15 December 2023
The Neil Curnow Award is made possible through the generous bequest of the late Neil Curnow, an extraordinary man of the theatre based in Adelaide. Following his impressive career as an actor, director, teacher and voice coach, Neil made a bequest through the Independent Arts Foundation to support emerging South Australian theatre people through this prestigious award. We are honoured to continue his legacy today.
The Neil Curnow Award is available to final-year students and graduates aged between 18 and 30. The purpose of the award is to support an emerging artist to undertake further study or career development in acting, theatre performance or theatre direction. The award supports the recipient to undertake further study or an internship at a recognised institution, nationally or internationally.
We are thrilled to announced that the recipient for the Neil Curnow Award 2024 is Flinders University graduate, Ren Williams.
Ren is an actor, writer, director, and co-founder of independent theatre company CRAM Collective. After graduating in 2020, Ren made her directing debut with Deadset Theatre Company’s show Truck Stop along with winning State Theatre Company South Australia’s Young Playwright Award for her play Modified. After forming CRAM in 2021, Ren performed in and produced their world premiere of Something Big following the sold-out New World Coming, a show created in five days. In 2022 Ren performed in STCSA’s StateSide show Kill Climate Deniers as five different characters. Most recently, Ren performed in the DreamBIG Festival in the one-woman show Guthrak before puppeteering on the set of Beep and Mort for Season 2 and joining the USA tour of Bluey’s Big Play at the end of 2023.
Next year Ren will travel to London to undertake a four-week intensive screen acting course with the Actors Studio. This will be followed by a week-long intensive at the International School of Screen Acting with tutoring by renowned industry professionals, including Sue Dunderdale, Ben Cogan, Jane Ahmore, and Leon Lopez.
On receiving the news of her successful application, Ren said she was, “over the moon”.
“Being given the opportunity to undertake a world-renowned masterclass in screen acting will not only enhance my artistic development as an actor, but it will further my career within the film industry and allow me to bring this knowledge back to Kaurna Yerta. I am so excited and incredibly grateful to Helpmann for this career-changing experience,” said Ren.
Applications for the Neil Curnow Award 2025 open September next year.
Image: Ren Williams by Weronika Mamot.