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Graduating Directors

    2020

Anthony Nicola
  Anthony Nicola is a Greek-Australian queer artist, who graduated from the Flinders University Drama Centre directing course in 2019 with First Class Honours and a University Medal. He is the current Resident Director at the State Theatre Company of South Australia. He was directorial secondment for Elena Carapetis' The Gods of Strangers (State Theatre Company of South Australia) directed by Geordie Brookman; assistant director on Lachlan Philpott's The Rise and Fall of St George (Seymour Centre/Mardi Gras) directed by Kate Champion; and Kate Mulvany's Jasper Jones (State Theatre Company) directed by Nescha Jelk. He recently directed Nick Payne's Incognito at Flinders Drama Centre, and was supervising director on digital-theatre hybrid Decameron 2.0 (State Theatre Company of South Australia/Act Now Theatre). Anthony’s previous productions for Flinders Drama Centre include Declan Greene's Moth, Kit Brookman's Small and Tired, Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening and Gareth Ellis' A View of Concrete. He will direct Piri Eddy's Forgiveness as part of Strata//Forgiveness, a double bill of two new South Australian plays premiering at RUMPUS in February 2020.
   
    2016

Shannon Rush
  Shannon is a professional theatre director, holding an Advanced Diploma in Acting from the Adelaide College of the Arts (2003) and a Bachelor of Creative Arts in Directing with First Class Honours from Flinders University (2016). Shannon also trained at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (London, 2004) with funding assistance from the Helpmann Academy. Shannon most recently directed Claire Della and the Moon for Madness of Two (2020) and Limit by Sophia Simmons (2019) for the State Theatre Company of South Australia's Umbrella Program. She also worked as Associate Assistant Director on the Auckland Arts Festival tour of 1984 (GWB Entertainment, 2018) as well as the Australian tour (State Theatre Company SA 2017). In 2016 she directed the world premiere of Duncan Graham's play Red Ink for the Adelaide Fringe and Rainer Werner-Fassbinder's Pre-Paradise, Sorry Now for Adelaide College of the Arts. In the same year she also worked as Assistant Director to Rosemary Myers on Rumpelstiltskin for Windmill Theatre Company and to David Mealor on The Juliet Letters for Adelaide Cabaret Festival. As part of her Honours year studies at Flinders University she worked on secondment with Gale Edwards on the world premiere of Cloudstreet for Opera SA. Shannon has worked extensively with Oval House Theatre in London between 2004-2009 as a freelance director and is a freelance drama tutor for youth and adults with companies including Heesom Casting, Actors Ink and Adelaide College of the Arts. In 2021 Shannon will be working with Theatre Republic on the Future:Present project, and directing two new play developments with Adelaide based writers.
     
  2015

Teddy Dunn
  Teddy Dunn is an independent theatre maker who graduated from Flinders Drama Centre in 2015 with First Class Honours. He has a keen interest in new Australian and international plays, dramaturgy and adaptation. His directing credits include Red Sky Morning (State Theatre Company of South Australia), Late: A Cowboy Song (Ladylike Theatre Collective), and Testosterone (Eliza Oliver). Teddy has been the workshop leader of ActNow's Queer Youth Theatre Workshops, and was a participant in the 2015 Director's Studio at Playwriting Australia.
     
  2010

Nescha Jelk
  Nescha graduated from the Flinders University Drama Centre directing course in 2010 with Honours and a University Medal. She was a Resident Director at the State Theatre Company of South Australia from 2013 to 2016. For STCSA, Nescha has directed Terrestrial, Switzerland, Straight White Men (co-production with La Boite), Gorgon, Volpone, Krapp’s Last Tape in the ‘Beckett Triptych’ (2015 Adelaide Festival, 2016 MOFO), Othello, Jesikah and Random. Other directing credits include Sepia (RiAus/Emily Steel), Hamlet (Actors Folio), Alice and Peter Grow Up (Milk Theatre Collective), Deluge (Tiny Bricks in association with Brink for the 2016 Adelaide Festival) and the 2018 revised remount of 19 weeks (Emily Steel). She is one-half of theatre company Tiny Bricks, a creative partnership with playwright Phillip Kavanagh and she is a Co-facilitator of RUMPUS, a curated season of South Australian independent theatre that will be presented at the end of 2019 in Bowden. Upcoming projects include Kate Mulvaney’s adaptation of Craig Silvey’s novel Jasper Jones (STCSA), a new adaptation of Lorca's Yerma by local playwright Holly Brindley (Foul Play). She’s thrilled to be currently working on Emily Steel's new play Euphoria (Country Arts SA) which explores the highs and lows of living regionally.
     
