April 27, 2026 • 44 mins
Alexis talks to Sasha Hennequin, a Melbourne-based actor and singer working across theatre, film, and television.
asha opens up about carving her own path as a multidisciplinary performer, embracing opportunities across Australia and the US, and stepping beyond the limits of being defined as just one kind of creative. She shares her journey as a woman of colour in the industry with honesty and strength, highlighting the power of representation, resilience, and self-belief.
She also celebrates her recent casting as Tanya in AGT Theatre’s Mamma Mia!, offering a glimpse into the joy, courage, and dedication it takes to bring an iconic role to life.
If you’d like to see more, you can follow on instagram; @ sasha.hennequin
This episode was recorded on 20/04/2026 on the lands of the Woiworung Peoples. We hope that this episode inspires you as a creative person and as a human being.
Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.
Psst! We are always on the lookout for creative people to share their story and inspire others. Have you got someone in mind who would love to have a chat? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor
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Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor
Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel
Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Hello, my name is Alexis Nailer, and I am your host here at Through The Creative Door.
On behalf of myself and my guests, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced.
May we pay our respects to all First Nations people and acknowledge elders past and present On this podcast, I'll be chatting to an array of creative guests, getting a glimpse into their worlds and having some honest and inspiring conversations along the way.
(00:41):
I'm delighted to welcome you to Through The Creative Door.
Oh my goodness.
I cannot believe who we have on the couch through the creative door.
Sasha, hello.
You are amazing.
Oh, thank you.
Oh my goodness.
(01:02):
I know you from many moons ago.
Yes.
But you are such a talented bear.
My goodness.
It has been such a joy.
And I said, you off mic.
It has been such a pleasure to watch your journey over the years since we met each other at JMC on South Melbourne.
Yes.
Yeah.
You're like, what that place?
(01:23):
Oh my God.
That has been many decades ago, even back then, and even more so now.
Such a talented singer, but you have transitioned over the years from performer in front of a band and singer songwriter, all that kind of jazz, and moved into the acting space doing theater tv.
Series and all that kind of stuff.
(01:43):
Yeah.
You've been so busy.
I have.
Yeah.
That's fantastic to see.
Yes.
It's always, it's always great to be booked and busy booked and blessed.
I always love, is that, is that what the saying is?
Booked and Blessed?
Yeah, booked and blessed.
Like I will commonly put a booked and blessed hashtag on posts.
You know, when I'm so grateful for a particular job.
What does a creative space mean to you?
(02:05):
So for me, it's any space that I can feel inspired.
And that can happen as an actor, honestly, anywhere.
Like the typical response would be whenever I'm in a rehearsal space or whenever.
So the thing about acting, and that was the thing that I really love about the craft as well.
(02:25):
Our jobs, especially on screen, we are to emulate the human condition.
We are to emulate the human experience and make it look real.
So when you're watching us, you believe that we're actually going through those things as you're seeing it.
So I like to be inspired from everything.
So people that I meet, people that I just, people watch when I'm in the park or a cafe or anything.
(02:46):
Just watching people do things, you know, people from my past, all that sort of thing.
So for me, it, and I think a lot of actors will say that they get there at creative inspiration from anything and everyone.
And sometimes it's really random where we get our inspirations from, you know, sometimes.
Like, for example, the most recent, uh, show that I did, which was the Mama Mia musical, I played Tanya and I was trying to ways to build the character and I was trying to find what's my version of Tanya.
(03:15):
She's been done so many times, and how am I gonna make mine different from the other versions that I've seen or other versions that have been done.
Including the movie version, especially when you're playing a character that's been interpreted on screen.
It's like, oh, I don't wanna do that version, no shade.
To the actor that did that version, that was their interpretation of the character.
I will be presenting something completely different.
(03:37):
'cause I don't want it to be an imitation, and so I would be watching certain things.
Music is actually such a huge thing for me still in relation to creating characters.
I actually have a playlist for every character that I played.
I have a Tanya playlist of songs that I would listen to anytime I felt like I was out of it and not really into it, like especially before.
And I'd listen to that before a rehearsal, like not, it wasn't even performances.
(04:01):
I'd listen to that before a rehearsal to try and find her rhythm.
And then when I'd go back to my Sasha Playlist, some songs would come up and be like, oh, that's such a Tanya song.
I'm gonna add that to the playlist.
So yeah, music helps as well to kind of get into that mindset, get that attitude.
But otherwise it was, I really embodied Tanya off Samantha from Sex in the City.
(04:22):
And that's character.
Yeah.
And so I was watching Sex in the City again on HVO Max and just being like, oh my God, this is her.
So I started turning my Tanya into speaking like Samantha, like her upward inflections at the end of sentences and the way she would go really low when she was being, saying something sarcastic.
And it was that.
(04:43):
A whole persona for me that I kind of took and added to what my Tanya was.
So that's probably like the best example of an inspiration that I found to be able to find a music.
And singing is my first love.
It dictates my day.
Whatever music I'm listening to will dictate my emotions and everything for that day.
You also come from a musical family.
(05:05):
Your dad is a, is an amazing musician.
Yes.
So it's in the blood?
It certainly is.
It certainly is.
So I have been a professional singer since 12 years old.
So I was working in bands with him, not bands, uh, a band with him, uh, which started out, you know, where we would singing pub and clubs and stuff before I was even of age to be able to go into these places.
(05:29):
And, you know, then we got quite established after having residency and then.
We started touring around the country and, you know, hitting up some really big venues and it became, eventually became a corporate band where we would sing at big corporate events.
I'd done things like singing at a grand final, a FL lunch for example, for, I think it was Essendon football team that we did that for.
I've done gigs at Crown Palladium and you know, Marvel Stadium.
(05:52):
So I've known that life from a very young age, and so that's why I'm so accustomed to, to all of that now.
I love that.
Yeah.
It just shows how it all sort of flows in.
Absolutely.
But also we're all trying to find our journey within it.
(06:14):
Yep.
Because just the version that you potentially grew up with is not necessarily your path.
That's it.
And everyone in my entire family, which is very huge, I'm of a Mauritian background and there's a high population of Mauritians here, including my family and.
Everyone thought I was gonna go down that singing route.
'cause obviously I started singing basically as I came outta the womb and everyone thought I was gonna go down that road.
(06:40):
Now.
You were talking about Mama Mia before.
Yeah.
Which is such a amazing thing to have on your rap sheet.
I am so grateful.
So grateful.
Would that be to date the most proud thing that you have been involved in?
I won't say the most proud.
(07:02):
Because, don't get me wrong, I loved it.
It's definitely the biggest role I've had in a musical theater production to date because she's such a big role and I absolutely loved playing her.
I'd play her again in a heartbeat on the conditions that I would be able to play it with my two other coasters as well, who I had as my Donna and my Rosie.
'cause the chemistry we had was just so beautiful and.
The way that I cried when I was never gonna be able to perform with them again the week after we closed.
(07:26):
Like it was actually embarrassing how hard I cried anyway.
But the proudest role that I've had to date, oh my God, that is a harder question than it should be.
Really That one, I would say proud in relation to the audience response.
'cause it's such a universally loved show.
(07:46):
And it's a very easy show to sell.
It's a very easy show to get audiences in engaged for.
Mm-hmm.
And when it's done right, it's, it's amazing.
And I really think we did, they got the casting absolutely right with our particular production, and I think proud Just in relation to, yeah, just how universally loved it is and how universally loved it was when anyone that came to see our production.
(08:12):
Loved it.
You know, I was out in the foyer every single night meeting people, and I would say the responses I got from the audience was probably the most beautiful moments that I've had in my career.
Because this is the thing that's interesting about being in both camps of being a theater actor and then also being a screen actor.
(08:34):
Because when you're a theater actor, you are getting the response from the audience directly, whereas.
On screen.
You don't know whether people have actually watched it.
Yes, I've done Mama Mia, but I've also got a television show on a streaming service that unless you've made the effort to watch it, you wouldn't know.
And it's so much harder to get someone to watch Wentworth than it is to get someone to see a musical theater production.
(09:02):
See, that surprises me.
I am so proud with the time that I got to have working on Wentworth.
Because that was such a female driven story, female driven series, and it was the performances that I got to witness that were in front of me happening in the same scene as me.
(09:25):
Sometimes I was like, I was out of my active brain and I was just admiring these fellow actresses in the performances that they were giving.
I was like, holy shit, I'm actually getting paid to do this.
That was.
I was so proud that I got to be there and I got to witness that a lot of those performances in the two seasons that I was on the show.
(09:46):
So I'm on Seasons eight and nine and which tells you it's quite a long series because there's obviously seven seasons before that and I think that's probably another reason why it's hard to get people to watch it because there are seven seasons before that and unfortunately you do need to watch at least season seven to know what's happened in eight and nine.
