK VASILIOU (HE/HIM)
VCA
Originally from Adelaide, Zak has been passionate about all forms of storytelling since a young age. He made his professional debut in State Opera South Australia’s production of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ (dir. Elijah Moshinsky/Richard Jones). After completing high school, Zak began his training at Gravity Dance where he studied dance full-time. In Adelaide, he played Mary Sunshine in ‘Chicago’ (dir. Adrian Barnes) and Leo in the new children’s musical ‘Ivy and Bean’ (dir. Sarah Williams). In 2019, Zak made the life changing choice to move to Melbourne to complete a BFA in Music Theatre at The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). During his final year at VCA, Zak is thrilled to be performing in ‘Mongrel’ (dir. Maude Davey), and as Mr. Morris in ‘The Hello Girls’ (dir. Jason Langley), and Manfred in ‘Sweet Charity’ (dir. Jayde Kirchert).