  2006

Tessa Leong
Tessa wrote, directed and starred in her first show in year one assembly: it was about Martians. Directing highlights since graduation at Flinders Drama Centre as a directing student include Best We Forget (Adelaide Fringe Festival 2010, Tamarama Rock Surfers Season 2012, Under The Radar Brisbane Festival 2012) and Make Me Honest, Make Me Wedding Cake which won the 2009 Adelaide Fringe inSPACE Development Award, both with isthisyours?. Her work with Griffin Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Ontroerend Goed, Drop Bear Theatre, State Theatre Company of SA and Restless Dance Company has fed her love of new and challenging work. She has been involved in developments of new writing with Playwriting Australia, Vitalstatistix and Country Arts SA. Tessa has also tutored, directed and mentored at The University of Wollongong and Flinders University of SA on many creative projects. She is currently working on two new works with her company isthisyours?- Audio Commentary and That's His Style. Her search for the worth in everyday occurs with Emma Beech and James Dodd as part of The Australian Bureau of Worthiness in which she has worked on I Met Port Road and I Met Goolwa. Tessa is member of the Griffin Theatre Company Studio 2013.
   

Corey McMahon
  Corey is a director, producer and dramaturg. He trained as an actor at the Flinders Drama Centre, graduating in 2006. He subsequently completed his Master of Creative Arts in Directing, also at the Drama Centre. In 2008 he formed the award-winning independent theatre ensemble five.point.one, with a focus on staging premiere productions of contemporary theatre previously unseen by Adelaide audiences. For five.point.one, Corey's directing credits include Osama the Hero (Dennis Kelly), The Under Room (Edward Bond), The Share (Daniel Keene), The Eisteddfod (Lally Katz), and That Face (Polly Stenham). Corey is committed to the development and production of new Australian writing for the stage; most recently he was director of Thieves by Kathryn Ash for the 2014 National Play Festival and directed the world premiere of Music by Jane Bodie for Griffin Theatre Company. In 2013 he was the director of the world premiere of Rust and Bone by Caleb Lewis for Griffin Theatre Company (2011 National Play Festival) and was dramaturg on The Real World, by Melissa Reeves. In 2011 Corey was both director and dramaturg on Little Borders , by Phillip Kavanagh. Little Borders was subsequently selected for Playwriting Australia's 2011 National Script Workshop and won the Patrick White Award in the same year. Corey was the director and dramaturg on the stage one development of This Place by Nina Pearce, which won the 2010 Jill Blewett Playwrights' Award. As assistant director his credits include Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen, Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat by Mark Ravenhill and Holding the Man by Tommy Murphy (director: Rosalba Clemente, STCSA). Corey has worked for State Theatre Company of S.A., Paines Plough (UK), The Bush Theatre (UK) and has taught and directed acting students in numerous productions at Flinders University Drama Centre and Adelaide College of the Arts and University of Wollongong. In 2008, he was nominated for the Adelaide Bank Helpmann Academy Award and in 2009 he was awarded "Emerging Artist of the Year" by the Adelaide Critics' Circle for his work for five.point.one. His production of The Share won Best Drama (Professional) at the 2010 Adelaide Theatre Guide Awards, and he was also nominated for Best Individual Achievement for his direction of The Share by the Adelaide Critics' Circle. In 2011 his production of The Eisteddfod was nominated in the Best Ensemble category by the Adelaide Critics Circle.
   
  2005

Toni Main
  Toni graduated from the directing course at the Flinders University Drama Centre in 2005 with honours. Her theatre directing credits include Two by Jim Cartwright (2006), Out of the Boot for Urban Myth Theatre (2006), The Bank Job by Alex Vickery-Howe (2006). Harm’s Way by Mac Wellman (2005), Dreaming by Peter Barnes (2004), After Dinner by Andrew Bovell (2004) and Dreamtown by Melissa Reeves (2003). Film credits include; On the First Day; Director, Jean & Julie; Assistant Director and Angela’s Decision; Set Dresser. She has a strong passion for mask performance of which she has directed and co-created two performances using the Libby Appel mask performance technique: The Hidden Family of Her (2007) and Everybody go to the Left Side of the Room (2006).
   
    2004

Justin McGuinness
  Whilst at Flinders Justin directed Hotel, Petroleum, The Country, The Boys, Talk Radio and Strindberg's A Dream Play. He worked at The Bakehouse on Norway Today and Caleb Lewis' premiere production of Dogfall with TheimaGen in 2007. He worked as video designer with Flying Penguin Production's 2008 presentation of Sondheim's musical Assassins and on the national tour of When The Rain Stops Falling with State Theatre Of South Australia and Brink Productions. In 2010 he returned to the Bakehouse in Adelaide to direct Stephen House's Apalling Behaviour which toured Melbourne's La Mama Theatre and to Backspace in Hobart. In 2012 he directed Stephen House's The Trade.
   
    2003

Tait Muller
  Tait has worked in the television industry for 17 years, and in that time has written, directed and produced a variety of television programs. Recent credits include the Out of the Ordinary series for NWS9, Savvy TV for the TEN Network, plus a collection of vignettes for the ABC. Tait graduated from the Flinders University Drama Centre in 2003, with First-Class honours, and was awarded the inaugural Adelaide Bank Helpmann Academy Award. Since graduating, Tait has developed a number of projects for television and corporate interests, he has completed his fifth short film Fluffy Dice, and is currently collaborating with a writer on a feature length script. 
   
