EVEN from a very young age there were several things performing artist Megan Sarmardin was certain about.
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"I wanted to be a singer, I wanted to play guitar and I wanted to play in a band,” she told the audience at the Naidoc Week corporate women’s breakfast in Mount Isa on Tuesday.
“In fact there were five things I said I wanted to do, and I remember saying them out loud a very long time ago here in Mount Isa.”
Megan went on to say what those five goals were.
I will be in a play directed by Wesley Enoch.
I will write and perform in my own musical theatre production.
I will play a lead role in an Australian musical theatre production.
I will be in the Sapphires (after reading about it in school in a Deadly Vibe magazine).
I will be in the Black Arm Band (after I saw a concert on TV with Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, Lou Bennett and Dan Sultan).
Megan set about making those goals become a reality.
“I learned to play guitar from an early age, I learned it from my dad,” she said.
“My journey as an artist began in Mount Isa and growing up my musical influences were eclectic and varied: Slim Dusty, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Pride, Dolly Parton, Chet Atkins, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Status Quo, The Rolling Stones (I saw them in concert with Dad), Iron Maiden and Guns N Roses.”
Megan also developed a great love for musical theatre and cabaret shows and performed in school choirs.
“I saw a VHS of Dolly Parton in a concert in London in the late 80s, that was pretty much it for me and I’ve loved Dolly ever since,” she said.
Megan finished school in Mount Isa and learned to play many instruments. When she was 19 she was involved in a musical production “Bobcat Dancing” when she met a group from Brisbane equally passionate about the arts and through them she got involved in the Brisbane Cabaret festival, Women in Voice productions, and creative development sessions.
“I have also been able to develop my love for stage acting. In 2010, I auditioned for the role of Julie in the 2011 stage production of The Sapphires,” she said.
“I got to perform with Casey Donovan, Lisa Maza and Ngarie Pigram.”
In 2015, she was in Queensland Theatre Company’s “Country Song” about Jimmy Little, directed by Wesley Enoch.
“I was Auriel Andrew, Indigenous country female artist, who grew up in Mount Isa and still has family here. She was pleased another Isa gal played her in the production.”
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
