JUSTIN FLEMING - WRITER

Justin's plays include Hammer (Ensemble Theatre/Festival of Sydney); The Cobra, Harold In Italy, The Ninth Wonder (STC); Burnt Piano (Belvoir/MTC/Herbert Berghof Theater New York, Mainstage Theatre Co, Hobart/Dallas Theater Center/France Australia Theatre, Paris/Centaur Theatre, Montreal); Coup d'Etat (MTC/Western Canada Theatre); Kangaroo (Square Brackets Theatre); and Junction (NIDA). Burnt Piano won the New York New Dramatists' Exchange Award; Coup D'Etat won the Banff PlayRites Residency, Canada 2002, made the final short-list for the Patrick White Award and was nominated for an AWGIE award for Best Play. Burnt Piano was selected as the inaugural play for the Australia/Canada exchange between Melbourne Theatre Company and the Centaur Theatre, Montreal. The Myth of the Passive Citizen premiered in the Short & Sweet Festival in Sydney. As librettist, Justin collaborated with Thos Hodgson and Martin Charnin on Babel; and with Stephen Edwards on Accidental Miracles(WAAPA/Sydney Theatre Company), the English Tour and London season of Crystal Balls (Compact Opera/Sadler's Wells) and TESS of the D'Urbervilles, which toured Britain before its run at The Savoy Theatre in London's West End. Justin was recently librettist on Satango with Stewart D'Arrietta (Griffin Theatre Co/Riverside Theatres). Current work includes plays, The Australians and Backbencher; a screenplay adaptation of Darcy Niland's novel, Dead Men Running; and the musical, For All It's Worth, on the legendary impresario, JC Williamson. Justin has been NSW Vice-President of The Australian Writers' Guild and a board member of The Australian National Playwrights' Centre. He was the inaugural Dr. Anne Clark Writer-in-Residence at St. Ignatius' College in Sydney, and has twice been awarded the Nancy Keesing Studio at the Cite Internationale des arts, Paris.

CHRISTOPHER HURRELL - DIRECTOR

Christopher is the Literary Manager at Griffin Theatre Company. As director for Tangent Productions his productions include Stephen Sewell's Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America (Tangent/Griffin Stablemates), Edward II (2002 Adelaide Fringe), The Nightmare (Darlinghurst Theatre) and creative development workshops of Julian Hodda's Fairy. God. Mother. (2001 Adelaide FEAST Gay and Lesbian Cultural Festival). Other productions include Mr Bailey's Minder (Griffin Theatre Company) What the Umbrella Did Next (ATYP), Angels in America - Perestroika, Dreams of Clytemnestra, Death and the Maiden, M. Butterfly, Westside Story, The Game of Dice and Hate (Flinders University Drama Centre). As assistant director, he has worked on the new musical Eureka with Gale Edwards, Buried Child and What the Butler Saw (Company B), Presence (Griffin) and Art (State Theatre Company of South Australia).

SAM HAWKER - PRODUCER

Sam's producing credits include: Mother and Child, Empress of China, Terminus and Death Variations(East Coast Theatre Company), Bones (The New Black & Darlinghurst Theatre Company), Head Quatres (Struthruth Productions), The Lover (Sheebang Productions), The Country (Search Party & B Sharp), Half and Half(The Chess Club & B Sharp), King Lear - Sydney & Taree , Queen Lere 04 & 05, Tempest, Accidental Death of an Anarchist - Sydney & Melbourne Fringe (CUT Theatre). Before moving into producing Sam was production manager for such companies as Hair of the Dog, PlatForM 27 and JD Productions. Sam designed the set for The Waiting Room for PlatForM 27 and Melbourne Workers Theatre in Melbourne. And stage managed for companies as Company B, Urban Theatre Projects, Mardi Gras Festival and Sydney Gay Games opening & closing ceremonies.

DRAYTON - PRODUCER

Drayton graduated from NIDA in 1991 and has studied at L'ecole Internationale de Theatre, Jacques Lecoq in Paris as a recipient of a Mike Walsh Fellowship in 1999/2000. His theatre credits include Twelfth Night for Bell Shakespeare, Chicks Will Dig You for B Sharp, Two Weeks With The Queen, Spring Awakening and Twelfth Night for Railway Street Theatre, The Coming Of Stork for Naked Theatre Company, Market Forces for Ensemble Theatre, A Midsummer Nights Dream in the Royal Botanical Gardens, Carnival Of The Animals for Theatre Of Image and STC. His film and television credits include Picture This, All Saints, Always Greener, Home And Away, Children's Hospital, Water Rats and Heartbreak High. Drayton is the founder and current Literary Manager of Parnassus' Den.