    2002

Ali Gordon-Gillespie
  Ali is a theatre director, museum educator, arts manager, marketeer and physical theatre performer. Working between Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and her beautiful riverside home in Spencer, Ali creates in the spaces between history, theatre, science and museums. Her passion is young people. Ali develops high quality theatrical children that captify the minds of their adults too. Ali trained at the Flinders University Drama Centre in directing and performance and in postgraduate study at the University of South Australia in Arts & Cultural Management. She currently works at the Powerhouse Museum and as Creative Director of Drop Bear Theatre. 
   
    2001

Geordie Brookman
  Since graduating from the Flinders Drama Centre in 2001, Geordie has worked as a director, writer, dramaturg and producer and has showcased work around Australia and the UK. His theatre credits include Tender (Nowyesnow / Belvoir), Fewer Emergencies (UOW Creative Arts), Hot Fudge (State Theatre SA) 4.48 Psychosis (Brink), Tiny Dynamite (Griffin Stablemates), Marathon, Morph, Disco Pigs and The Return (Fresh Track), Love is Pain, Mt Ragged (Sydney Theatre Company Blueprints), Brecht Explorations, Absurdist Explorations (Sydney Theatre Company Education), Reformation (Aus. Fashion Week) and Immaculate Confection (National Tour). Geordie has also directed for other companies including Queensland Theatre Company and has assistant directed on many productions including Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (Company B), 12 Angry Men (APA), The Real Thing, Holy Day, Endgame and Life is a Dream (STC). Positions held include Affiliate Director at the Sydney Theatre Company, Artistic Associate at Fresh Track and Artistic Development Coordinator at QTC and co-Artistic Director of the performance group Nowyesnow. Geordie is also a board member for World Interplay. He was recently appointed Artistic Director at the State Theatre Company of South Australia. His awards include an Advertiser Best in Fringe Award for The Return, Sun Herald Best Independent Production for Tiny Dynamite and nominations for an Adelaide Critics Circle Award and the Stage’s Best Ensemble Award. 
   

Ross Ganf
  Ross Ganf is a director/dramaturge/choreographer/producer. Ross works with long-term artistic associates Vincent Crowley and Ingrid Weisfelt under the company name Torque Show. Torque Show has a highly collaborative process that creates work with a fluid authorship under the stewardship of the artistic associate. Torque Show’s maiden dance theatre work Malmö sold out at the Adelaide Festival of Arts 2012 after a premiere season at Arts House in 2011. Ross/Torque Show is currently developing a verbatim dance theatre work Farrugia with presenting partner Vitalstatistix and State Theatre Company of South Australia. Farrugia focuses on the interviews of Joseph Farrugia who is the owner and choreographer of the Crazy Horse Strip Revue in Hindley Street Adelaide. In 2011 Torque Show was awarded the Dara Foundation Climate Change Commission through the Malthouse Theatre and Tipping Point Australia to make Be Prepared. Be Prepared seeks to readdress how participants protest climate change in a contemporary society. Using the non-threatening frame of the scout movement, Torque Show wants to explore notions of civic responsibility, civil disobedience and their perceived interface. These works exemplify his unique approach to theatre/dance that continues a dramaturgical arc of releasing audiences from seating banks while renegotiating the performer/audience contract. Ross was the Curator for Adelaide Festival club BARRIO in 2012 and returned in 2013 as Creative Director for BARRIO. He is currently contracted to create the new vision for the 2014 Adelaide Festival Club. 
   
    2000

Sam Haren
  Sam is a Creative Director of Sandpit, a new company that designs participatory experiences across platforms that trans­port audi­ences into a story, fictional universe or artwork. From 2002–2012, he was Artistic Director of The Border Project, and directed/co-directed all of the company’s work in this time. His directing credits with The Border Project include I Am Not An Animal with Daniel Koerner (Adelaide Festival 2012), Half-Real (Local Stages, Malthouse Theatre & Melbourne Festival 2011), Escape from Peligro Island (Windmill Theatre & Come Out 2011), Vs Macbeth (Adelaide Festival 2010 & Sydney Theatre Company) Disappearance (iNSPACE 2008, Adelaide Festival Centre), Trouble on Planet Earth (Adelaide Fringe 2008), Highway Rock ‘n’ Roll Disaster (Adelaide Fringe 2006, iNSPACE 2007, Sydney Theatre Company 2008), Please Go Hop! with Ingrid Voorendt (Adelaide Fringe 2004 & Next Wave 2004), The War (Gorge ’03 at the Adelaide Festival Centre) and Despoiled Shore Medeamaterial Landscape with Argonauts. For Windmill Theatre, he has directed Plop! and Grug. He has also directed and choreographed Theatrical Trailer for Alien 5 (Australian Dance Theatre Ignition 2007 & 2008) and The Game is Not Over (ADT Ignition 2006), The Station / At the Statue of Venus (State Opera SA 2006), Fronteras Americanas (Kultour 2003) and with Steve Mayhew created Super Dimension Fortress One (Remote Telemetry Dialogues 2004). He was one of three international finalists for Rolex’s Mentor and Protégé Initiative for a mentorship with Julie Taymor in 2006, travelling to New York to meet with her. Sam was awarded the Dame Ruby Litchfield Scholarship for 2002 and undertook a threemonth internship with The Wooster Group in New York, working on their production of To You, The Birdie! He also observed Forced Entertainment’s research and development of The Travels in the UK. He has worked with Leigh Warren and Dancers and the Australian Dance Theatre as a dramaturg and researcher. Sam is currently collaborating with another Insite artist, Larissa McGowan, to create the full length dance work Skeleton, presented in 2013.
   

