Serena Weatherall – Based in Australia
“I first met Ira at his 2014 Quantum Clown Residency (3 week training program), which was life changing. After three years of acting school and studying with renowned teachers overseas, Ira’s system pulled universal principles of performance together in a way that spoke to my body, mind and soul. Furthermore, this happened at a crucial point in my life – I had left the acting world to undergo cancer treatment and found myself aged 26 ‘cancer free’ but very much ‘unwell’ and confused about what to do next.
Meeting Ira helped me rediscover the joyful and innate need to express creatively. His work freed me from the idea of being ‘blocked’ and cleared up some of the confusion I had always felt around acting techniques. I found that the exercises awakened a new kind of confidence in my physicality and ‘being’ on stage. I was excited about the possibilities for myself. That year I went on to write a play ‘Dancing with Drip Poles’ about my journey with cancer.
I have been blessed to work with Ira both as a performer and as an assistant director, and I have immense gratitude for his friendship and guidance over the years. I have taught his work in my movement classes at Perform Australia (in Canberra) and now at Australia’s oldest continuously running theatre company, The Lieder Theatre in Goulburn.”
Serena Weatherall – Biography and Website
Serena is a playwright, performer and teacher. She trained as an actor at ACTT (2011) and gained a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre (Hons) in 2015. She has also studied acting with Eric Morris in LA; Anthony Bova in NYC; and, Ira Seidenstein in Australia.
Serena’s acting credits include Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire; and, Rosaria in A Flower of the Lips by Valentino Musico, devised work such as: Echo with The House that Dan Built ; and, No Greater Love at the Sydney Convention Centre.
Her first play Dancing with Drip Poles sold out its development season in Potts Point in 2018. Since then Serena has been involved in writing projects including Echo at the House that Dan Built; and, The Coming of Life Musical with The Montessori School of Bondi.
Serena has a particular interest in the healing aspects of storytelling, having completed her Honours Thesis: Theatre of Sickness and Healing referring to the process of crafting autobiographical theatre about trauma and illness.
Since 2016 Serena has worked with young people in both music and theatre, in both urban and rural settings including service work in India.Serena brings a disciplined and yet compassionate, trauma informed approach to facilitate empowerment in whoever she is present with as a teacher or collaborator.