Fresh Ink National Mentoring Program
Our celebrated Fresh Ink National Mentoring Program for emerging writers runs annually from April–December in selected states across Australia. The initiative has been running for 16 years in varying forms and engages industry professionals to mentor our young writers. To date, the program has supported 151 writers in Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
In 2024 there will be four emerging writers for performance (aged 18-26) from each participating state. Throughout the year they will produce two short works for the stage as well as attend regular meetings with their mentor to hone their skills and build their writing community.
Our program in Brisbane is co-presented with Backbone, our program in Tasmania is co-presented with Archipelago Productions and our program in Perth is co-presented with Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA. We warmly acknowledge the Jibb Foundation for their generous support of ATYP’s Fresh Ink program since 2019.
APPLICATIONS FOR FRESH INK 2024 HAVE NOW CLOSED.
2024 Places & Mentors
Sydney, NSW
Mentor: JANE FITZGERALD
2024 Program
Throughout the program participants will:
- Attend a pre-arranged workshop session at least once a month between April and December with their mentor for 6 hours (or equivalent) to develop craft and skills.
- Deliver a 15-minute play in July that will be rehearsed and performed by a professional director and actors for an invited audience.
- Deliver a 30-minute play in November that will be rehearsed and performed by a professional director and actors for an invited audience.
To be eligible for the program:
- Writers must be aged 18–26 years old at the time of application.
- Writers should have some experience in the past with writing for performance (may include work for stage and/or screen, poetry, audio work, devised work, etc.).
- Writers must be available to meet the time commitments (briefly outlined above) between April and December 2024, including both attending meetings (in-person) and having the capacity to write material between meetings.
- We strongly encourage applications from First Nations people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people from Disabled and d/Deaf communities, and people from LGBTQIA+ communities.
HOW TO APPLY:
Applications are to be submitted through the linked application form. To complete this, you will need:
- CV/Resume (maximum 2 pages) as a PDF file, detailing any writing, theatre or creative arts experience, including any study.
- A writing sample (maximum 3 pages) as a PDF file. This can be from an existing script and can be an excerpt or whole scene, or if you are new to theatre writing you can provide a sample of other writing (screen, poetry, audio work etc).
COST:
The Fresh Ink program costs $450 for successful participants. Thanks to support from the Jibb Foundation, every person successfully selected for Fresh Ink receives a scholarship subsidy of $2,600 from the full cost of the program. Please note that thanks to the support of Backbone and Black Swan State Theatre Company, all Brisbane and Perth participants will have their participation fee of $450 paid for.
Payment plans and scholarships can be negotiated for successful applicants in other cities who could not otherwise participate. Please contact ATYP at [email protected] to discuss prior to submitting your application.
DATES:
Mon 11 March 2024 – Applications due by 12pm (midday)
Thurs 28 March 2024 – Applicants notified of outcome
April – December 2024 – Fresh Ink meetings and readings (exact dates times and dates TBC)
APPLICATIONS FOR FRESH INK 2024 HAVE NOW CLOSED.
Participant & Mentor biographies
BRISBANE
Matt Bapty
Matt Bapty (he/him) is an emerging playwright and theatre-maker. His written work for performance includes Przepraszam (La Boite Assembly, 2023), Naughty Ceiling (Lunch Friend x Anywhere Festival, 34 Scenes About the Weather, 2023), A Simple Little Knot (Flaming Carnations x Fringe Brisbane, 2022), Temper Temper (Beenleigh Festival, 2021) and A Ringing in My Ear (School2Stage x QPAC, 2019). He is currently one third of the Meanjin/Brisbane based collective, Flaming Carnations, platforming local creatives to produce exciting, original theatre. He holds a Bachelor of Advanced Humanities (Hons. Class I), and is a current PhD candidate, researching the genesis and development of Queer drama in Australia from the early-twentieth century (which he will gladly talk your ear off about). His work has been published in Jacaranda and Australasian Drama Studies, with more to come.
Olivia Brand
Olivia Brand is a performer and playwright, hailing from Meanjin/Brisbane. With a candid love for comedic performance and a passion for fostering community introspection through art, her work is marked by bending laughter into truths and by warping the weird with reality. Olivia holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Drama from QUT, and has been creating local experimental works since 2015. She is an ongoing collaborator with Yours Sincerely Collective and was a founding member of Chance Collective. In 2021, she wrote her solo play, a glittery retail coming-of-age extravaganza titled Mall of Dreams, under guidance from Kathryn Marquet and Playlab Theatre’s Incubator Program. Her other credits include a scratch-work for Metro Arts Youth Forum (Sludge Bank, 2021), as well as shows with Backbone Youth Ensemble (Ride, 2018), for Anywhere Theatre Festival (There’s No Sex Til The Third Act, 2019; Dream a House, 2017), and with The SUI Ensemble (GAME and Suicide Show, 2015). Channelling her skillset into art initiatives, she currently co-produces the monthly Wreckers Comedy Night with comedian Katie Pierce and has previously co-produced events with Candy Social Club, Vena Cava, and Jailbreak Events. Across her practice, Olivia offers audiences a sanctuary for the taboo and silly.Sarah Esser
Sarah Esser is a queer playwright and poet based in Meanjin. In 2020, she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Drama) at QUT. That year, they wrote and directed their first full-length play, I Hate to Tell You This, which debuted at Backbone Youth Arts. Sarah was also a writer and collaborator for La Boite’s Assembly and The Backbone Youth Ensemble in 2020. Last year, she was very fortunate to participate in PlayLab Theatre’s Incubator Program, where she developed the first draft of her new play, Homegrown. They were also amongst the 35 playwrights that contributed to Lunch Friend’s 34 Scenes About the Weather, which went on to take out the 2023 Anywhere Award for Best Theatre Production. As both a poet and playwright, Sarah wants more than anything to write stories that people can wrap their mouths around and chew on.Sophie Wickes
Sophie Wickes is an emerging playwright, actor and arts administrator based in Meanjin/Brisbane. Sophie graduated from The University of Queensland in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Drama, where she completed a practice-led research project in playwriting. Her research explored the contemporary legacy of the early modern revenge tragedy and culminated in a one-act play. This alternate-history play, The Princesses in the Tower, is a feminist revenge tragi-comedy that exemplifies her quirky writing style. As an actor and producer, Sophie has worked on two independent productions with Good Time Theatrics – Awakening (2021) and The Pillowman (2022). As a playwright, her short plays have been presented by the Backbone Youth Ensemble (2020) and through Underground Theatre Company’s Short Play Festival (2023). Sophie is ultimately interested in creating work that centres the female experience and makes people laugh, cry and feel a little less alone.
HOBART
Eilish Alexander
Eilish Alexander is a recent English graduate who fell into theatre on a whim whilst completing her undergraduate degree. Since then, she has been an active board member of UTAS theatre society PLoT where her play Animals of the Court formed part of anthology production The Rise (2022). She has also had several pieces of micro-fiction published in Visual Verse. Eilish won the Humanities in Place Engagement Scholarship in 2023, receiving funding to write a full-length play for her Honours degree. The result, Quite Contrary, is a queered interpretation of Tasmanian convict archival material. Eilish looks forward to returning to the twenty-first century during the Fresh Ink mentoring program.
Paul Dellas
Paul Dellas is a creative based in nipuluna/Hobart. From acting to writing and everything in-between, he loves collaborating and creating with fellow artists. Some notable recent credits include being involved in local theatre productions Liminal by The Old Nick Company (2023), and The Hitmen by Bad Company Theatre (2023). The latter recently earning him a nomination and win at the 2024 Tasmanian Council Theatre Awards. He also enjoys writing and directing short films, producing a number of works. Most recently, he has co-written and co-directed an upcoming short, Sparky, that will be entered in multiple short film festivals. Paul is excited to be a part of Fresh Ink, and is continuously striving to learn creatively. He hopes to develop his creative skills further to enhance his work.
Andy James
Andy James is a 23 year old actor and writer from nipaluna (Hobart) and she has been writing and performing since she could read. She has a Certificate IV in Acting for Stage and Screen from Perform Australia, and has been involved in many productions including Young Rock (TV, 2021), Austin (TV, 2023), and Terror Australis Too (Theatre, 2024). She has been an avid fiction writer her whole life, focussing on genres such as fantasy, action, and sci-fi and is excited to self publish her debut novel this year. She is beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to delve into the world of playwriting with Fresh Ink in 2024! Megan Kenna
Megan Kenna is an emerging local creative living in lutruwita/Tasmania. Recently graduating from the University of Tasmania with a degree in theatre and performance, Megan has a strong interest in experimental and interdisciplinary performing. Megan is an experienced filmmaker, production designer, theatre maker and actor. Megan values the playfulness of theatre paired with the raw vulnerability of the rehearsal space, as well as the collaboration and experimentation of making new and personal works.
PERTH
Sharni Andersson
Sharni Andersson (They/Them) is a writer, actor and director based in Boorloo (Perth). From a young age, Sharni was full of energy and many words and needed a place to put them. After four years of Social Work study and investigating the intricacies of being an individual in an ever-evolving society; Sharni threw this knowledge into acting training and graduated with a Diploma of Acting from WAAPA in 2023. Sharni debuted as a writer with Unmirrored at the 2023 Fringe World Festival. With a taste for writing for stage and a hunger for more, in 2024 they wrote and directed Splashzone at The Blue Room Theatre as part of the Summer Nights program. Sharni has a desire to explore and create works that delve into the guts of what it means to be human, exposing the dirty laundry and making you laugh while doing it. Their passion lies in listening to and telling underrepresented stories, with a hope to one day be spoilt for choice when searching for neurodiverse and queer stories that affirm their own.
Laura Goodlet
Laura Goodlet is an emerging writer, actor, and theatre maker in Boorloo. She is a soon to be graduate of the Bachelor of Performing Arts (Performance Making) course at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), where she also completed a Diploma of Acting. She was recently a part of Black Swan State Theatre’s site-specific work The Pool as a member of the Chorus. And directly before this, made a site-specific work for WAAPA at the Inglewood Bowls Club, Clubhouse, Dusk in which she experimented with live poetry creation, writing fresh poems for each night of the performance. Laura also has an interest in film and screen; and last year began creating and performing in multiple short clips her for local cinema, in a team called Girlgenius Productions. She is interested in storytelling across multiple genres and disciplines, and hopes to create and be a part of work that both challenges and uplifts.
Clea Purkis
Clea Purkis (she/her) is an actor and performance maker currently based in Boorloo (Perth). She is a recent WAAPA graduate, having completed a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Performance Making) and a Diploma of Screen Performance. Prior to her tertiary studies, Clea performed with and was the Artistic Associate of Riptide Youth Performance Company from 2018-2020, mentored by Katt Osborne. With the company, Clea expanded beyond her creative skills to include producing and workshop facilitation. Clea is also a member of the emerging theatre company stop drop + roll, who staged Everything Flickers at The Blue Room Theatre last year and was nominated for four Blue Room Theatre awards. Clea’s creative focus is on truth-telling in art. In an era of misinformation and idealised realities created by the media, Clea believes that sharing our honest human experience through art is key to connecting with those around us. She believes that being emotionally honest in theatre allows us to reconnect with our humanness and create a miniature utopia. Her creative goal for the Fresh Ink mentorship is to experiment with intersections between film and theatre and create a fusion of the two for the screen.
Makaela Rowe-Fox
Makaela Rowe-Fox is an emerging interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Boorloo on Whadjuk Noongar land. She is interested in experimental and radical arts praxes; moving across playwrighting, contemporary performance, photography, video art and sculpture. In her work, Makaela playfully explores stories of resistance and human-animal alliance in response to the crisis of the Anthropocene. She enjoys imagining ecologically weird relationships with non-human living beings. Recent works include; writing and performing in 2023 Perth Festival commission Seven Sisters; developing her short work Jellyfish Business as a part of ATYP’s National Studio (2023); and writing The Pelican, commissioned by WAYTco for their inaugural 2022 Play Generator Project. Makaela has also performed and choreographed independently in December Project, presented by the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA). She has exhibited at Bus Projects (VIC) and Cullity Gallery (WA). Makaela was a recipient of Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award, their most prestigious human rights award, in 2019 for her leading role as a climate activist in the Fridays for Future movement. In 2023, Makaela received a Hatched nomination for her graduate body of work Familiar developed during her double major in Fine Arts and English and Literary Studies at the University of Western Australia
SYDNEY
Kate Bubalo
Kate Bubalo is a writer and dramaturg who is based on the land of the Gadigal and Wangal people. She recently completed her MFA in Writing for Performance at NIDA in 2023. Kate honed her writing skills through devising and performing sketch comedy, starting with her involvement in Sydney University’s Women’s and Arts Revue. She has also appeared in various independent shows in the Sydney Comedy Festival and Sydney Fringe Festival. Her play, [Your Name], was shortlisted for the Griffin Award in 2023 and is scheduled to be performed as part of KXT’s 2024 season. As a child of the internet, Kate’s work often interrogates preconceptions of how the internet has shaped our world and culture, and her extensive background in writing and performing comedy is a driving force for getting to the authentic heart of her stories.
Aliyah Knight
Aliyah is a storyteller and performer living and working on unceded Gadigal land. She is passionate about telling queer and diverse stories that represent complex and flawed individuals. Aliyah graduated from AFTRS with a Bachelor of Arts in Screen Production in 2024. Their final film Consume is a queer horror short exploring the intersection of religious trauma and internalised homophobia. In 2023, Aliyah was selected for ATYP’s National Studio program, resulting in their short play Four Legs Good being commissioned for ATYP’s Intersection Festival. Aliyah is currently developing their first full-length play, Snakeface, a modern day adaptation of the myth of Medusa. Aliyah is also an experienced note-taker, having worked with Roadshow Rough Diamond and Mad Ones Films across a number of rooms. She is currently developing Blood Rush, a horror-comedy pilot about a vampire girlband.
Miranda Michalowski
Miranda Michalowski (she/her) is a multidisciplinary writer and performer living and working on unceded Gadigal land. She is passionate about telling tender, strange and funny stories, through a queer lens. Miranda graduated with Honours in Theatre and Performance Studies from UNSW in 2022. In 2021, she was selected as one of 20 young writers from across Australia for the esteemed ATYP National Studio. Her coming-of-age play, Young Bodies/Somebody’s, debuted at Flight Path Theatre in 2022 and is published by Playlab Digitals. It is set for a remount this year with youth theatre company, Jopuka Productions. Miranda’s second play, Saturday Girls, was shortlisted for the 2022 Rodney Seaborn Playwright’s Award, long-listed for the 2023 Griffin Award, and debuted at Belvoir Downstairs in August 2023. Miranda is currently working on a dark comedy monologue about a funeral crasher, Macaroni and Dead Things, and a magical realist play about pregnancy, The Kid. She has worked as a notetaker with HardyWhite Pictures and Soapbox Industries, and is currently developing a mystery-comedy project for TV. Pratha Nagpal
Pratha Nagpal is a director, writer, and a passionate theatremaker practicing on unceded Dharawal land. Pratha’s practice is deeply inspired by BIPOC stories and art. She understands the need for art that centres BIPOC voices, in both the stories that are being told, and the process undertaken to tell these stories. In 2023, she Assistant Directed Constellations at STC. She Assistant Directed Sunderella programmed for World Pride 2023. She was also the recipient of the TheatreLab Residency at Q Theatre for her new work named Aurat Raj (The Woman’s Rule). Aurat Raj is programmed as part of the Belvoir 25A program in 2024. She is a recent graduate from NIDA and completed her Master of Fine Arts (Directing) in 2023. At NIDA, she has directed a devised cultural dance work named Kali for the Festival of Emerging Artists 2022. She also directed a short play named Ali by Daniel Keene, and in collaboration with Triple J, a music video for Coconut Cream called What Kind of Music Do You Like To Listen To?. In 2021/22, she wrote and directed her show माँ की रसोई (Maa Ki Rasoi) under the ArtsLab residency program by ShopFront. Since then, the work has been programmed at 4A and KXT.
