Topic: Jackie Shaw
Topic type:
Jackie is a fresh face to Wellington, having shifted from the deep south after completing her Honors Degree in theatre at the University of Otago. She appeared in the swills most recent 2009 show as part of the fringe festival!
Throughout her time at Otago, she completed papers in Theatre, Performing arts, Dance, Film and Media along with History, giving her opportunities to explore and expand on her passion for the arts.
In her first year of studies in 2005, she was a lead role in a Mothra Film entitled ‘Run Paddy Run’ and at the end of the year was awarded the ‘Recognition of service to the Arts in Arana Hall’, before heading back to Queenstown to be a part of the local ‘Christmas in the Park’ and in Shakespeare Queenstown Company’s summer production of ‘Scene Stealers’.
In 2006 she made her Lunchtime Theatre debut at Allen Hall Theatre in Café Café, written by Richard Huber, a lecturer at Allen Hall. In this same year she performed in ‘Trailing Behind’ written by Sarah Wilkenson, in which she acted as Mother. She was also Stage Manager for “Comedy of Errors’, a Lunchtime Theatre production, directed by Theatre Studies Head Lecturer, Lisa Warrington. On her two week break in mid year she continued to contribute to her local community, acting as Personal Assistant to Margaret O’Hanlon in Starry Eyed, a show which has been a 10 year running success in Queenstown (she also returned to do this in 2007).
In 2007, she played the role of Valmai in Fiona Farrell’s ‘Chook Chook’, an actress in ‘September 11’, a lead role in ‘Claire: A Comedy’, playing the Nurse from Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare Shorts, and Stage Manager in Poppy Haynes “Tuesdays Child’, all which were part of the Lunchtime Theatre Programme. Her third year of Performing Arts Studies gave her the opportunity to devise pieces of short theatre which were performed around campus and most importantly another Lunchtime Theatre entitled Inside/out. Not only did Jackie perform in these plays, she was also involved in Dunedin Repertory Society’s August Production of ‘O! Temperance’, written by Mervyn Thompson, staged at Playhouse Theatre. This saw Jackie playing numerous roles as well as having two solo singing parts. It was in this year that Jackie became part of The Simulated Patients Development Unit, which not only benefits her as an actor, but also helps in developing and assessing Otago University Medical students.
At the beginning of 2008, Jackie attended a summer intensive course at Victoria College of the Arts, in Melbourne. She acted as a comic Horse in the New Zealand Premiere of ‘The Last Antigone’ written by 2007/2008 Playwright fellow Tee O’Neill, this was part of the Dunedin Fringe Festival. In June she was a member of the company in ‘Salad Days Opera’ as part of Mayfair Productions. Later in the year, she directed Jo Randerson’s ‘Peeling Back the Paint’ in Lunchtime Theatre and also helped shape and then perform the Documentary theatre piece Gathered in Confidence.
She has recently been cast in the 2009 season of Young and Hungry, which will have a two week season at BATS in July.
