What If You Didn’t Know Your Dream Career Even Existed? Ryan Found His at NIDA

It involves making things fly.

This post is presented in partnership with NIDA.

The old cliché—popularised by films such as Billy Elliot—is that you can either forge a meaningful career by making stuff with your bare hands, or skip that for a life in the arts.

But Aussie NIDA grad Ryan Drum, thinking like the Old El Paso girl, did both.

As a graduate of the Staging course at Sydney’s esteemed National Institute of Dramatic Art, he has built for himself—literally—a constructive career in the theatre.

"I suppose I came from a theatre family," he tells Student Edge.

"Dad used to be a set carpenter and mum a costume maker. I was always more interested in the production side, as that was more what I was exposed to. I have dabbled in the acting and directing side of things, but I don't think anybody needs to see that."

He admits he never thought of stagecraft as a long-term way to make money, until a friend and mentor who works as a theatre technician in Canberra recommended NIDA.

"I simply assumed it was an acting school," he says.

Ryan is now an expert in stage automation and aerial performance, or what he calls “the art of making scenery move, be that across a stage, around a circle, through the air or up from under the stage, or any and all of the above at the same time!” During his time at NIDA, he even designed a control system for automated three-dimensional flying.

It has led to him applying his skills internationally, including in Germany.

"One of the shows I did for Audi, I had 27 different pieces of moving scenery including travelators, revolving stages, and walls that moved vertically and horizontally," he says.

"Over five weeks, we built the entire theatre, put together the largest live automation setup I've ever worked on, rehearsed the event and managed to make it to the end of the run of shows without a single (audience noticeable) hitch."

Though his Staging course has since been renamed the Bachelor of Fine Art (Scenic Construction and Technologies), it still offers the same benefits Ryan enjoyed.

"It was completely different from the university study I had done previously, with a real focus on the skills and practical side of theatre," he says.

"Hanging out in the workshop making just about anything you can think of was a really welcome change from the more traditional style studying I did in the past."

The connections he made there also helped him score a gig immediately after study.

"One of my tutors and I had a very good relationship over the years I was at NIDA, and he went on to offer me my first job straight after graduation," he says.

"And I've crossed paths with peers and others from around NIDA countless times as my career has gone on."

He’s now working as a leading hand for Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet, loving the experience, and making sure the audience doesn’t spot any mistakes.

"We've all had the odd curve ball, whether it be a missed cue, or a machine breakdown on stage, but the real magic is how you get away with it without letting the punters know," he says.

As for anyone else who might be considering a career in the arts—but isn’t immediately drawn to acting or directing, or other obvious opportunities—he has the following advice: "The only thing stopping most people from one of the most rewarding careers under the sun is that they never knew it even existed."

Sound like the place for you? Enrolments for NIDA's 2021 course in Scenic Construction and Technologies close on 30 October. Find out more here.

Header Image: Facebook (NIDA)