TIMOTHY KOBIN- PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Timothy is a design graduate of NIDA and was recently awarded a masters degree in design from Parsons Design School NY. While he has worked designing theatre, dance, musicals, television and film for over 15 years, his great interest has been in designing new Australian works.

STEPHEN HAWKER - LIGHTING DESIGNER

As a Lighting Designer Stephen has worked with companies such as Company B (Open House, The Small Poppies and Svetlana in Slingbacks), Griffin Theatre Company (Wicked Sisters, Rabbit, Torrez, The Secret Death of Salvador Dali and Mr Bayles Minder). Michael Leunig / Neil Finn Parables tour for the Australian Chamber Orchestra; Ensemble Theatre Company (Lobby Hero, and recently Navigating Flinders). Sydney Theatre Company (Stolen); Musica Viva (Jane Austen and Earth Cry). East Coast Theatre Company (Mother and Child, Empress of China, Terminus and Death Variations). A.T.Y.P (Brokenville) Hair of the Dog (Misanthrope and Sweet Phoebe) PlatForM 27 (Marinheiro and The Waiting Room) Siren Theatre (Connie and Kevin and the Secret Life of Groceries) Carnivale (King of Laughter )and The Opera House Studio (Mouth Off) Kicking and Screaming (Pussy Boy and 360 Positions in a One Night Stand(Sydney Festival)) His most recent work being for the TRS / SOH Studio Cross section and coming up Theatre 4A's Yellowfeather at the Studio.

SARAH DE JONG - COMPOSER/SOUND DESIGNER

Since 1978 Sarah has played an important role in Australia creating music for theatre, dance, radio and film. Her music is particularly noted for its ability to intensify emotions created in texts and in performances and she finds collaborating with artists in different fields very rewarding. Several theatre pieces she has scored have toured Australia, Europe, England, Japan, Venezuela and New Zealand and she has twice worked in Hanoi, Vietnam composing dance theatre pieces. In her busy musical career she has been Composer in residence for Vietnam Opera, Ballet & Theatre Company, the Hanoi Mime Theatre, Wollongong University and Lighthouse SA Theatre Company. She has composed for:

• 12 films and TV programs. Two films won AFI Awards and one premiered at Cannes
• 18 dance works for Australian Dance Theatre, Canberra Dance Theatre, Entracte and One Extra Company
• Composed music for 14 radio plays for ABC Radio. Two of these won The Prix Italia
• more than 60 plays for Sydney Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre, SATC, Lighthouse Theatre, Nimrod Theatre, Playbox, Melbourne Theatre Company, The Sydney Front and Theatre of Image.

CHERIE STEWART - STAGE MANAGER

Cherie Stewart began her career in stage management with the Lyric Opera of Queensland while studying for her Bachelor of Arts degree with Drama & Communications majors at the University of Qld. She went on to stage manage for Warner Bros Movie World, the Victoria State Opera, the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, Sydney 2000 Olympics Director David Atkins, Nick Giannopoulos' Wog-A-Rama & the Sydney Opera House. Highlights of her stage management career include Ray Charles, the Sydney Symphony & the Beatles' Sir George Martin. Her credits in staging, lighting & sound span rock & roll, ballet & dance, film, opera, musicals, symphony, festivals, corporate events, chamber music & performance art. Her work includes associate lighting designer to Nigel Levings for Opera Australia & the Sydney Theatre Co, Simon Gallaher's Pirates of Penzance, Miss Saigon and The Phantom of the Opera.

IRMA GUSTAITYTE-CALABRESE - SPECIAL EFFECTS EXPERT

Irma graduated from Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts (Lithuania) in Theatrical design. She is a set, costume and puppetry designer, painter and drawer. During her studies and after graduation she worked permanently with a team of choreographers and directors in youth & children club "_atrija" (Lithuania) and participated in numerous group and international exhibitions. Her Lithuanian work has extended beyond the theatre to include solo exhibitions of her visual art, sheÕs also taken an organizational role in creating a symposium of painting. Her latest theatrical work is sets and costumes for "Cain" by Byron at Newtown theatre.

KIT BROOKMAN - Pepe Baudu

Kit Brookman's theatre credits include Threesome Without Simone, Sparkleshark, and The Yard for the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP), The Musicians for ATYP and Sydney Festival 2004, and A Doll's House for Sydney University Dramatic Society (SUDS). Kit also made his debut as a writer and director this year with Revolution at SUDS. Kit has also appeared in a number of short films including Doors and Waiting Room. The Department Store is KitÕs first production with Parnassus' Den.