CAIRNS
Lena Bwami
My name is Lena Bwami. I am highly creative and a multi talented woman with a passion for the arts. I was born and raised in Kenya but of Congolese Background, my love for storytelling and performance was nurtured from an early age. My diverse cultural background and experiences have played a significant role in shaping my unique artistic vision. I am an actor, and filmmaker, who has made a name for myself in the creative industry. My work has been featured in numerous festivals and theatre productions. My academic background has further honed my craft and provided me with a deeper understanding of storytelling and the creative process. My passion for social justice and human rights also informs my work, with many of my projects exploring issues such as racism, gender inequality, and the impact of colonisation. When I am not working on my latest project, I enjoy exploring new cultures and cuisines, as well as spending time in nature. Overall, my commitment to artistic expression and social justice has made me a formidable force in the creative industry, and one to watch in the years to come.Adria Cunningham
Hey, I’m Adria Cunningham! I am an aspiring actor, creator, and artistic ‘expressor’ in training. As a 2022 highschool graduate from rural Far North
Queensland, my experience in the creative arts reaches not far further than senior drama assessments. However, my location has not prevented me from pursuing my passion. This year, I’ve begun developing a professional career in acting by joining forces with JUTE Theatre Company, in their JAS Professional Pathway programme. Since 2022, I’ve attended acting workshops with renowned universities such as NIDA and Griffith University to gain knowledge, skills and experience from amazing professionals and teachers. I’m moving towards broadening my skill set in both the acting and writing field, as it is my dream to see my creations and performances on screen. As part of my next big step into the industry, ATYP’s 2023 Fresh Ink programme is the most exciting opportunity to collaborate and connect with fellow inspiring young writers.
Amber Grossmann
Amber Grossmann is a teaching artist and theatre maker from the Cairns Region. She is the artistic director of youth theatre company Overall Arts, working predominantly in playwriting, theatrical direction, youth engagement and facilitation. She has worked with some of Australia’s leading theatre companies including NIDA, Queensland Theatre, JUTE Theatre Company and Performing Lines. Amber is passionate about facilitating projects that nurture the creative spirit and strengthen the Cairns community, through truthful and thought-provoking storytelling.Grace Wilson
Grace Wilson (she/her) is an 18-year-old emerging playwright living on Yidinji land in Far North Queensland. She performed with The Young Company Theatre in Cairns for multiple years training in acting and musical theatre before beginning to write for stage in late 2020. Her works have been recognised by many different theatre companies across Australia including by Queensland Theatre (Young Playwrights’ Award Winner 2022/Shortlist 2021), JUTE Theatre Company, Matriark Theatre Company, Vena Cava Productions, and many others. In 2023, three of Grace’s works will receive their first public performances in Cairns and Brisbane respectively.
HOBART
Delia Bartle
Delia Bartle is a multi-disciplinary creative based in nipaluna/Hobart, with experience ranging from music journalism through to live sound performance and keyboard programming for musical theatre. She graduated from the University of Tasmania in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English Literature, where she was awarded the Sir Philip Fysh Prize and the James McAuley Memorial Prize for greatest proficiency in second and third year English units. Delia was the 2015 Symphony Services International and Sydney Symphony Music Presentation Fellow, during which she produced digital and broadcast content for ABC Radio National, ABC Classic, Limelight Magazine and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. She is new to writing for the stage, and is delighted to have the opportunity to develop her playwriting skills as part of Fresh Ink in 2023.Nicola Ingram
Nicola Ingram (she/her) is a proud palawa and Wiradjuri woman based in nipaluna (Hobart). She is a recent graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) graduating in 2021 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting). Being passionate about live theatre, she has appeared in roles such as Joni in Fill Fill Fill Fill Fill Fill Fill (Dir. John Kachoyan) and J in promiscuous/cities (Dir. Alyson Campbell). In 2021 Nicola received the Emerging Tasmanian Aboriginal Writers Award and has continued to develop original works as part of Theatre Works First Stories program, ILBIJERRI’s 10 in 10 emerging artists festival and Melbourne Theatre Company’s emerging writers’ program First Stage. She is currently looking forward to being a part of the Fresh Ink National Mentoring Program for 2023 where she can further develop her writing practice alongside other emerging writers.
Adrian Reddish
Adrian Reddish’s love of theatre began from a young age, taking acting classes with O’Grady Drama Academy between 2009 and 2019. Recent acting credits include the childrens’ pantomimes Snow White (2018), Something Fishy (2019) and The Tale of the Nutcracker (2020) with Hobart Repertory Theatre, Salome (2020) and The Rise (2022) with PLoT, and Maybe Today with Lost Theatre Company (2023), and is currently rehearsing for Hobart Repertory Theatre’s production of The Winslow Boy. Adrian recently graduated from UTAS with a Bachelor of Media majoring in Screen, and has experience writing screenplays and producing short films. Adrian is excited to develop his skills in writing for a live audience.Bella Young
Bella Young is a 26yr old early career artist based in nipaluna [Hobart] passionate about performance as a theatre-maker, puppeteer and director. She is Youth Advisory Officer on the board of RANT Arts and works as a puppeteer with Terrapin Puppet Theatre, and theatre-maker with Second Echo Ensemble (SEE). Bella is currently completing an international diploma in puppet therapy and touring a therapeutic creative aged care program with Terrapin – exploring the positive impact of puppetry with elderly people. Bella’s practice centres around ensemble-based theatre and creating applied theatre projects that engage communities in cross-discipline performance experiences. In 2020-22, she co-created/facilitated Youth Compendium – a collaborative professional development program that paid 50 young people mentored by 9 professional artists to publish 750 zines statewide. Recently, she independently directed a youth work for Circus Studio Kingston and co-directed/choreographed DRILL youth dance companies’ performance for TasDance Illuminate Festival. Bella has also produced regional playwriting workshops for Blue Cow Theatre and underwent an internship with Performing Lines Tas to assistant produce ‘takara nipaluna’, a First Nations walking tour.
PERTH
Lily Baitup
Lily Baitup is a Boorloo-based writer, actor, and performance maker and an alumni of the Bachelor of Performing Arts at WA Academy of Performing Arts. She recently collaborated as a writer and performer on WA Youth Theatre Company’s production of Seven Sisters, which was presented at Perth Festival 2023 and toured to Karratha in May as part of the Red Earth Arts Festival. She wrote for 24 Hour Play Generator at Subiaco Arts Centre in 2021 and 2022, her 2021 piece, Anemone being expanded into a one-act play last year and performed as part of WAYTCo’s Growing Voices program. In April 2022, she received a grant from Propel to co-write an original web-series, Meat Cute currently in pre-production. She also wrote for two pieces as part of the 2020 program of TILT; Ask Again Tomorrow and Son, which she also performed in. Her first full length play, We’ll Always Have Bali will have its premier at The Blue Room Theatre in July 2023. Arthur Brown
Arthur Brown (they/them) is a writer, performer, and theatre maker operating on Whadjuk Noongar land. They are currently studying Theatre Arts at Curtin University, and are an active participant in the on-campus Hayman Theatre Company both onstage and behind the scenes. Their Hayman credits include Dance of the Fantail (assistant stage manager) and One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy (Sisyphus). Their poetry and playwriting has been published in Pulch Magazine, Year of the Water Tiger Zine (Red Pocket Press), and Voiceworks (as a winner of the Books That Made Us prize). They’re honestly drawing a blank to think of anything else that they’ve done. They are passionate about multidisciplinary theatre, musical theatre, and incorporating new media into theatrical spaces. They are fuelled by bubble tea, songs with titles that begin with “The Ballad Of,” and the power of friendship. Alicia Lori
Alicia Lori is a multi-disciplinary writer and performer based in Boorloo (Perth). They are a soon to be graduate from the Bachelor of Performing Arts (Performance Making) at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and have a strong passion for creating and supporting new Australian works of theatre. During her studies, Alicia has taken every opportunity to broaden their skills and experiences as a theatre maker. She has collaborated with other Western Australian artists to write and develop original musicals and comedy based shows, some of which were recently performed for Fringe World Festival. Alicia aims to tell stories through a variety of artistic mediums that bring joy to audience members and she is excited for the opportunity to develop the skills to do so in Fresh Ink 2023.Gabrielle Wilson
Gabrielle Wilson is an emerging artist from Auckland, New Zealand. Born with a flair for the dramatic, her parents begrudgingly indulged her forays into music, dance, and theatre. After meandering abroad, she set her sights on the Bachelor of Arts (Acting) at WAAPA from which she graduated in 2022. Wilson thrives in comedy and heightened text, and was a finalist for the Peter Hurford Award for Excellence in her final year. However acting never fully scratched her artistic itch, and she found herself increasingly immersed in making alongside her training; working on a number of Fringe projects, stand-up comedy, and ultimately writing her graduation pieces. Gabrielle’s work is largely influenced by her experience as a neurodivergent queer woman with a dynamic disability, on a relentless quest to use humour and joy as a tool for agency in a body and world that does its best to take it from her. Currently working as part of comedy duo The Gaza Strippers, and as a performer and producer of The Blue Room’s upcoming Much Stuff in October, she eagerly anticipates a multi-faceted career as a maker, writer, performer, and professional butt (of the joke).
SYDNEY
Melody Chen
Melody Chen is a Chinese-Australian writer/director based in Sydney. Her work combines offbeat humour with vulnerability to tell stories about queer identity, family, girlhood and the Chinese diaspora. Melody’s short film, Posthumous Forgiveness, screened at the Short + Sweet Illawarra Film Festival in 2021 and caught the attention of award-winning filmmakers worldwide. In 2022, she was one of 12 screenwriters in NSW selected by the Australian Writer’s Guild for their inaugural First Break program. She has since worked as a notetaker on a diverse slate of projects for Goalpost Pictures, See-Saw Films, Aquarius Films and Screen Australia. Melody has also cut her teeth on shows in production with SBS, ABC Me and Stan Originals, set for release in late 2023. Melody strives to tell stories with heart and humour across all mediums. She is very excited to be part of Fresh Ink 2023 and continue honing her skills writing for the screen and stage.Michele Gould
Michele Gould is a Thai Australian writer, composer and performer who creates art inspired by the diverse heroes of today. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science and has trained in Musical Theatre at WAAPA and Principal Academy of Dance. She professionally debuted as a Swing in We Will Rock You at the Crown Theatre with Platinum Entertainment in her final year of study. Michele debuted her first original musical Passing at Fringe World Perth 2021 which premiered to sold out shows and rave reviews. Michele has since developed their next musical 107 with Antipodes Theatre Company as part of their 2021 Winter Lab. In 2022 they were part of ATYP’s National Studio and will be a published playwright as part of the Intersection Festival. She also attended the first ever APRA AMCOS Musical Theatre SongHubs 2022 as well as mounting 107 at The Blue Room Theatre for their Summer Nights program and subsequent Main Season; another production with sold out shows and critical acclaim. Michele was recently a creative associate on TLGHs D*ck Pics and a swing for ATYPs The Resistance. When not busy trying to take on the world, Michele is happiest playing Dungeons and Dragons.Lachlan Parry
Lachlan Parry is an emerging writer who is interested in authentic and inclusive queer storytelling with an MFA in Writing for Performance from the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Lachlan also studied scripted television at Regent’s University in London. While in London he wrote and co-directed a new work titled Three Sisters, which played at the Marylebone Theatre. His second play, How to Win a Plebiscite (and Tennis) featured at the end of 2022 in NIDA’s Festival of Emerging Artists. Lachlan has written two short films, notably Tonight’s the Night and Coffee, which have both featured in local and international film festivals. Lachlan was recently shortlisted for the Born Writers Award for his short film script This House is Mine Now which wrapped production in early 2023. He was a member of ATYP’s 2022 National Studio and looks forward to being part of the Intersection Festival in 2023 with his piece, Violet. He was also a featured writer for the 2019 anthology Infinite Threads. Lachlan pays his respects to the Gadigal people as the traditional owners and storytellers of the land on which he lives and works.
Bokkie Robertson
Bokkie “Too Poor For a Pro Headshot” Robertson is a stage and screen writer-director living and working on unceded Gadigal land. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Screen Production from AFTRS, a Certificate III in Live Production, Theatre and Events, and a Doctorate of How Not to Hate Yourself While Writing Your Bio in Third Person. She’s directed a bunch of cool theatre (immersive Much Ado About Nothing, high school dramedy The Other End of the Afternoon, so on and so forth), and won the Silver Gull Play Award in 2021 for The Other End of the Afternoon, which she also wrote (and whose godawfully lengthy title she is in a constant state of regretting). She’s worked on some cool Aussie films (Long Story Short, June Again, Ellie and Abbie and Ellie’s Dead Aunt) and made a couple of shorts, which she refuses to name because they’re not very good and she doesn’t want you going and watching them. She’s run out of space to talk about her web series, music videos, involvement in ATYP’s 2021 National Studio, or the really silly feature film she’s writing, so it looks like we’ll just have to take her word for it that she’s more or less completely spectacular, and cross our fingers that she doesn’t let us down.
BRISBANE
Courtney Cavallaro
Courtney Cavallaro is a maker who invites honesty, vulnerability and glee into her work. Upon graduating WAAPA (Performing Arts) she was awarded the Belinda Dunbar Prize, which recognises the most outstanding Bachelor of Performing Arts graduate. Her time in Boorloo (Perth) saw her nominated for Best Newcomer at the Performing Arts WA awards, perform in Sara DeLappe’s The Wolves (Blue Room Theatre Best Production Winner) and host pvi collective’s Disobedience Rules, as well as collaborate as a devisor on shows such as Ugly Virgins (Blue Room Theatre Best New Writing Winner) and BITE ME (Martin Sims Best New Writing Nominee). Courtney loves writing and performing for both stage and screen, and is currently developing her debut web-series Under Control.Nicky Haeusler
Nicky Haeusler is a regionally based theatre director and community creative. She is currently working as the Youth Arts Director at Empire Theatre in Toowoomba, where she engages with over 100 young people every week through drama classes, theatre making, and creative development opportunities. She is passionate about dismantling the boundaries between industries through collaboration and interdisciplinary practices, notably as a Creative Consultant with C&K (Childcare and Kindergarten). Throughout all her work, she advocates for the value and power of the creative arts in forging communities and strengthening wellbeing in classrooms, workplaces, and shared spaces. Nicky is always looking to strengthen her practice and is excited to be part of ATYP’s Queensland-based Fresh Ink program for 2022.
Blake Hohenhaus
Blake Hohenhaus (he/him) is a 22-year-old emerging playwright, actor andtheatre-maker from Toowoomba, Queensland, who now lives in Brisbane/Meanjin. In 2017, Blake won the Queensland Theatre Young Playwrights Award for Ash and Andie (or a Kaleidoscope of Chance Meetings and Stolen Conversations) [with Zoe Hulme Peake]. That same year, he was longlisted for the ATYP Foundation Commission for 13-17-year-olds. In 2020, Blake’s first solo full-length play Aeternitas received Arts Council’s Resilience Fund for further creative development and Blake was selected as one of seven writers for La Boite’s ASSEMBLY showcase. Last year, Blake and his collaborators at Pulpable Collective created Murder on the Starship Genesis, an immersive theatre experience, which is now in development as a feature film with Rare Squid Creative. In the same year, he co-wrote Walton Creek, an original Australian Gothic work for a Shake & Stir Theatre Co. high school residency [with Madeline Romcke] and facilitated and directed the development of short theatre works by emerging writers in Miles for the 2021 Back to the Bush Festival [with Jordon Riley]. Blake currently works as a Company Actor for Shake & Stir Theatre Co.’s primary-school touring team, and holds a BCA (Acting, Theatre Studies) from USQ (2020).Egan Sun-Bin
Egan Sun-Bin is an Asian-Australian storyteller based in Meanjin. He currently holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in Acting at the Queensland University of Technology and has previously trained with Queensland Theatre’s Young Artist Ensemble from 2015-2017. Egan’s theatre credits include working with Queensland based companies like Debase, Shock Therapy Productions, Queensland Theatre, Shake and Stir and La Boite. He has also worked as a writer being part of ATYP’s Roomworks in 2020 and was a participant of AFTRS’ Talent Camp in 2019. Egan is also an artistic lead for a Meanjin based theatrical collective called The Reaction Theory that produces theatrical works for young people aged 18 – 29. Currently, Egan is part of La Boite’s Assistant Creatives Program where he will be attached to a production throughout La Boite’s 2022 Season and is part of Queensland Theatre’s Teaching Artist Program cohort for 2022.
