• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

After growing up performing for her parents with childhood dreams of stardom, 32-year-old Lara Fischel-Chisholm is now...performing in her parents living room for her latest show This Is My Real Job, as part of Dunedin Fringe Festival 2014.

"I was thinking about the shows I did for my parents as a child and how I pretty much do the same thing now except sometimes people pay me."

Lara tells us more about herself, making the decision to invest in her creative work full-time and how she doesn't have time for a 'real job'.

* * *

During what hours of the day do you feel most inspired? Morning. 

How would a good friend describe your aesthetic or style? Stripey… with moppish hair. 

What aspect of your creative practice gives you the biggest thrill? 

That moment when you’re resigned to having dinner alone - so the waiter takes away the other menu and then along comes a mysterious and handsome stranger who sits down at your table, orders a martini and introduces himself as your show. 

How does your environment affect your work?

Physically, in terms of how much space I have, whether I’m choreographing in water or not and what I’m allowed/not allowed to use etc. But also more holistically, for example, right now I’m working in the house I grew up in and it would be a huge shame for that not to infiltrate the work. It just wouldn’t make sense. 

Do you like to look at the big picture or focus on the details?

I find myself looking more and more at the big picture so the details begin to take on different meaning – do they serve the bigger picture? What is worth obsessing over and what isn’t? 

What's your number one business tip for surviving (and thriving) in the creative industries?

Hang in there longer than anyone else?! I’m only half joking about that. A refusal to give up can go a long way but I reckon it comes back to the bigger picture idea and deciding what is worth your time and what isn’t. I still do work for free or for cheap if I am in love with the project and/or if I can see it’s potential to grow. There is no point in under-selling yourself if there isn’t a longer term benefit in it.

Which of your projects to date has given you the most satisfaction?

Working with the Wet Hot Beauties is always such a feel-good job. It can be really challenging but the pay-off is incredible. We were lucky enough to have a lot of beautiful photos taken of our Wet Hot Beaches season recently and the joy on the faces of the women and the spectators is really inspiring and humbling. I feel really lucky that Pip Hall and Judy Dale brought me on board and have let me dream a bit. Seeing our show Swan Song (in the Auckland Fringe Festival last year) come to life was pretty special. 

Who or what has inspired you recently?

My child, my partner who is also a self employed creative guy, the Town Centre team who I’ve been working with - Nisha Madhan pushes me creatively and inspires me to make interesting choices. I’ve also been listening to music that moved me as a child – it’s been cool to reconnect to that as an adult and to see where it takes my brain now.  

Tell us a bit about your background.

I’m a graduate from UNITEC School of Performing and Screen Arts and did a post grad certificate in Acting Shakespeare from RADA, London. I’m also one of ballets many casualties. I have a particular interest in collaborative work. I have a passion for making dance work with ‘non-dancers’. 

What’s the concept behind This is My Real Job?

I was thinking about the shows I did for my parents as a child and how I pretty much do the same thing now except sometimes people pay me. I wanted to use personal material to make something autobiographical yet hopefully relatable and I wanted it to be a solo work. I didn’t want to make a show where it was just me playing a bunch of characters – there are people who do that really well and I’m not sure that I’m one of them. 

In what way does it poke a stick at the challenges of carving out an artistic career in NZ?

The very fact that the show is in my parents house, to me, smacks of both success and failure. I've been working as a professional performer for 10 years and here I am still performing in my parents living room. I have been thinking about my childhood dream of being a performer and how it stacks up against my day to day life as a performer in NZ. It's not exactly what I thought it would be - in some ways I'm still discovering what it is. 

What is your real job? 

I work as an actor and dancer. I teach dance two nights a week as well as occasionally teaching Shakespeare and other bits and bobs like that. I choreograph for both my comedy dance troupe, DYNAMOTION (with Thomas Sainsbury) and for The Wet Hot Beauties. 

Why have you decided to do your creative work full-time, what are the challenges and rewards?

It's rewarding to do work you love. I love moving from project to project - the variation is exciting to me and it suits me to be my own boss - read into that what you like. Financial security will always be a challenge in one way or another but having kids and a mortgage is an incredible motivator. I think when you do your creative work full-time you have to learn to live with a certain amount of anxiety but it's all fuel for the fire, if you know what I mean. I've thought about getting a real job but I don't have time. 

Has anyone ever told you to 'get a real job'?

I did have a 'real job' a couple of years ago. In the beginning it was kind of fun but the novelty wore off and it was hard to juggle my creative work with a nine-to-five scenario - I am still at a loss how people with 'normal' jobs get anything done? In the end I realised that I should be working as hard for myself as I was for this company and it was a turning point in how I view my career. I have a friend whose father is always incredulous that I don't 'do anything else' - it gets a bit frustrating. My parents would love it if I had some kind of well paid regular gig but deep down I don't think they're too worried about me. 

What are some of your other recent and upcoming projects? 

So far this year I have choreogrpahed for the Wet Hot Beauties and my comedy dance troupe, DYNAMOTION, in our Auckland PRIDE show Purple Rainbow. I was in Wellington for the NZ Fringe Festival a couple of weeks ago with another Town Centre show called LIES. And now I’m in Dunedin for the Fringe with This Is My Real Job. Next up I’m trying my hand as a production assistant on a web-based project my partner is heading and then back into the legwarmers to start choreography for the next DYNAMOTION show in August, then a return of Cowboy Mouth and Love It Up at Q Theatre with The Town Centre and by the time that finishes I should be working on the next Wet Hot Beauties show. I’ve just realised it’s quite a busy year.  

If you could go back and choose a completely different career path to the one you've chosen, what would it be?

Costume designer? I would specialise in sparkly bras… I actually kind of do that already so let’s go for something completely different – an archaeologist. 

What place is always with you, wherever you go?
Glenorchy

What's the best way to listen to music, and why?

Loud. I also like to lie on the floor in the dark and play vinyl… I’m such a cliche. 

You are given a piece of string, a stick and some fabric. What do you make? A show.

What's the best stress relief advice you've ever been given? Kick something.

What’s great about Dunedin Fringe? It’s intimate. 

What’s your big idea for 2014?

Find the balance between parenting and becoming an unstoppable creative hurricane. 

• Lara performs This Is My Real Job at 'Chisholm House' (45 Ross St, Roslyn, Dunedin) from March 13-16 and 18-19 as part of the Dunedin Fringe Festival 2014.
   
• Chisholm house was built by the one-time mayor of Roslyn, Robert Chisholm in the late 1800’s.