Nicole Symens
Griffith University offers a range of prestigious and competitive performing arts degrees. Sage Del Carmen (they/them) is commencing their second year of studying Queensland’s Academy of Excellence in Musical Theatre (QAEMT) at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC).
On a typical day at university Sage will attend dancing and singing classes with their cohort of 20 people. The classes range from ballet, tap dancing and jazz, to ensemble classes and private singing lessons.
“You’re chucking 20 creative, big-hearted, emotional people into a space working from 8am until 6:30pm Monday to Friday. Our relationships definitely develop a lot faster and quicker than normal friendships,” they told me.
As we walk through QPAC; Sage proudly shows me classrooms that the students use to train and attend classes in. As we’re approaching the studio, we can hear one of Sage’s peers, Chloe singing ‘the Wizard and I, a song from the Wicked musical. There is no denying that her voice is beautiful, or “light with pure clarity,” as Sage describes. The students in QAEMT have incredible talent and dedication which is hardly surprising considering the sheer amount of them who voluntarily come in to practice over the holidays. Once Sage enters it doesn’t take long for the two to mess around with the piano and sing together, something Sage tells me is a regular occurrence.
“I have a little group of friends; we stay back just an extra hour usually once a week or more and sing. Just sing songs just for the pure enjoyment,”
The course is divided into 10 ‘masc’ and 10 ‘fem’ students when undergoing specific classes as Sage tells me it is common in the musical theatre industry, especially when performing dances, to take on either the masculine or feminine role in a performance. Sage explained that they have certainly faced barriers when it comes to gender identity and being a person of colour. This has inspired and shaped their future aspirations.
“My ultimate goal for myself is to become almost like a representative or someone who can create the new training regime.”
I think one day I want to create a space that’s safe for the socio-economically disadvantaged people or the multicultural and diverse people. I want to be able to say we allow for all of that and we welcome this sort of thing,” they said.
It’s impressive how Sage can embrace such a fun and light-hearted approach to life while being incredibly dedicated to their hectic schedule.
When asked what their dream role in a show would be, Sage’s response is not what you would expect.
“I want to be a troll in the Frozen musical or a monkey in Wicked just because they look really cool. If you’re a side character you have more opportunity to bring essences of yourself into that character if that makes sense.”
Each year, the third year QAEMT students perform as leads in a musical with the first years as background characters and second years as understudies. They performed Cry Baby in 2023 which was a hilarious success. 2024’s musical will be Legally Blonde; it will be exciting to see how the cast will encapsulate the early 2000’s chick flick nostalgia and not to mention, the beloved character of Elle Woods.
Unfortunately, there’s a slim chance of playing a troll or a monkey in Legally Blonde. Stay tuned to see what character Sage will bring to life in the 2024 performance.
Sage is just one of many Griffith students attending QPAC; full of creativity, ambition and talent. Check out the website link for more information about performing arts with Griffith.
The Griffith Journal 
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