DARWIN
Michael Van Berkel
Hello my name’s Michael Van Berkel and I’m a local Darwinite actor. I have performed in various productions from The Art of Forgetting (2016) and have been in a variety of Corrugated Iron Youth Arts shows like Bamboo Moon (2017), Animal Farm (2018), DNA (2020). My most recent works have been Big Dog Salad Live Show (2021) and Last Call (2021). I’ve done screen acting work on Nathaniel Kelly’s web series Fractty Frack (2019) and Big Dog Salad’s Type Cast (2020). Jessica Lawrence
Jessica Lawrence is a Darwin born-and-raised aspiring writer. Whilst most of her experience in theatre and performance lies in previous assignments through school, the art form is near and dear to her heart, having always enjoyed finding a creative output to most challenges. Through this program, she hopes to work on actually putting her ideas to paper to create something that makes some amount of sense.Eloy Mason
Eloy Mason is an up and coming actor who has been studying the dramatic arts since middle school. He had a major acting role in the Year 12 performance of The Real Inspector Hound in 2019. Since graduating, Eloy has enrolled in Corrugated Iron and similar workshops to broaden his skillset and has performed in many plays and short films like Taming of the Shrew, Last Call and Mould. He is also an active member of CemeNTstars and has a Cert iV in Live Production and Technical Services.Will York
Will York is a recent graduate from the Creative Writing program at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He is an experienced creative practitioner having produced theatre at both university and Independent venues. Having recently moved to Darwin during the great-pandemic exodus of New South Wales, Will currently works as a Public Relations professional. He aspires to be the Adam Sandler of theatre.
HOBART
Noah Casey
Noah Casey is an accomplished actor, writer, theatre maker, and musician from nipaluna Hobart. He completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2018, with a specialisation in theatre making. His acting credits from 2021 include various roles in Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s Tip Duck, COVID Busters, Scaredy Cat, and Not So Traditional Story; Perseus in Bad Company’s Medusa Waking; Dromio of Syracuse in Direction’s The Comedy of Errors; and B in The Theatre Closet’s CRAVE. Noah was a part of Blue Cow’s Cowshed playwriting program in 2019 and their Future Proof program in 2020. He hopes to continue developing his skills as a playwright with Fresh Ink in 2022.Milla Chaffer
Milla Chaffer is an actor, stage manager and writer born and based in nipaluna, lutruwita. Having worked in theatre for many years, she loves new experiences both on and off the stage. Milla most recently played the role of Heather McNamara in Heathers (Old Nick Company) in 2021 and is currently working as an improviser for The Practitioners of Ephemeral Arts (Hobart Festival of Improvised Theatre). Milla was also assistant director/stage manager for The Old Man and the Old Moon (Jack Lark Presents) and stage manager for Crave (The Theatre Closet). As a young writer new to the scene, Milla is thrilled to have this opportunity to share her work with a wider audience.Mostafa Faraji
“For me, art is a way of communicating with the world. When I arrived in Tasmania in 2013, I struggled with speaking English and making friends. I discovered a way to communicate my emotions through painting, by expressing my relationship with landscape. I left my home country, ‘Kurdistan’ and all that I knew behind to travel by boat to Australia. At the age of fifteen I became an asylum seeker. Upon my arrival to Australia, I was detained on for a long time on Christmas Island before migrating to the main island. To cope with losing my friends and family, I taught myself how to draw. I had no access to paint at the detention centre and my movements were restricted. Many of my earlier works were landscapes with no colour to symbolise the void I felt within. Once I was released from detention, I was allowed to access paints and I started to experience hope. Painting taught me how to interpret life through the beauty of landscape. Only recently, I have felt compelled to share my life story and those I have met on my journey as a refugee”.Amelia Pond
Amelia Pond was raised in lutruwita (Tasmania) and graduated from UTAS with a BCA majoring in theatre. Highlights from her live performance career include projects with established Australian artists such as director Benjamin Winspear in the premiere season of Hilary Bell’s Perfect Stranger (2020), and Willoh S. Weiland and JR Brennan while performing at Faux Mo for MONA FOMA (2019, 2020). She has also worked as an emerging artist on Soliloquy with Rising Phoenix Studios (2021), as well as writing and directing for Panopticon III at Dark Mofo (2019). As well as her theatre work, Amelia has featured in ad campaigns such as Tourism Tasmania’s ‘Come Down for Air’ (2019), RACT’s ‘More Rewards. More Often’ (2020), and City Mission’s ‘Christmas Appeal’ (2020). In addition to her experience in performance art, Amelia is skilled in several forms of visual art, including illustration, painting, ceramics, photography and digital art.
SYDNEY
Sonia Dodd
Sonia Dodd (she/her) is a Malaysian-Australian creative originally from Newcastle and is currently an Assistant Producer with Darlinghurst Theatre Company. She graduated from Charles Sturt University in 2019 with a Theatre/Media degree that honed her many creative hats across performing, devising, stage managing, designing and playwriting. Sonia also holds a Graduate Certificate in Psychological Science from the Australian College of Applied Psychology.
As an actor, Sonia originated the role of Schapelle Corby in new Australian musical Schapelle, Schapelle (Piano Room Productions) in 2018 and most recently featured as Tara in Seasons 2 & 3 of TikTok series, The Formal (SLAG Productions). As a writer, Sonia wrote her university major work, Good Mourning, which played a Sydney season in March 2020 after being awarded the Blair Milan Touring Scholarship. Other work includes producing Slanted Theatre’s Three Fat Virgins Unassembled as part of the KXT Storylines Program, studying NIDA’s Screen Actors Studio program, volunteering at the Prague Quadrennial and participating in their Devising and Scenography workshop series, and completing a study tour with Makhampom Art Space in Thailand focusing on Dialogue Theatre.
Sonia is particularly passionate about female-led contemporary work that celebrates inclusivity and diversity.
Izabella Louk
Izabella Louk (She/her) is a playwright, performer, and producer living and working on Gadigal land. Izabella attended Drew University (NJ, USA) where she studied Theatre and Mandarin, and upon graduation, she was awarded the Thomas H. Kean President’s Award for Overall Excellence in Theatre Arts; an award given annually to a graduating senior who has made outstanding contributions to theatre at Drew. Highlights from her time in the US include co-devising/writing Stillwater a play with music (with Tectonic Theater Project), associate-producing New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s 10th Annual Alvin Ailey Day of Dance, interning with Broadway casting office Telsey+Company, and having her play What Have We Got produced by Drew University. On return to Australia, Izabella co-wrote her first short-film passer-by, was a member of ATYP’s 2021 National Writing Studio, and in 2022 is producing and performing in a bold new take on Much Ado About Nothing. Izabella is also a passionate environmental activist and sustainable theatre advocate.Lou McInnes
Lou McInnes is an actor, writer and singer living and working on the unceded land of the Gadigal people. They are a 2020 graduate of Actors Centre Australia, with some of their credits while studying include Medea, Twelfth Night, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Love for Love and Spring Awakening. Previous credits include DNA (Public Schools State Drama Company), Bassett (ATYP/ Bittersweet Productions), The Second and Third Age Project (Sport For Jove), Much Ado About Nothing (SUDS) and The Sydney University Womn’s Revue (Sydney Comedy Festival). In 2021 Lou performed in Significant Other (New Theatre), The Merchant of Venice Symposium (Sport for Jove) and performed and trained with The House That Dan Built. Their short play Get Where You’re Going was also published in ATYP’s Intersection: Unleashed. This year Lou performed in Taz vs the Pleb(Rogue Productions).JoJo Zhou
JoJo Zhou is an emerging writer, dramaturg and creator. She completed her Master of Fine Arts (Writing for Performance) at NIDA in 2020, and has worked as a writer on projects for Critical Stages, Shopfront Arts Co-Op, Playwriting Australia in collaboration with Arts Out West, and Gasworks Arts Park in Melbourne, and has been published in Intersection: Beat with ATYP. JoJo worked as dramaturg on Outpost Theatre’s touring production of Romeo and Juliet, and across several productions with Assorted Tarts, and her plays have appeared as part of Freshworks Femme at the Old 505 (2020), Bondi Feast (2019), Sydney Fringe Festival (2018), and Artstate Festival (2018). She is currently working as a Writer and Narrative Designer on Cult of the Lamb, a Massive Monster/Devolver Digital title slated for a 2022 release. She was a recipient of the Young Regional Artist Scholarship in late 2017, and studied a Bachelor of Communication (Theatre/Media).
Sydney
Rebecca Duke
Rebecca Duke is a twenty-one-year-old writer and student raised in Tasmania. In 2021, she is starting her third year of a Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics/Bachelor of Arts at the ANU. In 2019 she took part in ATYP’s National Studio and was delighted to receive her first publication in Intersection 2020: Beat closely followed by This Was Urgent Yesterday written during CARCLEW’s residency, The Writing Place. In 2020, she was resident artist at Canberra Youth Theatre and is currently under commission by the company to write Space Oddity, a play that accompanies a work by Mary Rachel Brown. She is also in the process of writing Church Sweet Church, a play about faith, community and reckoning which has been selected for The Street Theatre’s First Seen program.Eric Jiang
Eric is a Chinese-Australian writer/director from Sydney. In 2020, he participated in the National Studio, a playwriting program run by Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP). Eric was an ArtsLab 2021 Resident (Shopfront Arts Co-op), for which he created a short art film, and is involved with the Step Up program (bAKEHOUSE Theatre x KXT) and is excited to be a part of Fresh Ink (ATYP). His creative writing is published in Voiceworks, Australian Poetry Journal, Peril and Rabbit. He is also the writing coordinator for The Waiting Room Project, an art space located in the Sydney Sexual Health Centre.Haz Lugsdin
Haz Lugsdin (they/them) is a non-binary performance maker who lives and works on the unceded land of the Gadigal and Wangal peoples. Haz is driven by authentic audience connection. Despite this, Haz’s work is characterised by gusto, ego and innuendo. Currently, Haz is interested in the ways that non-binary ways of thinking can be applied to theatre-making, as explored in their two latest shows devised shows; The (Sour Glitch) Two-Step Refusal at The Flying Nun by Brand X (2021) and 101101001: Dude Where’s My Gender at The Giant Dwarf (2020) to be remounted with KXT Pop-Upstairs in 2021. Haz participated in ATYP’s National Studio in 2020. Their short play The End is Nigh, Hold Me Close, Watch Me Die was published in Intersection: Unleashed. With a background in sketch comedy, Haz has written, directed and performed in a number of comedy shows at Sydney Fringe Festival (2018, 2019), Sydney Comedy Festival (2018, 2019) and Bondi Feast (2019).Margaret Thanos
Margaret Thanos is a Greek-Australian theatremaker and actress, who is most passionate about making intersectional feminist works. Margaret has directed The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Jim Got Shot and Project XXX at the Sydney University Dramatic Society and her short film Sugar High was shortlisted for the Sydney Film Festival 48 Hour Film Fest. In September 2021, she will be directing an original work, Dark Moon, at KXT PopUpstairs. Last year Margaret was a part of Montague Basement’s Laboratory Program, in which her play Smoke and Glass was read for a public audience. Her acting credits include Dear Australia (Spark Youth Theatre 2021), Screen Shot (Short 2021), Twinemies (2021), Spider in My Soup (Shopfront Artslab 2018/2019 and Bondi Feast 2019), My Creatures (Tricky Feet Theatre Company 2018), Intersection 2018: Chrysalis (ATYP/Griffin 2018), No Exit (SUDS), Caligula (SUDS), Grenadine (SUDS) and Kill Climate Deniers (SUDS). She also has assistant directing credits on The Cherry Orchard (Chippen St Theatre), Bathory Begins (Q Theatre), This Genuine Moment (Old 505), Animal Farm (New Theatre), Henry IV (Streamed Shakespeare) and The Originate Project (Q Theatre). Margaret is very excited to be developing her writing skills further with ATYP as part of Fresh Ink this year.
Darwin
Heather Edmonds
Heather Edmonds is a theatre maker based in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, where she works as a children’s entertainer in Alice Springs Hospital and across remote communities with the Starlight Children’s Foundation. Growing up on the Central Coast of NSW, Heather gained her Bachelor of Communication (Theatre Media) at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst where she was recipient of the Blair Milan Memorial and John Carroll Memorial Scholarships and worked for Opera Australia in Sydney before moving to the Territory. Heather loves the collaborative nature of theatre-making and enjoys wearing many hats within the storytelling process – some to date have included production team for Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, youth drama tutor and facilitator, sketch comedy and immersive theatre director, and actor and co-writer for children’s theatre with On The Wing Theatre Company in Alice Springs. She is passionate about telling and supporting diverse Australian stories, making theatre accessible and engaging to audiences outside the typical theatre demographic, creating imaginative experiences for young people and exploring non-traditional and site-specific theatre. This is her first serious foray into playwriting and she is grateful for the opportunity to further diversify as an artist.Iona Francis
Jack McMillan
Jack has studied and dabbled in many different art forms over the years, including Film, Animation and Theatre. His most recent works have been performing with Darwin Theatre Company and Corrugated Iron or making videos for his YouTube Channel ‘Big Dog Salad’. Recently Jack has been wanting to focus more on behind-the-scenes roles like directing and writing. More of a visual thinker, “an ideas man”, he has always struggled with dialogue and creating something that “makes sense.” So he is beyond excited to be accepted into the Fresh Ink Program to help him improve his writing capabilities.
Hobart
Rosemary Cann
Rosemary Cann is a pākehā writer, musician and actor based in nipaluna, lutruwita. Rosemary holds a BA in Theatre, English Literature and Anthropology, and a Masters in Creative Writing, specialising in Script and Screen. She was shortlisted for Playmarket’s ‘b4 25’ award for her play Wellington Hill Drinking Society (2015), and nominated ‘Best Newcomer’ at the NZ International Comedy Festival for her debut solo show Chapstick (2016). During her time in Pōneke, Rosemary performed as a member of Wellington-based improv troupe Playshop for three years, and with all-female improv troupe Definitely Not Witches for two seasons. Rosemary also founded an accessible review site Art Murmurs, as well as working as Event Coordinator of Human FM radio station. Following graduation, Rosemary toured for eighteen months with reading charity Duffy Books in Homes and New Zealand Playhouse before moving to Australia. Rosemary then trained as an Early Childhood Educator and became a teacher for Helen O’Grady Drama. She also won Best (Adult Open) Poem in the 2019 Jugiong Writers Festival. Rosemary has participated in Carclew’s Writing Place residency, and ATYP’s National Studio, as well as performing in HerStory (2019-2020) and The Campaign (2018). Rosemary is passionate about representative, intelligent art that touches audiences and brings queer and feminine narratives to the forefront.Stephanie Francis
Steph has worked with theatre companies and practitioners in both Tasmania and Victoria and is a graduate of the University of Tasmania’s School of Creative Arts and Media (SOCAM). Steph is a multifaceted theatre-maker, having been a performer, director, and writer for a number of years. Most notably, she was the Assistant Director to Leticia Cáceres for Kate Mulvany’s The Mares, produced by the Tasmanian Theatre Company in March of 2019 and was a 2019 Tasmanian Theatre Award winner for ‘Best Supporting Female Performance’ for the portrayal of Dotti Smith in Killer Joe. Steph also participated in the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2019, her original show Goose! (which she wrote, directed, and performed in) being a part of the Fringe program. As well as being a part of IO’s current season, Steph is currently partaking in Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) Fresh Ink National Mentoring Program, where she will be producing original work with Archipelago Productions in Hobart in November 2021.Indea Quinn
Indea Quinn is a freelance multi-disciplinary performer, theatre-maker, and arts practitioner currently based in Launceston. Indea graduated from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts (Hons.) in 2018. In 2019 Indea undertook a residency with Frantic Assembly (London), training in their physical theatre methodology and creating a performance with practitioners from around the world. Following that she attended the 2020 Tasmania Performs Artist Residency. Indea has been engaged as an artist for Soliloquy 2021 (RANT Arts, Junction Arts Festival) and was recently selected as a participant in Multitrack, a program operated by Theatre North (in collaboration with Tasdance, Mudlark and Junction). Alongside various engagements as a voice artist, she recently performed in The Kookaburra Self-Relocation Project (WHOSLAUGHINGJACKASS) (Fernando do Campo) for Mona Foma 2020, and participated in the Tasmanian Solo Series as a performer and choreographer/director. With a background in classical ballet (formal training up to R.A.D Advanced 2), she teaches Pre-Primary and Primary Ballet with the Tasdance School of Dance. As well as being employed as their Education Program Coordinator, Indea serves on the board of Sawtooth A.R.I.Emma Skalicky
Emma has worked in Hobart theatre since 2014. Previous publications include Ophelia: A Decomposition in Two Parts (The Picton Grange Quarterly Review, Issue 6), and Panopticon (Currency Press) for ATYP’s Intersection 2019: Arrival. She has acted as assistant director for Loud Mouth Theatre Company’s The Island of Doctor Moreau (2016) and Archipelago Production’s The Bleeding Tree (2020), and directed PLoT Theatre’s Doctor Faustus (2017) and Salome (2020), and Bad Company Theatre’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (2019). Emma has a First Class Honours in playwriting and ran PLoT Theatre from 2016-2020. In May 2021, Emma’s original work Medusa Waking will be staged at the Peacock Theatre.
