Isaac Drandic

Associate Artist, Cairns

Isaac Drandic is a Noongar man from the southwest of Western Australia. He is a director, dramaturg, actor and writer. As director/dramaturg, Isaac specialises in new First Nations work and has ushered many exciting first-time playwrights to the main stages including Meyne Wyatt (City of Gold), Nathan Maynard (The Season), and Jacob Boehme (Blood on the Dance Floor). His work has been seen at theatre companies such as ILBIJERRI, La Boite Theatre, JUTE, Belvoir and Queensland Theatre, as well as every major arts festival in Australia. His productions have toured nationally and internationally and received several prestigious theatre awards. His Green Room Awards include an individual accolade for direction of a mainstage production for The Season, which also won for Best New Australian Writing and the coveted award for Best Production. His highly acclaimed production, City of Gold took out two Sydney Theatre Awards including a nomination for Best New Australian Work. Isaac has held the positions of Associate Director of ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, Resident Artist at Playwriting Australia and Resident Dramaturg at Queensland Theatre, among others.

Daniel Evans

Associate Artist, Brisbane

Daniel Evans is an award-winning writer, director and producer who has worked internationally in theatre, festivals, print and television. Most recently, he won the 2020 Matilda Award for Best Director for his work on Cinderella (QPAC & Myths Made Here). Dan has worked with numerous theatre companies as both a playwright and director, including for Queensland Theatre on works such as Six Hundred Ways To Filter A Sunset (The Scene Project), Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Queensland Premier’s Drama Award 2014–15, Australian Theatre for Young People), The Seagull and After Anton Chekhov (Brisbane Festival). As a playwright and director, Dan has also worked with La Boite Theatre Company and QUT, as well as a director-facilitator for all major south-east Queensland universities and dramaturg for Polytoxic, The Little Red Company and The Nest. He has previously worked as a senior writer for Frankie magazine, SMITH Journal and SPACES and producer for Endemol Shine, iTV, Network Nine, Ten and SBS. Together with Amy Ingram, he founded critically acclaimed performance collective, The Good Room, whose works include I Want To Know What Love Is (Queensland Theatre and Brisbane Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse, Critical Stages national tour), One Bottle Later (Brisbane Festival), (You Don’t Have To Put On Your) Red Light (Brisbane Festival), I Just Came To Say Goodbye, I've Been Meaning To Ask You, That’s What She Said (Metro Arts) and I Should Have Drunk More Champagne (Metro Arts).

Steve Pirie

Associate Artist, Education, Youth and Regional Engagement

Steve is a writer, theatre maker and youth arts worker currently based in Meanjin/Brisbane. A graduate of the University of Southern Queensland, he is also the co-Artistic Director of Mixtape Theatre Collective, an independent company based in Toowoomba, Queensland. His first play, Escape From the Breakup Forest, has since been published by Playlab following state-wide seasons, and in 2014, Steve’s work 3 O’Clock, Flagpole was selected for development as part of the Lab Rats initiative. In 2017, he was an independent artist with Queensland Theatre where he developed his work, Return to the Dirt as part of his residency, which was presented at La Boite’s HWY Festival in 2018. Steve has been a participant in Playlab’s Alpha Processing program and was a 2019 Artist in Residence with La Boite. In 2020, Steve was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award for his works Motive (co-written with Emily Burton), City Hearts Loves You and Return to the Dirt. He is currently completing his Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Psychology) with Queensland University of Technology. Currently, Steve is a sessional tutor at the Griffith Conservatorium and an Associate Artist with Queensland Theatre. Steve’s production credits include various creative positions with The Good Room, the Australian Theatre for Young People, Imaginary Theatre Co, Brisbane Powerhouse, Artsworx, Queensland Theatre, La Boite, The Young Company in Cairns, Vena Cava Productions and the Festival of Australian Student Theatre.

Dr Julian Meyrick

Literary Advisor

Julian is Professor of Creative Arts at Griffith University. He is Literary Adviser for the Queensland Theatre, General Editor of Currency House Press’s New Platform Paper series, and a board member of Northern River Performing Arts. He was Associate Director and Literary Advisor at Melbourne Theatre Company 2002-07 and Artistic Director of kickhouse theatre 1989-98. He has directed over 40 award-winning theatre productions, written the histories of five Australian theatre companies, and published numerous articles on Australian arts and cultural policy, including 90+ pieces for The Conversation. He was a founder member and Deputy Chair of PlayWriting Australia 2004-09, and a member of the federal government’s Creative Australia Advisory Group 2008-10. He was Chief Investigator for Laboratory Adelaide, an ARC project studying the problem of culture’s value from 2013-21, and Chief Investigator of the AusStage performing arts database 2012-19. His book Australian Theatre after the New Wave: Policy, Subsidy and the Alternative Artist, was published by Brill in 2017. What Matters? Talking Value in Australian Culture, co-authored with Robert Phiddian and Tully Barnett, was published by Monash Publishing in 2018. Australia in 50 Plays, his latest book was published by Currency Press in March last year.

Claire Christian

Fellow

Claire Christian tells stories. She is a writer, theatre maker and facilitator. Her first novel, Beautiful Mess won the Text Publishing Text Prize in 2016 and was released in 2017. She has had the great joy of directing Michelle Law’s smash hit comedy Single Asian Female since 2017. She is a proud member of the Mama’s Boys theatre collective whose hip-hop theatrical explosion Brothers Book Club premiered in 2022. Her Plays Lysa and the Freeborn Dames, Talking to Brick Walls, Hedonism’s Second Album and The Landmine is Me are available through Playlab. Her second novel, It’s Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake was released in 2020. Both her novels have been published internationally. Her third, West Side Honey will be released in early 2023. Claire is a passionate youth arts and community cultural development facilitator who has worked with young people, and community groups for over sixteen years. She was previously employed as the Youth and Participation Producer at La Boite Theatre Company (2016 – 2018), the Youth Program Coordinator at Queensland Theatre (2013 – 2014) and the Youth Arts Director at the Empire Theatre in Toowoomba (2011 – 2013). In 2013 she was selected as one of the YWCA Queensland’s 125 Leading Women. She has a Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing (QUT), a Graduate Diploma in Experiential Arts Therapy (MIECAT), and a Bachelor of Education - Drama (Griffith University). Claire will spend her 2023 fellowship working on a stage adaptation of her novel It's Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake.

Wendy Mocke

Fellow

Wendy Mocke is a Papua New Guinean inter-disciplinary storyteller. She is a NIDA Acting graduate and has performed across stages in Australia and appeared in films and television. Wendy was a member of the Emerging Writers Group at Sydney Theatre Company and this year her play I am Kegu was shortlisted for the Patrick White Playwrights Award. She has completed writing residencies at Griffin Theatre Company and Darlinghurst Theatre where she developed her stage plays Jalbu Meri and REALish. Wendy’s visual art’s project m e r i, a collection of photographs and stories that focuses on the recontextualising of contemporary PNG women, was exhibited last year at North Site Contemporary Arts Gallery (Cairns) and this year at Brisbane Powerhouse (Brisbane). One of Wendy‘s quests as a writer and artist is to make alive what is quiet and asleep in Melanesian stories and unpack the myriad of layers that is Black Pacific Islander identity.