ALEXIS FISHMAN

ACTRESS

For Alexis, Class of 2000, Moriah nurtured a lifelong love of performing that took her from Sydney to WAAPA, major Australian stages and an 18-year career in New York. Now back in Sydney with her young daughter, she is returning to the Australian musical theatre stage as Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, a production with a special connection to her Moriah years.

What house were you in at school?

Ezra, and I was House Captain in primary school and high school too!

Who was your favourite teacher?

Ms Dimos. She taught me maths in year 11 and 12 and did all the dancing with us. And, of course, Ms Goot. The music program is the crowning jewel of Moriah.

What did Moriah’s music program mean to you?

Moriah was my entire performing arts education during high school. The band program was incredibly important to me, but it wasn’t only band. There was Drama Festival, Music Festival, dance, Shakespeare Festival, vocal group, jazz band… there were just so many opportunities to perform. Obviously, I went on to become a professional performer, but I don’t think the value of a music program is only about producing professional musicians or performers. It gives students so much intellectually, socially and communally. It was one of the major reasons I wanted my daughter to come to Moriah.

What instrument did you play?

Trumpet.

You graduated from Moriah in 2000. What did you do after school?

I auditioned for the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and I didn’t get in the first year. I did a part-time Arts degree at UNSW and kept taking classes because I knew I wanted to get into WAAPA. I auditioned again the following year, got in, and moved to Perth for three years. It was actually a bit of a U-turn for me. I had been heavily involved in Betar growing up and had always assumed I would spend a year in Israel after school. But something changed and I realised that performing was what I wanted to pursue.

After graduating from WAAPA, did your career take off immediately?

Not at all! I spent the following year auditioning and auditioning and getting nothing. At the time, it felt terrible. There were 17 students in my graduating class and I felt like the loser of the group. Other people were getting work and I wasn’t. Then, at the end of that year, I booked Dusty, which was probably the biggest job anyone from our class had booked at that point. It catapulted me into leading-lady status when, really, I had just been hoping to get a job as an actor. It was an incredibly lucky break, the right job at the right time.

Looking back, what did that difficult year teach you?

Perspective. When you’re young, a year feels like an incredibly long time. You think everything is important and everything has to happen now. Looking back, I think, “So what? It was one year.” Life is long. There are twists and turns and you simply don’t know where things are going to end up. I think you have to be patient and trust yourself and the path you’re on. If it isn’t this opportunity, there will be another one.

Where did the dream of New York begin?

At Moriah! I went on the first ever Moriah International Band Tour in 1999 and we travelled to Los Angeles, Baltimore and New York. I completely fell in love with New York. It’s funny because I wanted to be an actor and work as an actor, but my real dream became to live in New York City. I remember leaving New York on the bus with a friend and writing down all the things we were going to do when we lived there one day, rollerblade in Central Park, eat bagels on our stoop, whistle for a cab. It became this almost obsessive idea. From then on, everything was: “If I don’t get into WAAPA, I’ll go to New York. If I don’t get this job, I’ll go to New York.” Eventually, in 2008, I was down to the final two for the lead in a production of Little Women. The director called and told me they had gone with the other girl. I thought, “All right. I guess I’m going to New York.”

Six weeks later, I was there.

After establishing yourself in Australia, what was it like starting again in New York?

Completely different and hard. After Dusty, I did several major musicals and worked for Sydney Theatre Company. I had a few very successful years in Australia before moving to New York. In New York, I eventually created a career largely around cabaret and solo work. That is one of the wonderful things about New York, there is so much happening that you can create your own path rather than waiting for someone to give you one. After about ten years, I stopped auditioning because it can be exhausting. Instead, I concentrated on creating my own work, and I now have a body of solo work that I’m really proud of. I was also able to develop Anne Being Frank in New York, workshop it and take it Off-Broadway before bringing it to Sydney. My career in New York didn't look exactly like my Australian career, but it gave me the opportunity to find a different way of being an artist.

After 18 years in New York, why come home now?

Family was a huge part of it. When my daughter was born, I realised how difficult it was to raise a child without my family around me. My siblings, cousins and extended family are all here. So eventually I just thought, “I need to come home.”

And you've come home to a major role.

Yes! I’m playing Golde in Fiddler on the Roof. What makes it particularly special is that I performed in Fiddler on the Roof at Moriah years ago, I played one of the daughters. Now, all these years later, I’m coming back to Australia and playing Golde. There’s something very full-circle about that.

Your daughter is now about to become a Moriah student herself. How does that feel?

When I toured schools for her, I walked back into Moriah and just had this feeling that I was home. My experience at Moriah gave me so much - the performing opportunities that helped shape my career, friendships that have lasted decades, and a strong sense of who I am. Coming back now as a parent, I realise perhaps even more clearly what I had here. I wanted my daughter to have the opportunity to experience that for herself.

Beyond performing, what do you think Moriah gave you?

There’s a lot of discussion about wanting children to experience diversity, to be exposed to different people and perspectives, and to experience the wider world. And I believe that’s important, but I really believe that you need to know who you are first before you can confidently go out into the world. When you have a strong understanding of who you are and where you come from, you’re better equipped to understand, accept and appreciate other people for who they are as well. That’s something I feel very strongly about now as a parent. There are so many choices when it comes to where we send our children to school, but I believe we owe it to our children to first give them that strong foundation and sense of who they are. Give them that security in their identity, and then they can go out into the world with the confidence to truly be themselves. Moriah gave me that foundation, a strong understanding of who I am and where I come from.

Did you stay connected with your Moriah friends while living overseas?

Absolutely. My closest friends are still my Moriah friends. There’s something incredibly powerful about growing up with the same people and having that continuity. Moriah gave me friendships and a community that have stayed with me wherever I have lived. Those relationships become a network for life. I have wonderful, very close friendships in New York, but there is something different about friendships with people who have known you for 35 years. You can make new friends, but you can’t make new old friends.

If you could relive part of your Moriah experience, what would it be?

Probably Band Camp, Counterpoint, Music Festival and Drama Festival. It’s difficult to choose one day because it was really the collective experience, that feeling, the excitement and the roar of everyone together. Those are the memories that stay with you.

What advice would you give students who are about to graduate?

Follow your heart and do what you love. My path is obviously different from somebody who wants to study medicine or law. I’m an artist and a performer, and that was always what I wanted to do. So I suppose my advice is particularly for the student thinking, “I want to be a musician. I want to be an artist. I want to do something different.” I hope they have the courage to do it. There can be expectations around money, prestige and what success is supposed to look like, and it can be difficult to choose something different from that. But success means different things to different people. You don’t have to have everything figured out at 18. Go and live. Try things. Give yourself time to work out what matters to you.

Did you ever consider doing something other than performing?

I always say I didn’t really have a choice. I was academically capable of doing something else, but in my heart, I was never going to. Performing was what I wanted to do, and I still wouldn’t choose anything else. I teach and facilitate as well, and I love that, but even those things are connected to being a performer. This was simply what I was meant to do.

After 18 years in New York and now a return to Sydney, how does it feel to be back?

I can’t tell you how happy I am to be home. Coming back to Australia, returning to the stage here and now having my daughter begin her own Moriah journey feels incredibly special. It really has come full circle.