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Andrew Strano

@andrewstrano

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AUS playwright/performer/director
@nyu_tisch_gmtwp grad
@fulbright_australia scholar
@nyfacurrent artist corps
@theatrenowny musical writers lab

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

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Lol this happened in MAY, but… I graduated! What an experience.

102 songs (about 2/3 of which are pretty good! The music is always good but the lyrics…), countless scenes, a full TV pilot, a short film, a 10 minute podcast, a 20 minute musical, USD $187k in fundraising, about 4 million hours on zoom and TWO FULL MUSICALS later (SKIN with Yuri Shibata and Voyagers with Loclan Mackenzie-Spencer), I’ve completed my studies at the @nyu_tisch_gmtwp!

I also survived three breakups, one less than ideal housing situation, one broken thumb, April/May 2020 in New York… and the same fucking pandemic the whole world is still dealing with.

I couldn’t have done it without lots of people.

@yulilymusic, whose drive, sense of humor, incredible creative instincts, willingness to be professionally and personally vulnerable, friendship, and BEAUTIFUL music kept me afloat through our second year

@earljames11 and @ginadicksong — hilarious, caring, and excellent (Gina)/middling (Earl) cooks. The only people I’d recommend passing a year of quarantine with

@anaussieatlarge who was and is an anchor in the storm of the world

@lucizz who drops a meme in your DMs like a cat giving you a dead bird just when you need them to

Amy Burgess, who’s so smart, practical and no-nonsense she isn’t on Instagram

A caring and lovely faculty — esp. Rachel Sheinkin, Mel Marvin and Robert Lee for their support, belief and reassurance every Wednesday morning

Every single one of my classmates, who STILL inspire me and teach me every day with their brilliance

The whole team @fulbright_au and @iieglobal — especially @laurenalicetri and @tara.whitfield

@peterjcasey @fleurandbetty and @raimondocortese for their generosity and support, and about 435 letters to various grants and scholarship funds on my behalf

@alexandriagarlan, my very best friend in the world

And many, many more… Even when my life was 1 cat, 102 plants, 75 hours of zoom a week, and a bubble of 4 people total, it was very full.

📷 by @darlowbarlow … and me on my @papershootcamera

#graduation #graduationpictures #musical #mfa #fulbright #fulbrightscholar #capandgown #nyu #purple #papershoot #exchange #study

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A complete treat to be back on stage with @charlottelucasmusical playing Collins AND Wickham in the double casting of my dreams! An earnest ballad, some physical comedy, and a number that’d be at home in a club? BIIIIIG treats.

💖A real show! In New York City!💖
It’s a musical full of much needed joy, and so was every moment of working on it and getting to observe the New York workshopping process up close and personal as @jsfieldtheater and @jmsjamz12 wrote and rewrote. A good reminder that I love what I do… Grateful to everyone involved. Even @chloerose411, who played Mary Bennett, and mercilessly bullied me.
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#musicaltheatre #newmusical #theatre #theater #queerjoy #joy #queer #queerart #actor #writer #development #pride #prideandprejudice #janeausten

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Proud to have been selected as a part of the @nyfacurrent @nyfagrants city artist corps here in New York with my dear, dear friend @yulilymusic.

LINK IN BIO!

As our contribution, we’re presenting a FREE concert of songs from our musical “SKIN” on October 30th at SosH Studios in Brooklyn (thanks to @thedumbamerican). An elemental, impressionistic and painful story looking at entanglement, and the damage that keeping secrets can do, we’re so lucky to hand these songs over to the powerful voices of @lynnjcraig @sara_jamss @belakonstancja (and me, lol), and the skills of our killer band — @williamkarras @earljames11 @mattwongguitar and @samnovotnyy led by Yuri herself.
Audio engineering by @norihung, filming by @brimcguigan (who captured this photo).
Beautiful poster designed by @brandyhoangcollier, and featuring @annahenders0n and @jaydemargulis.

That’s the amount of artists, technicians, designers and venues that we can pay when there’s actual stimulus given to the arts. The program’s been an integral part of NYC opening back up, and I wish there was more like it happening back in Australia as they come back out of lockdown.

