About Us> Staff
The atyp team is made up of dedicated arts-workers and artists who believe that the arts make a difference. We work with passion and drive to ensure that our stakeholders get the best atyp experience they can.
Fraser is atyp’s Artistic Director. Over the past fifteen years he has worked as a director, actor, writer, workshop facilitator and artistic director. From 2005 to 2009 he was the Artistic Director of Queensland’s leading youth theatre company, Backbone Youth Arts in Brisbane .
From July 1997 to December 2000 Fraser was the Artistic Associate of La Boite Theatre where he was responsible for coordinating development initiatives operating alongside the main house season. From 2001 to 2003 he was Artistic Director of Riverland Youth Theatre in South Australia, and in 2004 was appointed Regional Touring Officer for the Arts Regional Touring Service with the Queensland Arts Council.
In 2007 Fraser was one of seven Australian artists selected for the Next Generation International Symposium meeting in Adelaide in 2008, and Linz, Austria in 2009. He has served on the boards of Young People in the Arts, Australia (2007-09), Metro Arts (Qld, 2005-08) and the Theatre Arts Network of Queensland (2006-07). Fraser has been a Company Associate of Queensland Theatre Company (2006-08), Chair of the selection panel for the Youth Arts Mentoring Program (2006-08) and is a member of the selection panel for Queensland's theatre industry awards, The Matildas.
CONTACT FRASERBorn in Perth, Western Australia Aaron graduated from The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in 1999 (Production & Design – Stage Management).
Aaron joined Bangarra Dance Theatre as Production Manager in 2007 direct from stints as Production Manager for Barking Gecko Theatre Company (2003-2006) AWESOME Arts Festival (2004 – 2006) and Australian Theatre for Young People (2000-2002).
Aaron was Production Manager for the 2006 ANPC National Playwrights Conference. He was the Technical Manager at the Old Fitzroy/TRS Theatre (2001-2002). Aaron was the Production Manager the City of Perth (2004-05) New Years’ Eve Concert, and was Technical Manager (2004) Shakespeare-in-the-park for Deckchair Theatre.
Some of his production highlights include; for Bangarra: (True Stories, Clan, Mathinna, Awakenings) for Barking Gecko: (Hot Dogs, The Stones, The Buzz, Ghost Train, Hidden Dragons, His Majesty’s New Clothes, Crabbing at High Tide, Primates, Feather Surfers, The Troll from The Bowl) for Broken Limb: (The Boys, Macbeth, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead) for atyp: (The Birds, Spurboard, Hamlet, Kinderspiel, Sparkleshark, Lucky, Bendy)
Aaron was a board member of Broken Limb Theatre Company (1998–2000), Black Swan’s BSX Theatre (2004–2005) and The Performing Arts Centre Society - Blue Room Theatre (2006) He was awarded the 2001 ArtsWA Young People and the Arts Professional Development Fellowship.
CONTACT AARONPeter has been working in the performing arts industry for over 20 years. He graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and studied arts administration with the University of Westminster (London) post grad. He has extensive fundraising and marketing experience and has worked with many of Australia’s leading arts companies including Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, Opera Queensland, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and most recently with Australian Youth Orchestra. He is delighted to be back in the youth arts training arena with Australia’s flagship youth theatre company.
CONTACT PETEROver the last ten years Claire has worked in various areas of the arts in marketing and communications, most recently as Membership Manager of Live Performance Australia. This involved working on the Helpmann Awards and launching Australia’s first Producer Development Program for emerging theatrical producers.
Claire graduated from Charles Sturt University with a Bachelor of Arts (Design for Theatre and TV) and has also completed an Advanced Diploma (Business and Public Relations) at Box Hill Institute of TAFE. She is currently studying a Masters in Arts and Entertainment Management through Deakin University.
Claire has worked with festivals, theatre companies, schools and arts organisations but has now returned to her first love, working with young people in theatre. Claire was thrilled to accept the position of Marketing Manager at atyp in March 2010.