Perth
Michelle Aitken
Michelle Aitken is a maker and performer working between dance and theatre in Boorloo (Perth.) She has worked with companies including Black Swan State Theatre Company, STRUT Dance, and pvi collective, and is a frequent collaborator on independent projects. Under the banner of Hey! Precious, Michelle presents work that has been described as smart, weird, and fun, including award-winning solo Future’s Eve (2018) and Unrule (2019.) In 2021 Michelle is an artist in residence at PICA, developing a new work called Showy McShowface. Michelle is also an AV designer for performance, and you can find her on Youtube as her science-communicator alter-ego, Michelle From Perth.Sally Davies
Sally Davies is an emerging artist and Curtin University graduate. In the past few years she has worked in the Perth independent theatre community as a writer and director, including co-founding company Lindstedt & Davies. Her produced works include Ugly Virgins, A Region Where Nobody Goes, and recent short performance Rupert Murdoch and the Jellyfish Girl. She hopes to continue making works that are hopeful and relevant to contemporary Perth.Noemie Huttner-Koros
Noemie Cecilia Huttner-Koros is a queer Jewish performance-maker, writer, dramaturg and community organiser living on Whadjuk Noongar country. Noemie’s practice is driven by a deep belief in the social, political and communal role of art, and in engaging with sites and histories where ecological crisis, queer culture and composting occur. Her practice ranges from plays such as Untitled Wars (co-written with Mararo Wangai), a walking performance tracing Boorloo/Perth’s LGBTQIA+ history (The Lion Never Sleeps, The Blue Room Theatre), a dinner party (The Trouble-Makers, You are Here Festival & Batch Festival) and an interactive installation tracing her family history and the refugee crisis (Borders at Spectrum Gallery). Her poetry has been featured in Australian Poetry Anthology 2020, Rabbit Poetry Journal and she was the winner of the 2020 Venie Holmgren Environmental Poetry Prize. Noemie has worked with groups including Spare Parts Puppet Theatre (2019 First Hand Artist), Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (2019 Resident Artist), DADAA and Australian Theatre for Young People (National Studio 2019). She is currently studying a Master of Theatre (Dramaturgy) at the Victorian College of the Arts and has trained at Intercultural Theatre Institute (Singapore), The Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowksi&Thomas Richards (Italy) and Makhampom Living Theatre (Thailand).Elise Wilson
Elise Wilson is an emerging writer and theatre-maker based in Boorloo (Perth). Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Performing Arts from WAAPA in 2018, Elise was awarded the Fremantle Arts Centre Residency Prize, which she used to develop her new work Supertongues and Supertasters the next year. After doing so, the play was selected for mentorship through The Blue Room Theatre’s Playing Up program, which culminated in a public reading. That same year, she was a writer for the WA Youth Theatre Company’s 24 Hour Play Generator and her play Floor Thirteen received a season at The Blue Room Theatre. Elise spent last year undertaking the AFTRS’ Writing a TV Series ten-week short course, as well as writing The Ransom as part of the WA Youth Theatre Company’s Loungeroom Project, for which she was a Senior Jury Prize Winner. Elise is also an improviser with The Big Hoo Haa and an actor, most recently performing in Perth’s season of The 91-Storey Treehouse (CDP Productions), The Wolves (Red Ryder Productions) and Grace (public service announcement), for which she was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Performing Arts WA Awards.
Darwin
Danielle Aquilina
Originally from Cairns QLD, Danielle Aquilina is a professional performer with a flair for youth theatre. With a Bachelor of Creative Industries, she has lived in QLD and the NT creating and performing works nationally. In 2017 she wrote her first public children’s theatre work The 5ft Giant which debuted at The Cairns Children’s Festival where it was seen by over 750 children and their families. In conjunction with her career as an actor and comedian, youth theatre coordinator and facilitator, in 2019 she was accepted into Carclew and Country Arts SA scriptwriting program, Writing Place, where she worked closely with Mentors such as Emily Steel, Caleb Lewis and Mary Anne Butler. Due to Covid-19, her solo comedy show Please Date Me will be performed in Fringe 2021. She currently lives in Darwin, NT creating new content exploring the versatility of the arts in regional Australia.Johanna Hayes
After discovering a love for writing and performing in high school, Johanna Hayes saw most of her peers leave town to study for ‘proper jobs’ or to seek fame in the bright lights of Sydney, Australia. Choosing to stay in her hometown gave her a unique appreciation of the local artists who constantly push to be seen and heard.Johanna is a Darwin-based actress, appearing in Brown’s Mart Theatre’s and Corrugated Iron’s recent production of Away by Michael Gow and Darwin Theatre Company’s 2019 production of The Hollow by Agatha Christie. She has also been involved in wacky Darwin Fringe Festival shows and Corrugated Iron projects. These are too numerous to be listed but include career-defining moments such as wearing a bell on your head and pushing around a ‘ghost’ in a shopping trolley.
Johanna is fairly new to playwriting, but is inspired to create something that will give other young actors an opportunity to gain confidence and experience. She aspires to be an artistic ‘jack of all trades’ and would love to one day jump between writing, performing, designing and directing in both theatre and film.
Eve Lynch
Eve Lynch moved to Darwin from Melbourne in 2019. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Arts, majoring in theatre and film. Eve has had the opportunity to work both on and off stage, overseas and in Australia. This is Eve’s first dive into script writing, and she is incredibly thankful and excited to enter the mystical world of playwriting, and cannot wait to explore all the NT arts community has to offer.Betty Sweetlove
Betty Sweetlove (she/her) is a writer and emerging theatre maker living in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). She is particularly interested in critically and collaboratively investigating local heritage through walking tours and theatre. Before moving to central Australia in 2015, Betty lived in London and south-east England where she grew up. She completed her bachelors degree in History at SOAS, focusing on histories of performance and theatre within struggles for African independence. Betty has written and directed original work for Alice Desert Festival (2017), Totem Theatre (2019), and Carclew (2020). Her monologue for young actors Swallows is published in the anthology This Was Urgent Yesterday (Currency Press, 2020). In 2019, she created an original walking tour as the inaugural artist in residence at the Women’s Museum of Australia, Alice Springs. Betty is an upcoming creative intern with Zen Zen Zo in Brisbane (2020).
Perth
Daley Rangi
Daley Rangi (Te Āti Awa) is an eclectic, award-winning multidisciplinary artist; raised on Whadjuk Noongar boodja, Daley was born in Aotearoa, with Māori whakapapa. They are neurodiverse and genderqueer, and use these lenses to explore the outer limits of humanity, generating unpredictable and uncomfortable works in a celebration of chaos, queerness, and decolonisation. Intent on tearing down the status quo, Daley’s energies are focused on exposing the zeitgeist, speaking truth to power, and encouraging social change. They have written three full-length plays (Curiosity, TANK, Death Stole My Dad), and created several performance works (Lipstuck, Hold Your Breath, i’m not alright). They are a Performing Arts WA judge, and have completed arts programs with national and local art institutions, including the Perth Festival Artist Lab, ATYP’s National Studio, and Black Swan State Theatre Company’s Emerging Writers Group. Daley is the Performance Space Stephen Cummins Residency 2020 recipient and will be developing new performance work Takatāpui through this residency and the Queer Development Program at PACT this year. Daley has achieved certificates in Noongar Language and Culture, Māori Protocol and Language, and Endangered Language Revival. Daley won the Midsumma and Australia Post Queer Art Award 2020, worked with Moogahlin Performing Arts as a guest artist in their writing intensive for Koori Gras, and is currently employed with DADAA as an Arts Worker.Rebecca Fingher
Rebecca Fingher is an emerging artist from Perth, WA. A writer, performer, director and theatre maker, Rebecca has been in the industry for several years and has completed a Bachelor of Performing Arts at WAAPA in 2019; graduating with the prestigious Belinda Dunbar Award, awarded to the top graduating student of the class. As a dynamic and multiskilled, rigorous creator, her work aims to send strong messages in unique and entertaining ways. She has picked up several awards along the road, including two Perth Fringe Festival awards in 2015 and 2018 and the prize for the best devised production in her final year at WAAPA for a piece titled, ‘Juliet’.Rupert Williamson
Rupert Williamson is an emerging writer and theatre-maker studying at the University of Western Australia. In 2019 Rupert co-founded the independent theatre company Runaway Balloon with Matthew Nixon. He has written and co-written several plays and directed several more. Most recently, he was director and co-writer of Fun Times with Olive and No One Else! at Perth Fringe 2020. Other credits include Sad TV Man (co-writer, performer), By the Door to the Bonehouse (writer, director), and Viva La Restoration (performer), for which he won the Leo Award. Among other things, he is currently developing a short solo-work Rupert Sorenson Reads Poems about His Dog. In addition to theatre, Rupert’s writing has appeared in Peacock and Pelican Magazine. His favourite member of The Hooley Dooleys is probably Antoine. Maybe Bruce.Sian Murphy
Sian Murphy is a Perth based theatre maker who specializes in writing and performing. Sian recently graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts with a Bachelor in Performance Making. Born in Albury NSW and before relocating to Perth, Sian worked on various and projects including “Letters from The Border” at Hothouse Theatre, Outback Theatre for Young People, and being placed in the top 12 for ATYP’s National Fresh Ink Monologue competition. Sian’s writing credits include BITE ME (The Blue Room Theatre) Just Kidding (TILT) This Heaving Mass (TILT) and Kebab (600 Seconds) Her recent acting credits include Star Power (The Blue Room Theatre) Life On Earth (Spare Parts Puppet Theatre) Just Kidding (TILT) The House on The Hill (WAAPA) and Letters From the Border (Hothouse Theatre). In 2020 Sian was the recipient of the Fringe World WA Emerging Artist Award, and her show BITE ME was shortlisted for the Martin Sims Award. Sian is passionate about bringing to life new works with powerful stories, humour and a lot of heart.
Sydney
Alan Fang
Alan Fang is a 20 year old Asian-Australian emerging Writer, Film-Maker and Performer from Sydney. While studying a diploma of Film at the Academy of Film, Theatre & Television (AFTT), Alan wrote for SUDS (Sydney University Dramatic Society), as a slot writer and as one of the writers in their 24 Hour Play in a Day (2020). As a performer, Alan was featured in Spark Youth Theatre’s Haunted (2019). He has volunteered on many theatre productions including CAAP’s (Contemporary Asian-Australian Performance) Double Delicious (2020) and New Theatre’s Angry Fags (2020). Alan is currently in production of a documentary about two young female Drama students from Sydney, who begin their journey into the Film, TV and Theatre industry. Alan is a participant of the ATYP Fresh Ink Mentoring Program for 2020.Cassie Hamilton
Cassie Hamilton is transgender playwright and performer based in Sydney. She began acting training at a young age and has since taken on roles as a performer and director on various productions. In 2017 she co-founded a youth-led, queer theatre company in Newcastle called Bearfoot Theatre. There, she debuted her first full-length play in late 2019 Playing Face. The production toured to Sydney following it’s highly successful Newcastle season, and achieved much critical acclaim. The show was awarded both Best Original Work, and Best Dramatic Production at the City of Newcastle Drama Awards.Cassie is passionate about contemporary, hybrid works that push the boundaries of traditional theatre. Her goal is to create works that are diverse, exciting and eye-opening, often using her experience as a member of the queer community to present work with a sense of urgency and truth.
Sacha Slip
Sacha Slip is a director, writer, and theatre maker mostly based in Sydney Australia. She has a background in physical theatre, and is passionate about the development of new writing, exploring feminist narratives, and interdisciplinary methods of performance making.Sacha is a founding artist of the theatre collective Assorted Tarts, and wrote and directed their premier work; p#rnscape at PACT theatre for Sydney Fringe Festival last year.
In 2019, she also presented work in Edinburgh, where she wrote and directed Shakespeare for Kids: Fools and Bottoms and directed Shakespeare Up Late! for C Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She was also a participant in the 2019 SITI Company Summer Intensive in New York and studied under Anne Bogart and Company.
In 2018 she attended the ATYP National Studio, and was a resident artist at Tantrum Youth Arts where she wrote and directed [fear less] for Crack X Theatre Festival. She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Theatre/Media) in 2017 and completed internships with Lingua Franca and Sydney Opera House where she observed and assistant directed under Mike Finch.
Victoria Zerbst
Victoria Zerbst is a political satirist and comedy writer for The Feed on SBS. She is a co-founder of the sketch comedy group Freudian Nip and has created work for Comedy Central, JUNKEE Media, and ABC and Screen Australia’s Fresh Blood grant. As a comedian, she has toured nationally with The Chaser and performed at numerous festivals around Australia including Splendour in The Grass.Victoria studied philosophy at the University of Sydney, where she edited the student newspaper, Honi Soit, directed the Sydney University Arts Revue and was an active member of the Sydney University Dramatic Society. Last year she took part in ATYP’s National Studio in Bundanon and is excited to continue workshopping stories for young people that explore ethics, big tech, and the politics and philosophy of being online.
Sydney
Sally Alrich-Smythe
Sally Alrich-Smythe graduated from The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) with a Diploma of Musical Theatre in 2016. In 2018, Sally completed her Master of Fine Arts (Writing for Performance) at NIDA. Her debut play ‘Homesick’ will be staged at The Old 505 in Newtown in 2019. Outside of performing and writing, Sally is the director of The Prop, an independent website that responds to theatre in Sydney, and a podcast ‘Prop: On Playwrights’, which will be released May 2019.As a performer, Sally is currently performing at the Sydney Opera House in ‘Chamber Pot Opera’ (Bontom Productions). Sally had the pleasure of playing ‘Belinda’ in the world premiere of Chamber Pot Opera (Bontom). In 2017, she toured with Chamber Pot Opera to the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Sydney’s return season, and finally to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland (Bontom). In 2018, Sally travelled to Los Angelis to perform in an industry showcase for ‘C’mon: The Lleyton Hewitt Musical’, and to Saint Petersburg, Russia, for another season of Chamber Pot Opera. In January this year, Sally performed in “The Violent Years: 1956” at The Perth Fringe Festival (Blue Room).
Additional credits include roles with New Musicals Australia Screenshot Presentations, and as chorus in Phantom of the Opera (Packemin, 2015). Sally loves to be a part of story-telling in whatever capacity she can and is particularly invested in showing new work.
Iley Jones
As a young, passionate and curious writer, Iley has driven herself to learn more about the craft of writing and the different ways in which to tell a story. Starting at a young age in front of patient grandparents, she began entertaining others with wild retellings of children’s classics. Mostly involving murder.In 2014, she graduated from the Australian Academy of Dramatic Arts with a Bachelor of Performance. From her debut play Life’s Contract’s at the Sydney Fringe Festival, to her award winning short film Dead not Dying, Iley enjoys finding new stories and the natural ways in which to tell them. Her new play Two Quarters Full will be premiering later this year, another take on characters and themes of family.
Last year Iley was accepted in ATYP’S National Studio in Bundanon. Learning, working, and laughing with amazing mentors and colleagues alike was an incredible learning experience that positively impacted on her writing. Throughout the program she developed her skills creatively and technically in regards to story writing, and in patting wombats.
Iley strives to work closely with actors, directors and writers alike, in finding the best way of exploring and telling a story. Even if that story is a wild new rendition of a children’s classic. Mostly involving murder.
