Past Finalists - ANZ Trustees Foundation: Rob Guest Endowment
2010 Winner
Francine Cain - 2010 recipient - Rob Guest Endowment Award
Francine Cain graduated from WAAPA in 2009. At WAAPA Francine performed as Maureen in Rent, Mary Phagan (Parade), Lorraine Flemming (42nd St), Alice B.Toklas (Loving Repeating) and The Narrator and Rebecca Hilliker (The Laramie Project). Before attending WAAPA, Francine completed an Advanced Diploma in Music Theatre and Commercial Dance at the Australian Dance Performance Institute in Brisbane while receiving her Speech and Drama CDPA from AMEB. Francine also represented Australia at the international Folk Song and Dance Festival in China with The Fame Talent Agency. Francine feels so thankful & privilidged to be apart of this years Rob Guest Endowment.
Finalists
Drew Weston
Drew Weston graduated from WAAPA in 2009. Earlier this year Drew made his professional debut playing the role of Curly in 'IAJ International' production of Oklahoma. Currently, Drew is performing in the Australian production of Mary Poppins and covers the role of Bert. While studying at WAAPA Drew performed the roles of Britt Craig in Parade, Bert in 42nd street, Steve in Rent and Guy in the Australian premier of Loving Repeating. Other productions include Jane Eyre, The laramie project, Oklahoma and Tales from Ovid. Drew was born and raised in Melbourne and trained with the Young Australian Broadway Chorus (YABC). He also features on the original cast recording of The Silver Donkey by Matthew Frank and Dean Bryant. Drew would like to thank his friends and family for their constant support.
Bree Langridge
Raised and Trained as a Dancer in Hobart, Bree relocated to Melbourne where she graduated from Musical Theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts. She has gone on to work across the bored in Music Theatre, Dance, Cabaret and Children’s Theatre. Recent credits include: Wicked (Gorden Frost Organisation) ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’ (Paul Malic’s Collaboration), ‘The Australian Tours of Lazy Town Live’ (Andrew Kay and Associates), and ‘Yo Gabba Gabba Live Onstage’ (Entertainment Store Group/Nick Jr). She has also produced her own Music Theatre piece in 2006 called ‘Inside Out’, playing in Melbourne and Hobart. Bree set up a Cabaret workshop called ‘New Sounds Project’ in 2009. She collaborated with national and international up and coming composers to explore and perform new work. In 2008 Bree resided in Japan for a year where she played Wendy in Universal Studio’s version of Peter Pan. Bree wants to thank all those involved in making this (The Rob Guest Endowment) a new and inspirational experience and is thrilled that an award like this exists to give young performers the opportunity to move forward in the industry. She is proud to be performing as one of the final 6 and for the first time in a long time thinks she may even have a full row of Tasmanian family in the audience!
Sarah Baker
Sarah trained in Brisbane from the age of 3 and at age 9 performed the role of Young Cosette in the Cameron Mackintosh 10th Anniversary production of Les Miserables. Sarah performed in the Asian and Australian tours of The Phantom Of The Opera from early 2007 to the end of 2008; originally as a dancer in the corps de ballet, then as an Ensemble member covering the role of Christine Daae, which she performed numerous times.In 2009 Sarah joined the ensemble of Chicago for the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne seasons, also covering the roles of Roxy, which she performed several times and Mama Morton. Sarah also had the honour of being one of 6 finalists in the Inaugural Rob Guest Endowment. Sarah is currently performing as the Kite Girl in Mary Poppins, as well as being 1st cover Mary Poppins, a role she is thrilled to have already had the opportunity to perform.
Simon Brook McLachlan
Simon is a graduate of the NIDA Singer/Dancer/Actor Course, and also holds a B.Commerce from the University of Sydney. Simon understudied the roles of Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio in Jersey Boys, and is also the male ensemble swing. Prior theatre credits include Disney’s High School Musical (Sydney), Hi-5 (Understudy and Puppeteer), The Wiggles (Dorothy’s Dance Party USA tour), VIN (Jigsaw Theatre Company), and Godspell (Lambert House Productions). Simon has also appeared in numerous TVCs, and most recently in Channel 7’s The Pacific – Episode II (Spielberg/Hanks). Highly impressed by the quality and caliber of performances in the 2009 Competition, Simon felt that 2010 would be his year to enter. It is wonderful that such a foundation has been established to foster and promote upcoming talent. Thrilled to be one of this year’s finalists, Simon hopes that this year’s Endowment will offer the experience, exposure, and training to assist in his next steps forward in his career.
Nathan Derrick
Nathan started his professional career at the age of ten as Young Peter Allen in the Boy from Oz for Ben Gannon & Robert Fox and then played Kurt in The Sound of Music for SEL & GFO after High School Nathan had the privileges of working for Nickelodeon in the Pan-Pacific Tour of Dora the Explorer: Dora’s Pirate adventure and then played Jack Scott for Disney’s production of High School Musical: Live on Stage. Nathan was also a featured soloist in two state school spectaculars for Joining The Chorus, and sang with the Australian Male Welsh Choir as a soloist for their Songs for Christmas and Beyond CD, Nathan achieved a Lyrebird award for his performance as Gavroche in Les Miserables, other performances for The Australian Ballets include Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Swan Lake and Opera Australia’s Der Rosenkavalier, Little Sweep and Brundibar. As an actor Nathan has appeared in the shows Rush, Neighbours and Bed of Roses as well as numerous voiceovers. Nathan is thrilled and honoured to be a finalist of the Rob Guest Endowment.
