Alumni Update: Careers in the Arts

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James Mustapic

James is currently preparing to go across the ditch for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival where he will perform 'All Good if Not' - the show he brought to Dunedin Fringe last month! It's his first time performing over there as a solo comedian - and finding his Australian audience presents a new and exciting challenge: "In NZ the people that come to see me usually know his background and what to expect from my comedy, so it's going to be interesting presenting material to a completely fresh room who don't have that context."

After finishing school, James studied Media Studies at Otago University and later Auckland University - working in social media to support himself before eventually finding enough performance work to be able to give up his day job. It's a busy career which sees James often writing and editing all day and gigging at night - and a consistent routine is his key to success: "Sometimes you can't think of anything to write or you might have a hard night on stage and you need to rely on your routine, push through and keep going - it's a matter of hard work as opposed to having a bolt of inspiration."

One of the highlights of James' comedy over the last couple of years has been working with his mum Janet - she acts like she is reluctant to be on stage but he thinks she secretly enjoys it! They share a similar sense of humour and it's great to be able to be silly and have a laugh together in front of an audience.

James writes and performs a new hour of comedy every year - and has been writing 'All Good if Not' for about that long - it took hundreds of hours to write. It was great to return to Dunedin to kick off the new show: "Dunedin Fringe tends to be the first place new comedy shows get performed each year, and the audience feedback is really valuable and shapes the show as it develops for larger audiences!". Next on the agenda - Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland and finally Melbourne. Here's wishing him all the best for the Australian debut.

When I called, James was fresh off the set filming TVNZ's 'My Life is Murder' - keep an eye out for him in the next season!

Samuel Leaper

Sam is currently busy working as a musical director for 'OLIVER!' for Musical Theatre Oamaru - it's a varied lifestyle as a musician with the Capping Show for Otago Uni and the Golden Guitars also on the horizon! He's also been flat out playing piano in a string quartet for weddings - arranging all sorts of popular music for the group to give it a little finesse for formal occasions.

And that's not to mention his Fringe show, 'An Iliad' which he performed last month with collaborator Max Beal. Sam wrote all of the original music for the show, and it was a nerve-racking experience presenting it for the first time: "you're proud of what you've done but sometimes you have no clue if anyone else is going to like it until opening night!".

It was a big show and while Sam had composed the music from scratch, none of it was notated - it was all performed from memory. Themes were composed for different characters and motifs for various thematic elements were used throughout the show. Sam improvised based on these motifs, and both the stage performance and music were unique from night to night. "I spent a lot of time thinking about how dialogue made me feel or how I wanted to make other people feel. The idea was to keep it free-form and allow Max to control the structure with his performance."

Sam had two main pieces of advice for anyone looking to make a career in music:

1. Say yes to everything and be prepared to learn as you go!

2. Be versatile - for example, think about how a bar may want live music every night but it would be different bands - if you can play in all of those bands on different styles and instruments, you will find enough mahi.

Tama Alexander

When I called, Tama was up in Auckland at the classic comedy club every night until Sunday - right off the back of Dunedin Fringe: "Dunedin Fringe was a great warm-up - there's a great culture at the festival and lots of  chances to network - I got to meet Amy Booth and Jack Darling!"

Tama was thrilled to have two sold out nights at JMCs own drama room for 'A Regular Show' alongside fellow comedian Craig Westenburg. The show took inspiration from comedy like Monty Python - presented in an absurdist style, using lots of improvisation (and props)! Tama loves improv as you can make a closer connection with the audience and find 'gem' moments - "the audience is more engaged and everything (or nothing) can be a joke depending on how you play it."

After Tama decided to go full-time, he has been able to spend the majority of his time focussed on improving his material and organising and promoting performances - it sounds like it's been paying off! He was really happy with sales for his solo show 'Dropout' - a full theatre all three nights: "It's brilliant to come home and have such a strong reception for solo material".

Tama is planning to bring 'Dropout' to Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland in the near future. "The larger centres and in particular Auckland have much more diverse audience, which makes it a good test of what is universally funny, and translates outside of 'New Zealand Comedy'." Here's hoping for a thunderous reception.