CONTACT CLAIREJenna graduated in Design for Events and Entertainment at the Design Centre Enmore and has worked on events and festivals in Sydney, as well as in art departments for film and television over the years . More recently, Jenna has taken an interest to theatre and the arts working for Riverside Theatres as their Administration and Finance Assistant and also areas in the Front of House and Box Office.
Jenna has always had a keen interest towards the creative abilities of young people and a passion to inspire their imaginations. Jenna took on the role as Administrator with atyp in July 2011
CONTACT JENNA | READ MOREHeather has worked extensively in theatre as both an educator and performer for over fifteen years. She has taught pre-school children, high school students (North Sydney Girls’ High School) and tertiary students (Australian Catholic University). She founded and directed her own Drama school, (The Drama Hub) running classes for school aged children. She is an actor/facilitator with Playback Theatre Sydney and was recently on the board of Platform 12 (a production company specialising in the performances of HSC texts). She has worked with refugees in creating improvised work based on their stories and has devised plays for organisations such as DOCS and Vodaphone. She is passionate about giving all young people opportunities to be transformed through the arts. Heather began working for atyp in January 2011. CONTACT HEATHER | READ MORE
Sarah Parsons has been involved with theatre for almost 15 years, in a variety of semi-professional and professional productions and venues. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Theatre and Media), an Honours degree (specialising in Theatre for Young People) and a Bachelor of Teaching (Drama) from Charles Sturt University in Bathurst. Sarah has been writing, designing, directing, performing in and touring Theatre in Education shows to most of regional NSW for many years with Stuck in the Mud Productions, a Bathurst-based, touring children’s theatre company she co-established in 2005. In the past, Sarah has been engaged as Lecturer of Theatre for Young People at Charles Sturt University, Director of the Bathurst Theatre Company’s Youth Theatre arm and Education Facilitator for Jigsaw Theatre Company in Canberra.
Sarah is very passionate about theatre for young people, and has a strong and varied background in facilitating workshops and creating theatre for all ages. Sarah believes drama provides children with an amazing opportunity to express themselves; to learn, create, co-operate, devise, share, and above all, have fun. Sarah is thrilled to be the Workshop Manager at atyp since September 2011. CONTACT SARAH
Liam is a graduate from Newtown High School of the Performing Arts and the State Drama Company. He has acted on stage and television, and worked consistently behind the scenes in television, film and the performing arts for the last fifteen years. Major productions include Disney’s TheLion King , Mathew Bourne’s Swan Lake and the Paris National Ballet Company. As a Production Manager, Liam has co-ordinated national and international tours and contributed to the success of several festivals such as the Underbelly Arts Festival and the Sydney Children’s Festival.
CONTACT LIAMJudith Seeff is a qualified archivist, who worked in all sorts of organisations' archives until landing a wonderful part-time position establishing the archives at Sydney Theatre Company in 1996. Recruited to do the same at atyp in time for its 40th anniversary in 2003, Judith is in the enviable position of managing the only two dedicated performing arts' company archives in the country. CONTACT JUDITH
Neal has worked in theatre for over 6 years both as a director and producer. In that time he has produced shows for the Melbourne Comedy Festival, The Sydney Big Laugh and the Adelaide Fringe. Neal co-founded comedy group The Delusionists in 2007, a student comedy initiative aimed to inspire and assist young, up and coming comedians to work in a more professional setting and took 7 comedians from Sydney University and UNSW to the Melbourne Comedy Festival.
In 2009 Neal created the Campus Comedy Venue, a dedicated stage at the World’s Funniest Island Festival for young comedians allowing many youth comedy groups to perform alongside comedy greats such as The Goodies and Alexei Sayle. In 2010 he coordinated the entire program for the festival with a focus on finding rising young stars and giving them the chance to perform in professional setting.
Neal is delighted to continue his work in assisting young people in the arts in getting their ‘kickstart’ as administrative assistant at atyp.
