COOPER SCREEN ACADEMY  has awarded the sought after 2011 Promise Scholarship to Launceston based actress, Rachael Williams.  The Promise Scholarship covers fees for The CSA Career Course and is awarded annually to a young person who shows considerable promise and dedication in the area of performance and would like to pursue acting as a career.  Williams and Cooper first met while auditioning for Sydney’s Kate Gaul for the stage show, Beautiful playing next week in Hobart, and both play roles in the upcoming feature film Breeding in Captivity.  See Saturday 9th July's Mercury for an article on this exciting production.

Of Rachael, Cooper says: “Rachael has the wonderful combination of talent, courage, appeal and immense dedication so crucial for success in this industry. Not only has she proven herself a hard worker in every area of the performing arts, but she has been highly recommended by industry professionals.”   

Scholarship awardee Williams says: “I am so honoured and excited to accept the Promise Scholarship. Being relatively inexperienced when it comes to film acting, I am looking forward to having a new skill set and feel incredibly blessed that I was chosen. I think Tassie has such an amazing talent pool and I feel really proud of how it nurtures its artists.”  

The CSA Career Course for 16yr olds and up is a seven week course packed with information about the professional acting industry and covering all the information and skills needed to get ‘industry ready’.  2010 Career Course graduates have gone on to feature in TV commercials, feature films, a nationwide short film, professional theatre readings and a nationwide video clip. 

Two more Scholarships are available to the Career Course donated by Alderman Bill Harvey.  The Bill
Harvey Scholarships are full payment scholarships for places to the Career Course for disadvantaged youth.  All course and scholarship details can be found on the CSA website.

This year’s Career Course starts on the 16^th July and applications for its early bird discount close 10^th July.

Rachael Williams biography: A recent graduate of the School of Visual and Performing arts (UTAS) Rachael has directed Waiting for Go, Mudlark’s One day 7 (2010), Paradise, UTAS (2009) and Larry the Sheep Hater, S.T.C (2008).  Stage Credits include Cymbeline (centrstage), The Skriker (UTAS), Family running for Mr Whippy (S.D.F), A staged Death (S.D.F), Red Cross (S.D.F), Swallowing is a very private thing (S.D.F), Allison.Jennifer.Jane (S.D.F) I’am Nocte (Voice Theatre Lab), Alchemy (Voice Theatre Lab) and A dream play (UTAS). Short Films include Tahunes Beast (Dugong Film Festival), 3 housemates in the apocalypse, and Transformers: A music video.

Her writing credits are Paradise (2009) and A slip to place (2008) She is currently working on a screenplay based on her delightful grandma's travels.   Stage Managing Credits include Peter Pan (Imagine theatre, 2010) Utas Masters Production (2009), Boy gets girl (Centrstage 2007), Tis the season (Centrstage 2007)