our story.
Salad Days
(Meaning); time of youthful inexperience or indiscretion. “My salad days when I was green in judgment” - William Shakespeare. (1606).
During our second year of university training, we were cast as Leontes and Polixenes in a production of Shakespeare’s ‘The Winter’s Tale’ directed by our wonderful acting coach, Anatoly Frusin.
Despite being part of a small cohort, this was the first time we really got a chance to work together and we quickly discovered that we shared a complex chemistry, appreciation and dedication for the craft of acting. From this point forward we worked religiously together, never going a showcase without tackling some challenging scene that would push us to our limits.
When the time came to graduate, we both knew we had a hunger that could not be fulfilled by waiting around for auditions or the chance to get cast. So we did it ourselves. We named our collective SALAD DAYS because to us it represents the bold ideology of taking a chance in something that has little guarantee to work out but doing it anyway.
Salad Days. A time in our lives when everything is fresh and new. And where anything feels possible. And we are starting to think that this may just be true.
Jasmine Prasser.
After moving from Central QLD to Brisbane at 18 to pursue her craft, Jasmine Prasser is now a 23 year old actor, writer and theater practitioner with an expansive and ever evolving skill set. Ambitious, proactive and dedicated - Jasmine demonstrates her ability to ‘do’ in the endless pursuit of her craft. After completing her three years of formal acting training in a conservatoire style course through TAFE QLD / The University of Canberra, Jasmine founded SALAD DAYS COLLECTIVE with her colleague Leo Buzac, an independent creative collective dedicated to creating provocative and thought provoking work.
Jasmine is deeply passionate about all things theatre and film and has experience both in front of and behind the camera with an Advanced Diploma of Film Production from SAE (2020). Through her dedicated commitment to her collective, she has formed a variety of production skills including independent producing and set design.
Jasmine’s training has allowed her to work extensively with valued Brisbane based creative practitioners, including Anatoly Frusin, Lisa O'Neil, Rosalind Williams, Brian Lucas, Patrick Mitchell and Stephen Lance. She seeks the truth in its rawest form and this motivates her continued and dedicated commitment to developing her practise in a unique way. This, combined with her strong work ethic, has allowed her to engage with opportunities that continue to grow her skill set - including a training scholarship to NIDA in 2023. A fine tuned emotionally available performer, her strengths lie in strong dramatic and contemporary comedic work.
Leo Buzac.
Hailing from South Africa, Leo is a trained actor and theatre maker currently working in Brisbane, QLD. After graduating from TAFE QLD / The University of Canberra with a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Acting and performance) Leo went on to establish SALAD DAYS COLLECTIVE with colleague Jasmine Prasser. He has a wealth of acting experience both through practice and education in the theatre with a three-year conservatoire style degree, working closely with valued industry professionals including Rosalind Williams, Lisa O’Neill and Anatoly Frusin. In his final year of university, Leo was chosen for a NIDA training scholarship, one of the many experiences feeding into his approach of creating authentic work.
With an extensive background in theatre training, Leo has also successfully broken into the screen industry, landing a role in an international TV series with Universal Studios. Although theatre is SDC’s fundamental medium, Leo pairs his knowledge on the stage with everything he’s learned working across a wealth of mediums. From Shakespeare at acting school to indie and industry film and TV projects, the experience he has had and the roles he has taken on have contributed to an undeniable standard for acting and storytelling that drives his creativity and work ethic both in the rehearsal room and on stage.
Though formally trained, learning never stops. Leo embraces this attitude by walking in the shoes of extremely complex, troubled, seemingly unlovable characters, where he thrives on crafting a multi-dimensional and unmistakeably human performance.