Christopher Hurrell
  Over the last ten years, Christopher has collaborated with both leading and emerging Australian playwrights as director, dramaturg and in his former role as Literary Manager of Sydney's Griffin Theatre company, on the development and production of many exciting new works of Australian theatre. He has worked in a diverse range of environments including the subsidized and commercial theatres, television production and education on dozens of projects with staff sizes ranging from 2 to 100 and budgets ranging from five thousand dollars to four million dollars in roles ranging from Administrative Assistant to Artistic Director. Christopher has been awarded the Travelling Scholarship by the Ian Potter Cultural Trust to support his current research. Companies with which Christopher has worked include leading Australian and international cultural organisations such as The Bell Shakespeare Company, Griffin Theatre Company, The National Institute of Dramatic Art, Andrew Lloyd Weber’s The Really Useful Company, LaSalle College of the Arts (Singapore), Opera Australia and the Chicago Lyric Opera. Christopher is currently undertaking MPhil research relating to his on-going work as a stage director, pursuing new techniques for the interpretation and performance of Shakespeare by actors and directors. 
   

Eddy Knight
  Eddy Knight was born and raised in Britain's West Country, arriving in South Australia in 1990. He worked for many years as a bench hand joiner, before becoming an actor and then a theatre director. Eddy has worked with Howard Barker’s The Wrestling School, both in the U.K. and for the 2000 Adelaide Festival, the Bell Shakespeare Company, Red Stitch Actors' Theatre, State Theatre of South Australia, Brink, and many of Adelaide's semi-professional companies. Having had two plays produced locally and in New Zealand and come runner up in a couple of literary competitions, Eddy was offered a place in the Creative Writing program of the University of Adelaide, gaining a PhD in 2017. In 2018 Eddy was shortlisted in the Alan Marshall short story competition. He is a member of the Adelaide Writers' Group and lives with his partner and two Siamese cats close to the sea in Port Adelaide.
   

Claire Butler
   
   

Dominic Golding
  Dominic Hong Duc Golding came in a box, 'Operation Babylift' one of some 300 plus children and babies evacuated from orphanages in South Vietnam. In 2000 he was involved with a site installation performance Memory Museum about Australia's involvement in war for the Adelaide Festival Centre. On numerous projects Dominic has worked with Australian Vietnamese Youth Media and in partnership with the Vietnamese Community in Australia (VIC chapter) directed Walking Without Feet (2004) an art showcase by Vietnamese young adults with special needs Dominic has returned to Vietnam three times, each time a new show was developed, Shrimp (2005, 2007) which won the Drama Victoria Award, Mr. Saigon, Ms. Hanoi (2007). He curator of Unseen Habitation (2014) for RISE, and works as an arts and special needs worker there. Beginning this year he sits on the Committee of Management for Vanish, an NGO to support those involved in adoption.
   
    1999

Rod Idle
   
   

Bill Magee
   
   

Alison Robb
  Alison trained as a theatre director at the Flinders University Drama centre, working in the industry for about 10 years as a director, assistant director, stage manager and theatre technician. During this time she worked for companies such as State Theatre South Australia, the Bakehouse, Junction Theatre and Vitalstatisix. Her work has sent her to the US as an assistant director and the UK to participate in industry workshops. Her community engagement as a theatre practitioner included participation in support groups for artists, such as Arts Anonymous and the Sophia Women Artists' Network. Alison is currently re-training as a clinical psychologist. She is combining this professional study with a PhD to further investigate risk and protective factors for the well-being of actors, with a broad aim of improving targeted support services for performing artists. Her Honours research, Being inside the story: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of onstage experience and flow was presented at the Australian Society for Performing Arts Health Conference in Sydney, 2012. This research has been accepted for publication in About Performance 15: The Lives of Actors. This publication is due to appear June 2015.
   

  Richard began his career in theatre and film in the early eighties, studying cinematography at university and working for theatre companies all over Australia on the technical aspects of performance. Since 1994 he has specialised in the interface between electronic and live performance firstly working in a creative partnership with Lisa Philip-Harbutt in their company d.pix images and later through projects associated with the Flinders University Drama Centre. He has worked with choreographers Graham Murray, Jonathon Taylor and Leigh Warren and with theatre companies including Vitalstatistix, Patch Theatre Company and Adelaide & Melbourne Festival on projects that integrate moving images with live performance. Richard worked with Mary Moore on The Masterkey presented at the 1998 Adelaide and Perth Arts Festivals and on the 2000 production Exile, which was presented at the Sydney Spring and Shanghai International Arts Festivals. He continues to work as a cinematographer, mainly in short films, and is currently co-Vice President of the Australian Cinematographers Society, South Australian Branch. He currently teaches screen acting at Flinders Drama Centre.
   
