Keira Daley Announces World Nerdination Tour!

The award-winning smash hit of 2011 Sydney Fringe is back!  Indulge your inner (or not-so-inner) nerd with LadyNerd – Keira Daley's funny, fact-packed cabaret tribute to some of history's greatest minds, from Marie Curie to Ada Lovelace… via that woman who invented Liquid Paper. 

The show will play Sydney on Thursday June 7 at Slide Lounge forone night only, followed by shows at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival at Festival Centre Artspace on June 13 and 14, and Edinburgh Fringe from August 3-27.  Additional engagements will be announced shortly. 

LadyNerd sees performer and lifelong nerd Keira Daley ([title of show], A New Brain, Princess Cabaret) join forces with musical director and piano nerd Mark Chamberlain (Jersey Boys, The Last Five Years, Mornings With Kerri-Anne), in an unashamedly brainy celebration where jazzy piano bar meets Sega Megadrive.

True stories and intriguing real-life characters interface with quirky rants and inventive song arrangements – some old, some new, all in the key of nerd.

Long, long ago… the nerd emerged as a pop-cultural (and playground) punching bag.  Now, with "geek chic", it's a marketing vehicle used to sell gadgets and copy paper.  But nerd in its purest form is a much bigger deal – a nerdy state of mind can be inventive, powerful, and a little bit adorkable.  And so, employing music and a dash of time-travel, LadyNerd sets out with one simple task: To reclaim nerd.

Lady Nerd is written & performed by Keira Daley. Mark Chamberlain serves as musical director and accompanist. Jay James-Moody directs. The show features dramturgy and additional writing by Peter Lead.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ladynerdcabaret or www.ladynerd.com.au

----

Winner of the Sydney Fringe 2011 Award for Excellence, and a 2010 Sydney Cabaret Showcase grand finalist, Keira recently appeared as Susan in the critically-acclaimed NSW premiere and return seasons of [title of show], as Rhoda in the Sydney premiere of William Finn's A New Brain, and as Jeannie in The Great American Trailer Park Musical.  In 2009, Keira performed as Princess Aurora in the touring musical-sketch parody Princess Cabaret, which received five-star reviews at Edinburgh Fringe, and was part of Sydney Comedy Festival and World's Funniest Island.  2009 also saw her sing several shows with musical comedy troupe Cabaret Merlot.  Prior to that, Keira's main focus was improvisation, appearing in BLANK the Musical at Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and on the Impro Australia mainstage at Belvoir St and Enmore Theatres, including two Cranston Cup Theatresports Grand Finals.  LadyNerd is her solo debut.

Mark Chamberlain works in Sydney as a repetiteur and musical director in musical theatre and cabaret. He was most recently a deputy keyboardist on Jersey Boys (Sydney) and musical director for The Last Five Years (Stories Like These). Other credits include Musical Director for Sydney's  8th and 9th Annual Cabaret Showcase (Your Management Int.), Thrill Me (Squabbalogic), Keyboards on Tell Me on a Sunday (Kookaburra), Mornings with Kerri-Anne (Channel 9), The Morning Show (Channel 7) and Afternoons with James Valentine (ABC 702 Sydney). He has accompanied such Australian performers as Hayden Tee, Courtney Act, Daniel Scott and Mark Vincent; and International Artists such as US performer Colleen Ballinger ("Miranda Sings") on her Australian tour, and UK sensation Daniel Boys in Sydney. Mark also recently performed in the Living in the 70s tour (The Harbour Agency) while studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He regularly tutors/accompanies classes and productions at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Australian Institute of Music (AIM), Australian Academy of Dramatic Art (AADA), and the Actor's College of Theatre and Television (ACTT).

Jay is regional recipient of the Young Australian of the Year and SMH Young Writer Awards and was programming and producing associate for the inaugural Sydney Fringe Festival. He can be seen in BBC's The Kangaroo Gang and is currently a recurring character on the Channel 9 kids' show Magical Tales as the Magic Doctor. Credits as a performer and director include directing the Choice Cuts concert for New Musicals Australia, Tick, Tick…Boom! for New Line Productions at NIDA, and LadyNerd: a cabaret for the 2011 Sydney Fringe Festival; Australian Premieres of Ordinary Days (Warren), Jerry Springer The Opera (Ensemble), The Wedding Singer (Director), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Director) and Reefer Madness! (Director/Ralph); and NSW Premiere productions of A New Brain (Mr Bungee), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Director), The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Director), [title of show] (Director/Hunter), Thrill Me (Director), Forbidden Broadway (Director), and Bat Boy: The Musical (Lorraine). He has also directed productions of Rent and Cosi, and featured in productions of The Santaland Diaires, The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Barfee), and Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Einstein). Jay established the boutique music theatre company Squabbalogic in 2006 to bring the best of Off-Broadway to Sydney.

Originally a band comp-winning rock drummer, Pete got his start in theatre in 1998, making his way from university improv comps to Belvoir St and Enmore Theatres.  In 2005, he and Keira Daley founded the Production Company Twisted Melon, specialising in sketch comedy and long-form improvisation, later expanding to include scripted theatre and cabaret.  Pete directed Twisted Melon Impro Festival, which brought improvisers from around the country to perform together and showcase new improv formats.  Pete has taken Twisted Melon shows around Sydney and to Brisbane and Melbourne.  He wrote, produced and performed his solo show The Mockingbird at the Old Fitzroy Theatre in 2008.  Pete currently produces and hosts Arthur B's Fringe Affair, a fortnightly open-mic variety show.