So that's what I always tell people.
(10:07):
And this is kind of linked to social media as well.
It's more effort for people to watch something of someone that they know on, so on streaming service than it is to watch like a perfect stranger's thing on Netflix.
Like they'll take the time to watch the latest thing from this is the actor that's just come off the top of my head, the latest Ryan Gosling movie on Netflix.
(10:32):
But in the same time, they could have watched an episode or two of my series.
So it's harder to get people to do that unless it's an event.
So at the time that Wentworth was on, like one episode was dropping per week, right?
And it was during COVID, so people were home.
So there was nothing else they could do, but at least, oh, let's watch this series as it comes.
(10:54):
This is where the whole social media thing comes in.
If you can make an event outta something, if you tag yourselves at the National theater, seeing Mama Mia tagging me, you, we allowed people to film the mega mix.
At the end.
So you know, you post that if you can make an event out of something, this is what I feel like is a lot of a way to get people involved in your career.
(11:16):
If they can make an event of it and put it on social media, that's a massive thing.
So I think if at the time social media was a, I mean it was, social media was becoming more prevalent, but it wasn't, there wasn't as many events.
So we didn't get to have our.
Premier event because we were in lockdown, we didn't get to have our celebration of the final season event.
(11:39):
We didn't get to have the release of the Blueray party because we were all in lockdown.
So we didn't get to have all of our events that you would post on social media and be proud of that experience and all that sort of stuff.
Uh, we did get rap gifts, so that was nice.
But yeah, I just think I'm probably prouder for that experience 'cause I learned so much.
(12:01):
But in relation to audience response.
A hundred percent Mama Mia.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's the thing, like when you ask an actor or even, even probably a musician, what they're proud of, they're probably not gonna say the one that's probably been the most successful.
They'll probably say the thing.
It's the thing that connects.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
And I'm essentially a background player who ends up getting featured on Wentworth.
(12:25):
'cause that's how I got promoted.
I got promoted by being cast as an extra.
Initially I was on Zoom, supposed to be on for a day, and then I did something that must have impressed the director.
'cause then I got a phone call from my agent at the end of the day and said, they asked if you're available until the end of the series.
Oh yes.
God, what a paying job.
(12:46):
That's so somewhat permanent.
Yeah.
Something that I actually like that's gonna get me out of this call center I was working in at the time.
Geez.
Oh my God.
And the world shut down a few months later.
Oh, look, COVID was a hard time.
Yeah, it was.
COVID was hard, but I, I was grateful to have that job during that time.
That was great.
I love that.
(13:06):
Now, there's a couple of things that you've mentioned in our chat.
This life, this career that we've chosen can be challenging.
Is there anything in particular that you have found.
Most challenging in this journey?
Yeah, so I will point the obvious one out.
(13:29):
Sorry, not obvious.
For those that are listening and not seeing what I look like, I am a black woman, so therefore I'm obviously an actor of color in Australia.
So that in itself is quite challenging.
So I am of a Mauritian background, but I am an African Mauritian and I need to distinct that because there are many different Mauritians.
(13:52):
Without doing too much of a deep dive in the education of the country, but so therefore I fall into the box of black African.
'cause you kind of unfortunately need to put yourself in a racial category in this industry, especially when they know what roles you are fit for that you're able to be put into.
(14:15):
'cause whenever you get a casting brief, it does specify what races they will be happy to accept for these particular.
Roles and these days, more than anything, they're putting all races down to not look like they're discriminating.
But there are obviously race specific roles that I can only do in, let's say musical theater.
(14:36):
I,
so when I don't get those roles and someone else who is not the race that I am gets those roles, that's where there's.
A big issue because why would you decide to put someone who's not act actually apt to the race that this role actually entails?
(14:59):
Then there's the other end of the spectrum as well.
So for example, I love the fact that I got to play Tanya because she's not a character that is assigned to my race.
There's nothing about her that talks about any stereotypical racial issues that a black woman in a musical theater is written for the character in musical theater.
(15:19):
So that was really refreshing to be able to play.
And also the fact that sometimes when a role is originated on Broadway by an actress of color, when that show gets brought down here, they don't stick to that casting unless a race is specified in the brief.
They won't stick to that casting.
And that's common?
(15:41):
Yes, because if a race is not a sign, then I can just cast anybody.
And usually they will go someone quite well known.
So stunt casting is definitely a thing.
But yeah, I think it at the end of the day comes down to what the say is of the creator of the show or the rights that we get in the country that that allows us to do the show.
(16:07):
I could go on and on and on about race and the um, and the industry.
And this also does go for screen work as well.
You don't see a lot of brown faces on screen, and those black actresses that I used are used all over, over and over, like as if they're the only black actress that exists in Australia.
(16:27):
So they'll use them over and over again.
Um, yet we are seeing actresses of color have success overseas that are actually from Australia.
For example, the TV show the Pit, she's an actress of color that actually is Australian and she had to go overseas to actually be recognized and be made a successor.
Anyone that's watched Bridgeton, the most series, recent series of Bridgeton, Sophie, she's actually Australian.
(16:51):
She studied at NIDA and yet she had to go overseas to be able to become a successful actress, like, you know what I mean?
And so, but if you think of actors, Australian actors that are overseas in Hollywood, you automatically think Hemsworth, Margot Robbie, both Caucasian, both blonde hair, blue eyes.
(17:14):
Yet you walk around the streets of Australia, there's actually not a lot of population that look like that.
There's more people of color in Australia that we don't acknowledge because to overseas Australians are what Margaret Robbie and Chris Hemsworth look like.
So it's really fascinating that these two actresses are most recently made a success of themselves in the two biggest TV shows that are happening right now.
(17:38):
And yet they're both actresses of color from Australia.
We also spoke off Mark before about the, uh, the highs and lows of being on this creative journey, which is that you, uh, you have the endorphins and all of the things where you are at peak in it, and then the blues that come after, oh, Jesus.
(18:01):
After, like after show blues or after tour blues.
Yeah.
I would say for myself, that is one of the most challenging things that.
Colleagues have spoken about.
Mm. But how you mitigate that for yourself.
Yeah.
That is something you have to be in it to really work out how you deal with that.
Absolutely.
(18:21):
Um, you can't explain it.
No.
You actually can't explain.
It's weird to try and explain.
Yeah.
So it's like people that are working in an office and doing nine to fiver, you can't explain it to them because they just don't get it.
'cause their job doesn't end.
I mean, unless they get quit or get fired.
Yeah, but probably don't have that euphoria.
No.
(18:42):
Their job like we do when we Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like we're, we're on cloud nine doing our jobs, whereas a nine to fiver, they're probably not on cloud nine every time they walk into their office when a contract ends, like I had the same experience with Wentworth.
I walked off that set the last day of shooting, and that was my last day of shooting.
(19:05):
It wasn't the last day of the entire series.
There was still shooting that wanting to be done.
I was literally like, can I just come and visit?
But couldn't COVID shut down.
So unless I was at, I was working, you know, when you had those slips that you had to prove that you were working.
Oh my God.
That was a time just in case you got pulled over and the cops, that was a time to see.
Oh my God.
Yeah.
I had one of those.
(19:25):
Yeah.
I think I've been blessed enough that I've loved every single project that I've had the pleasure of that.
A project that lasts for longer than a week or so.
So like every independent musical theater production I've done, chances are I have cried on fight all night.
Mom and Mia, I didn't because I, that damn mega mix I had to get through it, couldn't get through it with tears 'cause up the front singing and you gotta get the crowd involved as well.
(19:56):
So it's like I, it ends on such a happy high that I'm like, I'm not gonna have tears, I'm not gonna have tears.
I actually shut my emotions down that particular performance.
'cause I'm like, nope.
It's just like every other performance.
Just get through it.
There's none of this last time talk.
And I had it all bottled up until the next day.
I was so devastated.
Do you think that the wrap parties, where as a cast and crew that solidifies the end and allows you to let it go in a more functional way?
(20:27):
So the thing is that it's so weird when you're doing a musical, you are getting to know people throughout the rehearsal process.
Whereas when you are on a movie or television show, there's no rehearsal process.
So you are.
Working as soon as you land on set.
So you're not really having the opportunity to get to know people.
So a wrap party for a television show or a movie, you are getting to know them at that wrap party about what they're like as a human.
(20:52):
So it's then kind of like, awesome.
That's what you are like, okay, you're actually a cool person.
Cool to have a beer with you.
You know?
So you are kind of making connections at the end.
Which is quite, sounds quite strange, but that's essentially what it is.
Whereas musical theater, you're getting to know everybody before you even start with having the audiences come into the, to the theater.
(21:16):
And so that's what's, that's what's quite interesting.
So when it comes to a, a rap party, which is for a theater, is usually at the end of the final performance.
So you're on that high.