MICHAEL LOUIS KENNEDY
Michael Louis Kennedy is a writer and journalist from Sydney, Australia. He is a great lover of dark comedy, horror, and the beauty of Australian rural and urban landscapes. His work often explores themes of queerness, migration, neoliberalism, and the intersection of politics and ego. His writing has been published in Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging, The Brag, Homer Online, & Publication, Transportation Press, and Baby Teeth Journal. His introduction to writing performance came in the form of multiple university revues. Subsequently he has written and produced a number of works for stage Bushfire, a black comedy premiering to a sold out run on the 2015 Sydney Fringe, later remounted for a staged reading by the acclaimed Siren Theatre Company as part of the Seymour Centre’s Playlist for Mardi Gras 2018; as well as Keep Your Feet, which appeared in the Old 505’s Rapid Reads Festival. He has also previously lived and worked in Scotland, during which time he was a regular performer and writer for events including Glasgow’s Only Skin and Queer Theory cabarets, as well as Edinburgh’s Inky Fingers. He originally studied at the University of Technology, Sydney, graduating with a combined Bachelor of Laws / Bachelor of Communications (Journalism).JASPER LEE-LINDSAY
Jasper is a Sydney-based Theatre-maker. After completing his Advanced Diploma of Acting from the Academy of Film, Theatre & Television (AFTT), he looked to playwriting as a side interest. In 2017, his first short play, Arthur & Marilyn, won the Festival Director’s Pick and Best Script award at the Short + Sweet Sydney Festival, winning both awards again at Short + Sweet Hollywood later that year. In 2018, Jasper wrote and produced a full-length version of Arthur & Marilyn, which played at the Blood Moon Theatre, before taking part in ATYP’s National Studio, where he wrote The Iceberg, featured in ATYP’s Intersection 2019: Arrival.
Perth
IZZY MCDONALD
Izzy McDonald is a 25 year old emerging writer, director, performer and Co-Artistic Director of the award winning independent theatre company; Rorschach Beast. Izzy graduated from the University of Western Australia with a degree in English and Cultural Studies in 2015, the same year she co-founded Rorschach Beast and directed the company’s premiere show Girl in the Wood. GITW won Fringe World’s Best Emerging Artist and the Melbourne Fringe Ready to Tour Award, allowing for an interstate tour to occur in 2016.That year she also participated in the Australian Theatre for Young People’s National Studio for young writers. Her piece Dive was performed in Sydney and published by Currency Press.The following year she wrote, produced and performed in Bus Boy which went on to win Fringe World’s coveted Martin Sims award, the Theatre award, the Best Emerging Artist award and went on to tour internationally to Brighton Fringe. Izzy has performed in shows at The Blue Room Theatre such as TANK (2016) and Tamagotchi Reset (2017) and was a co-devisor and performer in the award winning Let me finish (2018).
MANDY MULLINS
Maddy Mullins is an emerging theatre maker and playwright. She completed Curtin’s Theatre Arts course and was heavily involved in their Hayman Theatre Company in a variety of roles, including performer, lighting designer, and stage manager, culminating in writing/ directing Red Rover, her first original show, in her final semester. Performance highlights include devising City (Joe Lui) and 12 Strings and the Scale of Things (Bec Bradley) and performing in Curtin’s Stage One production at the Blue Room, The Perilous Adventures of the Postman (Damon Lockwood). Recently, she has designed lighting for Mungbean (Beyond the Yard) at the Denmark Arts Festival and Silence My Ladyhead (FUGUE) as a part of Fringeworld 2019. She is currently a part of WAYCTO’s ensemble, and she is very excited to be a part of Fresh Ink and tell some new stories this year.JESS NYANDA MOYLE
Jess Nyanda Moyle is an emerging theatre maker and musician based in Perth. Mid-2018 she graduated from Curtin University with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, and is currently working as an associate artist for emerging company Squid Vicious. She is both excited and terrified to be showcasing her playwrighting chops for the first time with Cephalopod as part of the 2019 Blue Room Season, and the work she’ll create through the good folks at AYTP.Recent performance credits include two PAWA Nominated shows Let Me Finish (Charlotte Otton) and godeatgod (Squid Vicious), as well as Medusa (Bow & Dagger/Renegade Production Company), Metis (a work-in-progress by The Nest Ensemble) and the Subiaco Arts remount of Tissue (Static Drive Co.) She enjoys having a ‘good hard go’ at various non- performative theatre roles; having assistant directed Poorly Drawn Shark (Squid Vicious), composed music and sound designed for Tunes from the Roadside and A Region Where Nobody Goes (Lindstedt & Davies) respectively, as well as dramaturging for 52 Hertz (Beyond the Yard). When she’s not making theatre, she is usually composing music for her solo project nyanda j. and folk-duo Foetus & Fossil, or writing lyrics for indie groups META IV and Effy’s Trip. And when she’s not being creative she makes coffee, watches footy and dreams of one day being an artist as prolific as a super mega hybrid of PJ Harvey and Paul Kelly (hey, a girl can dream).
ZACHARY SHERIDAN
Zachary Sheridan is a performance maker currently practicing in Perth, Western Australia. A graduate of WAAPA’s Bachelor of Performing Arts, Zach is the writer of Head Case (shortlisted for 2017 New Plot Award); The Cockburn Incident (winner of the 2018 Adelaide Fringe Tour Ready Award); Cookies & Cream; and GRACE (winner of a 2019 Fringe World Weekly Theatre Award). Zach also adapted Franz Kafka’s The Trial for puppetry.Zach is currently working on a multiplatform project exploring the Anthropocene, which will culminate in the work I Feel Fine to be presented in October, 2019, at The Blue Room Theatre. Other credits include: The Last Great Hunt’s Improvement Club (Assistant Director) and Stay With Us (Artist Collaborator), as well as WAAPA works Solo Stage: Moments of Being and The Secret Project: Dispatch. Zach was the recipient of the inaugural Belinda Dunbar prize, awarded to top student of the graduating Performance Making major.
Sydney
Lucy Clements
Lucy is the founder of New Ghosts Theatre Company, where she is dedicated to the creation and presentation of new Australian and international works. As a 2017 resident director of the Old Fitz Theatre “New Fitz” program, Lucy directed the debut seasons of THE WIND IN THE UNDERGROUND by Sam O’Sullivan and PAPER DOLL by Katy Warner. In 2018, New Ghosts toured THE WIND IN THE UNDERGROUND to The Stud io Underground, Perth, as part of FRINGE WORLD, where it was nominated for a FRINGE WORLD Theatre Award.Recent theatre credits include; FEFU AND HER FRIENDS (Stella Adler, New York) and a development of new work ROCCO, CHELSEA, SEAN, CLAUDIA, ALEX (The Private Theatre, New York) as assistant director under John Gould Rubin, MIMESIS (New Ghosts play reading, New York & Sydney) as writer/producer, FRACTURE (Blue Room Theatre, Perth & Old Fitz, Sydney) as writer, producer and director, WONDERFLY as assistant director under Sophie Kelly and THE VOICES PROJECT: ALL GOOD THINGS under Iain Sinclair (ATYP, Sydney). Lucy was also a co-writer and ensemble member of THE REMEDY (The Blue Room Theatre/WAAPA, Perth), which won the Tilt Audience Award in 2015.
In 2018, Lucy looks forward to directing the Australian premier of the award winning play YEN by Anna Jordan at Kings Cross Theatre (KXT). Lucy is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts.
JULES ORCULLO
Jules Orcullo is a Filipina Australian theatre maker and freelance producer. She is the founder of performance platform, The Joy Offensive which launched in London in 2017 with earth. ocean. ancestors. – multi-disciplinary mixed bill nights for makers from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.Jules’ recent works for theatre include: May Utang (Theatre Absolute, 2017), phroot sahlad (Lyric Hammersmith, The North Wall Arts Centre, Camden People’s Theatre, 2017), and Look, See (Theatre Royal Stratford East, 2017). She is an alumna of programmes at The Royal Court, Soho Theatre, The Lyric Hammersmith, Belgrade Theatre, The North Wall Arts Centre, and Yellow Earth Theatre in the UK, and Playwriting Australia and ATYP on home soil. Jules is also a speaker and facilitator with an interest in self-determined arts practice and making performance from lived
experience.PIPPA ELLAMS
Pippa is a Writer/Performer from Western Sydney. Her first play was shortlisted for the Rodney Seaborne Playwright Award in 2015. During 2016 Pippa was a Resident Artist at Shopfront Theatre for Young people. With Collaborator/Director Hannah Goodwin was produced at Shopfront Arts Co-op in February 2017 followed by a remount at Belvoir St Downstairs theatre in June 2017. recently received a remount season produced by Merrigong theatre company in March 2018 followed by 3rd Sydney remount as part of bAKEHOUSE’s Step up festival. Pippa participated in The Propel Initiative, a program created by Q theatre and ATYP to support young Western Sydney Writers.Pippa was chosen as a participant in ATYP’s 2017 National Studio Program and from this program her piece was selected to be performed as part of ATYP’s . Pippa is one half of ‘pip and han inc.’ a company dedicated to creating dynamic new Australian works. Pippa is currently a participant in ATYP’s 2018 Fresh Ink Program.
Joseph Brown
Joseph is theatre maker who grew up in Armidale, NSW. After being involved in theatre and performance throughout high school and beyond, Joseph moved to Melbourne in 2012 to complete his bachelor degree in performing arts at Monash University. While studying, he performed in student productions before eventually moving to writing and directing his own work.In 2016 Joseph completed his Master of Fine Arts (Writing for Performance) at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts. While there, Joseph completed a full length stage play titled The End of Hawke Street, as well as a full length screenplay titled 86’d.
Joseph was part of the Australian Theatre for Young People’s 2017 National Studio. His piece, Lights on the Water was selected to be performed as part of ATYP’s ‘Intersection: Chrysalis’, directed by Rachel Chant.
In 2018 Joseph will be a part of ATYP’s Fresh Ink Mentorship program.
Writing and directing credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Monash Shakespeare Company), You Walk Away (Melbourne Fringe), Tuck in the Corners (MUST, La Mama), Tensions: Curated Works (MUST) and Love, Me (Old 505).
Perth
GEORDIE CRAWLEY
Geordie Crawley is a Perth based theatre maker. He is the co-founder and co-artistic director of the award winning independent theatre company Rorschach Beast.Geordie’s writing credits include Hive Mind, Girl in the Wood (Rorschach Beast), Logue Lake (Black Swan Emerging Writer’s Group) FIRE and Servant of Mercy (The WA Youth Theatre Company).He has performed in Roald Dahl’s The Twits (Spare Parts Puppet Theatre), Monroe & Associates (The Last Great Hunt), TANK (Second Chance Theatre), Pirate Church, and Shakespeare in the Park’s Much Ado About Nothing.
His directorial debut Bus Boy (Rorschach Beast) won both the 2017 Theatre Award, and Martin Sims Award for Best New WA Production at Perth’s Fringe World Festival.
Geordie regularly performs improvised comedy with The Big HOO-HAA! and it proud to be making theatre in Perth.
MEGAN HUNTER
Megan is an emerging theatre maker and performer and is a recent graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. She has trained under Lauren Langlois and Adam Marks of Chunky Move as well as co-founder of Kidd Pivot, Cindy Salgado. Megan’s past collaborations have included James Berlyn in 2016 for the His Majesty’s Theatre site-specific project Memory Bones, Melissa Cantwell for TILT at The Blue Room Theatre in 2017 and most recently with The Last Great Hunt in THE TALK. She recently made her writing debut with her one-woman cabaret Mavis (And Other Broken Objects) at Downstairs At The Maj as part of this years’ Fringe World Festival. Megan is looking forward to honing her writing skills further with the Fresh Ink program.SAMANTHA NERIDA
Samantha Nerida is the Associate Producer of The Blue Room Theatre, as well as a performance maker and creative producer in her own right. She is also a pioneering member of SimLab @ Murdoch University, for which she is a digital puppeteer and Simulation Specialist. Samantha is a founding member of Static Drive Co, alongside Timothy Green and Haydon Wilson. She graduated from WAAPA’s Bachelor of Perfoming Arts in 2015, and has since studied writing online with Second City in Chicago. Her most recent credits include producing and publicising a collection of shows for the 2018 Fringe World Festival, including Night Sweats (Static Drive Co), Tunes from the Roadside (Lindstedt & Davies) and The Big Dark (Rhi P), and working as a performer in a devising residency with Fremantle Arts Centre & Charlotte Otton. In 2017 Samantha directed and produced Well Mannered (Samantha Nerida &; Haydon Wilson), performed in Toast (Maiden Voyage) and attended ATYP’s National Playwriting Studio. In 2016 Samantha co-wrote and co-directed Tissue (Static Drive Co) which she will soon redirect with Timothy Green for the 2018 Subiaco Theatre Festival.
Melbourne
AMELIA NEWMAN
Amelia has worked extensively with Riot Stage Youth Theatre as a performer on Forever City (2015) and Lovely Mess (2017). They assistant director F. with Riot Stage for Poppy Seed Theatre Festival 2016 and are currently part of Riot Stages Youth Ensemble. In 2017 Amelia wrote, produced and directed Younger and Smaller which was a part of La Mamas 2017 Exploration season.In 2018 Amelia performed in Lovely Mess (2018) as a part of Festival of Live Art. Amelia is a part of Malthouse Vanguard 2018 and is a part of the Melbourne chapter of ATYP’s Fresh Ink Program 2018.
When Amelia is not talking or thinking about theatre, they enjoy chatting to strangers about babies and dogs or they are painting their nails and watching all the queer content they can find. And dancing.
GENEVIEVE ATKINS
This is Genevieve’s second time with ATYP, having taken part in our writer’s retreat last year. Genevieve is a writer and director, her work ranges from dark comedy and surreal drama to drag and burlesque. Unflinchingly queer and feminist, her work is gritty, funny and thought-provoking. Her audience is simultaneously entertained and horrified.Genevieve graduated from Monash University’s Bachelor of Performing Arts program, as well as spending a lot of time in their student theatre. Her works include “Bedtime Stories for Girls,” “Drag///Strip” and “Frankenstein XX.”
Genevieve is thrilled to be working with ATYP again.
GEORGINA HARRISS
Georgina Harriss is a Melbourne-based screen and theatre writer who specialises in comedy. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Screenwriting from The Victorian College of the Arts, where she is currently undertaking her Honours year. Georgina began writing for theatre in 2016 when her playlet The Best is Yet to Come was featured in Red Stitch’s annual fundraising showcase: Playlist. She subsequently undertook a playwriting residency at Lonely Company and the play she produced was chosen for inclusion in Betafest: Theatre in Various States of Undress.In 2018 Georgina was offered a place in the Tessa Waters Mentorship Program. Her work has since been programmed as part of Small and Loud’s monthly scratch nights as well as part of The Voice in My Hands’ Dinner and a Show program. In February Georgina’s debut play Love Bird enjoyed a successful season as part of The Butterfly Club’s summer curated program. She is a 2018 recipient of a Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship.
Georgina’s writing is usually described as farcical, absurdist and deeply uncomfortable. She is fascinated by the relationship between potential and failure and enjoys confronting audiences’ deepest anxieties while adding just a pinch of the life-affirming.
KATE CAMERON
Kate is a recent addition to the Melbourne theatre scene, having spent her formative artist years in NSW. In 2014 she graduated from the University of Wollongong with a Bachelor of Performance (Performance-Making) with a minor in creative writing and has since taken on further literary studies at UNSW. Working as a non-performer for the last few years has seen Kate as production designer for film (Fragmentary), director (The Last Five Years),assistant director (Spring Awakening, A Little Night Music), producer (Foreign Woman), and co-founder of emerging theatre company ALCAT. Her theatre-making interests have been developed and steered towards playwriting and directing by her time at UOW and working through workshops and productions at The Phoenix Theatre.
