Lane Herbert Cousins Fair

Sophie Woodward | costume Designer
Dawn Holland | Production Manager
Since graduating from Victorian College of the Arts in 2010,
Sophie Woodward has made a distinct contribution to a diverse
range of productions, recent work Includes: set and costume
design for Between The Clouds (Director: Travis Dowling) at
Hot House Theatre; set and costume design for The Village
Bike (Director: Ngaire Dawn Fair) and The Honey Bees (Director:
Ella Caldwell) at Red Stitch Actors Theatre; set and costume design
for The One (Director: Tanya Dickson) at Forty Five Downstairs
as part of the Poppy Seed Festival; stylist for the MTC 2016
brochure; and, wardrobe stylist for Life is Better Blonde’s video
clip Mine, awarded Music Video of the Year in the 2015 J Awards.
Dawn has been pottering around in the entertainment world
for many years, starting out in live sound and then moving into
theatre, dance, musical theatre and circus as a Sound Designer and
Production Manager. Dawn is a trainer in technical production and
has, in recent years, taken on roles in safety, compliance and OH&S.
Dawn has been nominated for 3 Lyrebird Awards and received one
for her sound design for Jesus Christ Superstar with SLAMS.
Paul Grabowsky | composer
Paul Grabowsky is regarded as one of Australia’s foremost screen
composers. His television credits are numerous and include the
ABC series Phoenix and Janus and his composing for feature films
has seen him work with directors Gillian Armstrong, Paul Cox,
John Irvin and Fred Schepisi. His works for the theatre include the
operas The Mercenary (1997-99) and Love in the Age of Therapy
(2000-2001) and most recently, The Last Man Standing, with text by
Steve Vizard for the Melbourne Theatre Company’s 2015 season.
His music for the shadow-play the Theft of Sita (1999-2000) won a
Helpmann award and has been performed at the Melbourne and
Adelaide Festivals, at Sydney Opera House, Expo 2000 in Hanover
and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. His new opera
Banquet of Secrets, was premiered in the Victorian Opera’s 2016
season. Paul’s orchestral music includes a piano concerto written
from Michael Kieran Harvey and Streets of Hurqalya, commissioned
by the Melbourne Symphony. He produced and presented the
television series Access All Areas in 1996, and was Commissioning
Editor for ABC Television Arts and Entertainment 1996-1998. He
was the recipient of the 2007 Melbourne Prize for Music, Artistic
Director of the 2007 Queensland Music Festival and has been the
artistic Director of the 2010 and 2012 Adelaide Festival programs.
He currently holds the position of Executive Director of Music in
the Academy of Performing Arts at Monash University and is the
recipient of a 2014 Order of Australia.
Russell Goldsmith | Sound-system design
Russell Goldsmith is a multiple award winning Melbourne based Sound
Designer, Composer, Installation Artist, Audio Producer, Audio System
Designer and Educator. He has a diverse body of work in Theatre,
Dance, Film, Television, Commercial and Radio Production, Live
Music and Installation Art. His work on the 2007 Malthouse Theatre
Company/Company B Belvoir production of Exit the King won the
Sydney Theatre Award for Best Sound Design and Composition
and in 2009 this production marked Russell’s Broadway debut and
brought with it a Tony nomination. He was also nominated in the same
category in the 2007 Green Room Awards, one of 7 Green Room
Award nominations he has received. Russell has also been involved in
a number of “cross-platform” works including major commissioned
works for White Night Melbourne in 2014, 2015 and 2016, Rosie’s
Secret, a City of Melbourne Laneway Project Commission, and
A Packet of Seeds, a 30 minute audio narrative for the BBC London.
Alice Darling | Assistant Director
Alice is a Melbourne based theatre director. Alice has a Bachelor
of Creative Arts (hons) from Flinders University (2007), a Post
Graduate Diploma in Performance Creation – Directing from VCA
(2013), and received the inaugural graduate director placement
at Red Stitch Actors Theatre (2014). Since then Alice has directed
work for Melbourne independent theatre companies: Theatre
Works, Red Stitch Actors Theatre, La Mama Theatre, MKA: theatre
of new writing, Fire Curtain Co, Man with a Plan, TBC Theatre and
Blackwater Productions.