And then sometimes emotions will kick in at the after party.
In this case it didn't.
But yeah, it was just a massive congrat.
Congratulations when our, when our paths cross again.
(21:36):
Yeah.
It's like no time's passed at all.
Yeah.
But you've got that thing that in common with, with that person.
You've got that project that you've done together.
You've got that time that you've experienced together.
Now you may or may not, I find it's interesting with
and creatives in that kind of space, but do you have an object or a thing?
(22:00):
That you can't live without when you're creating.
I've never been that kind of person.
I've never been, never been a superstitious person.
And by the way, I found this out because I was seeing in every theater production that I've done, there's always someone that has to stick to a particular routine of things that they do in order to get be think this is gonna be a good show.
(22:20):
This is gonna be a good show.
If I do this, it's gonna be a great, there's always one.
There's no, there's not just one.
There's multiple people that do this.
There's multiple people that do this.
I guess I'm more of a routine person in relation to pre-show prep, so I will, and this is what I'm like through life as well.
So for example, I, I'm gonna use my Mamia as a most recent example when it comes to, I need to do things in a certain order to get ready.
(22:49):
And it's not because of whether I, that if I do it in that order, it's gonna dictate whether the show goes well or not.
It's my way of keeping the peace within myself.
And staying grounded.
So, you know, I know that I need to put, for example, my routine was need to put the base foundation on first and then do as much of my eye makeup as possible before warmup start.
(23:14):
So vocal and physical warmup.
But I try not to put a lot of my foundation on.
'cause sometimes during physical warmup I will get a bit of a sweat and then come back, do as much of the base foundation that's left that I need to do before the, my, the mic guy comes in to put the mic in my, the hairline mic in my hair.
Actually, even before I do the face, I need to make sure the hair's done 'cause the hairline mic needs to go through my actual hair.
(23:35):
'cause we did not have wigs for this production.
So I would go through that.
Whole routine knowing that this was gonna become up.
So I need to make sure I've got this done, this done, this done.
But it was funny, I was so meticulous about getting it done with enough time to like calm and focus before the show started.
At the start of the performances, during like previews and stuff.
(23:56):
Towards the end of it, I was leaving it until the very last minute before I put my costume on.
Um, like the, like when I say the last minute, I mean the number before I had to make my first entrance.
So chill.
Taking my time.
I was just sitting around in my dressing gown, you know, with the mic on.
You know, just like doing extra touchups on the face.
Like I would be so strategic to then being so chill by the end of it.
(24:21):
And I think if we were to go have gone on longer, I think it would've just been like, oh yeah, whatever.
It would've been so in my body that it would've just been such a routine.
And I was always that person that would like to make sure that my props were where I, where they should be.
They have a place.
Yeah, they have a, a home.
Yeah.
So I'd make sure, I mean we had a props table where everything was already laid out, but I'd always make sure that it was there.
(24:46):
So then when I did have to grab it for, before that saying all I'd need to do, go to the prop table, grab it, and then just go on.
'cause that's like a hassle that I don't need to worry about.
A lot can be said and it, I don't think it matters.
What kind of field you're in.
Mm. But a lot can be said for one, the muscle memory of whatever the apparatus is that you are using or require to create.
(25:11):
Mm. And so for you, it's like particular things that you require to get ready.
Yeah.
And then, and it's that muscle memory of just knowing, yeah.
And then also just allowing for your body to just know where it needs to be to do the thing.
Yeah.
And I'm such a type A person, like things need to be in a certain place.
Just for me to be able to easily grab it.
Like if you were to look at the way my wardrobe is organized and the way that my clothes are organized, like I think need things that are easily accessible for me to quickly grab.
(25:37):
Yeah.
So I would say that maybe you don't have a thing.
No, but maybe it's the fact that you need to be organized.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's your thing.
It a hundred percent is like, I'm that person.
I will write up a spreadsheet of what my character just track.
Oh, I love a spreadsheet.
You are my girl.
Yeah.
Ah, everything's, yeah.
Yeah.
I, I didn't need to refer to it by previous No, but the process of doing it, yeah.
(25:59):
Yeah.
It, it organizes stuff in my brain because sometimes it's chaos in there.
Because we are creatives and I think our brains are all chaos.
There's a lot going on in there Now.
If you could give one piece of advice, one nugget of gold to another creative, what would it be?
(26:20):
Whatever creative space you wanna get into, do it for yourself, not for other people.
If you want to be a creative for the validation from other people, no.
Do it for yourself, do it because, and I'm gonna quote sister act two because this is, that's always stuck with me.
(26:42):
But for example, like in the example of Sister Act two, if you wake up in the morning and the first thing that you can think about is singing, then you're supposed to be a singer
first thing when you wake up in the morning, and the first thing you think about, obviously after you've checked social media is that you wanna act,
then you're an actor.
(27:03):
Because it's, it's not okay how many times I wake up and I think about an a character or an actor process.
Yeah.
So that's one thing I will say, do it for yourself.
Amen, sister.
Mm-hmm.
Amen.
I'm laughing for those listening in only because my brain is exactly the same.
(27:24):
I, you know, when people say that, they daydream.
I just daydream about music stuff like all the time.
Yeah, yeah.
Always.
My brain is like Bill, bill, bill, bill, bill.
Yeah.
A hundred percent.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
I will sometimes daydream into, not necessarily into a character that I've played, but sometimes even characters that I've worked on in classes or sometimes I'll.
(27:45):
I think of a dance routine that I've had to do in an audition that's, that will keep haunting me of a job I didn't get, and I'm just like, why am I still thinking about this?
That's the hardest thing when it comes to letting go and letting go of an audition if you're an actor.
I have done so many self-tapes since self-tapes became a thing that I just let them go now.
(28:10):
Once I hit submit, it's gone.
But when it, but that's because I feel like acting is my strength when it comes to, I hate singing on self tapes for musical theater.
I hate singing on self tapes.
I've gotten better now because I'm back in, which seems crazy to me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's a live medium, live auditions.
(28:31):
But anyway, I've gone back to singing lessons again, and it's something that I'm really wanted to do really well, is to be able to sing on a self tape confidently and not.
Make myself do take after take after take, which then ruins my voice.
'cause you get tired trying to be perfect.
But when it comes to dance auditions, those are the ones I'm still struggling to let go.
(28:55):
'cause dancing is not my strength.
And yet dance auditions come with every single damn show that you have to do in this country.
And sometimes they're the first thing that you do before singing and acting.
It's like, no, let me show you the good things first.
Fear of judgment is a thing when it comes to dancing for me.
I think fear of judgment when you are a creative and you are trying something or doing something that's not your first, second, third, fourth choice.
(29:20):
Yeah.
I, I think you know that, that thing that we say to each other that we all know, which is that we've gotta all start somewhere and we need to be shit at something.
Yeah.
Before we can get good at it.
Now, are there particular resources that you have found maybe one transitioning from being a musician into acting or maybe like as you were, like you said, didn't do the tertiary and acting in your, you know, learning it on the job.
(29:55):
Are there certain books core, like is there, has there been like short courses, have there been mentors?
Is there anything that you would recommend?
For me, transitioning from being a singer to an actor, uh, especially, particularly me 'cause some music theater actor was something that has my heart and always will have my heart.
But I'm also a film and television buff, so that's why I love being able to work on film and television sets as well.
(30:22):
So I feel that I'm, I'm very blessed to be able to have the skillset for both mediums, but in relation to music theater.
So, because this is what I did first.
I decided I don't wanna do music performance.
I actually wanna be in musical theater, so I ended up doing community productions.
So even though it's not paid, you pay to be in them, it was giving me the experience that a drama school was denying me.
(30:50):
And some companies are really great to be a part of and teach you really good things, and I learned a lot.
From the musical theater productions that I did do that were unpaid.
And I did stick with them for a while.
And you do need to know where to get out.
'cause if you want to make this a career, you can't be doing free productions for the rest of your life.
(31:12):
So you have to know when the right time is to get out.
And luckily that happened to be when I'd auditioned for the Color Purple and actually gotten in.
That's where I was like, okay, now I'm able to get paid to do this job.
And the fact that I got a yes to getting paid to do this job was like, I'm on the right path.
So, yeah, I, I don't shun community theater for anybody.
(31:34):
I think that's a really great way to be able to do it, uh, if you don't have a tertiary education behind you, but you wouldn't have had the opportunities to do showcases and stuff at your school.
I did musicals in high school as well.
I, that was a really great start for me.
That's how I knew I fell in love with musical theater.
And then in relation to screen acting, be an extra.
(31:55):
Get that onset experience as an extra because the things that you will learn as an extra, what the terms are that crew and directors use on set, how a set works.
It's not as glamorous as you think it is.
And if you are on that set in that environment and don't love it.
And the thing is with working on a set, 90% of the time that you are on set, you are waiting around.
