Resident of Seddon, actor and ukulele enthusiast.
Born into theatre
“I’m from Gisborne, a small city on the north island of New Zealand. It’s a beautiful place, and I miss it. My parents still live there, and I don’t go back as much as I’d like, unfortunately. Gisborne has quite a vibrant theatre scene, with lots of community support.
Both my parents, Teresa and Jim, have always been heavily involved in the amateur theatre groups. Being their only child, I would come along to all the meetings and the shows. My first job at the theatre was program seller, I would have been four or five, and I was so cute back then, I sold so many programs. That’s pretty much how my love for theatre started; a theatre kid from birth.
Mum taught the junior theatre group, Young Unity, which was very similar to the program I teach now. I went with her almost from the moment I was born, but I wasn’t allowed to officially join until I was eight, which was the minimum age. Mum kept me involved though – I made my first stage appearance with a cameo as the witches minion at age 3 [pictured] – she taught me Speech and Drama and Singing, it really became part of my existence. If we were ever going out of town, the real question was ‘What shows are on?’ or ‘How many shows can we see?.
I enjoyed learning in primary school but struggled in certain subjects. I think I’m dyslexic, even though I’ve never been formally diagnosed. Mum knew I had a difficulty; we just dealt with it, she gave me strategies and I still really loved reading, even though it was tricky. Speech and drama were good for me, and due to drama, I was able to excel in other areas. However, I’m still overwhelmed with numbers, I’m not so good with math! I didn’t get my Dad’s brains unfortunately. He is a whiz with numbers!
I’ve always felt at home in the theatre. I attribute drama to getting me through high school. High school is tough, I think for everyone – getting bullied and general teenage stuff – but knowing I had drama coming up in the next period made it all better!
When I entered the drama room, it was my place. I felt like a queen. I could not speak up in other classes, but in drama, I would.
I was happy, confident and I had a voice there – I knew what was going on. Sometimes we got really lucky and had double periods of drama; those were always the best day ever.
Through high school, I’d be involved in whatever production I could. There were four theatre groups in Gisborne, which was quite a lot. My parents were very much involved in all of them. Mum would often do the make-up, operate lighting or direct. Dad would run the bar or work as stage crew. Sometimes I wonder if they gave me a part in productions just because they knew if they cast me, they’d get the whole Campbell family package!
I miss my parents; they’re very supportive. Mum never asks me to come back, never drops any hints. I know she’d like that, but she’s proud of me. She’s a pretty brilliant actor as well, and I wonder if she’s been born in my time, what would be different. The options back then for women were limited – nursing, teaching or secretary careers.
I studied Musical Theatre at National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art (NASDA) in Christchurch. Quite a few of us from that year moved to Melbourne after they finished studying. I was dating someone then, and we were living on the Gold Coast. It was nice but didn’t feel like home.
One weekend, we came over to Melbourne and I didn’t want to leave. I remember walking down Swanston Street through the art installations and thinking this is so cool.
We broke up not long after, but by then I had totally fallen in love with Melbourne. It was good to have a shake up and realize I didn’t want to leave.
I worked in retail for a long time – about ten years – as a day job, while I was going to auditions, acting classes and getting involved the arts scene in any ways I could. I’ve sold shoes, perfumes, books, jewellery and even storage solutions! I’ve sold just about anything you can imagine. My theatre training gave me the right skills to be really good at retail, but it wasn’t where I really wanted to be.
Retail began to suck my soul, and I knew I needed to get out. I rented in St Kilda for a while, moved to Malvern East, and eventually found my way to Footscray. I was taking acting classes at Brave Studios, so moving here felt right.
Before moving across the city I met a dear friend of mine, Jennifer Piper, while we were both doing a show at Brighton Theatre Company. We just clicked and became fast friends. We have a shared passion for theatre are storytelling. I don’t want to be famous or anything, I just want to make good theatre and be able to pay my bills. We started looking around for a theatre company here in the west – but we couldn’t find what we were looking for. It needed to be artist-led, professional, independent and accessible.
