“There’s so much more to Toi Whakaari than just becoming a good actor. It teaches you how to be a better human.”

Toi Whakaari acting student Alex Tarrant is the recipient of the 2012 Museum Art Hotel Scholarship in association with Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand, awarded every year to an acting student of Toi Whakaari who has also participated in the Shakespeare Festivals organised by the SGCNZ. Alex, 20, has just completed his second year of study in the Bachelor of Performing Arts (Acting) at Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School, and joins an illustrious list of past winners that include Dan Musgrove (Underbelly: Land of the Long Green Cloud) and Brooke Williams (Shortland Street), as well as Dan Caddy (Reservoir Hill) and Angela Green (Associate Producer at Downstage).

Alex himself hails from Morrinsville, and is of Nuiean, Maori and Samoan descent. His passion for acting developed at Hamilton’s Fraser High School, and blossomed at the SGCNZ Regional and National Shakespeare Festivals before he decided to audition for Toi Whakaari in 2009, performing recently in such productions as The Roaring Girl and the Toi Cabaret Season of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

The award will cover his third-year course fees and a contribution towards living costs, totalling almost $6,500, and Alex is ecstatic about it:

“This award only makes me more determined to reach my full potential. It’s like a push on my back.”

Chris Parkin, of the Museum Hotel, is equally delighted. He has sponsored the award for eleven years now and says of the recipients, all of whom have since forged a career in the drama world: “I look forward to seeing their name in lights, knowing I have helped them on their way.”

For Alex, that means spending the summer as an intern with The Conch Theatre Company in Auckland, before going on to perform in their production for the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival, Masi. One to watch!

Photo: Alex Tarrant, Dawn Sanders (SGCNZ) and Chris Parkin (Museum Hotel) at the presentation of the award at the Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School Graduation Ceremony on Thursday 10 November.