ISABELLA DUNWILL - Denise Baudu

Isabella studied the acting course at NIDA and has worked in theatre, film, television and interactive media. Her recent credits include Geraldine in Company B Belvoir's theatre production of What the Butler Saw, Mary in the short film A Black and White World produced by Fonetik Films, the AFI award winning short film, The Projectionist and Motion Capture for various feature film computer games including Constantine and the Conflict series (think: Golem in Lord of the Rings). She gives the voice to the character of Polvina for the children's cartoon The Sea Princesses. Some of her other television credits include Neighbours, Horace and Tina, Halifax FP, Stingers and The Secret Life of Us. Isabella also plays the flute, saxophone and sings. Before attending NIDA she studied Commerce and Law and now runs her own home business.

JONATHAN ELSOM- Paul Baudu (15th Nov - 19th Nov)

Born in New Zealand, Jonathan trained at L.A.M.D.A. 1959-61.He has enjoyed a successful 40 year career as an actor in the UK. with numerous roles in repertory seasons including : Dundee, Glasgow,Salsibury, Windsor, Oxford, Leatherhead, Exeter and Watford. West End : Leading roles in Conduct Unbecoming(Queens), Dirty Linen( Arts), The Millionairess and London Assurance (Haymarket), The Importance of Being Earnest(Savoy). At Greenwich Theatre The Three Sisters and Rosmersholm. National Tours of Lady Windermere's Fan and Black Coffee. Chichester Festival Theatre seasons : The Beggar's Opera, Loves Labour's Lost, Henry VIII, London Assurance,The Sisterhood, Valentine's Day, Follow the Star. New Shakespeare Company: A Midsummer Night's Dream, All's Well That Ends Well, Kiss Me Kate. TV (UK): To The Manor Born, Rising Damp, Minder, The Avengers, Crown Court, St. Joan, Ladykillers, Across The Lake, etc., Settled permanently in Sydney 1999. Australian Theatre: The Importance of Being Earnest, (Theatre Royal and Australian-NZ-UK Tour.) The Lady in the Van and Major Barbara(STC), Sweet Mr. Shakespeare (Zenith), Vicious Streaks (Darlinghurst), Shorter and Sweeter(Fairfax Studio and Opera House), A Family Affair (B Sharp). TV (Australia): All Saints, Backberner,The Feds, The Election Chaser, FILMS: A Smashing Time,Mesmerised, Roughcut, Ping Pong, As Director: Stevie, Steel Magnolias, 84 Charing Cross Road (NZ), Once Five Years Pass (London), Fallen Angels (Sydney).

JONATHAN HARDY - Paul Baudu (26th Oct - 13th Nov)

Jonathan, a New Zealander, has enjoyed a distinguished theatrical career. Trained at LAMDA in the UK he was a company member of the Royal Shakespeare, the National Theatre and The White Rose Theatre companies as well as the Old Bristol Vic. Some of his performances included Seneca's Oedipus directed by Peter Brook and The Comedy Of Errors directed by Clifford Williams. On arriving in Australia in the early 70s, he first appeared at the Nimrod Theatre as Flash Jim Vaux and began a long association with the Melbourne Theatre Company appearing in The Shaughraun, Hysteria, Jumpers, Coralie Lansdowne Says No, The Diary Of A Madman, Hamlet, Breaker Morant, The Beaux Strategem, The Plough And the Stars. For two years he headed the youth wing of MTC covering much of the eastern states and he has supported many young actors, directors and writers. Other notable performances include Hancock's Last Half Hour, Twelve Angry Men, The Cripple Of Innishmaan, Death Of A Salesman, Einstein, GeilgudÕs Ages Of Man, Galileo, Great Expectations, Simpatico, Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead and with Thomas Allen and Yvonne Kenny, a singing thug in Kiss Me Kate. In the early 80s he directed the Mercury Theatre in Auckland and he also wrote for film and opera. He has had three feature films and several TV pieces produced as well as his play Jungfrau. The screenplay for Breaker Morant which he co-wrote with Bruce Beresford and David Stevens, was nominated for an Academy Award. During the late 80s Jonathan returned to the stage with the Queensland Theatre Company, then under the direction of Aubrey Mellor, and he subsequently appeared for the South Australian Theatre Company, The Black Swan Theatre and the Sydney Theatre Company. He played a nude priapic Amor in Tannhauser for the Australian Opera and for Bell Shakespeare he featured in Stephen Berkoff's Coriolanus. On television he can be seen as Rygel in Farscape with recent appearances in Stingers, MDA and The Secret Life Of Us. He has appeared in Australian films from Barry McKenzie to Moulin Rouge and Ned Kelly and in the shorts Camping With Camus, for which he won best actor, and The Gardener's Tale. Last year he was nominated for a Green Room Award for David Letch's soon to tour production of Tree Falling by Ron Elisha and he is to appear in a documentary about his pilgrimage to his father's grave at the Commonwealth War Graves at Suda Bay on Crete.

