On the road again

Ever dreamed of flying away?

Well Tara Given certainly has.

After years on the amateur stage, she is off to see the world.

Tara Given is a Hamilton performer in her third-year at Waikato University, who is about to embark on The Cat in The Hat  Australian tour in June 2019.

Performing from a young age, starting with dance, Tara soon moved into theatre where she found her calling.

She got her start in the MusikMakers production of The Addams Family  where she was cast as Wednesday Addams. She described this as important to her as an actress as she had to step up and “know her lines and ‘steps’ to give a perfect performance”. She feels it helped her as an actress as she felt the pressure and she overcame it.

Another achievement of Tara’s was when she was cast as Eponine in Hamilton Operatic Society‘s 2017 production of Les Miserables.

Her proudest role so far is being a part of The Cat in The Hat  tour as Thing 1, which she toured around NZ in September 2018.

Tara describes life on the road as intense but enjoyable, doing two shows per day, packing up and going straight to the next town to do it all over again. Even though the schedule is busy and hectic the crew fits in some down time to relax.

“This will be the longest show I have ever done, 40-50 shows. Including the New Zealand tour and the Australian tour, it will be about 10 weeks.”

On top of being part of this tour, she is also involved some other shows around Hamilton including Clarence Street Theatre’s upcoming show Superstars.

In addition to this busy show schedule, Tara is attending Waikato University as a Sir Edmund Hilary Scholar, studying a Bachelor of Arts, double majoring in Theatre Studies and Screen and Media.  She manages to juggle both her study and shows with the help of the scholarship programme.

“They have been very helpful with in getting my degree, whenever opportunities like this come up, they assist me in my studies, so I am able do the shows”. Tara joked that they are encouraging of her “taking time off to do things like this.”

Tara’s advice for anyone wanting to get into theatre is to “not worry if you are too young, too old or worried you don’t look right for the part, just apply. People are worried that they haven’t had the training, it doesn’t matter, it is about getting your name out there.”