Sarah Kwong graduated from Flinders University with a Bachelor of Education and a Bachelor of Arts (Drama and English) in 2009, and has been involved in the performing arts for over twenty years.
As a child, she was student at Theatre Bugs, and went on to become a teacher’s assistant (2004-2006), and then a teacher of their musical theatre classes and holiday programs (2006-2009).
In Western Australia, she owned and operated her own theatre school, running classes in Drama and Musical Theatre as well as private singing lessons and holiday programs for children aged five to seventeen years.
She has taught Drama at King’s Baptist Grammar School, Bethel Christian School, Woodthorpe College and Investigator College.
At Investigator, she was also the director of the school musical from 2013-2018, including several productions that she wrote. She has directed plays such as Michael Gow’s Away, Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, and Out of the Ordinary by Adelaide playwright Alex Vickery-Howe.
As a performer, she has played roles in a variety of plays and musicals across South and Western Australia. Highlights include Tiger Lily in Peter Pan, Cruella DeVil in 101 Dalmatians, Naomi in Secret Bridesmaids Business, Winnie Irving in Daisy Pulls It Off, and Aldonza in Man of La Mancha. For the Albany Light Opera and Theatre Company, she directed their youth production What’s Up In Sherwood in 2010.
Sarah has undertaken training at Writers SA, the Melbourne Writers Festival, and the Salisbury Writers Festival from professionals such as Mem Fox, Will Kostakis, David Levithan and John Marsden, and received mentoring from award winning author Vikki Wakefield. She has adapted well-loved stories such as Alice in Wonderland and The Secret Garden into scripts, as well as creating original plays in development with her students, including the musical Poor Expectations, and the play The Waiting Room. She is a regular contributor to the Adelaide Theatre Guide and Glam Adelaide, and hosts the podcasts Coming of Age Stories and Won't Someone Please Think of the Culture?
A regular presenter at state and national English conferences, Sarah has run workshops for other educators on innovative digital storytelling, audio dramas, and engaging students with low literacy.
A supportive and safe environment is created when Sarah is teaching and directing, providing young people the opportunity to take risks, be vulnerable, and produced their best work.
Further qualifications and certification includes current First Aid, Youth Mental Health First Aid, National Police Clearance, and Reporting Abuse and Neglect.