    1998

Anne Thompson
  Anne Thompson was a founding member of Dance Works; the company established in 1983 by Nanette Hassall to develop Australian contemporary dance choreographers. She worked for the company as a dancer, choreographer, teacher and community artist. During that time she co-founded the theoretical journal, Writings On Dance, with Elizabeth Dempster and Jude Walton and taught contemporary dance in tertiary institutions in Victoria. She was thus involved in the importation of American post-modern dance ideas and techniques to Australia and in establishing a theoretical dialogue between feminist ideas, contemporary cultural theory, philosophical theories of the body and contemporary dance. She started part-time lecturing in movement for actors at the Victorian College of Arts Drama School in 1988 and became Head of Movement in 1990. She was nominated for a Green Room award for her Daughter Solo in 1990. She also completed a Graduate Diploma in Movement and Dance and was part of a pilot dance therapy program in Melbourne. In 1994 she moved to Adelaide to complete a MA in Directing at Flinders University with Professor Julie Holledge. In the theoretical component of her Masters she focused on how theories of subjectivity which locate the body at the centre of the ‘self’ were being used in contemporary dance practice. In the practical component she studied directing text based theatre. She has also worked at Flinders as a Lecturer in Theories of Performance, supervisor of student productions, coordinator of the movement course and researcher. She has worked with Garry Stewart, Artistic Director of ADT as a dramaturg on three projects and has reviewed dance in Adelaide for Real Time. She has also been on the Artistic Advisory team for Vitalstatistix and in 2001 she co-founded the Eleventh Hour Theatre project in Melbourne with William Henderson, Fiona Todd and David Tredinnick and the company has presented seven shows. In 2006 the company won two Green Room Awards (the Victorian Industry Awards) for their 2005 productions of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Shakespeare’s King John - Best Adaptation and Best Drama Production. In November 2005 she was awarded her Ph.D. which examines the project of Reconciliation from a white Australian perspective including how nationalism, the arts and the government’s political agenda too often intertwine to perpetuate a ‘white Australia’. In 2007 she was appointed a part-time Lecturer in directing and acting at Flinders University Drama Centre and Eleventh Hour won four Green Room Awards in the Independent Theatre category for their 2006 homage to Samuel Beckett – Best production, Best director, Best male actor (Peter Houghton) and Best design (Julie Renton). 
   

Dr Adele Chynoweth
  Adele Chynoweth’s theatre directing credits include work for State Theatre SA, Vitalstatistix, the Adelaide College of the Arts and the Street Theatre, Canberra. In 2002 she was awarded a PhD for her research in contemporary Australian drama. In 2001, she was employed as the researcher and writer for the Memory Museum, an official event of the celebrations for the 2001 Centenary of Federation SA. Adele was the co-curator of the National Museum of Australia’s touring exhibition Inside: Life in Children’s Homes and Institutions. She was awarded a travel grant by National Museums Liverpool, UK, to speak at the 2011 Federation of International Human Rights Museums conference. Adele was employed as a curatorial advisor for the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct Memory Project. She was a speaker for TEDxCanberra 2013 on the subject of Forgotten Australians. In 2014, she was invited by the Danish Agency for Culture to deliver a keynote address concerning museums and human rights at the Museums: Knowledge, Democracy and Transformation conference in Helsingør, Denmark. She provided research for the television documentary-drama Westbrook (2014) by Shadow Productions. Adele is currently a is a Visitor at the Australian National University’s College of Arts and Social Science where she received a Vice-Chancellor’s Award in 2012. 
   
    1997

Kellie May
  Kellie completed her Bachelor of Arts, Honours in Drama in 1997 and graduated as a Director majoring in theatre direction from Flinders University Drama Centre. As a component of her graduating component she was Assistant Director for The Red Sun performed in Japan and at the Adelaide Festival of Arts. In 1997, she was Assistant Director for Company B's production of Black Mary and for the State Theatre Company of South Australia Production of Tales from Arabian Nights. Her experience includes stage management for the Adelaide Festival Centre's Compagnie Maguy Marin and Venue Co-ordinator for the Festival of Ideas in Adelaide as well as for The Telstra Adelaide Festival of Arts 2000. Kellie went on to hold the position of Venue Sales Co-ordinator at the Adelaide Festival Centre. During this time she was responsible for venue contracting arrangements working closely with the Australian Ballet Company, State Opera of South Australia, State Theatre Company of South Australia and national and international theatre producers. Kellie joined Queensland Theatre Company in 2002 and worked as their Operations Manager. 
   
    1995

Benedict Andrews
  Benedict is one of the most sought-after Australian theatre directors of his generation. His directing work has won and been nominated for awards including Olivier Awards, London Critics Circle Awards, Iceland's Griman Awards, and Australia’s Helpmann Awards. Career highlights include regular collaboration with Cate Blanchett at the Sydney Theatre Company. Benedict directed the marathon Shakespeare cycle The War Of The Roses which he adapted with Tom Wright. The production won six Helpmann Awards, including Best Play and Best Direction of a Play; and five Sydney Theatre Awards for Best Direction and Best Mainstage Production. For his STC staging of Botho Strauss’ play Gross Und Klein. Benedict was awarded the 2011 Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Play and Cate Blanchett received the 2011 Helpmann Award for Best Actress. In 2012, Gross Und Klein played to great acclaim at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, The Barbican in London, the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna and the Ruhrfestspiele in Recklinghausen. In 2013, Benedict directed Cate Blanchett, Isabelle Huppert and Elizabeth Debicki in Jean Genet’s The Maids which he co-adapted with Andrew Upton.
   
