South Australian actress Ren Williams has had a remarkable start to her professional arts career. In the four years since graduating from the Flinders Drama Centre in 2020, she has won several awards, grants, and opportunities to further her skills in acting and writing. But, it is not her accolades and achievements that most impress, rather it is her growth mindset and resilient approach to her work.

In a cute little bakery in Eastwood on a warm summer’s day, I had the most refreshing conversation with Williams. Her name is as noteworthy as her attitude towards her craft. She spoke to me about her recent American tour, co-founding the CRAM Collective, and how she plans to level up her career as the current recipient of the Neil Curnow Award.

Despite the odds of finding work, Williams proactively sought out opportunities and created her own spaces to write and present work for herself and her peers. In her first year out of university, she independently identified auditions, networked, and secured roles in creative developments of theatre works, which later led to greater opportunities in professional theatre seasons.

“I found two auditions in particular – Kill Climate Deniers and Guthrak – and those were for developments in [2021]. So, I auditioned for those, got them, and it meant that Kill Climate Deniers, the year after, actually had a show in 2022 State Side for State Theatre Company. For Guthrak, I developed this one-woman show with Matthew Briggs. I got to be in the round – a beautiful table designed by Bianca Kennedy – and with that I spent 2023 in Dream Big Festival. So, even though I was doing all these auditions in 2021, my first year out, it meant that it really set me up.”

Williams’ reflected on the many auditions, and unpaid projects she experienced in order to train on the job. Even without compensation, she saw these earlier projects as valuable in creating media assets, such as a show reel, to help her secure further work. Not one to sit around and wait for opportunity to come to her, Williams even tried her hand at writing her own work in the process of auditioning for other people’s plays.

“I then wrote a short play which I put into the State Theatre Young Playwrights Award, I actually won that one that year. Which later let me do a staged reading at SA Playwright Theatre. So, it was all these little steps that got my name out there, showed that I was passionate.”

In hearing her anecdotes, a pattern emerges. She doesn’t quit. Her tenacious attitude is admirable and it’s easy to see why she has gained so many great projects.

“We face so much rejection, so there was a lot of shows I was rejected from, but I think that’s the thing – if you’re in it for the love of it, you just want to keep going. Ever since, I was young, I’ve loved the arts, I’ve loved creating stories and telling stories. I think just being in love with this industry, it [meant] all the rejections that have happened – I wasn’t knocked back from them. I just kept going.”

The story of how she booked the Bluey’s Big Play gig was very inspiring. Williams auditioned in 2021 for the Australian tour and was unsuccessful. However, she left quite the impression on the audition panel and two years later she was contacted and invited to audition for the American tour.

“In 2023, I got the email saying ‘we’re actually looking for a Bluey to be on our American Tour. So, I did the audition – this was actually the first time I’d done this in an audition – I gave it my all but there was a little bit that I didn’t feel right with, so I went back out after saying ‘thank you’, and I started practising a little part out in the hallway. There was a break in the auditions, so I had a little knock on the door and said ‘I’ve just been practising that part that I kind of goofed up. Would I be able to come and just do that again?’ And I did, and it could have been the thing that actually got me the role. Bluey was an amazing experience, just to get that touring lifestyle, and know how that feels. Even the theatres I performed in, big theatres to thousands of screaming kids.”

The Neil Curnow Award allows the recipient to receive $10,000 if international professional opportunities are undertaken, so Williams has decided to use her award to travel overseas.

“I’ve always been a big fan of London and British comedy, TV, and film. I’m using the money to go to London and doing two different screen acting courses. I’m very excited. I’ve always been a theatre kid. Growing up I did community theatre and theatre at school, so doing a film course is really exciting for me so I can be a bit more trained in the screen department.”

“It definitely made it harder coming into the industry. A lot of productions were shutting down, a lot of casting agents and agencies weren’t accepting anyone on their books. [2021] was a very hard year to make a career in any field.”

Ren Williams

Despite the challenges of 2021, this was the year Williams and three of her peers founded the CRAM Collective, an independent theatre company. “Straight out of [Flinders] Drama Centre I collaborated with my closest friends who I’d met during the course. We always talked about creating a theatre company. We wanted to create our own work. We knew that a lot of the main stage gigs wouldn’t pop up straight away.”

“Within a month of launching, we actually had our first show which was created in five days! ‘New World Coming’ was directed by Connor Reidy. We got ten different emerging creatives from Adelaide. We rented out an Airbnb – at that point we didn’t have the funding or resources to get a venue in time – which was like a gallery space. Every part of the show was lit by household lamps and we had U E Boom [speakers] for the sound. It was looking at the idea of us as creatives in this new world. We had two sell-out shows on the Friday night. It was such a thrilling experience.”

Williams encourages aspiring artists to take initiative. If one wants to be a creative, they need to create as she explains:

“Do it for the love of it. You’re going to face a lot of rejection, but just keep going. Find a lot of work yourself. Hustle. Find an agent. Look into auditions online. There’s always things going on. Doing the work yourself means getting new headshots, creating a new resume, and making your own work. That would be my advice. Stay in it if this is exactly what you want to do.”

Williams’ short but fruitful career is evidence that success comes in many forms. Regardless of what others may view as success, her perspective is more modest than most.

“For me, success is being able to have a sustainable career.”