Canberra TheaTre CenTre presents A
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Claire Springett | Assistant Lx Designer
After completing her B.A in Theatre Performance at BAPA in 2002,
Clare moved to Melbourne and worked as an actor for about eight
years. In 2010 she gained her Diploma of Live Production. Clare
works as a freelance lighting designer and Supervising Technician
at Darebin Arts Centre. She was adopted by the Stitch family in
2013 as the resident LD. Clare has been nominated for a Green
Room Award for her Lighting Design on Eurydice (Red Stitch).
Elizabeth Downes | Assistant SM
Elizabeth ‘Teddy’ Downes has always had a passion for the arts and
found a love of theatre in high school. She moved on to graduate
from Swinburne University, having completed a Diploma of Live
Production Theatre and Events in 2013. In 2014 she started working
as a Stage Manager for Red Stitch as well as a technician and set
builder. She has done many shows with Red Stitch over the last
three years including: Grounded, Eurydice, Jumpers for Goalposts,
Wethouse, Love Love Love and most recently Detroit. Additional
projects included the Adelaide Fringe Festival and the Port Ferry
Spring Music Festival, and set painting for St Leonards college.
Andre Vanderwert | Vision
colin
Lane
natasha
Herbert
Andre’s background as a musician/IT technician acted as the
catalyst into AV System Design, emerging him into the realms of
the performative arts. As an independently driven technology
enthusiast, he has contributed to a range of visually dependent
projects such as theatre, dance, live music and set photography.
Using his respective background in technology to facilitate the
artist’s concept with its technical potential. Through working
with progressive software and hardware utilising 3D projection
mapping, developed visual content and live video feeds; as a means
of translating and manifesting the artistic vision of his collaborators.
Zillah Morrow | Stage Manager
Since completing her degree BA (Design for Theatre & TV) in
2001 Zillah has been working consistently in theatre, festivals and
comedy. She has worked as a Stage Manager for State Theatre
Company SA, Circus Oz, Ensemble Theatre, Christine Dunstan
Productions, Australian Theatre of the Deaf and Monkey Baa
Theatre for Young People amongst many others. Her work has
also included Associate Producer for Melbourne Fringe; many
roles including Fringe Club Manager for Adelaide Fringe; as well as
Precinct Coordinator and Technical Stage Manager for Melbourne
International Comedy Festival and Comedy Festival Roadshow.
Projects she worked on included live performances, setting up
venues and large scale installation works. She also tours regularly
with theatrical companies, circus performers and comedians both
nationally and internationally. This is her first production with Red
Stitch Actors Theatre.
Special Thanks...
David Parker & Dan Nixon
Black Swan State Theatre Company
Madi Lyman, Stella Dandolo, Paul Hunt
Toyota Australia for our amazing tour transport
EXTINCTION was originally commissioned by the Manhattan Theatre
Club, Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director, Barry Grove, Executive
Producer with funds provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
20–23 JuLY 2016
Brett
Cousins
ngaire dawn
Fair
Extinction: a unique collaboration
Director’s Note
GPAC, in partnership with Red Stitch Actors Theatre, has produced
this touring production of Hannie Rayson’s Extinction.
The Tiger Quoll? Ever heard of it? How about the Tasmanian Tiger?
Sure we’ve heard of that. It’s extinct. The tiger quoll is virtually extinct.
Production of new Australian work is rare, especially outside capital
cities and this collaboration between GPAC and Red Stitch is a
regional first.
Complexities build and unlikely relationships develop, as Harry (the
coalmining magnate), Heather Dixon Brown (Ecologist – Head of the
Cape Institute), Piper (the research scientist from America) and Andy
(the local vet in the Otways) all in their own way try to save the Tiger
Quoll from extinction.
