ENJOYING LIFE
ONE STAGE
e
a t a t im
W
HENEVER Defence spouse Paula
Mandl is on stage, she is in her “happy place”.
It’s not that she is unhappy everywhere else, just that
she now understands her acting, and enthusiasm for
amateur theatre, is what truly makes her happy in life.
Oh, and husband CAPT Matt Mandl
- he makes her happy, too.
But it’s her love of acting, (not Matt), that drives
her to swallow the stagefright, and to constantly
walk out of her comfort zone on stage.
She’s good, too... having just won the Best Female
Actor award in the NQ Festival of One Act Plays.
And she and best mate Sonia Zabala last week took
their production Random Acts of Fiction to the
Big Smoke to participate in the Monash One Act
Play Festival at the Peridot Theatre, Melbourne.
It was a chance to move way out of their
comfort zone, by pitting their production, and
themselves against the best in the country.
They were chuff ed that Random Acts of Fiction
received nominations in three categories -
Excellence in Direction (Sonia), Best Playwright
(Tim Hehir) and Best Actor - Female (Paula).
Happy days.
Photos by Paul Freeman
OCTOBER 2017 | 13