(32:22):
You are not acting.
You are not acting even as an extra.
You will get called at a six 30 call time to do hair and makeup and wardrobe and you'll be sitting around for hours until it's time to do your your scene.
And then sometimes you'll only be actually doing the scene for about an hour or so, and then you're back to waiting if you don't like that, if you don't get a high from that little bit of time that you've actually spent on the set actually working.
(32:51):
Because you are complaining, and I did work with a lot of people in my time as being an extra before I actually got some bit parts where I would hear people complain and complain and complain about the waiting around, are you serious?
I only did an hour's work.
It's like, are you getting paid by the hour to be here?
Shut up.
I would absorb everything on that set.
So when at the times before COVID, when I was an extra, I would listen to everything this director would say, talk about.
(33:19):
Anything that was within earshot, I would seldom talk to other extras.
'cause some of them were just there for the fun of it.
They weren't there to make to as a stepping stone for their career.
So I absorbed everything while I was on that set and, and any sets that I was on during that time, I absorbed everything.
So those, that was my school that I never got to have.
(33:39):
And then you do eventually get to realize that.
The film and television world in, in Melbourne is quite small.
So you end up seeing the same people in the crew on different sets and they eventually get to know you and they get to know your name and, and everything like that.
So it's really great, uh, to be able to do it like that.
I'm much very much an advocate for learning on the job as opposed to sitting in a classroom, obviously.
(34:05):
It's like cha character development.
Yeah, it's, you know, you know.
Reading and understanding scripts and doing the thing, and like you said, the terminology and all that kind of stuff.
There's that kind of side of thing.
Yeah.
But
there's something to do with how and which in the creative world, we conduct ourselves with each other.
(34:27):
Mm. That rapport, the right and wrong way in which we.
Hold ourselves in these work environments.
Mm-hmm.
How familiar, how not familiar these industries acting, theater, music.
You, you are in a very vulnerable, intimate Oh yeah.
(34:48):
Space with people you're sharing a lot of time.
Mm-hmm.
And even for acting, you were talking about the downtime.
Like, you know, you have opportunities to have conversations with people in a way that you wouldn't necessarily in a normal day to day.
And yeah, that is, and talking about what we were talking about before when it comes to intimacy, we were talking off mic about, you know, actors and the intimacy that they need to have physically with their partners.
(35:14):
If you actually with their scene partner.
If you end up being in that circumstance, you do need to get to know the other per, you need to be comfortable enough to be able to know that person intimately as well.
Now with the blessing of intimacy coordinators, it's now done better eth more ethically.
Yes.
That what it was done before, but even that is quite nerve wracking and vulnerable.
(35:37):
Even in that intimacy coordinator session with whoever you are about to do this, this scene with, you need to get to know intimate parts of them, what's okay not to touch what's not okay to touch and all sorts of different things like having a session with an intimacy coordinator.
You think, this is wild.
This is absolutely wild that we have to do this and these are things that we have to consider.
(36:00):
But you don't realize it when you are an outsider looking in.
When you're, if you're just watching an intimate scene on screen, you have no idea how much work has gone into just that.
What probably ends up being 30 seconds.
You have no idea how much work has just gone into doing that.
It's crazy.
But going back to the other piece of advice that I will say for a creative, and this is general creatives over the board, learn how you absorb information.
(36:30):
Because a lot of our jobs require our memories.
So like not just recalling lines or recalling dance moves or recalling blocking, which yes is part of all of that with whether you're doing theater or screen acting.
But even as a musician, you need to remember lyrics.
You need to remember chords.
You need to remember what key the bloody song's in, you know, and set lists and all of that.
(36:57):
All of that sort of stuff.
You need to.
Be able to remember shit, whoever, even the client is like, we talk about this in society quite a lot about the mental load and certain things that obviously people have to do additional to their jobs.
Yeah.
Whether you are a builder or you are a corporate, there is a level of mental load of extracurricular things that you need to do above and beyond your role.
(37:22):
Mm. I think in the creative space that's.
So there's added layers in that.
There's so much nuance in it.
I do think that for the most part, in other industries, there is a trajectory that fits with age.
(37:44):
Yeah.
And where you sort of sit with your colleagues, I think in music and in acting, or actually just the arts in general.
You could be working alongside someone who's half your age and you have to work in a particular way and conduct yourself in a particular way.
(38:06):
Yeah.
So you have to be friendly, but also ensure that you recognize boundaries.
There's, uh, a level of maturity that's required.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it doesn't matter what age you are or, or what experience you have, there's a.
There's an element of level playing field.
Yeah.
Of you've come and you've been hired to do this particular film theater show.
(38:27):
Yep.
This, you know, guns for hire on this gig, whatever it is, and yet leaving ego at the door a little bit more recently, someone from just a random audience member said this to me and it kind of stuck with me because not a lot of actors do this.
She said, thank you so much for actually staying around after the show to have a real conversation with us.
(38:49):
And I was like.
Yeah, if there are people that are, have waited around after the show to meet you and congratulate you on the performance that you've just done and take photos with you so they can brag on social media about being at this show, meeting you, talking to you, getting an autograph on a program, like I was like, of course I'm, I'm going to do that.
(39:11):
And you've made the effort to hang around.
You've waited until I've gotten changed, Des sweated and all of that sort of stuff to come out into the foyer.
And to be able to talk to me because you enjoyed the show and you've enjoyed what I've done because I'm so grateful to you for doing that.
Also grateful that you've come to see the show and that you enjoyed it.
I don't understand a lot of mentality with actors that they don't think their audiences.
(39:36):
I really don't understand that.
I mean, my absolute icon is Michael Jackson.
You've gotta be humble, but the ego lives on the stage.
Sad.
Yeah.
So.
I was always happy to talk to audience members, especially when they were kids.
Oh my God.
I was not expecting this.
The first time I came out into the 4-year-old, I was saying hi to people that I knew that were in the audience, and suddenly I was like coming down the stairs at the National theater to be able to say hi to these people.
(40:04):
And there was this group of girls that just suddenly started screaming and I'm like turning around.
Oh, who are they screaming for?
Obviously they're here to see somebody and then they get to the bottom of the stairs and they rush to me.
With their programs ready for me to sign it.
I was like, you was rooming for what?
You was rooming for me.
Oh yeah, that's right.
I just did a thing, didn't I?
(40:25):
I just did a thing.
Yeah.
Like, oh, you want me just sign you?
Can we have a photo with you?
Yes, absolutely.
Like, but I've also seen the opposite happen where people are like, oh no, I just wanna go home by.
Which I get.
'cause not all creatives or not all actors are extroverts that are okay with like having people swarm on them and everything like that.
And you know, obviously the, the biggest celebrities get like thousands of people going crazy.
(40:48):
I just mentioned Michael Jackson.
He would have a crazy amount of people doing that.
But it, when it, you are doing musical theater,
I just think if people are waiting for you at the stage door, it's at least nice to be able to pop out and say hi.
Even if you, you don't wanna physically hold people or.
Take selfies with them.
Like even behind the barricade, I used to do Stage Doors, Broadway all the time 'cause it was such a thrill for me to be able to be in the energy of these artists that I've just watched and loved their performance.
(41:18):
That was all okay for me.
I didn't have to have an autograph.
I was just happy to be in their energy and say congratulations on a great show, colleague to colleague.
Like,
congratulations on an amazing show.
I loved your performance.
Just to be able to say that was enough for me.
If you could throw another creative under the bus to answer these questions, who would it be and why?
(41:39):
Oh, several.
I've been thinking about it and I'm trying to think of someone that's outside my medium because I think it would be nice to get a different outlook on a different creative process.
I think because I, I'd love it if I can get you in touch with someone who works on a crew of a film and television or even a commercial set.
(42:00):
Reason why I say that.
Is because I was having this discussion with a friend the other day.
Ben Affleck has done this thing with, uh, one of his movies where not, it's not just the actors that get royalties, if the movie does its success, he's also given part of the contract.
The crew gets royalties as well.
Crew, I saw that is so under appreciated.
(42:21):
They're the first ones to arrive.
Yeah.
Back phone.
First ones on set.
Last one's on set.
So it's like.
They, and they're working hard and it's a lot of hard labor as well, moving sets, moving the cameras around, building train tracks so the camera can travel.
Like all of these things that you don't realize that crew does unless you get on a set to see it being done.
(42:45):
And particularly our crews in Melbourne, I've had Hollywood people say that the crews in Melbourne are the best.
So I would love to be able to introduce you to someone who is, um.
Who works on a crew because they are so underappreciated, so underutilized, and I think their perspective on filmmaking would be so unique.
(43:07):
Oh my goodness.
Sasha, I could talk to you for days.
I know.
Oh my goodness.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thank Oh my goodness.
For this.