    1992

Joh Hartog
  Joh Hartog first moved to Australia in 1965 and became active in the theatre in 1969. He worked as a free-lance artist over several decades until taking up formal theatre studies at Flinders University in 1989 to developed his craft further. He has been fulltime employed by the University from 1996 working across all streams: Theory, Drama Workshop and the Drama centre. He developed TED (The Event Database) for the Performing Arts Collection of SA which later gave birth to AusStage, the national Performing Arts database, which he developed from its inception to 2006, after which he concentrated more on the creation of theatre again. In 2007 he set up Accidental Productions with a number of graduating Drama Centre students to provide opportunities for them to ply their trade. This very successful venture continues to this day and has become an important part of the Adelaide theatre scene.
   
    1991
Ellen Freeman
   
   
    1990

Steven Mayhew
  For the past few years of his arts career, Steve has concentrated on the development of new theatre based works as a director, writer, designer, composer, dramaturg and creative producer. In all circumstances Steve has worked with many artists, community members and young people to devise works which attempt to tell stories with unusual and unconventional structures. Recently he developed a 150 Celebration utilizing the community of Melrose, exploring the use of sound as a preliminary point to tell stories in his Come Out project 7.15 took shower, 7.35 ate breakfast, along with Urban Myth’s 2002 work in progress, Brave. He has helped develop Risky with Junction Theatre as well numerous shows with young people in Urban Myth and Riverland Youth Theatre. Steve has also worked as an advisor and mentor to students studying at the Drama Centre and as a dramaturg with The Border Project's Disappearance. As an Arts Manager and Coordinator Steve has worked for Carlcew, Tasmanian Regional Arts, Comeout 02, Adelaide Cabaret Festival and Brink Productions. He was the Artistic Coordinator of Riverland Youth Theatre from 1996 to 1998 and the Manager of Artistic Programs for Junction Theatre from 1998 to 2000. He currently works as a producer for Country Arts SA.
   
    1989

Charles Parkinson
  Charles has been the Artistic Director of the Tasmanian Theatre Company since late 2007. He was, for ten years, the Artistic Manager of HotHouse Theatre, Australia’s most successful regional theatre. He trained at Flinders University Drama Centre and has worked in Australia and the USA as a director, lighting designer, actor and arts administrator. Charles has directed shows for the Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne Festivals and was Artistic Director of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus for five years. He was Artistic Director of Breadline Theatre and CIRKIDZ and General Manager of Mainstreet Theatre and has also worked for Sydney Theatre Company, Nimrod, The Theatre of the Deaf and Zootango Theatre. In 2007, Charles was the Interim General Manager of Ten Days on the Island. For Tasmanian Theatre Company Charles has directed The Messiah (2009) and Partly It’s About Love… Partly It's About Massacre (2010). He directed the Twentieth Anniversary Show for the Flying Fruit Fly Circus and co-directed a HotHouse Theatre and Flying Fruit Fly Circus co-production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Kim Walker. Charles was one of only two participants from Tasmania invited to contribute to the Towards a Creative Australia discussion at the Prime Minister’s 2020 Summit. Charles is a member of the National Advisory Group for the Australian Script Centre, he is the Tasmanian Advocate for Playwriting Australia and was a member of the Regional Advisory Panel for La Trobe University. Charles was a member of the panel advising the Minister on Victoria Commissions projects and is currently a peer assessor for the Australia Council for the Arts. He was the inaugural Chair of the Victorian Regional Arts Fund, a director of the Border Trust Community Foundation and an executive member of the Regional Arts Board of Albury Wodonga. 
   
Peter Douglas
   
   
    1988

Catherine McKinnon
  Catherine McKinnon studied to be a writer and director at Flinders University Drama Centre. Over a nine-year period she worked for the Red Shed Theatre as a writer, director, dramaturg, and co-artistic coordinator developing, with colleagues, numerous new Australian plays. Her own plays produced at the Shed are Immaculate Deceptions, A Rose By Any Other Name, Road to Mindanao, and Eye of Another. During this time she also directed plays for the State Theatre Company of SA. Catherine's directing credits there include Diving For Pearls and Barmaids, by Katherine Thompson, Three Birds Alighting On A Field, by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind, and Morning Sacrifice by Dymphna Cusack. After leaving Adelaide she completed a Masters in Creative Writing at UTS. In 2006 she won the Penguin Women’s Weekly Award for her short story Haley and the Sea. In 2008 Penguin Viking published her novel, The Nearly Happy Family. Her play Tilt was selected for the 2010 National Playwriting Festival in Brisbane and the High Tide Genesis workshop in London in 2011. As I Lay Dreaming was a finalist in the Seaborne Award, had a reading at Parnassus Den in 2010 and won the Mitch Mathews Award. Catherine has a practice-led PhD from Flinders University and currently lectures in performance and theatre-making at the University of Wollongong. 
   

