Alberts works in many mediums: they are an actor, musician, painter,[1] poet, and playwright.[3] They have also written for the screen.[7]
Stage
Alberts has regularly acted on stage since at least 2005, when they performed in two productions[8] as a third-year student at the Adelaide Centre for the Arts. One of these was King Lear.[9] In 2013–2014, Alberts took the role of Goneril[1] in a touring production of The Shadow King,[8] which "rework[ed] Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy King Lear as a sprawling, blood-soaked tale of two Indigenous families in Australia's north".[10]
They have also written for the stage, including the play Brothers Wreck, first performed in 2014 by Company B[1] at the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney, directed by Leah Purcell, to critical acclaim.[3] They then became associate artist at Belvoir.[1] They wrote this play out of a desire after realising that there were few Indigenous Australians represented on TV and even fewer on the stage, and that suicides in the community were not being talked about. In 2018 Alberts directed the play for a collaborative production by Malthouse and STCSA,[3][7] in her directorial debut, which was again well received.[12][13] Many elements of the production were different, but Lisa Flanagan reprised her role as Petra.[3]
In June 2023, Aretha – A Love Letter to the Queen of Soul, a tribute to American soul singer Aretha Franklin, opened at Sydney Opera House before heading to Brisbane and Melbourne. Alberts directed and narrated the musical, which featured Emma Donovan, Montaigne, Thandi Phoenix, Thndo, and Ursula Yovich, along with a nine-piece band. Alberts says that they have a special connection to Franklin's music, which they find very grounding: "Not only do I love Aretha's music and have been around it a lot in my life, but her music has also saved me at points in my life".[4]
Screen
Alberts was a regular on Cleverman and a co-winner of the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 2018 Equity Ensemble Awards.[14] They also wrote for the series.[7]
As of September 2020[update] Alberts is in a relationship with actress Kate Box, and they have three children together. They both appeared in prison drama series Wentworth.[16]
^"Jada Alberts, Awarded"(PDF). MMCOSA Old Scholars Newsletter (1, 2014): 5. 2014. Jada attended Mary MacKillop College from 1996 to 2001, and in August 2013, was announced as the winner of The Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright's Award 2013