Thank you so much for being on through the Creative Door and.
I'm sure I'm speaking on behalf of everyone who's listening that can't wait to see what's there.
Thank you, my Darlene.
(43:30):
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Through The Creative Door.
If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation.
Just visit buy me a coffee.com/through the creative door, or buy the link in our Instagram buy where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message.
(43:53):
Every little bit helps, and we truly appreciate all of your support.
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Thanks so much for being part of our community.
We'll catch you on the next episode.
Bye.
Hello, my name is Alexis Nailer, and I am your host here at Through The Creative Door.
On behalf of myself and my guests, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced.
May we pay our respects to all First Nations people and acknowledge elders past and present On this podcast, I'll be chatting to an array of creative guests, getting a glimpse into their worlds and having some honest and inspiring conversations along the way.
(00:41):
I'm delighted to welcome you to Through The Creative Door.
Oh my goodness.
I cannot believe who we have on the couch through the creative door.
Sasha, hello.
You are amazing.
Oh, thank you.
Oh my goodness.
(01:02):
I know you from many moons ago.
Yes.
But you are such a talented bear.
My goodness.
It has been such a joy.
And I said, you off mic.
It has been such a pleasure to watch your journey over the years since we met each other at JMC on South Melbourne.
Yes.
Yeah.
You're like, what that place?
(01:23):
Oh my God.
That has been many decades ago, even back then, and even more so now.
Such a talented singer, but you have transitioned over the years from performer in front of a band and singer songwriter, all that kind of jazz, and moved into the acting space doing theater tv.
Series and all that kind of stuff.
(01:43):
Yeah.
You've been so busy.
I have.
Yeah.
That's fantastic to see.
Yes.
It's always, it's always great to be booked and busy booked and blessed.
I always love, is that, is that what the saying is?
Booked and Blessed?
Yeah, booked and blessed.
Like I will commonly put a booked and blessed hashtag on posts.
You know, when I'm so grateful for a particular job.
What does a creative space mean to you?
(02:05):
So for me, it's any space that I can feel inspired.
And that can happen as an actor, honestly, anywhere.
Like the typical response would be whenever I'm in a rehearsal space or whenever.
So the thing about acting, and that was the thing that I really love about the craft as well.
(02:25):
Our jobs, especially on screen, we are to emulate the human condition.
We are to emulate the human experience and make it look real.
So when you're watching us, you believe that we're actually going through those things as you're seeing it.
So I like to be inspired from everything.
So people that I meet, people that I just, people watch when I'm in the park or a cafe or anything.
(02:46):
Just watching people do things, you know, people from my past, all that sort of thing.
So for me, it, and I think a lot of actors will say that they get there at creative inspiration from anything and everyone.
And sometimes it's really random where we get our inspirations from, you know, sometimes.
Like, for example, the most recent, uh, show that I did, which was the Mama Mia musical, I played Tanya and I was trying to ways to build the character and I was trying to find what's my version of Tanya.
(03:15):
She's been done so many times, and how am I gonna make mine different from the other versions that I've seen or other versions that have been done.
Including the movie version, especially when you're playing a character that's been interpreted on screen.
It's like, oh, I don't wanna do that version, no shade.
To the actor that did that version, that was their interpretation of the character.
I will be presenting something completely different.
(03:37):
'cause I don't want it to be an imitation, and so I would be watching certain things.
Music is actually such a huge thing for me still in relation to creating characters.
I actually have a playlist for every character that I played.
I have a Tanya playlist of songs that I would listen to anytime I felt like I was out of it and not really into it, like especially before.
And I'd listen to that before a rehearsal, like not, it wasn't even performances.
(04:01):
I'd listen to that before a rehearsal to try and find her rhythm.
And then when I'd go back to my Sasha Playlist, some songs would come up and be like, oh, that's such a Tanya song.
I'm gonna add that to the playlist.
So yeah, music helps as well to kind of get into that mindset, get that attitude.
But otherwise it was, I really embodied Tanya off Samantha from Sex in the City.
(04:22):
And that's character.
Yeah.
And so I was watching Sex in the City again on HVO Max and just being like, oh my God, this is her.
So I started turning my Tanya into speaking like Samantha, like her upward inflections at the end of sentences and the way she would go really low when she was being, saying something sarcastic.
And it was that.
(04:43):
A whole persona for me that I kind of took and added to what my Tanya was.
So that's probably like the best example of an inspiration that I found to be able to find a music.
And singing is my first love.
It dictates my day.
Whatever music I'm listening to will dictate my emotions and everything for that day.
You also come from a musical family.
(05:05):
Your dad is a, is an amazing musician.
Yes.
So it's in the blood?
It certainly is.
It certainly is.
So I have been a professional singer since 12 years old.
So I was working in bands with him, not bands, uh, a band with him, uh, which started out, you know, where we would singing pub and clubs and stuff before I was even of age to be able to go into these places.
(05:29):
And, you know, then we got quite established after having residency and then.
We started touring around the country and, you know, hitting up some really big venues and it became, eventually became a corporate band where we would sing at big corporate events.
I'd done things like singing at a grand final, a FL lunch for example, for, I think it was Essendon football team that we did that for.
I've done gigs at Crown Palladium and you know, Marvel Stadium.
(05:52):
So I've known that life from a very young age, and so that's why I'm so accustomed to, to all of that now.
I love that.
Yeah.
It just shows how it all sort of flows in.
Absolutely.
But also we're all trying to find our journey within it.
(06:14):
Yep.
Because just the version that you potentially grew up with is not necessarily your path.
That's it.
And everyone in my entire family, which is very huge, I'm of a Mauritian background and there's a high population of Mauritians here, including my family and.
Everyone thought I was gonna go down that singing route.
'cause obviously I started singing basically as I came outta the womb and everyone thought I was gonna go down that road.
(06:40):
Now.
You were talking about Mama Mia before.
Yeah.
Which is such a amazing thing to have on your rap sheet.
I am so grateful.
So grateful.
Would that be to date the most proud thing that you have been involved in?
I won't say the most proud.
(07:02):
Because, don't get me wrong, I loved it.
It's definitely the biggest role I've had in a musical theater production to date because she's such a big role and I absolutely loved playing her.
I'd play her again in a heartbeat on the conditions that I would be able to play it with my two other coasters as well, who I had as my Donna and my Rosie.
'cause the chemistry we had was just so beautiful and.
The way that I cried when I was never gonna be able to perform with them again the week after we closed.
(07:26):
Like it was actually embarrassing how hard I cried anyway.
But the proudest role that I've had to date, oh my God, that is a harder question than it should be.
Really That one, I would say proud in relation to the audience response.
'cause it's such a universally loved show.
(07:46):
And it's a very easy show to sell.
It's a very easy show to get audiences in engaged for.
Mm-hmm.
And when it's done right, it's, it's amazing.
And I really think we did, they got the casting absolutely right with our particular production, and I think proud Just in relation to, yeah, just how universally loved it is and how universally loved it was when anyone that came to see our production.
(08:12):
Loved it.
You know, I was out in the foyer every single night meeting people, and I would say the responses I got from the audience was probably the most beautiful moments that I've had in my career.
Because this is the thing that's interesting about being in both camps of being a theater actor and then also being a screen actor.
(08:34):
Because when you're a theater actor, you are getting the response from the audience directly, whereas.
On screen.
You don't know whether people have actually watched it.
Yes, I've done Mama Mia, but I've also got a television show on a streaming service that unless you've made the effort to watch it, you wouldn't know.
And it's so much harder to get someone to watch Wentworth than it is to get someone to see a musical theater production.
(09:02):
See, that surprises me.
I am so proud with the time that I got to have working on Wentworth.
Because that was such a female driven story, female driven series, and it was the performances that I got to witness that were in front of me happening in the same scene as me.
(09:25):
Sometimes I was like, I was out of my active brain and I was just admiring these fellow actresses in the performances that they were giving.
I was like, holy shit, I'm actually getting paid to do this.
That was.
I was so proud that I got to be there and I got to witness that a lot of those performances in the two seasons that I was on the show.
(09:46):
So I'm on Seasons eight and nine and which tells you it's quite a long series because there's obviously seven seasons before that and I think that's probably another reason why it's hard to get people to watch it because there are seven seasons before that and unfortunately you do need to watch at least season seven to know what's happened in eight and nine.
So that's what I always tell people.
(10:07):
And this is kind of linked to social media as well.
It's more effort for people to watch something of someone that they know on, so on streaming service than it is to watch like a perfect stranger's thing on Netflix.
Like they'll take the time to watch the latest thing from this is the actor that's just come off the top of my head, the latest Ryan Gosling movie on Netflix.
(10:32):
But in the same time, they could have watched an episode or two of my series.
So it's harder to get people to do that unless it's an event.
