Fresh from their latest role as Gomez in a recent local production of The Addams Family, Odi Evans shares their love of acting and the environment with Luke Voogt.
Tell us about you…
I’m 17, from Ocean Grove and I’m in year 11 at Bellarine Secondary College.
I lived in Preston until I was six, and then we moved here because dad got a job at Deakin University in criminology.
I’m quite into nature, so I do a lot of painting and nature walking, and I also volunteer at the local Landcare.
I coach under-seven soccer at Surfside Waves, which is kind of a nightmare but fun and fulfilling.
I played with the women at Surfside, because they didn’t have a girls’ side, and we won the grand final in 2018.
But I’ve directed my passions in other areas since then.
What do you enjoy about acting?
I’ve always been interested in acting. My mother’s an author so I’ve grown up around books, media and things like that.
I’ve always found storytelling intriguing – it’s so inherently human to tell stories.
High school was my first exposure to a proper drama class. When you’re performing, you’re free to be someone else for a bit.
You’ve got a script, so you know what you’re saying, not like social interactions, which are much harder to do.
Gomez, from The Addams Family has been a highlight, but acting in our production of Charlie and the Chocolate factory was also a joy.
I got to tango in both roles, once with a blanket and once with a real person, Morticia. And it was fun doing the Spanish accent as Gomez.
Tell us about your environmental work…
At school I founded our own environmental group: Gang Green.
We’ve done a clean-up day and we did activities around refugee week, including writing welcome in 42 different languages on the pavement in chalk.
We won a video competition for Southern Ocean Environmental Link.
We had to create a one-minute video highlighting how our school is combatting waste through composting and recycling.
We also secured a $5000 grant to establish an endemic bush tucker garden at school including bee boxes.
What are your favourite things to do locally?
I’m quite anti-social, so I usually go bushwalking or walk our border collie-labrador Pip at 13th Beach.
Very occasionally, I’ll go see a play at Geelong Arts Centre – that happens about once every two years or so.
I engage in the odd protest. I spoke at the 2019 climate change rally in Geelong.
I also clean up near the rivers as well, there are a lot of micro plastics there.
How are you coping with COVID-19?
It’s an adventure. Online schooling has taken its toll mentally, but it’s manageable.
The lack of socialisation is a bit jarring at first and you sort of lose your sense of reality.
What’s something about you that people might not know?
I use they and them pronouns, because I’m agender.