We are wit and the launch of wit.kids
“There was nothing like this in the West, so Jennifer and I founded a theatre company together. It was first called West Independent Theatre. We got a group of eight actors together, and that first year we produced two shows, The Bookworm – a one-woman show I wrote for Melbourne Fringe, and Cosi by Louis Nowra.
There was natural attrition, some got new acting jobs and wanted to go different ways. We had a break in 2015 and to become an incorporated association – wit incorporated. It’s a bit of an abbreviation of our previous name, but it’s also whatever you want it to be. We like to be witty, and we like to incorporate wit into everything we do – so let’s just be wit incorporated.
2015 was also the year I quit retail. A position had opened up in Melton allowing me to teach drama on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I loved it, and it reminded me of the drama classes I went to when I was little. And I was now doing it! It felt so good. From that moment, I decided I wanted to do that for our theatre company.
I submitted a grant to the City of Maribyrnong to obtain a community grant for after-school drama classes on Monday and Friday afternoons. Amazingly, we got the grant! And so started theWit Kids drama programme.
Braybrook Community Hub has been very supportive of our programme. They’ve made it possible to have a third day of classes. We didn’t have any funding for a third day, but we made it happen.
An unusual hobby? Well, I play the ukulele. And I currently have four of them. I auditioned and secured a Coles ad in 2016. The part grew from a one-dayer to a week-long gig as part of a Ukulele Trio. My ukulele enthusiasm really took off after that. After that gig, I was able to give up retail and focus on theatre and teaching.
I still stop myself and remember how great it is that I’m working in theatre full time at the moment.
We currently have three days of Wit Kids classes a week, and they are nearly all full, with 85 students. It’s grown from just 40 students to this amazing bunch of kids.
Our aim has always been to keep it affordable for families. We only charge $40 per term, when the actual cost of the classes is around $120 per term. But if we raised it, I think we would lose 70 to 80% of our students. That’s a lot of money for families, especially the ones that have a few kids.
And our programme isn’t about becoming movie stars. I mean, some of them might end up being movie stars and that’s great, but it’s not about that.
Every child should have the opportunity to do drama. My mum always says ‘It’s the one activity that helps every other thing they do.’ And she’s right. Drama helps with reading, communication skills, lateral thinking, literacy, confidence, thinking on your feet and teamwork. There’s a massive list – it’s a creative outlet. It’s an emotional outlet and it teaches empathy!
There are not many activities that you can do that give you this many benefits. Sports are great, but also competitive. I really want to give kids the opportunity that I had growing up, to learn and explore and have fun through drama.
We recently confirmed that we have enough funding to continue for the next financial year. Thanks to continued support from the Braybrook Community Hub and Maribyrnong Community Centre, along with a donation from the MF Foundation. Last month we had a fundraiser at Funtopia Maribyrnong, and to our surprise, all the proceeds were donated to us.
The theatre company is hugely rewarding and keeps us all incredibly busy. The four of us are really definite about viewing the world through a feminist eye and keeping a focus on representation on stage, wherever we can.
This year, we’ve renewed our focus on accessibility. So we create a space that is accessible and welcoming regardless of physical ability. That includes the door you come in, the signage around the space and how you get to your seat. We have an Auslan interpreted show at each of our mainstage seasons, provided by amazing people at Auslan Stage Left.
We also make sure we include sensitive or relaxed performances each season, which means audience members are welcome to make noise or move around if they need to. It’s a really great way to make theatre accessible. The four of us are starting to learn Auslan. It’s tricky, but I can definitely spell my name!
Over the past 18 months, I’ve become very passionate about the environment. After researching ‘A Hero’s Guide to Saving the Planet’, learning the facts about plastic – it never disappears! I couldn’t continue on the way I was, so I’m trying really trying to reduce my waste. I’ve come to Eka Wholefoods.Cafe.Community today to fill up my jars and containers. The quality is good and you can bulk buy, but the best bit is no packaging! It might mean doing without certain things, but single-use plastic is drowning our planet.”
