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Upon graduation from The University of Western Sydney, Theatre Theory and Practice Degree (1996) Shondelle Pratt began work with Theatre in Education Company, Destination Education, where she toured both Australia and New Zealand delivering science and technology shows for primary and high school students. From there her passion to coach and instruct the next generation of performers resulted in completing a Diploma of Education and working as a Drama/ English/ Dance teacher for both primary and high school across the Met West Region of NSW including Westmead Children’s Hospital. This love of working with children and developing individualised programs of learning led to her working with Disney and The Really Useful Company as a classroom tutor for the touring companies of Mary Poppins, The Lion King and Love Never Dies.
ACTING In 2005, Shondelle’s passion for acting led her to complete a Diploma in Acting from Ensemble Studios. She continued to work as a choreographer, resident teaching artist, and performer across television, film, cabaret and theatre. Her acting roles included ABC’s Crownies, Southern Star’s Deadly Women for Beyond International, the Channel 9 children’s show Magical Tales as well as the feature film Half Dead co-starring Peter Phelps and John Rhys Davies. She was also the co-writer, performer and producer of the award-winning web series, Bent 101 screened on channel 7 and can be currently seen in Born to Spy on ABC iview Shondelle's theatre roles include the character of Snoopy in Snoopy the Musical, Bear Hunt and Showtime at Ensemble Theatre. In 2015, Shondelle performed in Squabbalogic’s sold-out production of The Man of La Mancha, along with industry legend Tony Sheldon. The live cast recording of this sell-out production is available through Squabbalogic. In 2016 she was invited to workshop and perform in the national tour of Diary of a Wombat with Monkey Baa Theatre Company. This resulted in an invitation to perform the show in Philadelphia at IPAY in 2017. CHOREOGRAPHY As a choreographer, Shondelle has worked over 30 years with theatre companies such as Opera Australia, Pacific Opera, Ensemble Theatre, Squabbalogic, PACT, CDP and Mad March Hare Theatre Company, across multiple genres. Her work extends from Children’s theatre such as Bear Hunt and The Australian tour of Mr Stink with CDP to Musical Theatre including A Year with Frog and Toad, which won the Glugg Award for Best Children’s Musical. She also choreographed the Australian Premieres of Carrie The Musical and Grey Gardens with director Jay James-Moody. Shondelle also has a passion for new Australian work. She choreographed the Australian premieres of playwright David Williamson’s, Managing Carmen and John Misto’s play Dark Voyager. In 2014 Shondelle was invited to workshop and perform with dance company, Force Majeure on their Sydney Festival show Nothing to Lose. She also worked with Marika Aubrey in her headlining cabaret act at Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Last of the Red Hot Mama’s and in 2019 choreographed Libby Wood and Maeve Marsden’s sell out show, Fat Musicals , directed by Anthea Williams, which went on to tour Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s Kiki Comedy Festival and Malthouse Theatre. INTIMACY As a movement director and intimacy Coordinator. Shondelle shaped Metamorphosis for Clock and Spiel Theatre Company, Bengal Tiger at The Bagdad Zoo for Mad March Hare Theatre Company, which received an honourable mention in the 2017 Sydney Theatre Awards and The Chairs with Sara Biglafashir as part of the VCA directors’ showcase. As an Intimacy Director she has collaborated with companies such as Mad March Hare in their work, Dark Vanilla Jungle, You Got Older and The Cripple of Inishmaan, which was nominated for a Glugg in 2020 as well as director Giles Gartrell-Mills in Where Do Little Birds Go? The Village Bike with director Rachel Chant and The Effect with director Andrew Henry. She has worked with Acting students at NIDA on Machinal with Carissa Licciardello , Blood Wedding with Dino Dimitriades How I Learned to Drive with Tasnim Hossain and The Writer with Zoë Hollyoak . Shondelle worked with the National tour of director Joel McKneely's West Side Story, Sydney Theatre Critics award winning show Albion with New Ghost Theatre and most recently, in 2023, Teenage Dick, Mike Lew's play with Divergent Theatre, Flightpath Theatre and director Dan Graham. In March 2020 Shondelle was invited by Ita O’Brien, world leader in the pedagogy of Intimacy directing, to travel to the UK and participate in intimacy directing training. She furthered her work in Intimacy Coordination through Intimacy Directors and Coordinators in the USA and spent three months studying under Claire Warden and Marcus Watson. As an intimacy pedagog, Shondelle received funding from the American Australian Arts Fund and Create NSW to attend Theatrical intimacy Educations Educator Advocate Program. A place where 20 international educators are invited each year to work on Best practice to teach intimacy methodology to emerging artists. She continues to lead workshops at NIDA, ACA and JMC and Canberra Youth Theatre Company and offers consultancy on projects and works in the industry. Her most current work can be seen at Belvoir with Saturday Girls, directed by LJ Wilson and her consultancy work can be seen in The Dismissal, Squabbalogic's upcoming show director by Jay James-Moddy and choreographer Amy Campbell. DIRECTING As an assistant director, Shondelle has been fortunate enough to work with Shaun Rennie in The Rise and Fall of Little Voicefor Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Jason Langley in Wonderful Town with the Sydney Philharmonia Choir and Nancy Hayes in Tubby The Tuba for CDP at The Opera House. She also assistant directed Spark Youth Theatre Company’s ground-breaking show Political Children, directed by Felicity Nicols, Wolf Lullaby with director Emma Louise and Falsetto’s with Stephen Colyer. In 2016 Shondelle directed the Babies Proms at The Sydney Opera House with the shows Vivaldi- The Four Seasons and Twas The Night Before Christmas. In 2017 She was invited to complete a Masters in Directing for Performance at the Victorian College of Arts. A highlight of her studies involved being invited to tour Alaska as a directing fellow with internationally renowned theatre company, Ping Chong and Company and their show ALAXSXA/ALASKA; a historical, political and social reflection from the perspectives of both the indigenous communities of Alaska and immigrants to the community. in 2019, Shondelle went on to work with David Venn Productions as resident director of the Melbourne Season of Bring it On the Musical, directed by Alistair Smith and choreographed by Mikey Ralph. After this she took part in a 6-month drama residency at The Aurora School, a community for deaf and deaf blind children under 5 years old with a focus on inclusive, accessible theatre practice. With the permission of Em’s Entertainment, she adapted the show Wombats Wild Weekend written by Wayne Tunks and created an immersive children’s musical, co-composing, directing and choreographing the show for neurodiverse children and their families. 2020 saw Shondelle awarded the Mike Walsh Fellowship for her research into inclusive accessible practice in theatre for young children. She traveled to the UK to work in a residency with Bamboozle Theatre Company and directors Christopher Davies and Sue Pycroft. A company specialising in theatre for children with special needs. She is currently living in Australia and is represented by Working Management. |
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Shondelle Pratt
MEAA Member Director / Choreographer / Intimacy Director / Actor
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AUSTRALIA
Agency (Acting): Working Management
Email: office@workingmanagement.com.au
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