Two students from the Castlemaine region and one from Woodend have been selected to attend the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School in 2025.
Muckleford’s Thea Sydes, Castlemaine’s Stella Carlon-Tozer and Woodend’s Claudia Campbell are thrilled to have won three of the 20 places to study a Theatre Arts specialism alongside their VCE subjects at the prestigious school located in the heart of the Melbourne Arts Precinct.
With up to 200 students applying for the 20 places each year, to have three local students selected speaks volumes about the strength of the arts, and in particular theatre arts, in our region!
The trio started classes at the South Bank campus last week.
The year 11 students will undertake half a day of regular face-to-face classes, along with Theatre Studies and Drama electives off site at the Melbourne Theatre Company and National Institute of Dramatic Art where they will have the unique opportunity to work with various mentors in the field.
Former Castlemaine Secondary College Steiner stream student and recently named Mount Alexander Shire Young Citizen of the Year, Thea Sydes, and former Girton Grammar student, Stella Carlon-Tozer, said they were thrilled to be selected.
“We both tried out for the Theatre and Dance specialisms. I found out that I had missed out on the Dance specialism. But I was thrilled to later learn I’d been successful in the Theatre stream alongside Stella,” Thea said.
“We met through our love of dance and actually auditioned on the same day so it was nice to be able to offer each other some encouragement and support.”
Thea is passionate about theatre, creative dance and visual arts, while Stella is passionate about musical theatre, ballet and dance, and singing.
Stella recently played Ariel in Girton’s 2024 production of The Little Mermaid.
Thea has enjoyed studying creature creative dance at Over The Moon since they were a youngster, and played Tybalt in Castlemaine Theatre Company’s 2023 production of Romeo and Juliet.
The pair are polar opposites but are both passionate about the same artforms and bring very different skills and expression to their pursuits.
“Our interests and styles are vastly different but I guess that’s the wonderful thing about the college. It is bringing a diverse range of artists together to harness and grow their passions,” Stella said.
Stella’s dream is to do musical theatre or screen acting.
“I would love to go to VCA or WAPA, but I am also looking at NYU and other overseas universities closer to Broadway and the West End where I could potentially pursue a career,” she said.
Thea said they didn’t have set dreams for the future at this stage.
“I’m really interested in community theatre and bringing communities together through theatre. I’m interested in bringing experimental theatre to more rural communities. I think that’s lacking and important and fun,” they said.
Former Kyneton resident and Sacred Heart College student Claudia Campbell has been involved in a range of local theatre shows, including Sprout Musical Theatre Company at Woodend, and most recently featured in a production of Annie at Musicworx Theatre.
Claudia said it was amazing to be able to go to VCASS.
“It’s such an incredible opportunity, especially as someone who only began theatre a few years ago. I’m insanely grateful that I have the chance to go a professional arts school and I hope to grow as a performing artist and person over the next couple of years.”