FIONA PRESS - Henriette Desforges

Fiona has worked as an actor since graduating from training in 1983 and has played with most of the major theatre companies across the country in a wide variety of roles. Highlights include: Wild Honey, The Recruiting Officer STC Oof SA),Men Should Weep (Q Theatre),Tartuffe (Nimrod),The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband (The Street, Canberra),Romeo and Juliet (Bell Shakespeare),Third World Blues, Two Weeks with the Queen, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, Shadowlands (STC),Social Climbers (Marian Street),Wet and Dry (Griffin),After the Ball (Ensemble),Steaming (Theatre Royal),A Fortunate Life, Midsummer Night's Dream (MTC).Her television credits include Echo Point, Home and Away, Always Greener, All Saints, Above the Law, A Country Practice, CNNNN, Backberner and the two ABC mini-series Edens Lost and Stark. Her feature film appearances include Lilian's Story, Oscar and Lucinda, No Worries, Passion, Flirting, Children of the Revolution and Waiting for which she received an AFI award for Best Supporting Actress. Fiona teaches acting, directs, is an office holder of Actors' Equity and has a long history of suppporting new Australian work. She is a member of the Parnassus' Den ensemble and has appeared regularly at the Old Fitz in their readings and in Jumping and All That earlier in the year. Her most recent stage appearance was in Navigating Flinders at the Ensemble.

CHRISTOPHER TOMKINSON - Octave Mouret

Christopher graduated from the eye-opening Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 1997. In 2000 he studied in London with the irrascable Philippe Gaulier and the primal Pan Theatre in Paris having received a generous Lend Lease scholarship from the Australian Theatre for Young People [ATYP] and the good folks from Lend Lease. His theatre credits include the musical Eureka [which achieved the paradoxical distinction of being described as being both politically correct and racist] and The Lady's Not for Touching - a tribute to Dorothy Hewitt [who was also described in the same way]. He played a gymnastically amorous Bottom, a cold-blooded Oberon and [a rather oversized version of] the Little Indian Boy in The Fairy Queen for Pinchgut Opera. He grew a beard in Much Ado About Nothing for Bell Shakespeare, took all his clothes off in Dogs Barking for Accomplice Theatre, took most of his clothes off in Amy's View for the Sydney Theatre Company, and stayed fully clothed in the same company's Directory productions of Juno And The Paycock and Surgeon Of Honour. Christopher wore funny hats in The Prospectors and The Mapmaker's Brother for the National Maritime Museum and for Freewheels Theatre Company's I Can Dream I Can Fly he wore one of the funniest hats of all time [if you'd seen it you'd really have laughed]. In his youth he wore tights at ATYP in Spring Awakening, All Stops Out and A Midsummer Night's Dream and pants in both The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other [running time: 65 minutes] and an all action Henry V, swinging 6' metal bars while charging into battle. At WAAPA he had lots of fun performing Torvald in A Doll's House and Pericles in Pericles, Prince of Tyre . His camera credits include a couple of cops in Water Rats, a violin playing hippie and a violent, alcoholic street kid with an abandoned pregnant girlfriend [phew!] in A Country Practice, a punk and a private school kid in the ABC Telemovies Hunger and Princess Kate and the short films Bus Ride, Teeny Weeny and The Mystic Halls of Time. Well done for reading this far.

REBECCA TURNER - Clara Marguerite Aurelei

A QUT Academy of the Arts (Acting) graduate, Rebecca's stage credits include On That Day and The Pitch (Short & Sweet 2004), Oedipus, The Art of Success, Away, Angels of Lemnos, The Taming of the Shrew, Come back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and a physical theatre adaptation of Ubu Roi at Darlinghurst Theatre. Recent TV and film credits include: Home & Away, White Collar Blue, Sex, Drugs and String Quartets (ABC), CNNNN and The Camera Trap. Rebecca has acted in numerous short films and voice overs for film, television and radio. She has also been involved with Parnassus' Den at the Old Fitzroy Theatre for the past 2 years, developing new Australian works.

KIRRILY WHITE - Madeleine de Vallagnose

Kirrily graduated WAAPA in 1996. Her theatre credits include Private Lives MTC/STC, Mongrels STC, Macbeth Theatre South, Closer Street Theatre, Dogs Barking Accomplice Theatre, Birthrights Riverina Theatre Company and A Moment on the Lips Maelstrom Productions/TRS. Her Television credits include the series lead of Stephanie in All Saints, Secret Life of Us, Backberner, Young Lions, Children's Hospital and Murder Call. Other credits include the short films A Morality Tale and Wishlessness and the radio play Redfern Heights ABC Radio National.