VCA DESIGN & PRODUCTION
GRADUATE SHOWCASE
GRADUATE SHOWCASE
The Drowsy Chaperone, VCA 2025
#6, Show Off
Role - Lighting Designer
The Drowsy Chaperone was my final VCA production and a very rewarding show to be a part of. The show follows an isolated man who loves Musical Theatre, playing his favourite record for the audience, the fictional 1920s Broadway show "The Drowsy Chaperone." Our production explores the power of Musical Theatre as escape, and the importance of fantasy in everyday life.
Lighting this show allowed me to explore worlds with deeply saturated colours, high energy numbers and very dramatic scenes, while contrasting them with the real and drab world that the narrator lives in.
Photographed by Ben Fon
Director - Alister Smith
Choreographer - Freya List
Set Designer - Reuben James
Costume Designer - Asha Robinson
Andrew (Drew) Thompson is a lighting designer from Melbourne, undertaking the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production) at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA.) He has a keen interest in lighting system design and programming, with a focus in design for live performance. Drew’s VCA credits include Head Electrician, on the VCA’s ‘The Bank’ 2024, Deputy Electrician, Programmer and Operator on the VCA’s ‘(Un)Tethered’ 2024. In 2025, Drew is enjoyed being the Lighting Designer for VCA’s choreographic production ‘Fountain,’ and the VCA musical ‘The Drowsy Chaperone.’ With a love for live music and stage musicals, Drew experiments with the strong ties between light and sound, and wishes to expand his practice to concerts, musicals, dramas and exhibits.
The Drowsy Chaperone, VCA 2025
#8, Aldolpho
Role - Lighting Designer
Photographed by Ben Fon
Director - Alister Smith
Choreographer - Freya List
Set Designer - Reuben James
Costume Designer - Asha Robinson
The Drowsy Chaperone, VCA 2025
#18, I Do, I Do In The Sky
Role - Lighting Designer
Photographed by Ben Fon
Director - Alister Smith
Choreographer - Freya List
Set Designer - Reuben James
Costume Designer - Asha Robinson
The Drowsy Chaperone, VCA 2025
Scene 16, Wrap Up
Role - Lighting Designer
Photographed by Ben Fon
Director - Alister Smith
Choreographer - Freya List
Set Designer - Reuben James
Costume Designer - Asha Robinson
Fountain, VCA Dance 2025,
Form a Circle
Role - Lighting Designer
Fountain was a multidisciplinary work, that explored the impacts of repetition, exhuastion and competition within dance communities, through the lens of dance culture in the 1980s.
I had the privilege of lighting designing the work, and I incorporated lighting equipment and techniques prevalent in the 1980s to contextualise the work. This included a system of 44 chrome Par Cans, that framed the space with columns of light.
Photographed by Gregory Lorenzutti
Choreographer: Phillip Adams
Set Designer: Nethmi Oshadi Gunasekera
Costume Designer: Isobel Mccauley
Fountain, VCA Dance 2025,
Act 3
Role - Lighting Designer
Photographed by Gregory Lorenzutti
Choreographer: Phillip Adams
Set Designer: Nethmi Oshadi Gunasekera
Costume Designer: Isobel Mccauley
Fountain, VCA Dance 2025,
Act 1
Role - Lighting Designer
Photographed by Gregory Lorenzutti
Choreographer: Phillip Adams
Set Designer: Nethmi Oshadi Gunasekera
Costume Designer: Isobel Mccauley
(Un)Tethered, VCA Dance 2024
Disruptor
Role - Lighting Programmer
Photographed by Gregory Lorenzutti
Choreographer: David Prakash
Lighting Designer: Finnegan Comte-Harvey
Set and Costume Designer: Sarah Browne