MasterClass
MasterClass is an intensive, week-long musical theatre development programme for performers aged 14 and over.
Designed for young artists ready to explore their craft in greater depth, MasterClass moves beyond the traditional rehearsal-and-production model. Across the week, participants will develop their acting, singing and dance skills while exploring musical theatre styles, storytelling, character, interpretation and their own artistic identity. Our theme for this inaugural programme is "The Jukebox Musical".
Every participant will train across the core musical theatre disciplines, with opportunities for more focused coaching, personalised feedback and mentorship. Working with the strengths and interests of the artists in the room, the tutors will guide the group through practical workshops, ensemble training and a collaborative creative process.
The week will culminate in performance at TAPAC, sharing the participants’ learning, creative discoveries and artistic growth. Rather than working towards a predetermined musical, the group will shape a unique showcase that may include ensemble numbers, solos and duets, monologues, scenes and devised work.
MasterClass is designed to help participants become more confident, curious and collaborative performers—with stronger technical skills, a clearer artistic voice and a deeper understanding of musical theatre.
Lead Tutor and Programme Designer: Rebekkah Schoonbeek-Berridge
Guest tutors include Penny Dodd, James Doy MNZM and Lizzie Rose, with more to be announced.
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Rebekkah Schoonbeek-Berridge
Lead Tutor/Mentor | Ngāti Maru
Rebekkah Schoonbeek-Berridge is an in-demand performer, choreographer, singer, actor and dance educator/adjudicator based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Dance Studies from the University of Auckland and has undertaken further training at Broadway Dance Center in New York.
Her performance credits span theatre, dance, live entertainment, screen and music video. Highlights include Auckland Theatre Company’s Shortland Street - The Musical, including its original cast recording, and Chicago; Pleasuredome the Musical; 42nd Street; Blues Rugby; Les Mills; Diamond Entertainment; and SkyCity Entertainment. Her screen and music-video work includes projects with Marlon Williams, Stan Walker and William Waiirua, alongside television appearances on X Factor and Jono and Ben. She completed the Contemporary Indigenous Dance Residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada in 2016 and performed with Two Hearts at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019.
Rebekkah’s choreographic practice spans multiple dance styles and theatre forms. She has created work for Tempo Dance Festival, Auckland Fringe and Short+Sweet, where she received the Standout Female Performer Award for The Crickets Have Arthritis. She is co-founder and director of dynamic dance-theatre company Luck & Schooney, which works with queer artists and creates platforms and mentoring opportunities for emerging performers through its annual Night of the Queer programme within Auckland Pride.
James Doy
Guest Tutor | B.Mus, L.T.C.L., MNZM
James' professional credits include Christmas in the Park, Opera in the Park, Rob Guest, Max Bygraves and Shirley Bassey. As a musician in musical theatre, he has worked on international touring productions including Les Misérables, Little Shop of Horrors, Porgy and Bess, Cats, Matilda and Wicked. In 2014 he received the Variety Artists Club’s NZ Musician of the Year award.
James was Musical Director for the New Zealand Opening Ceremony of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, composing, arranging and collaborating with artists ranging from Sol3 Mio to Hayley Westenra while developing a showcase representing the music of all 14 participating nations. He composed the theme for Peta Mathias’s Taste television series and the full-length musicals "Wendy: the Peter Pan Musical" and "Alice".
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Rose
Guest Tutor | Creative Arts Facilitator, Performer and Choreographer
Lizzie is a creative arts facilitator, performer and choreographer with more than 12 years’ experience across the Musical Theatre industry. She holds an MA in Musical Theatre with Distinction from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, supported by the Judi Dench Fund and Leverhulme Trust Scholarship, and a Level 6 Diploma in Professional Dance from the Urdang Academy, supported by the Lionel Bart Bursary.
As an actor, Lizzie has worked with top West End creatives including Oliver Award winning choreographer Matt Cole, with her London Musical Theatre credits including Spring Awakening, The Secret Garden, Titanic, and Jane Austen's 'Emma'. Alongside this Lizzie has many years experience working within TV & Music Video, including choreographing a Strictly Come Dancing/Children In Need television feature and working on a Lewis Capaldi music video.
Lizzie has planned and delivered creative programmes for young people across the UK, including delivering creative outreach classes for young people through Mountview’s 'Generation Next', and teaching sold out MT Jazz workshops at MOVE IT, the United Kingdom’s largest dance convention. Her inclusive-practice experience includes a decade as a facilitator and workshop leader with multiple organisations supporting children and adults with additional needs. As an audition coach, many of Lizzie's students have gone on to successfully gain child agent representation and work in professional West End shows, as well as gaining places at prestigious London drama schools. Her teaching style is empowering and encouraging, providing strong technical training as well as a safe space to make mistakes and grow.
Penny Dodd
Guest Tutor
Penny Dodd is a pianist, music director, conductor and arranger with over 40 years of professional experience in shows and concerts. Recent highlights have included conducting the musical Chess at the Aotea Centre, accompanying the OGs Pasifika opera soloists in the NZ festival, and a trip to Tokyo as Associate MD for Ken Hill’s Original Phantom of the Opera. She has produced a set of orchestrations for Che Fu for orchestral Matariki concerts, and is working on arrangements for upcoming concerts, and international cruises.
Penny has conducted musicals including Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and Anything Goes at the Civic in Auckland, performed with leading companies in the West End in London, directed Symphonic Rock concerts with the APO, and completed 17 years as musical director of Coca Cola Christmas in the Park.
Programme dates: October 6 - 10, course runs 10am - 4pm. Performance time TBC.
Performance venue: TAPAC
Age range: 14 - 21
Lead Tutor and Programme Designer: Rebekkah Schoonbeek-Berridge
Guest tutors: Penny Dodd, James Doy MNZM, Lizzie Rose and more to be announced
Price: $475
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