DARWIN
EL IBO
El Ibo moved to Darwin from Cairns in 2017. Her first love has always been theatre, followed by her passion in dance. She was part of the Tropical Arts ensemble who performs Shakespeare at the Cairns Tanks Centre. She has recently appeared in Darwin’s Theatre – Mr Takahashi and Other Falling Secrets and Turquoise Elephant. El holds a Bachelor of Creative Industries from James Cook University, majoring in Performance. She’s always been intrigued by writing and hopes to pursue more of this interest on paper, just as much as on the stage.KONSTANTINE HATZIVALSAMIS
Kostantine is a Darwin-based emerging writer who has recently graduated year 12. He has worked in theatre once before, as an actor in Brown’s Mart’s The Crucible. He has written and performed in numerous comedy sketches that have been uploaded to YouTube. His writing has been inspired by Red Dwarf, Monty Python, Ricky Gervais, and Barry Humphries. He hopes that he can maintain both writing and acting in his future pursuits in either film or stage.RACHAEL CHISHOLM
Rachael Chisholm is a jack of all trades. She’s a Chef by trade, an Actor by degree and is News Broadcaster and Breakfast Radio Host by profession who edits docos in her spare time.Rachael is fairly new to playwriting having only produce work for assignments while studying for her B.A at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts, writing two or three scene for stage or film.
Before NIDA Rachael attended the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts to do a one year course in Aboriginal Theatre, the course introduced her to the world of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander playwrights and help Rachael realises there is a place for Australia’s First Nation stories in theatre and film and that they do not have to sorely focus on the injustices of the past.
Rachael has joined Fresh Ink because she believes that there needs to be more Female and Queer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and storytellers in the world, and hopes that the Fresh Ink program will help her develop her voice so she can start writing the stories of the struggles and victories of First Nation people, especially the women living in the 21st Century curated program. She is a 2018 recipient of a Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship.
THOMAS MIDENA
Thomas Midena is passionate about creating and storytelling in all its forms. He is an experienced actor, having performed in a number of productions in Darwin and Melbourne including Trotsky & Friends at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Third Door Theatre’s Much Ado About Nothing and Darwin Theatre Company’s Slow Falling Bird, as well as The Importance of Being Earnest, The Crucible and Antigone. He has studied Film & TV at Swinburne University, creating and performing in several short films and winning awards in acting, writing and directing at film festivals.Thomas currently resides in Darwin, teaching drama classes as he undertakes further studies in arts and education.
Sydney
Moreblessing Maturure
Moreblessing Maturure, the Creative Director of FOLK Magazine is a Zimbabwean/Australian inter-disciplinary artist. As an actor on both stage and screen in various projects, Moreblessing has garnered a great wealth of experience in a plethora of fields within the performing arts processes including writing, devising, performance directing and producing. THEATRE: Fallen (Sport for Jove, She Said- performer) The Bee and the Tree, Like Me, Age of Entitlement, The Way of the Wall (Mongrel Mouth-performer/writer) Hairspray: The Musical (Backstage UTS-Producer) Neighbours (Short and Sweet-Director) SCREEN: Displaced, Undefined Black Beauty, Searching for Babel, The Last Men, Marley,Someone, (Short filmPerformer) Akoni (Feature-Performer) Seen and Heard, Be in the Know, Count Me In (Gov. Videos-Performer) As a writer, Moreblessing utilises various forms of linguistic expression ranging poetic, dramatic and analytical writing. Having been published in a range of online magazines and having had her plays produced in the past, Moreblessing hopes to re-imagine what theatre can do- how to merge other forms of linguistic expression on the stage while still being engaging and dramatic. Mongrel Mouth, PWA, Eureka Street, The Q.Disapol Savetsila
Disapol Savetsila is a Sydney-based writer and theatre-maker. His prose has been published in the Stringybark Anthology A Tick Tock Heart, Melaleuca Blue’s You’ll Eat Worse than That Before You Die, Australian Theatre for Young People’s (ATYP) Between Us, Melbourne Book’s Award Winning Australian Writing 2015, and on Seizure Online . His theatre writing credits include Unwrap Me and Hothouse (Budding Theatre), as well as Hissyfest Wyong and Hissyfest 2015 (Tantrum Theatre). In 2013, he was a winner of ATYP’s national monologue competition ‘Where in the World’ and Stringybark’s ‘Future Times Award’. He is a member of Theatre versus Everything, co-writing PressOne4Love for Crack Theatre Festival 2015 and A Walk to Remember for You Are Here 2017. He is also a University of Wollongong undergraduate.Jordan Shea
Jordan Shea is an emerging Asian-Australian writer, teacher and director. A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts/University of Melbourne’s MA-Writing for Performance (Hons II), his works have been performed, produced and workshopped in both Sydney and Melbourne. Upon graduating, he was appointed one of the resident playwrights at the Old 505 Theatre, and is currently a member of Belvoir’s writers group. He is also one of the invited participants for the live streamed Joanna Murray Smith Masterclass later this year. His current projects/developments include Mufti every day for ATYP, Testing Words for Old 505, Without Him for the VCA/Open House Theatre and directing Liz Hobart’s new play; Snap Season for the Sydney Fringe Festival.His play Little Differences, dealing with race relations in youths, was published by Currency Press and performed earlier this year at ATYP. Jordan’s writing aims to give a voice to the marginalised and encourage the normalization of diversity. In order to feed an expensive theatre and travel habit, he has previously worked selling candles, concert tickets, ushering and now finds himself tutoring creative writing/playwriting to people of all ages.
Gretel Vella
Gretel Vella is a writer and dramaturg from Sydney. She has an undergraduate degree in Media Arts and Production from the University of Technology, Sydney, where she trained in screenwriting, directing and filmmaking. During her time at University she was able to produce a number of documentaries and shorts including her graduating comedy film ‘Pound Town’. She has also enjoyed placements at Channel Ten, post-production house, Spectrum films in Fox Studios, Australia and a role as marketing assistant, script editor and post production coordinator on Australian independent feature ‘Damaged’. ‘Damaged’ has recently been included in the official selection for the Sydney Indie Film Festival and the Sydney Lift Off Film Festival. In 2017, Gretel will complete her masters degree in Writing for Performance at The National Institute of Dramatic Art. During her time at the Institute Gretel was involved in the writing and creation of a number of shorts, a feature film and her major work – a 6 part comedy television series entitled ‘Carking It’, which was long listed for the Australian Writers Guild’s Primetime Screenwriting Competition.Her theatre making credits at NIDA include co-creating Director’s Production ‘All That Glitters’. She has been privileged enough to receive mentoring opportunities from course coordinator and playwright Stephen Sewell, production house ‘The Dollhouse Collective’ and time in the writer’s room for Channel Nine’s Doctor, Doctor. Gretel is currently working as an associate artist with Glitterbomb Sydney with whom she has written and co-created sketch comedy ‘A Period Piece’ for the Old 505 in Newtown. Her next projects include web series ‘Hoods’ with Blackridge Productions and romantic comedy ‘No Love for Iguana’ for the Sydney Fringe Festival. Gretel has recently established arts collective, ‘Pretty Nice Company,’ with fellow NIDA alumni, Emme Hoy.
Perth
Jackson Used
Jackson is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, undertaking the Bachelor of Performing Arts – Performance Making course. Prior to this, Jackson studied a Certificate II in Music Theatre at the same institution. In addition, he has recently completed Playwriting Australia and The Blue Room Theatre’s Dramaturgy Training Program. Jackson has a history of involvement in numerous amateur, independent and professional productions in a variety of roles, such as writer, director, performer, producer, dramaturg and mechanist. He has recently returned from Australian Theatre for Young People’s National Studio and is currently directing sandpaperplane’s production of So You Think You’re Charlie Smith.Scott McArdle
Scott is a Perth-based theatre maker, publicist, and lighting designer, as well as the founder of Second Chance Theatre. He graduated Murdoch University in 2015 with Honours in Theatre & Drama, and is currently studying Arts Management at WAAPA. Under his leadership, Second Chance Theatre has produced over fifteen shows, including Between Solar Systems (Best Production Team – Blue Room Theatre Awards 2015), Coincidences at the End of Time, and Frankenstein. He was the writer and director of fourteen of these shows. As a lighting designer, Scott has worked with local independent companies such as Second Chance Theatre, The Cutting Room Floor (What’s Love Got To Do With It), The Chaos Ensemble (TANK), and Maiden Voyage (Alone Outside). Recently, Scott has pursued freelance publicity and worked on Bus Boy (Rorschach Beast – Martins Sims Award Winner and Best Theatre Award – Fringe World 2017), Her Crown (Ellen-Hope Thompson), and 4-in-50 (Hand-in-Hand Theatre).Rachael Woodward
Rachael Woodward is an emerging performance maker, creator and collaborator who is interested in performance that facilitates an experience for an audience. A recent graduate from WAAPA’s new Performance Making course interested in interdisciplinary visual performance, and has a background in physical theatre. She has devised and directed What’s Love Got To Do With It? at Blue Room Theatre (2016) and has had the opportunity to work with companies such as Snapcat (Rumble Strip, Lighting Furries), Blank Space Productions (Edge, Stage Manager) and be involved in shows such as West of The Moon (Clare Testoni) and If My Body Was A Poem (Maddie Godfrey). In 2016 she also completed the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre First Hand Training Program where she developed her show Valentine, an intimate interactive show combining clowning and shadow puppetry. Rachael is a teaching artist who loves to work with young people.Hannah Cockroft
Hannah is a 20-year-old creative writing enthusiast currently completing her Bachelor of Arts Degree (Honours) in English and Cultural Studies at The University of Western Australia. She’s loved writing stories and getting involved in theatre since she was quite young. Hannah loves playwriting because it lets her combine both of these things. She’s have written some short stories for Pelican Magazine (the student magazine at my uni), and was recently chosen as a finalist for Frankie Magazine’s Good Stuff Awards 2017. Usually, Hannah gets writing inspiration from childhood anecdotes or Australiana, but she has also written stories about things like ghosts and ants and nude beaches. In the future Hannah hope to be able to work in a field that allows me to be creative and make good theatre.
Jackson is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, undertaking the Bachelor of Performing Arts – Performance Making course. Prior to this, Jackson studied a Certificate II in Music Theatre at the same institution. In addition, he has recently completed Playwriting Australia and The Blue Room Theatre’s Dramaturgy Training Program. Jackson has a history of involvement in numerous amateur, independent and professional productions in a variety of roles, such as writer, director, performer, producer, dramaturg and mechanist. He has recently returned from Australian Theatre for Young People’s National Studio and is currently directing sandpaperplane’s production of So You Think You’re Charlie Smith.
Scott is a Perth-based theatre maker, publicist, and lighting designer, as well as the founder of Second Chance Theatre. He graduated Murdoch University in 2015 with Honours in Theatre & Drama, and is currently studying Arts Management at WAAPA. Under his leadership, Second Chance Theatre has produced over fifteen shows, including Between Solar Systems (Best Production Team – Blue Room Theatre Awards 2015), Coincidences at the End of Time, and Frankenstein. He was the writer and director of fourteen of these shows. As a lighting designer, Scott has worked with local independent companies such as Second Chance Theatre, The Cutting Room Floor (What’s Love Got To Do With It), The Chaos Ensemble (TANK), and Maiden Voyage (Alone Outside). Recently, Scott has pursued freelance publicity and worked on Bus Boy (Rorschach Beast – Martins Sims Award Winner and Best Theatre Award – Fringe World 2017), Her Crown (Ellen-Hope Thompson), and 4-in-50 (Hand-in-Hand Theatre).
Rachael Woodward is an emerging performance maker, creator and collaborator who is interested in performance that facilitates an experience for an audience. A recent graduate from WAAPA’s new Performance Making course interested in interdisciplinary visual performance, and has a background in physical theatre. She has devised and directed What’s Love Got To Do With It? at Blue Room Theatre (2016) and has had the opportunity to work with companies such as Snapcat (Rumble Strip, Lighting Furries), Blank Space Productions (Edge, Stage Manager) and be involved in shows such as West of The Moon (Clare Testoni) and If My Body Was A Poem (Maddie Godfrey). In 2016 she also completed the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre First Hand Training Program where she developed her show Valentine, an intimate interactive show combining clowning and shadow puppetry. Rachael is a teaching artist who loves to work with young people.
Hannah is a 20-year-old creative writing enthusiast currently completing her Bachelor of Arts Degree (Honours) in English and Cultural Studies at The University of Western Australia. She’s loved writing stories and getting involved in theatre since she was quite young. Hannah loves playwriting because it lets her combine both of these things. She’s have written some short stories for Pelican Magazine (the student magazine at my uni), and was recently chosen as a finalist for Frankie Magazine’s Good Stuff Awards 2017. Usually, Hannah gets writing inspiration from childhood anecdotes or Australiana, but she has also written stories about things like ghosts and ants and nude beaches. In the future Hannah hope to be able to work in a field that allows me to be creative and make good theatre.Melbourne
Stephanie Clark
Stephanie is an actor, director and writer, who grew up in community theatre in West Gippsland. In 2012, she wrote and produced her first play at age 18- which led to the beginning of her theatre company: Impact Theatre. Since then, Stephanie has written four more plays- most receiving awards in rural theatre circles. She also has a bachelor of creative arts- drama from Deakin University. She is very excited to be given this opportunity.Louis Corbett
Louis is a Melbourne-based actor, director and producer who has recently made the foray into writing. He has appeared on stage for the MTC in All My Sons (2007) and Rising Water (2011), as well as in Peter Blackburn’s VCA Master’s project Zone 4 (2016). He has appeared on Australian television and in films such as The Dragon Pearl playing the lead opposite Sam Neil, The King, as a young Graham Kennedy, Charlotte’s Web opposite Dakota Fanning and Macbeth. He has completed the Shakespeare Summer Intensive at RADA (2014, London) and last year graduated from the 16th Street Full-Time Program. Louis is very excited to be a part of Fresh Ink in 2017.Liam Maguire
Liam is excited to be welcomed into ATYP’s Fresh Ink intake and to be honing his skills as a playwright. Liam studied Acting at Western Australia’s Academy of Performing Arts where he grew enamored with not only performing, but also creating theatre. Through out the two years following his graduation, Liam has developed several original scripts that he looks forward to fine-tuning through out the year. He has also been involved in creative developments for new works by both Ilbijerri and Malthouse theatre companies, including “Little Emperors” which he also performed in earlier in 2017.Lou Wall
Lou Wall is a comedian, actor, and theatre-maker based in Melbourne. She is a 2016 acting graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts and since graduating, has been well-known for her original comedy works. Last year, her acclaimed black comedy cabaret A Dingo Ate My Baby toured for three seasons including a sold-out season at the Malthouse Theatre (Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2017). As a recipient of Melbourne Cabaret Festival’s Emerging Cabaret Artist Award, Lou developed her second comedy special It’s Not Me, It’s Lou. Premiering at Chapel off Chapel, the show received critical acclaim, a Best Cabaret nomination (Melbourne Fringe Festival 2017) and will go on to be presented at the Malthouse Theatre in 2018 (MICF). Recently she starred in the hit lesbian musical Romeo Is Not The Only Fruit for Poppyseed Festival. The show is set to have its return season at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival also at the Malthouse Theatre.
Stephanie is an actor, director and writer, who grew up in community theatre in West Gippsland. In 2012, she wrote and produced her first play at age 18- which led to the beginning of her theatre company: Impact Theatre. Since then, Stephanie has written four more plays- most receiving awards in rural theatre circles. She also has a bachelor of creative arts- drama from Deakin University. She is very excited to be given this opportunity.
Louis is a Melbourne-based actor, director and producer who has recently made the foray into writing. He has appeared on stage for the MTC in All My Sons (2007) and Rising Water (2011), as well as in Peter Blackburn’s VCA Master’s project Zone 4 (2016). He has appeared on Australian television and in films such as The Dragon Pearl playing the lead opposite Sam Neil, The King, as a young Graham Kennedy, Charlotte’s Web opposite Dakota Fanning and Macbeth. He has completed the Shakespeare Summer Intensive at RADA (2014, London) and last year graduated from the 16th Street Full-Time Program. Louis is very excited to be a part of Fresh Ink in 2017.