#cityartistcorps #cityartistcorpsgrants #nyfa #nyc #musical #songwriter #water #queerstories #newmusic #brooklyn #beach #kiss #skin #water

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💪🌱🐝🌸🌿💐🦋🍃🌺🌷
Tattoo by @georgia_swale
Portraits by @feliciacine
Arm by my (not too disappointed) parents, and me.

One year (and a bit) anniversary of my first tattoo. Full sleeve. 9 native and European bees 🐝 , 4 native butterflies 🦋 (and a native moth), all living in a garden of native Australian flowers. 🌸

It’s wonderful to always have a piece of home with me in New York... people love it here? I regularly get approached on the street by people telling me they love it, so Georgia, all those weird NYC insta follows? Those are me sending people to you!

I’d wanted something for years, and when I saw Georgia Swale’s work I knew it had to be her. We worked together to build it a piece at a time over 13 or so sessions — “how do you eat an elephant?”
“One bite at a time!”
Scroll through the pics to get a feel for how we built it up.
Georgia’s incredible. Sensitive, matter of fact, wildly creative and super talented. I always felt completely at ease with her.

Then, as luck would have it, Felicia Smith asked me if I’d do some portraits and I was thrilled to say yes. Felicia is a delight- we had a lovely time messing about. These are certainly 2 of the more sensible pics. In which, for example, no chairs are held over my head.
She’s also a killer cinematographer! Book her. Felicia-smith.com, or email HELLO@FELICIA-SMITH.COM

You should book with Georgia too (georgiaswale.com) she works from @hotcopperstudio ... so after lockdown, get on it. In the meantime, she sells beautiful custom art — I have a gorgeous possum up on my wall!

It was a weird thing to weigh up, especially as (at least part of the time) an actor, but I genuinely have no regrets.

One year in, and I still love it.

#tattoo #tattoos #tattoosleeve #butterfly #butterflytattoo #bee #bees #australia #nativeplants #art #expatlife #aussiesofinstagram #aussie #floral #floraltattoo #flora #glasses #monarchbutterfly #grevillea #gumtree #wattle #banksia #kangaroopaw #bottlebrush #sleeve #sleevetattoo #sleevetattoos

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I have a website now, but I didn’t tell any of you, because the aim of a website isn’t SELF PROMOTION! And even if it was, I’d totally be comfortable with the idea of Self Promotion! Honest! I’m not uncomfortable, you are!! andrewstrano.com, link’s in the bio, but you don’t have to go... it’s mostly an excuse to post these photos and get some validation from y’all.
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📷: @bykurtsneddon
🧥: @jacklondon_official
Website by: @jenniferkingwell
#suit #suits #website #mess #paper #apple #fruit #velvet #blue #gold #leopardprint #bts #validateme #appleaday

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📍New York
...And I couldn’t help but wonder, does this make me a huge Carrie?
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I officially started at NYU, as a member of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program’s 30th Cycle today.

When I was in Sydney earlier this year having Mexican with @_katiemckee_ I realised that living in New York has been a life goal of mine since I was a teenager. Somewhere in the desperate search for cash to make this program possible I’d forgotten that... getting here feels pretty good.

Obviously it wouldn’t‘ve even been possible without a whole team of other humans.

It’s gauche to talk about money, but when the price tag is AUD $274,543.54 for tuition and living expenses, you need to get used to it.

So thank you to @the_fulbright_program and the whole team at @fulbright_australia for their belief in the value of musical theatre, and of my ability to act as an ambassador for the skills necessary for better development of young writers and new works back home. The Mike Walsh Fellowships and the PPCA performer’s trust foundation for the same and more.
@nyutisch for considerable financial aid, & being so flexible with deferral.

On a personal level, thank you to Ron & Marg Dobell for their rock solid support and clear, wonderful advice. When I first found out I’d been accepted, they were my second call, after Mum and Dad... I wanted to share my good news, but also, I was panicking. How was I going to raise all that money?!? Ron sat with me at the cafe outside the Arts Centre and built a game plan with me over a cup of tea, and I couldn’t have done it without it.

@alexandriagarlan for her unending, incredible friendship since I was 17 years old.

And to @lucizz who has dragged me every step of the way with her, through Monash, all the way to NYC!

And all of my new classmates. I’m so excited to have met you, and can’t wait to work with you.

But most of all, to the stranger who somehow photobombed me perfectly?!? I’m sorry, I know you were just trying to drink your water, and now look. Everyone can see you.

