FREMANTLE’S Mikala Westall has taken out the emerging artist gong at the Fringe World awards.

Moving on Inc, which showed at the Blue Room, is the 25-year-old’s debut as director and playwright. The play, about clearing out a household of possessions after someone dies, won great reviews.

“[Westall] comes up trumps,” the West said. Despite her win Westall considers herself “predominately a performer”.

In From the Rubble, at PICA next month, she plays a young woman who grew up in a war zone. The multi-media performance was inspired by the tales of fellow Fremantle-ite, awarding-winning journalist Sophie McNeill, who’d reported from hotspots such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq and Israel.

The stories are as varied as the subjects, with some of survival and others of women transforming their environment to make better lives for themselves and others.

The dreams and aspirations of her character are those of most young people—seen through the prism of conflict, Westall says.

“To be safe, to feel she has a voice and to step out of her house without worrying.”

From the Rubble is on at PICA, James Street, Northbridge, March 17–28.