OUR STORY

Two best friends suffer a falling-out onstage when an unexpected discovery brings catastrophe to the opening night of a play at a state theatre company.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

The culture surrounding the theatre world is deeply superstitious. You mustn’t dare utter words such as Macbeth or even “good luck” or you’ll risk cursing the production. The lighting-in-a-bottle nature of a stage play is unique to the medium – whatever happens, happens. In the experiences of our cast, when things go wrong on stage, the actors have to improvise and incorporate the new circumstances into their performance: to make it believable for the audience within the world they inhabit.This poses the dilemma of what happens when a play gets disrupted by the real-life problems of the performers themselves; how does that get incorporated into the story? Where would the story of the play end and the story of the performer begin?

I feel like there are more instances of performance in our day-to-day lives than we may realise. We might go to work and put on our customer-service voice, or perhaps go to a function and pretend to like the people who are there. Everyone has a side of themselves that they feel comfortable showing others, and another side they would prefer to stay hidden. This story thrusts our characters into a pressure-cooker where those masks start to slip off; having to confront the resentments between each other in front of a live audience. The show must go on, and amidst the glitz and glam of the theatrics, these actors may do damage to each other beyond repair in the process. O’Keeffe’s screenplay dissects and investigates the complexities behind this friendship between Brianna and Hailey in a fascinating manner, and I’m looking forward to doing what I can to bring it to life.

- Nicholas Hooker

THE CAST

Brianna

Dinasha Perera

Dinasha Perera is a 3rd year WAAPA Actor. This Sri Lankan- Kiwi- Aussie has a passion for all things acting, but her greatest love will forever be small dogs.

Hailey

Mia Fitzgerald

Mia is a WAAPA actor originally from Sydney. In 2020 Mia graduated with a Diploma of Acting from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and continues to hone her craft in her studies in the Bachelor of Arts (Acting) course. Mia has had the opportunity to stretch and test her range during her studies where she has played the roles of Olga in Three Sisters, Paulina in A Winter's Tale, Eny Kilker in The Harp in the South P2, Galileo in The Life of Galileo, Lady Macduff in Macbeth and her most recent lead role of Greta from Girl Asleep. Growing up by the beach, Mia’s passions include swimming, surfing and a medium rare steak. Mia always seeks to have fun, while working in an assiduous, diligent manner.

Miles

Tom Bitti

Tom (he/him) is in WAAPA's 3rd year acting course. He loves acting in student films, watching and playing football and a good bowl of pasta. He has played the roles of Mr Gunnarson in The Harp in the South, Polixenes in The Winter's Tale, the Little Monk in The Life of Galileo, Malcolm in Macbeth and most recently Elliot in Girl Asleep. He also won the AusBrit Society award for the exceptional presentation of a sonnet.

Vincent

Angelo Torres

Angelo (he/him) is in his fourth year at WAAPA, completing his Diploma of Acting with Dr. Tom Heath in 2021, and now the Bachelor of Arts (Acting) at the end of this year. During drama school, he co-lead the cast of Stephen Nicollazzo’s Macbeth and co-wrote the score for Life of Galileo. Other credits: Tusenbach in 3 Sisters (dir. Will O'Mahoney), Leontes in Winters Tale (dir. Teresa Jakovich), Orestes in Choēphóroi (dir. Humphrey Bower), Lick Jimmy in Harp in the South (dir. Andrew Lewis), Conrad in Girl Asleep.

THE CREW

Gabrielle O'Keeffe

Writer

Gabrielle is passionate about all aspects of filmmaking, but writing holds a special place in her heart. She loved writing the Chookas script and can’t wait to see her talented friends bring it to life on screen. 

Nic Hooker

Director

An avid movie and theatre addict for as long as he can remember, Nic’s obsession with storytelling has known no bounds since childhood. Partway through a Bachelor of Media and Communication at WASA, he specialises in directing, writing, and script supervision. Despite Nic’s technical prowess developing, the aspects of film most interesting to him are the characters and the performances behind them.

Tahlia Kelleher

Producer

Tahlia discovered her love for film at the age of 11, and has been studying it for the last 8 years, working on 9 short films. She has just graduated from the Advanced Diploma of Digital Cinema and is currently halfway through her first year of the Bachelor’s of Media and Communication at the Screen Academy. Although she has spent most of her time in the makeup and art departments, she is keen to produce and help in bringing Chookas to life.

Jay Sinclair

Cinematographer

Jay is a multi-faceted creative with a focus on cinematography and general filmmaking. After years of trying to find his calling through fashion and design, Jay discovered filmmaking and how fulfilling it is to put your ideas on screen. Jays' goal is to make Chookas a visually interesting experience that rewards the viewers with unique visuals and smart framing.

Robert M. Wilkinson

Sound Recordist

Robert began his filmmaking journey at North Metro TAFE in 2021, where he discovered his love for cinematic storytelling through screenwriting and sound design as well as developing a profound respect for the role of producing before beginning his studies at Screen Academy in 2024. 

With a love for drama and horror films, Robert's goal as a filmmaker is to tell stories that will shock, entertain, terrify, and touch the hearts of audiences. For now, Robert is eager to bring the sound design for Chookas to life.

Cameron A. Clear

Editor

As someone who started out as a theatre kid at 8 and grew into filmmaking later on, Cameron feels especially suited to working on this love letter to Vaudeville. He's an experienced editor, performer, and writer who has an understanding of this story from all angles, and is bringing 100% of that knowledge and passion to this project.

Chookas is produced by WA Screen Academy (WASA) students, featuring third year actors from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).  By donating to this page you are donating to the students involved in this project. No funds will be received by Edith Cowan University, WASA or WAAPA.

To make Chookas a reality, we need your help to raise $2,100.

All donations will go towards costume, makeup, art department, additional hires and cast, catering for extras, music, archival footage, other festivals, and general production costs. 

As a thank-you, we have several rewards to offer. These include BTS content, exclusive updates on the film, your name in the credits, the opportunity to be an extra, and many more!

Your support means the world to us. We thank you in advance.