So at the time that Wentworth was on, like one episode was dropping per week, right?
And it was during COVID, so people were home.
So there was nothing else they could do, but at least, oh, let's watch this series as it comes.
(10:54):
This is where the whole social media thing comes in.
If you can make an event outta something, if you tag yourselves at the National theater, seeing Mama Mia tagging me, you, we allowed people to film the mega mix.
At the end.
So you know, you post that if you can make an event out of something, this is what I feel like is a lot of a way to get people involved in your career.
(11:16):
If they can make an event of it and put it on social media, that's a massive thing.
So I think if at the time social media was a, I mean it was, social media was becoming more prevalent, but it wasn't, there wasn't as many events.
So we didn't get to have our.
Premier event because we were in lockdown, we didn't get to have our celebration of the final season event.
(11:39):
We didn't get to have the release of the Blueray party because we were all in lockdown.
So we didn't get to have all of our events that you would post on social media and be proud of that experience and all that sort of stuff.
Uh, we did get rap gifts, so that was nice.
But yeah, I just think I'm probably prouder for that experience 'cause I learned so much.
(12:01):
But in relation to audience response.
A hundred percent Mama Mia.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's the thing, like when you ask an actor or even, even probably a musician, what they're proud of, they're probably not gonna say the one that's probably been the most successful.
They'll probably say the thing.
It's the thing that connects.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
And I'm essentially a background player who ends up getting featured on Wentworth.
(12:25):
'cause that's how I got promoted.
I got promoted by being cast as an extra.
Initially I was on Zoom, supposed to be on for a day, and then I did something that must have impressed the director.
'cause then I got a phone call from my agent at the end of the day and said, they asked if you're available until the end of the series.
Oh yes.
God, what a paying job.
(12:46):
That's so somewhat permanent.
Yeah.
Something that I actually like that's gonna get me out of this call center I was working in at the time.
Geez.
Oh my God.
And the world shut down a few months later.
Oh, look, COVID was a hard time.
Yeah, it was.
COVID was hard, but I, I was grateful to have that job during that time.
That was great.
I love that.
(13:06):
Now, there's a couple of things that you've mentioned in our chat.
This life, this career that we've chosen can be challenging.
Is there anything in particular that you have found.
Most challenging in this journey?
Yeah, so I will point the obvious one out.
(13:29):
Sorry, not obvious.
For those that are listening and not seeing what I look like, I am a black woman, so therefore I'm obviously an actor of color in Australia.
So that in itself is quite challenging.
So I am of a Mauritian background, but I am an African Mauritian and I need to distinct that because there are many different Mauritians.
(13:52):
Without doing too much of a deep dive in the education of the country, but so therefore I fall into the box of black African.
'cause you kind of unfortunately need to put yourself in a racial category in this industry, especially when they know what roles you are fit for that you're able to be put into.
(14:15):
'cause whenever you get a casting brief, it does specify what races they will be happy to accept for these particular.
Roles and these days, more than anything, they're putting all races down to not look like they're discriminating.
But there are obviously race specific roles that I can only do in, let's say musical theater.
(14:36):
I,
so when I don't get those roles and someone else who is not the race that I am gets those roles, that's where there's.
A big issue because why would you decide to put someone who's not act actually apt to the race that this role actually entails?
(14:59):
Then there's the other end of the spectrum as well.
So for example, I love the fact that I got to play Tanya because she's not a character that is assigned to my race.
There's nothing about her that talks about any stereotypical racial issues that a black woman in a musical theater is written for the character in musical theater.
(15:19):
So that was really refreshing to be able to play.
And also the fact that sometimes when a role is originated on Broadway by an actress of color, when that show gets brought down here, they don't stick to that casting unless a race is specified in the brief.
They won't stick to that casting.
And that's common?
(15:41):
Yes, because if a race is not a sign, then I can just cast anybody.
And usually they will go someone quite well known.
So stunt casting is definitely a thing.
But yeah, I think it at the end of the day comes down to what the say is of the creator of the show or the rights that we get in the country that that allows us to do the show.
(16:07):
I could go on and on and on about race and the um, and the industry.
And this also does go for screen work as well.
You don't see a lot of brown faces on screen, and those black actresses that I used are used all over, over and over, like as if they're the only black actress that exists in Australia.
(16:27):
So they'll use them over and over again.
Um, yet we are seeing actresses of color have success overseas that are actually from Australia.
For example, the TV show the Pit, she's an actress of color that actually is Australian and she had to go overseas to actually be recognized and be made a successor.
Anyone that's watched Bridgeton, the most series, recent series of Bridgeton, Sophie, she's actually Australian.
(16:51):
She studied at NIDA and yet she had to go overseas to be able to become a successful actress, like, you know what I mean?
And so, but if you think of actors, Australian actors that are overseas in Hollywood, you automatically think Hemsworth, Margot Robbie, both Caucasian, both blonde hair, blue eyes.
(17:14):
Yet you walk around the streets of Australia, there's actually not a lot of population that look like that.
There's more people of color in Australia that we don't acknowledge because to overseas Australians are what Margaret Robbie and Chris Hemsworth look like.
So it's really fascinating that these two actresses are most recently made a success of themselves in the two biggest TV shows that are happening right now.
(17:38):
And yet they're both actresses of color from Australia.
We also spoke off Mark before about the, uh, the highs and lows of being on this creative journey, which is that you, uh, you have the endorphins and all of the things where you are at peak in it, and then the blues that come after, oh, Jesus.
(18:01):
After, like after show blues or after tour blues.
Yeah.
I would say for myself, that is one of the most challenging things that.
Colleagues have spoken about.
Mm. But how you mitigate that for yourself.
Yeah.
That is something you have to be in it to really work out how you deal with that.
Absolutely.
(18:21):
Um, you can't explain it.
No.
You actually can't explain.
It's weird to try and explain.
Yeah.
So it's like people that are working in an office and doing nine to fiver, you can't explain it to them because they just don't get it.
'cause their job doesn't end.
I mean, unless they get quit or get fired.
Yeah, but probably don't have that euphoria.
No.
(18:42):
Their job like we do when we Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like we're, we're on cloud nine doing our jobs, whereas a nine to fiver, they're probably not on cloud nine every time they walk into their office when a contract ends, like I had the same experience with Wentworth.
I walked off that set the last day of shooting, and that was my last day of shooting.
(19:05):
It wasn't the last day of the entire series.
There was still shooting that wanting to be done.
I was literally like, can I just come and visit?
But couldn't COVID shut down.
So unless I was at, I was working, you know, when you had those slips that you had to prove that you were working.
Oh my God.
That was a time just in case you got pulled over and the cops, that was a time to see.
Oh my God.
Yeah.
I had one of those.
(19:25):
Yeah.
I think I've been blessed enough that I've loved every single project that I've had the pleasure of that.
A project that lasts for longer than a week or so.
So like every independent musical theater production I've done, chances are I have cried on fight all night.
Mom and Mia, I didn't because I, that damn mega mix I had to get through it, couldn't get through it with tears 'cause up the front singing and you gotta get the crowd involved as well.
(19:56):
So it's like I, it ends on such a happy high that I'm like, I'm not gonna have tears, I'm not gonna have tears.
I actually shut my emotions down that particular performance.
'cause I'm like, nope.
It's just like every other performance.
Just get through it.
There's none of this last time talk.
And I had it all bottled up until the next day.
I was so devastated.
Do you think that the wrap parties, where as a cast and crew that solidifies the end and allows you to let it go in a more functional way?
(20:27):
So the thing is that it's so weird when you're doing a musical, you are getting to know people throughout the rehearsal process.
Whereas when you are on a movie or television show, there's no rehearsal process.
So you are.
Working as soon as you land on set.
So you're not really having the opportunity to get to know people.
So a wrap party for a television show or a movie, you are getting to know them at that wrap party about what they're like as a human.
(20:52):
So it's then kind of like, awesome.
That's what you are like, okay, you're actually a cool person.
Cool to have a beer with you.
You know?
So you are kind of making connections at the end.
Which is quite, sounds quite strange, but that's essentially what it is.
Whereas musical theater, you're getting to know everybody before you even start with having the audiences come into the, to the theater.
(21:16):
And so that's what's, that's what's quite interesting.
So when it comes to a, a rap party, which is for a theater, is usually at the end of the final performance.
So you're on that high.
And then sometimes emotions will kick in at the after party.
In this case it didn't.
But yeah, it was just a massive congrat.
Congratulations when our, when our paths cross again.
(21:36):
Yeah.
It's like no time's passed at all.
Yeah.
But you've got that thing that in common with, with that person.
You've got that project that you've done together.
You've got that time that you've experienced together.
Now you may or may not, I find it's interesting with
and creatives in that kind of space, but do you have an object or a thing?
(22:00):
That you can't live without when you're creating.