Liam is excited to be welcomed into ATYP’s Fresh Ink intake and to be honing his skills as a playwright. Liam studied Acting at Western Australia’s Academy of Performing Arts where he grew enamored with not only performing, but also creating theatre. Through out the two years following his graduation, Liam has developed several original scripts that he looks forward to fine-tuning through out the year. He has also been involved in creative developments for new works by both Ilbijerri and Malthouse theatre companies, including “Little Emperors” which he also performed in earlier in 2017.DARWIN
Julia Richardson
Stuart Fong
2016 MENTEES
Gemma Neall (SA)
Connor Reidy (SA)
Anita Sanders (SA)
Tremayne Gordon (QLD)
Shelley Men (QLD)
David Stewart (QLD)
Honor Webster-Mannison (QLD)
Jessie Davis (NT)
CJ Fraser-Bell (NT)
Ciella Williams (NT)
Alberto di Troia (VIC)
Laura Hartnell (VIC)
Laura Lethlean (VIC)
Madelaine Nunn (VIC)
Joel Burrows (NSW)
Eliza Oliver (NSW)
Felicity Pickering (NSW)
Morgan St Clair (NSW)
2016 MENTORS
Jon Halpin (SA)
Saffron Benner (QLD)
Mary Anne Butler (NT)
Ross Mueller (VIC)
Jennifer Medway (NSW)
2015 MENTEES
Piri Eddy (SA)
Piri Eddy (SA) is a writer, musician and stand-up comic. He has reviewed for Heckler, Transnational Literature, and London based publication The Upcoming. Piri has also produced work for Adelaide Indaily and Southern Write Magazine.As a stand-up comedian, he has performed alongside some of Australia’s finest comics, including Fiona O’Loughlin and Peter Berner. In 2013 Piri was a writer-in-residence at the SA Writers’ Centre, and in 2015 he commenced a PhD in Creative Writing at Flinders University.
Suzannah Kennett Lister (SA)
Suzannah Kennett Lister (SA) is an emerging actor, director and playwright. She graduated from the Adelaide College of the Arts acting program in 2014. During her three years at AC Arts Suzannah was fortunate enough to be able to work under the tutelage of playwrights Nicki Bloom and Emily Steel. She has also worked with directors Corey McMahon, Cameron Goodall, Paulo Castro, David Mealor and Terence Crawford. In her final year at AC Arts Suzannah was responsible for the initial concept of Mouth Machine and became the primary writer and director of the project and played the supporting role of Julie. Suzannah is currently in development for Myriad, an original work that aims to remove stigma surrounding mental illness, which she is writing and directing. The show will premiere mid 2015.Callum “CJ” McLean (SA)
Callum “CJ” McLean (SA) is a playwright and review writer based in Adelaide. His creative work has appeared in InDaily, and was twice broadcast on Coast FM. He has written reviews for Buzzcuts (a part of Express Media) and Empire Times. He received two commendations for his script work in the South Australian State Theatre Company’s ‘Young Playwright’s Award’ competition, in 2010 for Call Me Lolita, and 2013 for The Pink Elephant.He travelled to Guangzhou, China as part of the AsiaBound project earlier this year to mentor Creative Writing students at Sun Yate-sen University’s South and Zhuhai campuses. In 2014, he attended Oxford University’s Creative Writing summer school, and studied with playwright Shaun McCarthy. He is part of the planning and editing committee for Flinders’ public speaking event, Speakeasy, and their associated zine. He is currently completing his Honours in Creative Arts (Creative Writing) at Flinders University.
Kirsty Budding
Kirsty Budding is a playwright, producer and educator with an interest in comedy and satire. Recent works include The Fairytale Channel (Winner of Best Original Work in the Canberra Area Theatre Awards), My Bitchin’ Soul (ATYP National Studio), and I Heart Love (Sydney Fringe Festival). She is currently writing a full length satire on education for Free Rain Theatre Company, Canberra. When she is not working on her own plays, she is producing work by emerging playwrights through her company, Budding Theatre (www.buddingtheatre.com), and supporting new artists in her role as the ACT Coordinator of Crash Test DramaMaddie Nixon (QLD)
Maddie Nixon (QLD) has undertaken a variety of stage management and production roles in Brisbane, and has recently started pursuing roles in writing and dramaturgy. In 2015 she will be undertaking dramaturgy mentorships under Kathryn Kelly and David Burton. Her credits include Contributing Writer: Digi Youth Atrs’ The Children’s Monologues. Stage Manager: Queensland Theatre Company’s Seven Stages of Grieving,Saison De Lamour, and the 2014 Queensland Premier’s Drama Awards; La Boite Indie’s Hedonism’s Second Album, Awkward Conversation’s Medea Redux, Imaginary Theatre’s The Voice in the Walls, and The 2014 King George Square Lighting of the Christmas Tree. Assistant Stage Manager: Queensland Theatre Company’s Black Diggers. Producer: Four Stripes and Adelaide Fringe The Show Must Goon.Jack Kelly (QLD)
With training in acting, musical theatre, puppetry and writing, Jack Kelly (QLD) is one of Brisbane’s theatre scene’s most versatile residents. Since graduating from the Harvest Rain Musical Theatre Internship in 2011, Jack has attained leading roles within many Brisbane based productions across a multitude of theatre companies. Most recent theatrical credits include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Underground Productions), Machina (LaBoite Theatre Company – The Loft), Boy&Girl (Oscar Theatre Company – Brisbane Powerhouse), Into The Woods (Ignations Theatre Company), Predrinks (Rocketboy Theatre Company), Avenue Q (Brisbane Arts Theatre), James and The Giant Peach, Grease, Aladdin And His Mysterious Magical Lamp (Harvest Rain Theatre Company – QPAC). Jack is also a statewide touring puppeteer for the Children’s Cancer Charity, Camp Quality. Aside from acting, Jack is also a budding, young writer, having launched his own creative writing company (Written Just Write) in 2014 where he specializes in creating custom-written scenes for actor’s showreels. Other recent writing credits include The Children’s Monologues (DigiYouth – 2 High Festival), Centre Stage Fiasco & Wilderness Winners (Brisbane Youth Theatre) Star Factor (YPAC), Boy&Girl (Oscar Theatre Company – Brisbane Powerhouse), Speaking Freely (Anywhere Theatre Festival & Short And Sweet Festival), Broadway Babies & Cabaret Del Arte (Harvest Rain Theatre Company).Lauren Sherritt (QLD)
Lauren Sherritt (QLD) is a writer and theatre maker. She wrote and directed the plays Sans Love and One Black Mark for Anywhere Theatre Festival in 2013 and 2014, has directed for Short + Sweet Festival and wrote The Hero’s Journey for Brisbane City Council’s Street Reads program. Lauren has a Bachelor of Theatre Arts from USQ. She was selected to take part in the Australian Theatre for Young People’s Fresh Ink National Studio in 2011 and in 2012 her film Awake was a finalist in the Love Bytes online monologue competition. Her writing has been featured online on Birdee, Australian Stage and LifeMusicMedia.Alexander Bayliss (QLD)
Alexander Bayliss (QLD) is an emerging playwright from Brisbane. His most recent play Jack is currently in development and was selected to be part of Playlab’s Lab Rats series in 2014, the reading of which was directed by Michael Futcher. In 2015 his play Learning to Love Gravity, a comedy which blurs the line between text-based theatre and circus, will be produced as part of Anywhere Theatre Festival. His other writing credits include: 12 Gauge (2010, Capillaries Festival, Vena Cava Productions), Caution: Wet Floor (2high Festival). As director: Limbus (2011). As assistant director: Limbus (2010, Festival of Australian Student Theatre), Trapped Yo! (2010, Handful of Fragments). As performer: The Choir (2012, Switchboard Arts), Caution: Wet Floor (2011, 2high Festival). Alexander holds a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Drama) and a Masters of Creative Industries (Creative Writing) form the Queensland University of Technology and is currently the Publication and Marketing Officer at Playlab.Angus Cameron (VIC)
Originally from Gippsland, Angus Cameron (VIC) is now a Melbourne based theatre maker and academic. In 2015 he is undertaking a Masters in Writing for Performance at the VCA and is a Coopers Malthouse ‘provocateur’. He completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) with a double major in International & Political Studies and Screen & Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne in 2012. He works at Trinity College as head of their well-being program and takes particular interest in performance and philosophy.Holly Brindley (VIC)
Holly Brindley (VIC) is a graduate of the Flinders University Drama Centre in Adelaide. Since graduating Holly has undertaken short courses in London at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and in Barcelona at the MOVEO International School of Corporal Mime. In 2014 she played Malcolm and the First Witch in Adelaide theatre company Foul Play’s inaugural production of Macbeth (dir. Yasmin Gurreeboo). She was also on the writing team for the production, contributing to Foul Play’s innovative adaptation of the text. Holly has appeared in several short films and performed in the Wastelander Panda web series for ABC iView (dir. Victoria Cocks). During high school Holly wrote her first play EVE which was performed by Urban Myth Theatre of Youth and the Canberra Youth Theatre. In 2013 Holly received the Flinders University Young Playwrights Award for Blue, which was performed in a staged reading by the State Theatre Company of South Australia (dir. Alison Howard). Holly attended the 2014 ATYP National Studio.Georgia Symons (VIC)
Your name is Georgia Symons (VIC) and you have an abiding love of the second person. It unsettles people, but you persist because, as a wise oracle once proclaimed, you were born this way. Your work has been performed throughout Australia and New Zealand (“Mollycoddled”) and toured to the UK (“Am I Good Friend?” with Yve Blake & Co). In 2013, you directed and wrote the site-specific work “La Soif” for the city of Rennes, France. In Australia, your writing has been published in two UTS Writers’ Anthologies, and by Currency Press in ATYP’s The Voices Project (“Twisted”, which has since been adapted to a film with 40,000+ views online). You’ve worked as a producer on ABC Radio National’s Airplay and Poetica, and your achievements include Best New Talent, Short + Sweet Sydney 2011; and Best Student Film, Lebanese Film Festival 2012 (“Shoebox”, which you wrote and directed). In 2014, you worked on “GL RY” (a week-long installation in Melbourne’s City Square) as writer and dramaturgical assistant for the AIDS 2014 conference; and “You Are Like Nobody,” a piece of one-on-one digital theatre for Platform Youth Theatre @ La Mama.You also completed the Master of Writing for Performance at the VCA. This year, your work has been programmed in the Digital Writers Festival (“Three-Legged Race Around the World”), ASYLUM (“A Puppet Show for All Ages”), Fresh Air Festival at Federation Square (“The Alien Meteorites of Federation Square”) and Metanoia Theatre’s Live Works Season (“In the Dark”). In addition to participating in ATYP’S Mentorship program, you are working with a number of other youth theatre companies this year: as a lead writer on Western Edge’s “Iago”, as co-director of Platform’s Creative Generator, and as a resident artist at Arena Theatre Company. You knew this bio would descend into monotonous listing eventually.
Fiona Spitzkowsky (VIC)
Fiona Spitzkowsky (VIC) is a Melbourne based writer, who has only just developed the ability to call herself that without the support of semi-sarcastic air quotes. Her first produced work was Room 62791 at the Canberra Youth Theatre in 2009. Since then she has completed a Bachelor of Communications (Theatre/Media), graduating with distinction. During her time at university Fiona penned scripts for the Central West Short Playwriting Festival (2013) and Sprung Festival (2012, 2013), including the highly successful comic cabaret A World Without Sex, which toured to Sydney and Brisbane. She was also a finalist in ATYP’s Fresh Ink Competition in 2013 with Paris. She is currently completing a Masters in Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing at the University of Melbourne, paying the bills as the Digital Editor for Big Stories, an online documentary project, and maintaining her passion for theatre through her work with Attic Erratic and fledgling theatre company We Happy Few.Elias Jamieson Brown (NSW)
Elias Jamieson Brown (NSW) received a Bachelor of Arts (Acting for Screen and Stage) from Charles Sturt University (CSU) in 2014. During his studies, he was awarded the Dean’s Achievement Award for Academic Excellence (2014), and the CSU Foundation Scholarship (2012, 2013). He was selected for the Bell Shakespeare Graduate Course (2015), and has also undertaken short courses with NIDA, 16th Street, Master Voice Teacher Isobel Kirk, James Evans and Les Chantery. In 2013, he was an adjudicator of the Annual Music, Dance and Drama Festival at the Illawarra Grammar School. As an actor, he has performed in a variety of roles including Happy in Death of a Salesmen (SOACT), Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet (CSU), Solyony in Three Sisters (CSU), and Hal in Loot (SOACT). In May Elias will play the role of Louise in Angels In America (Chalkdust Theatre). His latest play, Missy and her Master (A Fable), was staged by Apocalypse Theatre Company as part of the Asylum theatre festival. All proceeds of this socially conscious theatre festival went to the Asylum Seekers Centre in Newtown and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne. He has also written two other full-length plays Primary Colours and Crux, the latter of which was shortlisted for Playwriting Australia’s National Script Workshop (2013, 2014). He was executive producer and co-writer of Ambrosia (Solid State, Steve Jaggi, The Ridge Productions), and co-wrote and performed in Thicker (University Theatre Ensemble). He has written and directed for the 10×10 Playfest and, in 2013, directed A Portrait of Anna Moraova for the ABC’s Open Online program. Elias Jamieson Brown is a proud member of MEAA.Jason Kos (NSW)
Jason Kos (NSW) graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 2013. Jason was recently in Miracle City at the Hayes Theatre. He can be next seen in Sport for Jove’s production of The Merchant of Venice, and later in the year in Arms and the Man, at Sydney Theatre Company. While at NIDA his theatre credits included Woyzeck, A Lie of the Mind, Sunday in the Park with George, Othello, Darlinghurst Nights, and Electronic City. Jason’s writing credits include Seeker (short film) and Noah (Play). He has written, directed and features in a web-series called ANTI-ADULTS.Tasnim Hossain (NSW)
Tasnim Hossain (NSW) is a playwright and performance poet. Her work has been staged by ATYP and Apocalypse Theatre Company, and published by Currency Press. Her first solo show was developed through Playwriting Australia’s Lotus Program for Asian-Australian Writers and premiered at Perth’s Fringe World, with a second season at You Are Here festival in Canberra. She was an Associate Artist at Canberra Youth Theatre in 2013 and is currently participating in The Hive, The Street Theatre’s script development program with Peter Matheson in Canberra. She has a Bachelor of Arts (International Relations) from the Australian National University.Julia Patey (NSW)
Julia Patey (NSW) is an emerging playwright, director and theatre-maker based in Sydney. Julia’s work has been performed in theatres, pubs and backyards across Australia, including at the Australian Theatre for Young People, The Blue Room Theatre, and Holden Street Theatres. In 2014, Julia was commissioned to write a monologue, Sure, for the Voices Project: Between Us for ATYP’s 2015 season. Sure was later published by Currency Press. As a theatre-maker and director, Julia’s work includes We Are All, The Hand of Time (Not Suitable for Drinking), Where There’s Smoke/ Burnt (99seats Theatre), and Stockholm. As Assistant Director; A Town Named War Boy (ATYP), The Magic Hour (Performing Lines WA) & Spur of the Moment (ATYP). Julia holds a Bachelor of Communication in Theatre/Media from Charles Sturt University, Bathurst and is a recipient of The Blair Milan Memorial Scholarship, which she was awarded in 2013 for her graduate production, Burnt. Julia is a founding member of 99seats Theatre, and is currently resident director for Not Suitable for Drinking,a theatre collective dedicated to producing new writing with emerging artists. Julia is very passionate about creating new work and is thrilled to be a participant in ATYP’s National Mentoring Program for emerging playwrights.
