Former Ashburton College student Kelley Kerr-Young is busy working as an actor in Melbourne. Photo Linda ClarkeFormer Ashburton College student Kelley Kerr-Young has just finished shooting a short film in Australia.

Kerr-Young works as an actor in Melbourne and is also a member of the all-female film and theatre collective Girls Act Good.

The group raised funds to shoot The Association, a social thriller about the perfect domestic life, by first staging a theatre version of it.

The film now needs final editing before it can be entered into national and international film festivals.

Kerr-Young left Ashburton College at the end of 2001 to attend the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Arts. She graduated three years later with a Bachelor in Performing Arts and worked around New Zealand for several years before moving to Melbourne.

She and husband Stephen Camp have just bought a section in the suburb of Manor Lakes and Kerr-Young is busy following her passion for acting and singing.

The 34-year-old’s personal brand is awkward comedy and she has been on stage in several well-known Melbourne acting houses.

Kerr-Young’s parents Paul and Barbara Young now live and train horses in West Melton, but when the family lived in Mid Canterbury she was also involved in equestrian and rugby.

After winning awards at the Sheilah Winn Festival of Shakespeare in her final year at college, she had to make a choice when a prestigious acting camp that co-incided with the South Island Secondary Schools girls’ rugby tournament and the South Island Young Rider Show Jumping camp.

She chose acting and has never looked back.

The Girls Act Good collective was set up by Australian producer Jennifer Monk and is aimed at generating more theatre opportunities for women.

The group is looking for funds to help polish the final product, with an original score and soundtrack and visual effects.

If you want to help crowdfund The Association to its final stage, go to https://australianculturalfund.org.au/projects/the-association/

By Linda Clarke © The Ashburton Guardian - 30 August 2017

Davina Lamont works her magic on Einstein actor Geoffrey Rush. Photo supplied.Ashburton-raised Davina Lamont is in the running for a make-up artist award at the Emmys.

The American entertainment industry awards recognise excellence in all aspects of television and Davina has been nominated for her work on Genius, a National Geographic Channel drama charting the life of legendary physicist Albert Einstein.

Her journey to the top of the profession began after a year-long make-up course in Christchurch, after she left Ashburton College at the age of 16.

Before that she attended Netherby and Hampstead schools and Ashburton Intermediate.

“I first thought I wanted to be a sound engineer, but I walked past a make-up studio in Christchurch one day and it struck a chord with me.

“I’m very much a free spirit and I love doing what I do.”

The big break for Davina came five years into the profession, when she landed a job on Lord of The Rings.

For almost 25 years she has worked on dozens of films and television productions.

Her skills with wig making, prosthetics and make-up have featured on vampire flick 30 Days of Night, Sherlock Holmes, Avatar and mini series Sons of Liberty, to name but a few.

She has worked for top directors like Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg and Jane Campion and with a number of top Hollywood actors.

Working on Genius with actors Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Flynn has been “brilliant”, she said.

There had been lots of prosthetics, wigs and facial hair needed to age both actors, as well as the trade mark Einstein moustache and halo hair style.

The ageing needed for the role had spanned the period from the 1890s until the 1950s.

The series had been filmed in the Czech Republic and she would work on a second series later in the year.

She usually spent 10 months a year working overseas, but had a home in Queenstown and made regular visits to Ashburton where she caught up with her parents, siblings and old school friends.

Davina will be in Los Angeles on September 10 when the Emmy award winners are announced.

© The Ashburton Courier - 24 August 2017

Hemi Harper and Sonia Stephens-Tahuri commence the Ashburton College kapa haka performance with a putaatara (konch shell). Photo suppliedMonths of hard work and preparation culminated last Friday at Ka Toi Maori O Aoraki FLAVA festival in Timaru, where five Ashburton schools showcased their kapa haka skills.

Kapa haka teams from Netherby, Borough, Hampstead, Ashburton Intermediate schools and Ashburton College journeyed south to take the stage at the Theatre Royal, and compete at the annual festival of Maori arts.

This year’s FLAVA festival attracted 20 schools from Mid and South Canterbury who performed in three categories – kapa haka, performing arts and visual arts.

Ashburton’s entries were all in the kapa haka category, in senior and junior divisions.

Claire Robertshaw, head of arts and languages at Ashburton College said it was a “big, long day” for performers, but the kapa haka group had done their college and tutor proud.

“The college group performed really well.”

She said the team picked up second prize in the competitive senior kapa haka section, along with a “very exciting” scholarship prize from ARA.

Serenity Timothy of Year 13 also walked away with second-place prize for the female leader category.

Hampstead principal Peter Melrose said students from the Hampstead School Kapa Haka Ropu came home from the event “tired and with lots of stories to tell their families and friends”.

He said the performers also relished the opportunity to watch older students from Ashburton College and Ashburton Intermediate perform because it “gives them an aspiration to work towards”.

“We see our students in Intermediate and College groups and cheer even louder for them – it is great to see that growth and continuity of skill.”

The FLAVA festival has been running for 11 years and is open to all childhood, primary and secondary schools and tertiary education facilities between the Waitaki and Rakaia rivers.

It is organised by Arowhenua Whanau Services and continues to grow in popularity and size each year.

By Katie Todd © The Ashburton Guardian - 22 August 2017