TL;DR moved to NYC for 2 years to write musicals, got photobombed wearing an NYU shirt I’m too embarrassed to wear again, made a bi-annual Insta post about it.

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I have two HUGE bits of news: I’ve been awarded the 2019 Fulbright Victoria Scholarship, and a major 2018 Mike Walsh Fellowship to help me get to New York this year and study as a member of NYUs Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.
This is my dumb, tired, happy face in Sydney right after finding 2 things- 1) that I’d been awarded a Mike Walsh Fellowship, and
2) a selfie stick. Honestly. It was just lying there on the ground. It’s hard to say which made me happier (NO IT ISN’T, I NEARLY FELL OVER WHEN THEY TOLD ME I’D BEEN AWARDED THE GRANT). As a contrast, when I got the call about the Fulbright I was sitting on the lounge room floor, in my underpants, playing Spider-Man... so thank the fact that I was so blown away I could barely speak (let alone take a photo) that you’re not getting a pic of that particular moment.

The Fulbright is HUGE. Not only is it an enormously generous grant, but (and this is equally impressive to me) it’s mentioned in the score of Legally Blonde.

Both programs are incredible initiatives, and I’m honoured to be selected for each of them in order to bring the knowledge that NYU can give me back to Australia.

Between the two grants, I’ve now raised something like $135,000 (which puts me *just* over half way to what I need in total). New York is beginning to finally seem possible. It’s my dream, and it’s actually starting to come true.
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#suit #tie #fulbright #pool #selfie #nyc #dreams #grant #piano #glasses #glasses #water #sydney #victoria #letters #nyu #nyc #writer #blue #gold #announcement

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❤️💛 Gryff in Puff’s clothing 💛🖤
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I was invited to the @puffstheplayau opening night, and honestly, if you love Harry Potter, but think it’s ridiculous that they’d stare at the surface of a lake for two hours while basically nothing happened during the second task, then this one’s for you. It was developed by improvisers in New York, and the writer and director are over here with a talented young Australian cast (including some mates absolutely smashing it, @keithbrockett I’m looking at YOU) making very funny, very fast magic. It’s a bit $$$, but it’s worth it.
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#agryffindor #morelikeagryffindorable #gryffindor #hufflepuff #puffs #hogwarts #harrypotter #suit #suitandtie #leopard #leopardprint #gold #opening #openingnight #redcarpet #yellowcarpet #nerd #goodgodimsuchanerd #blackandgold #blazer #tie #melbourne #mensfashion #mensstyle #stkilda 📸: @jterrydactyl

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When the wedding invite says “Beach formal” and you and one of your oldest mates @ann_kittenplan go full Lionel Hutz and read it as “Beach❓ Formal❗️”.
(Couldn’t help myself... I had the wettest pants for the rest of the night. WORTH. IT.)
And yes, more sequins. Python print. Gold, black and red.
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#beach #beachwedding #wedding #formal #nsw #blazer #sequins #waves #oldfriends #splash #bigkid #waterbaby #sun #afternoon #warm #southcoast #tide #longshadows #play #australia

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Find someone who looks at you like @alexandriagarlan looks at me when I wear a giant dog head.

Also maybe find someone who dresses appropriately for weddings. (Hot tip: It’s not me.)
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#wedding #costume #dog #photobooth #bestfriends #skinnytie #tiebar #blazer #sequins #mvmt #leopardprint #snowleopard #belt #frenchbulldog #frenchy #frenchbulldogsofinstagram

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Mini golf is a normal part of your Nonna’s 90th birthday isn’t it?
...I finally got the matriarchal stamp of approval too - I think because my hair isn’t as long as yours @myceliyum.
It was a hell of a trip, but I’m glad I made it. It was a real treat catching up with cousins as adults too. Any of the friction that might have been there as kids is so long gone, and that feels like... growth, maybe? On my part? Charades and mini golf and heads up and way too much food... family’s pretty great really.
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#minigolf #autumn #perth #🍂 #🍁 #green #hole #holeinone #tee #hedge #golf #putter #camp #perth #australia #shorts #matriarch #birds #family #90 #90thbirthday #grandma #nonna #italian #leaves #birthday #party #glasses #gold #birds

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