2015 MENTORS
Saffron Benner (QLD)
Saffron Benner is the former Executive Director of Playlab and a professional dramaturg and arts educator with over 15 years experience. Saffron has taught drama and arts education at Griffith University, QUT, and USQ. She has worked with the Queensland Theatre Company, La Boîte Theatre, Tasmanian Theatre Company, ATYP, Metro Arts, Backbone Youth Arts, deBASE Theatre, Vulcana Womens’ Circus, and many independent artists. Saffron was also a feature writer and the Arts in Education Editor for Lowdown magazine.Ross Mueller (VIC)
Ross Mueller is an Australian playwright. Winner of the New York New Dramatists Playwright exchange for his play Concussion. In March 2009 Concussion premiered at Sydney Theatre Company. In April 2009 his play Hard Core was shortlisted for the Patrick White Award. He is the winner of the Wal Cherry Play of the year 2007 for his play The Glory. In March 2007 his play – The Ghost Writer was premiered at Melbourne Theatre Company.Construction of The Human Heart was short listed for the 2007 AWGIE Award for Best New Play and nominated for five Green Room Awards. In 2002 he was the Australian playwright at the International Residency of the Royal Court Theatre in London. His play ZEBRA! premiered with a sell out season at STC in March 2011. He is completing his Masters in Writing For Performance at Victorian College of the Arts. In Australia he is represented by Anthony Blair at Cameron’s: [email protected]
Jennifer Medway (NSW)
Jennifer has been the Resident Dramaturg and Writing Coordinator at ATYP since 2014. For ATYP she has been running programs to support writers under the age of 26 and being a dramaturgical resource for writers of this age. In 2014 she was a Griffin Studio Artist where she was the production dramaturg on Jump for Jordan by Donna Abela. In 2012 she was the Associate Artist- Dramaturgy at Belvoir and worked on Strange Interlude by Simon Stone after Eugene O’Neill and was Assistant Director on Death of A Salesman. Prior to this she was Belvoir’s Literary Assistant in 2011. She was also Co-Artistic Director of the Crack Theatre Festival as part of This is Not Art in 2013. She has assessed scripts for Playwriting Australia, Griffin, Belvoir and for STC’s Patrick White Award. Jennifer has been a dramaturg on: The Bleeding Tree (Playwriting Australia development), Vile (Playwriting Australia development), Jump for Jordan (Griffin), By the Sea Freedom (Festival of Dangerous Ideas/Applespiel), How it is or As you like it (Ashfield Council/9th Women Playwrights International Conference), Blood Pressure (Rock Surfers) and in 2015 will complete work on Animal/People (Rock Surfers), Between the Clouds (ATYP) and The Trolleys (ATYP).
Fresh Ink mentoring in 2014 ran in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. We were thrilled that for the first time we were able to offer the programme in Adelaide and Perth. This was made possible thanks for the support of the Graeme Wood Foundation and Copyright Agency.
2014 MENTEES
Grace Chipperfield (SA)
Grace Chipperfield (SA) is in the middle of her Honours degree in a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing) at Flinders University, South Australia. She participated in the National Studio (2013) and applied to the 2014 Fresh Ink Mentoring program to continue her playwriting education. For the past eighteen months she has been involved in a collaborative university innovation grant project in which she co-wrote a play adapted from the Nart Sagas of the Caucasus. It will be performed at the Bakehouse Theatre in June this year.Lochlin Maybury (SA)
Lochlin Maybury (SA) is a 2013 Flinders University Drama Centre acting graduate who, during his training, performed in Punk Rock, A Mouthful of Birds, Dangerous Liaisons, Melancholy Play, Unity (1918), Blackrock, The Blue Room and Tusk Tusk. He is currently working as an actor/writer with ActNow Theatre on The Law Project; a series of workshops centred around creatively engaging with young people and the criminal justice system. He is also due to appear in Polygraph Collective’s production of Man in a Bag later this year. Lochy is a keen playwright and seeks to employ performative and writing skills to form an Adelaide-based theatre company in the coming years.Lucy Haas-Hennessy (SA)
Lucy Haas-Hennessy (SA) grew up in Queensland, where her earliest writing projects involved transcribing favourite childhood films and changing the names of the characters to cover her tracks. She moved to Adelaide at age twelve, by which time she had thankfully moved on to writing her own (unplagiarised) stories. She was inspired to try her hand at writing theatre in high-school after discovering the works of Samuel Beckett, and wrote and performed several self-devised pieces before going on to study Drama and English at Flinders University. In 2010 she was a winner of the State Theatre Company Young Playwright’s Award (with commendations in 2013 and 2014.) She was a member of the 2013 Urban Myth Senior Ensemble as a playwright, and continues to write for the Sub(urban) Collective. Her Bachelor of Arts in English and Drama (with Honours in English literature) adequately qualifies her for her day job in a video game shop. Her hobbies include thinking about cats, trying not to think about the inevitability of death, and getting into arguments on the Internet with strangers and loved ones alike.Peter Beaglehole (SA)
Peter Beaglehole (SA) is beginning a PhD at Flinders University and works as a tutor in the Drama department. He has reviewed theatre for stagemilk.com, performed as musician and stand-up in Adelaide Fringe and written for Urban Myth Theatre Company as part of the 2013 Come Out Festival and for the Inkpot Diaries project. Recently his play May Day was shortlisted in the final five for the State Theatre Company’s Young Playwrights’ Award 2014.Sophia Simmons (SA
Sophia Simmons (SA) is currently in her second year of studying acting at the Adelaide College of the Arts and was a winner of the Flinders University Young Playwright Award last year with her play ‘Brightness’. She has been involved in many theatre and film projects over the last few years including some teaching and directing work for Urban Myth Theatre and as an actor with Act Now Theatre, but playwriting is relatively new for Sophia. She is very honoured to be a part of the Fresh Ink Mentoring program and is excited to be working with others artists and to see what she is capable of.Kevin Mararo Wangai (WA)
Kevin Mararo Wangai (WA) is Kenyan born, an avid writer, and a media graduate with a passionate interest in multiple forms of story telling. He believes in the strength and importance of story telling; how they allow for subjects to be approached in an intimate and responsible manner, combined with the multitude of emotions and experiences that they can communicate to an audience. Film making is another of Kevin’s artistic ventures and as with theater he is attracted to stories that deal with issues of humanity and the challenges that we encounter in the state of world affairs.Sarah Young (WA)
Sarah Young (WA) is a Perth-based comedian, writer, actor and voice over artist who has been widely involved in the Australian entertainment industry for almost ten years. After receiving formal training in classical singing at WAAPA, she moved to Sydney to continue acting studies at the Actors Centre Australia. Most recently, Sarah performed as a support act for comedy troupe The Puppetry of the Penis (2014).Finn O'Branagáin (WA)
Finn O’Branagáin (WA) is a graduate from NIDA’s 2012 Graduate Diploma of Dramatic Arts (Playwriting). In 2014 she is co-Artistic Director of Crack Theatre Festival. She wrote the immersive, interactive ‘When Leaving Earth, Please Turn Out the Lights’ for THAT Production Company’s 2014 Play Reading Season and will dramaturg their upcoming development of ‘In My Steps’ by Future Destin Fidel. In 2013 she wrote ‘Envelope’, based on audience stories, for The Vertebras as part of Backbone Youth Arts and Metro Arts Elevate program. She was a NIDA Independent Artist for performance poetry show ‘The Epic’ with Scott Sandwich. Her performance poetry and physical theatre show ‘2880 Minutes Late’ was performed by Painted Tree at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and NIDA Student Festival. She dramaturged for the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Art’s ‘Salon’ for Choreographer Tim Brown and Expressions Dance Company’s ‘Apples and Eve’ for Choreographer Lucas Jervies. She has been a finalist of the NT Young Achiever of the Year Arts award, and a winner and finalist in the Fist Full of Films Festival. Her work has been presented at the Darwin, Sydney and Melbourne Fringe Festivals, 2High, The State Library of Queensland, and the World Theatre Festival. She has been feature poet at the National Young Writers’ Festival, Off the Page, Wordstorm, Tease Festival, National Science Week, The Spinning Room, a Buddhist temple, and the inaugural Nightwords festival at the Sydney Opera House, after winning Wild Card in the 2008 National Poetry Slam finals. In 2011, Finn was mentored by award winning playwright Lachlan Philpott as part of the Australia Council’s JUMP program, worked as a Darwin Theatre Company Independent Artist, Australia Council Cultural Leader, Backbone Ensemble Member and Express Media National Young Writers Month Ambassador. In 2010, Finn’s co-written work ‘Dancing Back Home’ toured with JUTE and Mudlark theatre, and she was a writer in ATYP’s show ‘The Voices Project’, which was published by Currency Press.Tyler Jacob Jones (WA)
Tyler Jacob Jones (WA) is a Perth-based actor, singer, playwright and director with a range of theatrical credits encompassing musical theatre, plays, light opera, cabaret and children’s theatre. He forms one half of the creative partnership Holland St Productions, along with collaborator Robert Woods. The pair have written two successful original musicals; Falling to the Top: the Musical Trashtacular (ArtRage Theatre Award – Best WA Theatre Production, Fringe World 2013) and Point & Shoot (Artrage Theatre Award – Best Theatre Production & the Martin Sims Award for Best WA Production, Fringe World 2014). Tyler’s first play, F**k Decaf, premiered in May 2014 at the Mary Street Bakery in Perth. Tyler has played principal roles in the WA Premiere productions of Thoroughly Modern Millie, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Monty Python’s Spamalot, bare: a pop opera, Falsettos, Second Samuel and Curtains. Professionally, he has appeared in Blood Brothers with Amanda Muggleton for Janus Entertainment, and toured Perth schools with Perform Educational Musicals. As a director, he has staged a number of productions for WA theatre company Playlovers Inc., winning the Mary Webb Award for Best Director of a Musical at the 2011 Robert Finley Awards for his production of Side Show: the musical. He also directed the premiere seasons of Falling to the Top – The Musical Trashtacular and Point and Shoot.Ava Karuso (NSW)
Ava Karuso (NSW) is a playwright/performance maker based in Sydney. Her first writing credit was the short play Spoons and Forks, which was performed and published in 2008 as part of the Page-To-Stage festival. Since then her love of playwriting has grown, and in 2012 her first full length play Rope Burn was performed as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival, with the script later published by Australian Plays. She was also artist in residence at the Shopfront Contemporary Arts Centre creating the edible piece Life.Death.Food. Last year Ava took part in the Griffin Theatre Company’s Story Lab at Casula Powerhouse where she worked with artists from many cultural and artistic backgrounds to explore the means of storytelling. Ava is currently developing the play The History of the World from Now which is to be produced in 2015.Nick Atkins (NSW)
Nick Atkins (NSW) is a theatre and performance maker. He graduated from UNSW with a BA Media, Theatre & Performance (Hons 1st Class) where he received the Cate Blanchett Award. In 2011 he presented his first solo work Unsex Me as part of Riverside Theatre’s inaugural ‘True West’ season. He has completed residences with Urban Theatre Projects, Blacktown Arts Centre, CAMAC Art Centre Marnay Sur-Seine, and completed the Pentales Hemmingway Writers Fellowship, Berlin. He performed in a regional tour of ‘Dance Hall Days’ a new work devised collaboratively with the Q Theatre Company (dir. Katrina Douglas). He recently presented his latest solo work ‘A Boy & A Bean’ in partnership with PACT and PP&VA. ‘A Boy & A Bean’ was awarded Best Performing Arts event at Sydney Mardi Gras and was later presented at the New Theatre, Dublin. He has worked as the Co-Artistic Director for the Crack Theatre Festival, and is currently a Board Member of PACT Centre for Emerging Artists and the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby.Emily Sheehan (NSW)
Emily Sheehan (NSW) is an actor and playwright. She studied improvisation and comedy writing at The Second City Training Centre in Chicago. This year Emily is one of Playwriting Australia’s Dramaturgy Interns. Emily was one of the mentees at atyp’s National Studio in 2013 where her monologue Eating Sunshine was produced and published as a part of The Voices Project. Credits include collaborating with theatre companies Q Theatre, atyp, Rock Surfers Cut&Paste, Factotum, Perform Educational Musicals, The New Theatre, Genesian Theatre, and Epicentre Theatre Co. Emily completed her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Performance Studies at the Actors College of Theatre & Television and the University of New England.Jake Brain (NSW)
Jake Brain (NSW) is a writer living in Sydney. Graduating from UTS in 2012 with a Bachelor of Communications, he previously attended Fresh Ink National Studio in 2013, his work featuring in the 2014 ATYP production Bite Me. He is passionate about film and theatre, and has work for Matchbox Pictures as a Script Assistant.
2014 MENTORS
Nicki Bloom (SA)
Nicki Bloom’s debut play Tender was first produced by nowyesnow in May 2007 as part of the B-Sharp downstairs season at Company B Belvoir Street in Sydney. This production then toured to Hothouse Theatre (Albury) and Griffin Theatre Company (Sydney), playing as part of the main stage subscription seasons at both theatre companies. In July 2009 Tender was produced by the Summer Play Festival at the Public Theater’s Anspacher space in New York City, USA Tender also received a reading at London’s Donmar Warehouse in 2010. Tender is published by Currency Press. Bloom’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts was produced by the State Theatre Company of South Australia in October 2008, and is published by Phoenix Press. She jointly adapted Shakespeare’s romeo&juliet with director Geordie Brookman, and this adaptation was first produced by the State Theatre Company of South Australia in August 2010. Additional publications include Summer, published by Currency Press in a collection of plays entitled ‘Short Circuit’, and additional productions include Summer by Griffin Theatre Company in 2008, and Footso/diers by. Stone/Castro and Reel Time Collaborators for Brink’s Gorge Festival in 2009.Bloom’s awards include the 2006 Adrian Consett Stephen Memorial Prize (Tender); the 2007 Inscription Chairman’s Award for Best Play (Tender); the 2008 Patrick White Playwrights’ Award (8/oodwood) and the 2009 Inscription Playwriting Award (8/oodwood) and the Henry Lawson Prize for Prose. Her work has also been shortlisted for several awards, including the 2008 New South Wales Premier’s Play Award (Tender); the 2007 Philip Parsons Playwriting Award (Tender); and the 2006 Max Afford Playwriting Award (Tender). She has been the recipient of two Goethe lnstitut scholarships to Germany- the first a language study scholarship in May 2008 and the second to attend Berlin’s ‘Theatertreffen’ as part of an international forum of theatre-makers in May 2009. Bloom was a 2008 resident writer at Griffin Theatre Company in Sydney. She is an affiliate artist with Brink Productions in Adelaide and co-artistic director of performance company nowyesnow.
Adam Mitchell (WA)
Adam Mitchell is an award winning theatre director known for his inventive contemporary theatre productions. He was the Associate and Resident Director for Black Swan State Theatre Company. For Black Swan he has directed Flood, Death of a Salesman, The Motherfucker With the Hat, Boy Gets Girl and When the Rain Stops Falling. He was the Artistic Director of Black Swan’s HotBed Ensemble, production highlights included: Yellow Moon: The Ballad Of Leila and Lee, The Shape of Things, pool (no water), The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Laramie Project, Falling Petals and the world premieres of Portraits of Modern Evil by Robert Reid and The Dark Room by Angela Betzien.He regularly directs both Opera and Musical Theatre for The West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) , and has worked with Sydney and Melbourne Theatre Companies, Playwriting Australia, and is a member of the Lincoln Centre Theater Directors Lab (New York).He was awarded the 2008, 2010, 2013 Equity Guild Award for Best Direction, 2010 Equity Guild Award for Best Production (The Shape of Things), 2003 Blue Room Award for Best Independent Production and the 2014 PAWA Awards for Best Production.
Lachlan Philpott (NSW)
A Sydney based dog person, Lachlan is a playwright who has worked with Australian Theatre for Young People, Belvoir Sydney, Bell Shakespeare, Brisbane Powerhouse, The Bush London, Canberra Youth Theatre, Cre8ion, Crowded Fire San Francisco, Edinburgh Festival, Feast Adelaide, Focus Theatre Sydney, Glen St Theatre Sydney, Griffin Sydney, Hothouse Theatre Albury, Kansas State University, La Boite Brisbane, The Lark NYC, London Pride, Magic Theatre San Francisco, Mardi Gras Sydney, The Mac Belfast, Midsumma Melbourne, Melbourne Festival, MKA New Writing Theatre, The New Theatre, NIDA, Outburst Belfast, Oval House London, Perth Theatre Company, Playwriting Australia, Q Theatre Penrith, PACT Sydney, The NSW Drama Ensembles, The Playwright’s Centre Minneapolis, The Playwright’s Foundation San Francisco, Rock Surfers Sydney, Singapore Writers Festival, Sydney Theatre Company, The Traverse Theatre Edinburgh, Tantrum Theatre Newcastle, Red Stitch Melbourne, St Martins Melbourne The VCA and The Victorian Arts Centre.Lachlan co-founded wrecked all prods with long-time collaborator Alyson Campbell in 2000. He writes for Amnesty International and in his extensive work as a teacher, mentor and dramaturg, Lachlan has worked for theatre companies, schools and tertiary institutions around the world. In 2013, Lachlan was awarded an Australia Council Cultural Leadership grant which included residencies at The Playwrights’ Centre and The Lark Play Development Centre in The US. As the inaugural Australian Professional Playwright Fulbright Scholar, he will travel to The USA in late 2014. Lachlan is Chair of the Australian Writer’s Guild Playwrights’ Committee.
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