I've never been that kind of person.
I've never been, never been a superstitious person.
And by the way, I found this out because I was seeing in every theater production that I've done, there's always someone that has to stick to a particular routine of things that they do in order to get be think this is gonna be a good show.
(22:20):
This is gonna be a good show.
If I do this, it's gonna be a great, there's always one.
There's no, there's not just one.
There's multiple people that do this.
There's multiple people that do this.
I guess I'm more of a routine person in relation to pre-show prep, so I will, and this is what I'm like through life as well.
So for example, I, I'm gonna use my Mamia as a most recent example when it comes to, I need to do things in a certain order to get ready.
(22:49):
And it's not because of whether I, that if I do it in that order, it's gonna dictate whether the show goes well or not.
It's my way of keeping the peace within myself.
And staying grounded.
So, you know, I know that I need to put, for example, my routine was need to put the base foundation on first and then do as much of my eye makeup as possible before warmup start.
(23:14):
So vocal and physical warmup.
But I try not to put a lot of my foundation on.
'cause sometimes during physical warmup I will get a bit of a sweat and then come back, do as much of the base foundation that's left that I need to do before the, my, the mic guy comes in to put the mic in my, the hairline mic in my hair.
Actually, even before I do the face, I need to make sure the hair's done 'cause the hairline mic needs to go through my actual hair.
(23:35):
'cause we did not have wigs for this production.
So I would go through that.
Whole routine knowing that this was gonna become up.
So I need to make sure I've got this done, this done, this done.
But it was funny, I was so meticulous about getting it done with enough time to like calm and focus before the show started.
At the start of the performances, during like previews and stuff.
(23:56):
Towards the end of it, I was leaving it until the very last minute before I put my costume on.
Um, like the, like when I say the last minute, I mean the number before I had to make my first entrance.
So chill.
Taking my time.
I was just sitting around in my dressing gown, you know, with the mic on.
You know, just like doing extra touchups on the face.
Like I would be so strategic to then being so chill by the end of it.
(24:21):
And I think if we were to go have gone on longer, I think it would've just been like, oh yeah, whatever.
It would've been so in my body that it would've just been such a routine.
And I was always that person that would like to make sure that my props were where I, where they should be.
They have a place.
Yeah, they have a, a home.
Yeah.
So I'd make sure, I mean we had a props table where everything was already laid out, but I'd always make sure that it was there.
(24:46):
So then when I did have to grab it for, before that saying all I'd need to do, go to the prop table, grab it, and then just go on.
'cause that's like a hassle that I don't need to worry about.
A lot can be said and it, I don't think it matters.
What kind of field you're in.
Mm. But a lot can be said for one, the muscle memory of whatever the apparatus is that you are using or require to create.
(25:11):
Mm. And so for you, it's like particular things that you require to get ready.
Yeah.
And then, and it's that muscle memory of just knowing, yeah.
And then also just allowing for your body to just know where it needs to be to do the thing.
Yeah.
And I'm such a type A person, like things need to be in a certain place.
Just for me to be able to easily grab it.
Like if you were to look at the way my wardrobe is organized and the way that my clothes are organized, like I think need things that are easily accessible for me to quickly grab.
(25:37):
Yeah.
So I would say that maybe you don't have a thing.
No, but maybe it's the fact that you need to be organized.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's your thing.
It a hundred percent is like, I'm that person.
I will write up a spreadsheet of what my character just track.
Oh, I love a spreadsheet.
You are my girl.
Yeah.
Ah, everything's, yeah.
Yeah.
I, I didn't need to refer to it by previous No, but the process of doing it, yeah.
(25:59):
Yeah.
It, it organizes stuff in my brain because sometimes it's chaos in there.
Because we are creatives and I think our brains are all chaos.
There's a lot going on in there Now.
If you could give one piece of advice, one nugget of gold to another creative, what would it be?
(26:20):
Whatever creative space you wanna get into, do it for yourself, not for other people.
If you want to be a creative for the validation from other people, no.
Do it for yourself, do it because, and I'm gonna quote sister act two because this is, that's always stuck with me.
(26:42):
But for example, like in the example of Sister Act two, if you wake up in the morning and the first thing that you can think about is singing, then you're supposed to be a singer
first thing when you wake up in the morning, and the first thing you think about, obviously after you've checked social media is that you wanna act,
then you're an actor.
(27:03):
Because it's, it's not okay how many times I wake up and I think about an a character or an actor process.
Yeah.
So that's one thing I will say, do it for yourself.
Amen, sister.
Mm-hmm.
Amen.
I'm laughing for those listening in only because my brain is exactly the same.
(27:24):
I, you know, when people say that, they daydream.
I just daydream about music stuff like all the time.
Yeah, yeah.
Always.
My brain is like Bill, bill, bill, bill, bill.
Yeah.
A hundred percent.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
I will sometimes daydream into, not necessarily into a character that I've played, but sometimes even characters that I've worked on in classes or sometimes I'll.
(27:45):
I think of a dance routine that I've had to do in an audition that's, that will keep haunting me of a job I didn't get, and I'm just like, why am I still thinking about this?
That's the hardest thing when it comes to letting go and letting go of an audition if you're an actor.
I have done so many self-tapes since self-tapes became a thing that I just let them go now.
(28:10):
Once I hit submit, it's gone.
But when it, but that's because I feel like acting is my strength when it comes to, I hate singing on self tapes for musical theater.
I hate singing on self tapes.
I've gotten better now because I'm back in, which seems crazy to me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's a live medium, live auditions.
(28:31):
But anyway, I've gone back to singing lessons again, and it's something that I'm really wanted to do really well, is to be able to sing on a self tape confidently and not.
Make myself do take after take after take, which then ruins my voice.
'cause you get tired trying to be perfect.
But when it comes to dance auditions, those are the ones I'm still struggling to let go.
(28:55):
'cause dancing is not my strength.
And yet dance auditions come with every single damn show that you have to do in this country.
And sometimes they're the first thing that you do before singing and acting.
It's like, no, let me show you the good things first.
Fear of judgment is a thing when it comes to dancing for me.
I think fear of judgment when you are a creative and you are trying something or doing something that's not your first, second, third, fourth choice.
(29:20):
Yeah.
I, I think you know that, that thing that we say to each other that we all know, which is that we've gotta all start somewhere and we need to be shit at something.
Yeah.
Before we can get good at it.
Now, are there particular resources that you have found maybe one transitioning from being a musician into acting or maybe like as you were, like you said, didn't do the tertiary and acting in your, you know, learning it on the job.
(29:55):
Are there certain books core, like is there, has there been like short courses, have there been mentors?
Is there anything that you would recommend?
For me, transitioning from being a singer to an actor, uh, especially, particularly me 'cause some music theater actor was something that has my heart and always will have my heart.
But I'm also a film and television buff, so that's why I love being able to work on film and television sets as well.
(30:22):
So I feel that I'm, I'm very blessed to be able to have the skillset for both mediums, but in relation to music theater.
So, because this is what I did first.
I decided I don't wanna do music performance.
I actually wanna be in musical theater, so I ended up doing community productions.
So even though it's not paid, you pay to be in them, it was giving me the experience that a drama school was denying me.
(30:50):
And some companies are really great to be a part of and teach you really good things, and I learned a lot.
From the musical theater productions that I did do that were unpaid.
And I did stick with them for a while.
And you do need to know where to get out.
'cause if you want to make this a career, you can't be doing free productions for the rest of your life.
(31:12):
So you have to know when the right time is to get out.
And luckily that happened to be when I'd auditioned for the Color Purple and actually gotten in.
That's where I was like, okay, now I'm able to get paid to do this job.
And the fact that I got a yes to getting paid to do this job was like, I'm on the right path.
So, yeah, I, I don't shun community theater for anybody.
(31:34):
I think that's a really great way to be able to do it, uh, if you don't have a tertiary education behind you, but you wouldn't have had the opportunities to do showcases and stuff at your school.
I did musicals in high school as well.
I, that was a really great start for me.
That's how I knew I fell in love with musical theater.
And then in relation to screen acting, be an extra.
(31:55):
Get that onset experience as an extra because the things that you will learn as an extra, what the terms are that crew and directors use on set, how a set works.
It's not as glamorous as you think it is.
And if you are on that set in that environment and don't love it.
And the thing is with working on a set, 90% of the time that you are on set, you are waiting around.
(32:22):
You are not acting.
You are not acting even as an extra.
You will get called at a six 30 call time to do hair and makeup and wardrobe and you'll be sitting around for hours until it's time to do your your scene.
And then sometimes you'll only be actually doing the scene for about an hour or so, and then you're back to waiting if you don't like that, if you don't get a high from that little bit of time that you've actually spent on the set actually working.