Glen McGillivray
  Glen McGillivray has worked professionally in theatre for over fifteen years. He was the Artistic Director of Theatre of Desire, a contemporary performance company producing original material, which included: Rites of Memory and Desire (1993-1996), The Frankenstein Twist (1995) and Customs (1998), which the company commissioned from Perth-based writer Josephine Wilson. Glen has also been the Artistic Director of ATYP, an Associate Director and dramaturg for the State Theatre Company of South Australia and has worked extensively as a freelance director. In addition to his work as a director, Glen has had a long association with the development of new writing for the theatre. In 2002, he was the Australia Council funded dramaturg at the Banff PlayRites colony in Alberta, Canada and he worked as a script assessor for the Australian National Playwrights’ Centre. Glen has also taught acting at the Actors’ Centre Australia and run classes for the NIDA open program, the NSW Conservatorium of Music and the Actors’ College of Theatre and Television. In 2004 he completed a PhD in performance studies and currently teaches at the University of Western Sydney and Sydney University. 
   
    1986

Antonietta Morgillo
  Antonietta Morgillo has worked as an actor/writer/director. She studied Drama at Flinders University, where she gained a Bachelor of Arts ( Hons) degree majoring in Drama, Cinema Studies and Feminism. She founded the Red Shed Company (1987), acted for it and worked as a management committee member. Later she was actor/writer/director and workshop leader for Doppio Teatro. She was a theatre assessor for the Australia Council in 1992.
   
    1985

David Carlin
  David is a writer and film-maker who has also worked as a theatre and circus director. He has written for both screen and stage, and produced and directed a number of documentaries and short dramas. His work has been screened and performed in festivals in Australia and internationally. In 1996 his short film Mister Bawky won multiple awards internationally. In 1997 David directed Circus Oz for a six week sell-out season on 42nd St in New York City. He was writer/director of the documentary Out of Our Minds in 2000 and was invited to screen in competition at the prestigious Amsterdam International Documentary Festival in 2001. He has also been the Artistic Director of Arena Theatre and a founding member of the theatre collective Red Shed Company in Adelaide. He has directed numerous premieres of Australian works including Melissa Reeves’ In Cahoots, John Romeril’s Black Cargo and Mary Morris’ Blabbermouth. His own play Frankenstein’s Children (1990) premiered at the Adelaide Festival and has since been produced around Australia and in translation in Germany and Venezuela. Most recently, he was a producer of the documentary series The Lifestyle Experts which screened on SBS TV in 2006. David is currently completing a PhD at the University of Melbourne, investigating questions of memory, trauma and narrative in an interdisciplinary project spanning creative writing, literature, cinema and new media forms. Other current research interests include the theory and practise of documentary film and video production; and digital storytelling as a tool for pedagogy and community development.
   

Tim Maddock
  Tim has worked in the theatre for almost 20 years as a Director, Designer, Actor and Educator. He was a founding member of Adelaide's Red Shed and eventually became Artistic Director. For the Shed he worked on a number of world premieres for the Adelaide Festival including The Architect's Walk by Daniel Keene. Tim was part of a group that successfully established the South Australian theatre company Brink Productions. He went on to direct numerous productions including (Uncle) Vanya by Howard Barker at Belvoir St. In 2000 Tim co-directed with UK playwright Barker the epic 8½ hour production The Ecstatic Bible, involving the UK's The Wrestling School and Brink Productions. This was a major feature of Robyn Archer's 2000 Adelaide Festival and a triumphant artistic success. Over many years Tim has produced works for the Drama Centre including Cultureshock - an intercultural collaboration between Australian and Okinawan students performed both in Japan and Australia. At the Drama Centre Tim has also supervised on over 20 productions. He directed Cosi for a graduating production at NIDA and directed a new work conceived by independent film-maker and composer Andree Greenwell for The Studio at the Sydney Opera House. Tim is currently studying for his doctorate(DCA), the creative component of which is his direction of Like a Fishbone by UK- based Australian playwright Anthony Weigh (STC and Griffin).
   
    1981

John McConchie
  John specialised in Directing for Film and Theatre, and graduated with Honours in 1981. Remaining in Adelaide, he worked on several independent productions in film, video and theatre in various capacities, including dramaturg and co-producer for Mad Love's production The 1,000 Eyes of Dr Mabuse which won the Adelaide Festival Fringe Award in 1994. He also worked with the Media Resource Centre as a Programme Director for a number of national independent film festivals, and chaired the organisation from 1995 - 1997. John completed a Masters degree by research on Alfred Hitchcock at Flinders in 1991. Currently, he lectures in Screen Studies at Flinders, and is the Course Coordinator for the Bachelor of Creative Arts which covers the Drama Centre's course, as well as Screen Production, Creative Writing and Digital Media. 
   
