Graduates to feature in QTC 2007 season

USQ acting and stage management graduates are continuing to impress after a number of them were picked up by Queensland Theatre Company (QTC) this year.

Regarded as the premier theatre company in the state, the USQ graduates will be working with many renowned actors and stage managers.

'QTC is one of the major performing arts companies in Australia, so anyone who gets a job with one of them gets the chance to work with some of the best artists and creatives in the country,' USQ Faculty of Arts Deputy Dean and QTC Chair, Associate Professor Kate Foy said.

'I hear all the time from audience and industry just how good USQ graduates are and how well they are regarded. Every year some are employed up by QTC.'

Actor and 2006 USQ graduate, Georgia Harrison, is one former student who will take part in a QTC production this year and said that her experiences at the University prepared her well for her role.

'I am happy to say that I am involved in my first QTC production, playing the role of Frida and doubling as the maid in John Gabriel Borkmann by Henrik Ibsen,' Georgia said.

'USQ has provided me not just with an education, but an ability to identify myself within the artistic industry and it is a reflection on the University that their graduates depart with this ability.'

Meanwhile, 2000 graduate Lucas Stibbard will be performing in his seventh QTC production when he takes to the stage and said that the acting courses at the University were now receiving the credit that they deserved.

'This year I am in the QTC/State Company of South Australia co-production of Hamlet, in which I play Marcellus, Osric and the Player Queen,' Lucas said.

'The skills and experience I gathered at USQ have been vital to my work as a professional actor. The training was first rate, something now becoming more widely recognised in the industry.'

Many other USQ graduates in acting and stage management have also being hired to work by QTC on company projects such as in-schools workshops, Theatre Residency Week and play readings.

Media Contact: Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 1628, 0403 643 192