(32:51):
Because you are complaining, and I did work with a lot of people in my time as being an extra before I actually got some bit parts where I would hear people complain and complain and complain about the waiting around, are you serious?
I only did an hour's work.
It's like, are you getting paid by the hour to be here?
Shut up.
I would absorb everything on that set.
So when at the times before COVID, when I was an extra, I would listen to everything this director would say, talk about.
(33:19):
Anything that was within earshot, I would seldom talk to other extras.
'cause some of them were just there for the fun of it.
They weren't there to make to as a stepping stone for their career.
So I absorbed everything while I was on that set and, and any sets that I was on during that time, I absorbed everything.
So those, that was my school that I never got to have.
(33:39):
And then you do eventually get to realize that.
The film and television world in, in Melbourne is quite small.
So you end up seeing the same people in the crew on different sets and they eventually get to know you and they get to know your name and, and everything like that.
So it's really great, uh, to be able to do it like that.
I'm much very much an advocate for learning on the job as opposed to sitting in a classroom, obviously.
(34:05):
It's like cha character development.
Yeah, it's, you know, you know.
Reading and understanding scripts and doing the thing, and like you said, the terminology and all that kind of stuff.
There's that kind of side of thing.
Yeah.
But
there's something to do with how and which in the creative world, we conduct ourselves with each other.
(34:27):
Mm. That rapport, the right and wrong way in which we.
Hold ourselves in these work environments.
Mm-hmm.
How familiar, how not familiar these industries acting, theater, music.
You, you are in a very vulnerable, intimate Oh yeah.
(34:48):
Space with people you're sharing a lot of time.
Mm-hmm.
And even for acting, you were talking about the downtime.
Like, you know, you have opportunities to have conversations with people in a way that you wouldn't necessarily in a normal day to day.
And yeah, that is, and talking about what we were talking about before when it comes to intimacy, we were talking off mic about, you know, actors and the intimacy that they need to have physically with their partners.
(35:14):
If you actually with their scene partner.
If you end up being in that circumstance, you do need to get to know the other per, you need to be comfortable enough to be able to know that person intimately as well.
Now with the blessing of intimacy coordinators, it's now done better eth more ethically.
Yes.
That what it was done before, but even that is quite nerve wracking and vulnerable.
(35:37):
Even in that intimacy coordinator session with whoever you are about to do this, this scene with, you need to get to know intimate parts of them, what's okay not to touch what's not okay to touch and all sorts of different things like having a session with an intimacy coordinator.
You think, this is wild.
This is absolutely wild that we have to do this and these are things that we have to consider.
(36:00):
But you don't realize it when you are an outsider looking in.
When you're, if you're just watching an intimate scene on screen, you have no idea how much work has gone into just that.
What probably ends up being 30 seconds.
You have no idea how much work has just gone into doing that.
It's crazy.
But going back to the other piece of advice that I will say for a creative, and this is general creatives over the board, learn how you absorb information.
(36:30):
Because a lot of our jobs require our memories.
So like not just recalling lines or recalling dance moves or recalling blocking, which yes is part of all of that with whether you're doing theater or screen acting.
But even as a musician, you need to remember lyrics.
You need to remember chords.
You need to remember what key the bloody song's in, you know, and set lists and all of that.
(36:57):
All of that sort of stuff.
You need to.
Be able to remember shit, whoever, even the client is like, we talk about this in society quite a lot about the mental load and certain things that obviously people have to do additional to their jobs.
Yeah.
Whether you are a builder or you are a corporate, there is a level of mental load of extracurricular things that you need to do above and beyond your role.
(37:22):
Mm. I think in the creative space that's.
So there's added layers in that.
There's so much nuance in it.
I do think that for the most part, in other industries, there is a trajectory that fits with age.
(37:44):
Yeah.
And where you sort of sit with your colleagues, I think in music and in acting, or actually just the arts in general.
You could be working alongside someone who's half your age and you have to work in a particular way and conduct yourself in a particular way.
(38:06):
Yeah.
So you have to be friendly, but also ensure that you recognize boundaries.
There's, uh, a level of maturity that's required.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it doesn't matter what age you are or, or what experience you have, there's a.
There's an element of level playing field.
Yeah.
Of you've come and you've been hired to do this particular film theater show.
(38:27):
Yep.
This, you know, guns for hire on this gig, whatever it is, and yet leaving ego at the door a little bit more recently, someone from just a random audience member said this to me and it kind of stuck with me because not a lot of actors do this.
She said, thank you so much for actually staying around after the show to have a real conversation with us.
(38:49):
And I was like.
Yeah, if there are people that are, have waited around after the show to meet you and congratulate you on the performance that you've just done and take photos with you so they can brag on social media about being at this show, meeting you, talking to you, getting an autograph on a program, like I was like, of course I'm, I'm going to do that.
(39:11):
And you've made the effort to hang around.
You've waited until I've gotten changed, Des sweated and all of that sort of stuff to come out into the foyer.
And to be able to talk to me because you enjoyed the show and you've enjoyed what I've done because I'm so grateful to you for doing that.
Also grateful that you've come to see the show and that you enjoyed it.
I don't understand a lot of mentality with actors that they don't think their audiences.
(39:36):
I really don't understand that.
I mean, my absolute icon is Michael Jackson.
You've gotta be humble, but the ego lives on the stage.
Sad.
Yeah.
So.
I was always happy to talk to audience members, especially when they were kids.
Oh my God.
I was not expecting this.
The first time I came out into the 4-year-old, I was saying hi to people that I knew that were in the audience, and suddenly I was like coming down the stairs at the National theater to be able to say hi to these people.
(40:04):
And there was this group of girls that just suddenly started screaming and I'm like turning around.
Oh, who are they screaming for?
Obviously they're here to see somebody and then they get to the bottom of the stairs and they rush to me.
With their programs ready for me to sign it.
I was like, you was rooming for what?
You was rooming for me.
Oh yeah, that's right.
I just did a thing, didn't I?
(40:25):
I just did a thing.
Yeah.
Like, oh, you want me just sign you?
Can we have a photo with you?
Yes, absolutely.
Like, but I've also seen the opposite happen where people are like, oh no, I just wanna go home by.
Which I get.
'cause not all creatives or not all actors are extroverts that are okay with like having people swarm on them and everything like that.
And you know, obviously the, the biggest celebrities get like thousands of people going crazy.
(40:48):
I just mentioned Michael Jackson.
He would have a crazy amount of people doing that.
But it, when it, you are doing musical theater,
I just think if people are waiting for you at the stage door, it's at least nice to be able to pop out and say hi.
Even if you, you don't wanna physically hold people or.
Take selfies with them.
Like even behind the barricade, I used to do Stage Doors, Broadway all the time 'cause it was such a thrill for me to be able to be in the energy of these artists that I've just watched and loved their performance.
(41:18):
That was all okay for me.
I didn't have to have an autograph.
I was just happy to be in their energy and say congratulations on a great show, colleague to colleague.
Like,
congratulations on an amazing show.
I loved your performance.
Just to be able to say that was enough for me.
If you could throw another creative under the bus to answer these questions, who would it be and why?
(41:39):
Oh, several.
I've been thinking about it and I'm trying to think of someone that's outside my medium because I think it would be nice to get a different outlook on a different creative process.
I think because I, I'd love it if I can get you in touch with someone who works on a crew of a film and television or even a commercial set.
(42:00):
Reason why I say that.
Is because I was having this discussion with a friend the other day.
Ben Affleck has done this thing with, uh, one of his movies where not, it's not just the actors that get royalties, if the movie does its success, he's also given part of the contract.
The crew gets royalties as well.
Crew, I saw that is so under appreciated.
(42:21):
They're the first ones to arrive.
Yeah.
Back phone.
First ones on set.
Last one's on set.
So it's like.
They, and they're working hard and it's a lot of hard labor as well, moving sets, moving the cameras around, building train tracks so the camera can travel.
Like all of these things that you don't realize that crew does unless you get on a set to see it being done.
(42:45):
And particularly our crews in Melbourne, I've had Hollywood people say that the crews in Melbourne are the best.
So I would love to be able to introduce you to someone who is, um.
Who works on a crew because they are so underappreciated, so underutilized, and I think their perspective on filmmaking would be so unique.
(43:07):
Oh my goodness.
Sasha, I could talk to you for days.
I know.
Oh my goodness.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thank Oh my goodness.
For this.
Thank you so much for being on through the Creative Door and.
I'm sure I'm speaking on behalf of everyone who's listening that can't wait to see what's there.
Thank you, my Darlene.
(43:30):
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Through The Creative Door.
If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation.
Just visit buy me a coffee.com/through the creative door, or buy the link in our Instagram buy where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message.
(43:53):
Every little bit helps, and we truly appreciate all of your support.
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Thanks so much for being part of our community.
We'll catch you on the next episode.
Bye.
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