Christopher Bell
   
   
    1975

Steve Brown
  Steve Brown is one of Australia's most respected event designers, producers and marketers, with a wide range of large scale outdoor events to his credit in most states of Australia. Steve is a Foundation member of the International Event Studies Academy, the International Festival and Events Association; the Sustainable Event Alliance; the Event Education and Research Network Australasia; Association for Events Management Education (UK) and a founding member of the international Event Design Research Network. He is internationally recognised in the field of event design research and practice. Steve is Head of Tourism at Flinders University and is responsible for establishing and running the Event Design and Management programs there. He frequently consults to organisations, festivals and events across Australia and internationally. He has written chapters for a number of international event texts and published his own text book on Event Design in 2009. Steve is a judge for the Australian Event Awards for the Best Achievement in the Design category. In 2012 Steve was awarded the Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching and also the Career Achievement Award at the 2012 South Australian Community Achievement Awards. In 2013 he was awarded an Office of Teaching and Learning national citation for his Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning for the creation and development of the suite of undergraduate and post-graduate event design and management programs in Tourism leading to industry-ready graduates. Steve was also recently appointed to the Flinders College of Distinguished Educators, a network of educational leaders aimed at improving teaching and learning.
   

Scott Hicks
  Scott Hicks graduated from Flinders University of South Australia (BA Hons.) in 1975 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1997. Scott was propelled to the forefront of international filmmakers in 1996, following the release of his film Shine starring Geoffrey Rush. A box-office hit, Shine sealed Hicks' reputation when it earned seven Oscar nominations, including directing and writing nods for Hicks, and Rush won for Best Actor. Before Shine, however, Hicks made his mark as a documentarian. He won an Emmy in 1994 for Submarines: Sharks of Steel and a coveted Peabody Award in 1989 for The Great Wall of Iron. His film Snow Falling On Cedars (1999) received kudos for its lush cinematography and Hearts In Atlantis (2001) featured A-list star Anthony Hopkins. Scott Hicks works and resides in Adelaide with his family.
   

Mario Andreacchio
  Born in Leigh Creek, South Australia, Andreacchio graduated from Flinders University with a degree in Psychology (after originally going to University to study Experimental Physics), and then was selected to study at the Australian Film & Television School to train as a film director. He has directed nine cinema feature films, made a series of television specials, two telemovies, three children’s mini-series and a variety of documentaries. In 1988, he won an International Emmy Award for Captain Johnno. Other films Mario has directed include, the much loved Napoleon, the heartwarming Elephant Tales, and most recently The Dragon Pearl. Andreacchio founded a film production company AMPCO FILMS PTY LTD (the Adelaide Motion Picture Company), based in Norwood, South Australia. Andreacchio has served on the boards of the Australian Film Finance Corporation and the South Australian Film Corporation. Mario now serves as the Adelaide Kids Film Festival’s Patron, bringing his love of children’s cinema and directing expertise. 
   

Anthony Maras
  Anthony Maras graduated from Flinders University in South Australia with a degree in Law and Legal Practice (Honors), before going on to study film production at the University of California. Anthony Maras' most recent film The Palace had its international premiere at the 2011 Telluride Film Festival and won 'Best Short Fiction Film' and 'Best Screenplay in a Short Film' at the 2012 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA Awards). This marks Maras' third AACTA Award, having won Best Short Fiction Film for his previous film Spike Up (formerly the AFI Awards). Maras was also nominated for the same award for his first film Azadi. The Palace also won Best Short Film at a number of other film festivals and awards ceremonies including the 2012 Beverly Hills Film Festival (Best Short Film, Best Director), 2011 Sydney Film Festival (Best Short Fiction Film), 2011 Melbourne International Film Festival (Best Australian Short Film), 2012 Flickerfest International Festival of Short Films (Best Australian Short Film), 2011 IF Awards (Rising Talent), 2012 Shorts Film Festival (Best Short Film), 2012 Australian Film Festival (Best Short Film) and the 2011 Adelaide Film Festival (Best Short Film – Audience Award).
   

Craig Lahiff
(1947-2014)

  Craig Lahiff was an Australian film director. He grew up in the Adelaide suburb of Somerton Park and studied science at Adelaide University, then trained as a systems consultant before studying arts in film at Flinders University. He began working in the film industry on crews for movies such as Sunday Too Far Away and The Fourth Wish. After making a number of short films he directed Coda (1987) a TV movie about a serial killer. The following year he earned an AFI nomination for his feature debut Fever, which was not released to cinemas but sold widely on DVD and video and make a profit. Lahiff died on 2 February 2014. At the time of his death he was developing two film noirs with regular producer Helen Leake as part of a film noir trilogy started by Swerve, and a biopic of General Sir John Monash with frequent collaborator Louis Nowra. 
   

Ron Saunders
  Ron Saunders has an extensive track record in producing childrens' and adult television drama, animation, feature films and documentaries, as well as working for public and private production and broadcasting companies in a media career that spans over 30 years. He is widely experienced in the international children’s program market, having worked with international broadcasters including PBS, NHK Japan, CCTV China, Shanghai Film Studios, TVP Poland and ZDF Germany. Ron was Head of Television for Australian national broadcaster ABC TV and Executive Producer for national production house Film Australia. Ron Saunders was also Managing Director of Australia’s largest animation house Yoram Gross-EM TV. After managing Pacific & Beyond, a joint venture company with Beyond since 2002, he was appointed General Manager for Beyond Screen Production, the division of Beyond which includes children and adult drama, game shows, specialist factual programs and sport.