Having Lisandro Home!
Known as Jano at TheatreiNQ, this Bridge Alumni came home and hit the ground running not even a year out of Actors Centre Sydney (ACA) starring in this year’s Shakespeare Under the Stars - LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. For one of our Expand your World tasks for Sessions this term, I was given the absolute privilege to interview this guest professional and discover what exactly he’s been up to in Sydney.
BACKGROUND
For anyone unfamiliar, ‘Jano’ is not actually Jano’s first name, it’s his middle name! “They ask for your legal name when auditioning for schools, so I was like, well, I guess I have to introduce myself as Lisandro to everyone now ”. In my chat with Jano, I asked him how he came across TheatreiNQ and the Bridge. “They were holding auditions for a younger boy character in FRANKENSTEIN, and they went with someone who looked a bit younger than i did." (Fun fact - the actor cast was Nicholas Rose - who would go on to join the Bridge Project years later.)
That was when Terri approached him and told him about The Bridge. (Another Fun fact - Jano was actually one of the few bridgees that did their first year in grade 12, “it was a lot of hard work being in a show and having to go to school the day after”.
TIME AWAY
After his four year tenure with TheatreiNQ, Jano was accepted into the Actors Centre Australia, where he further developed his acting skills. Moving to Sydney was one of the biggest adjustments he was forced to make. Leaving home meant learning how to cook, live independently, and navigate the realities of adulthood. "Adulting is hard, I definitely learnt a lot about myself. Like, I didn’t know how to cook a decent meal, I think I lived off two minute noodles for the majority of my first year moving out". On a personal note, talking about this sort of stuff with Jano was just so refreshing. As someone who had to relocate to an unfamiliar area, it was nice hearing that someone I look up to, had also experienced the same hardships I went through. While the city could be overwhelming at first, he quickly fell in love with its energy, “Looking back I’m glad I took the leap, the busy environment was just really my speed”.
Training at ACA was as equally demanding as The Bridge. Emotionally and physically, it pushed him every day. "Drama schools just throw a bunch of stuff at you, you know how they [Terri and Brendan] focus on methods like Cicely Berry for three years? Well, at ACA, we would touch on her for a day and it was up to you to look into them further”. Despite the demand for autonomous learning at ACA, the Bridge prepared him for exactly that. “ Terri and Brendan taught us to go and expand our world and look into other methods - so I felt very prepared.” A new school meant new classmates and fellow actors, I asked Jano what it was like to go from working with a company whose members have such a strong connection with one another, to a completely different group of people he’s never met before, “I definitely felt that I had done a lot of self discovery from my time in the Bridge that they didn’t, but that was fine, because I was busy trying to figure out what I was going to cook for dinner”.
During our chat, I happened to be sewing buttons on some of our girls’ costumes, and that’s what sprung the discussion about the backstage skills we learn at TheatreiNQ. “I was in one of my ACA shows, and we were doing work with blood packs, and like, I’d never made the blood packs myself when I was here, but because I just watched Ron [Pulman] messing around with them and I knew how they worked, I already had a rough idea on how to make them”. It’s a weird feeling to explain, but it was honestly just really refreshing to hear Bridge Graduate say those kinds of things while you’re casually sewing buttons. It was like a lightbulb moment for me; it was the realisation that all the things we are taught at TheatreiNQ are incredibly helpful when we carve careers for ourselves.
BEING BACK HOME
At around the end of our chat I just had to ask Jano what it’s been like being back home and performing in Love’s Labour’s Lost, “I feel so spoiled coming back”, he quickly replied. "I use to love how we were encouraged to help with the set and production stuff here at The Bridge, but unfortunately I couldn’t do a lot of that over at ACA”. I asked him if he felt that he was still learning stuff from Terri and Brendan, even after three more years of educational experience, “Oh, absolutely, I think I’ll never stop learning from the two of them”, he responded. Being a Bridge Alumni, fresh out of drama school, this actually means this is Jano’s first professional engagement as a full-time actor! “It's really such a full circle moment”.
I asked him what it's been like to work with an entirely new generation of bridgees, “I really just keep thinking of how I was feeling when the returning alumni came back and performed when I was a bridgee, and now that's me! It feels really cool”, he responded.
Being able to share the stage with Jano has been such a treat, he brings such a burst of color into the space that makes the people around him inspired to do a good job. It actually was another moment that I realised that, even though we may or may not have trained together at the same time, all of the actors that train through the Bridge always feel like family. Being able to talk with Jano, hear his story and being able to relate to what he was saying, was almost like I was just having a conversation with my older brother! It was nothing short of special.
With the way this show has been cast, us three sessions boys [Owen Rogan, Tighe Tucker, and myself] got to work very closely with Jano, so I thought it would be nice to ask them what it’s been like to work with him:
“Being on stage with Jano has been really helpful for me, his confidence in pitching ideas has given me the inspiration I've needed, especially in my first ever featured role for Shakespeare Under the Stars. He's always checking in on everyone to make sure they're OK, and never hesitates to offer a helping hand to his fellow actor.” ~ Tighe Tucker
“It’s been great to work with and get to know Jano. It’s inspiring to see the way he works, particularly with Terri, and to get see his years of experience manifest in this show” ~ Owen Rogan
Needless to say, having Jano back was fantastic, and it’s no secret that having him in the show will have a lasting, positive impact on all of us. Learning from him, laughing with him, and performing with him has been such a lovely opportunity for us all.
Written by Thomas Burt
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