John McGlynn enjoys working as a director and teacher at Screenactors Geelong. He spoke with Jena Carr about what he loves most about Geelong and where he lives.
What is your connection to Geelong?
I was born in the Geelong Hospital. l went to primary school at St Margaret’s in East Geelong, then to the Gordon and Deakin University. I used to go with our family to watch the Cats play at Kardinia Park in the 1960s. In the 70s, I spent most of my time surfing through coastal beaches and enjoying the waves at Bells and Winki Pop. I was lucky to be a part of the fantastic Mill Theatre drama experiment that took place in Geelong in the late 70s.
What do you like about where you live?
I live in Barwon Heads it’s a unique place surrounded by water with the river, Lake Connewarre and the ocean beaches encircling the town. Its always had a village atmosphere with a very strong sense of community. It’s been a great family place to raise our three kids.
What, if anything, would you change about where you live?
If I had a wish I would stop the development of the town and keep it to the size it is. The place is liable to become the new Noosa Heads and lose its charm.
Where is your favourite place to spend time?
I like riding my mountain bike with friends along the trails to the Dunes coffee shop in Ocean Grove and having a coffee while checking out the ocean.
What is something people may not know about you?
In the 80s I worked and surfed at King Island. I worked as an underground miner for a couple of years. It was amazing surfing beaches that no one knew about in total isolation.
What led you to working with Screenactors Geelong?
I ended up in the 90s going to study at the film and television school in Sydney which led me into working in the industry as a freelance director. I worked in Melbourne at Channel 7 and then in San Francisco in California. Once we had kids we looked in Australia for a place that was similar to California and settled on Barwon Heads.
After a few years of commuting to Melbourne to work I decided to follow in the footsteps of the Mill theater experiment and capitalise on my experience in California by setting up an American method acting school in Geelong. Before long we were training actors who were appearing in film, TV shows and TV commercials.
What do you enjoy the most about your work?
It’s fun because you see the actors improving in class to a point where they suddenly start to get roles and be seen on screen. A lot of young actors start off in acting class and cross into the production side. We have had one young actor who was in the main cast of Neighbours for many years and went on to become a director on the show. The most enjoyable aspect these days is when actors who were training with us many years ago who are now adults tell me what an important part of their lives Screenactors was and how much they enjoyed it.