The arts in general and theatre in particular play a critical role in
adding new perspectives to our major debates – especially when
conversations are lagging. This is a play about the conflict between
maintaining a healthy environment and our need to generate power,
develop industries and create employment.
Hannie Rayson wrote this play because she wanted to write a play
which confronted the moral complexities of the issue without resorting
to propaganda on the one hand or moral fence-sitting on the other.
The play asks what it means that a species might go extinct in our
lifetime. We watch enthralled as the characters struggle with their
desires, their own mortality and the great challenges of extinction.
A number of organisations are working on the ground dealing with
these issues on a day-to-day basis. Their support for this production
has been crucial. We strongly encourage you to learn more about
their work; there are solutions to Extinction.
This production of Extinction is also the result of a significant
fundraising program involving environmental partners, philanthropic
trusts and generous individuals. We thank them enormously for
their support.
We are extraordinarily proud of this production which fittingly
premieres in Geelong before visiting Canberra and returning for
a season at Arts Centre Melbourne.
Hannie Rayson | WRITER
Hannie Rayson is the author of fourteen plays.
A graduate of Melbourne University and the
Victorian College of the Arts, she has an Honorary
Doctorate of Letters from La Trobe University.
Her plays have been produced across Australia
and overseas in London’s West End, The National
Theatre of Japan, The National Theatre of Slovenia,
The Centaur in Montreal, Helsinki City Theatre,
as well as many smaller theatres in New Zealand, UK, Austria and
Germany.
The plays include Mary, Room to Move, Hotel Sorrento, Falling From
Grace, Scenes from a Separation (Co-written with Andrew Bovell)
Competitive Tenderness, Life After George, Inheritance Two Brothers,
The Glass Soldier, The Swimming Club and Extinction. She has been
awarded two Australian Writers’ Guild Awards, four Helpmann Awards,
two NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and a Victorian Premier’s Literary
Award as well as the Age Performing Arts Award and The Sidney Myer
Performing Arts Award.
This is the story of four people brought together to achieve the
impossible. But it becomes far more than that when Andy’s illness
is exposed, and death is not restricted to a rare marsupial – a reality
creeps in of mortality, futility and dichotomy.
There’s nothing straightforward here – the mind and the heart
jockeying for first place – all in the shadow of death. There’s an
atmosphere and a quest, and there’s the human condition, both
working for and against a possible solution.
These are four strong characters who share any thinking person’s
concern that not enough is being done to reverse our global warming,
nor our incessant polluting of our precious planet. Should we all
be doing more, not just to save the Tiger Quoll, but to save the 96
endangered species that reside here in Australia?
Nadia Tass | Director
Recently awarded the 2014 Screen Leader Award
for Outstanding Leadership, Achievement and
Service to the Screen Industry, Nadia Tass is one of
Australia’s most iconoclastic directors of both stage
and screen.
She maintains her relationship with commercial
and subsidized theatre by directing for various
companies. She directed The Other Place (2013)
for MTC to outstanding reviews; Promises, Promises (2012) for The
Production Company at The State Theatre; her production of Three
Women In An Ice-cream Cone (2010) was staged in London. Her works
at Red Stitch include The Gronholm Method (2010), The Aliens (2011),
Out Of The Water (2014), and The Flick (2014 & 2015). She directed the
musical theatre production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
(2001/2002), which toured Australia/New Zealand, and was rewarded
with a nomination for Best Direction of Musical 2003 at the prestigious
Helpmann Awards.
Films she has directed include Malcolm, The Big Steal, Mr Reliable,
Amy (which garnered 28 international awards including two at Cannes
Film Festival), and Matching Jack (2010), which won Best Director,
Best Screenplay & Best Film at Milan International Film Festival. In 2012
Nadia was honoured by the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles
with a retrospective of her work. She has also directed films for major
studios & networks in America including Universal Studios, Disney,
Warner Bros, CBS and the mini-series Stark for BBC UK.
For television she has written Sloth (ABC, Seven Deadly Sins) and
co-written two episodes of SeaChange. A feature film of Hotel
Sorrento, produced in 1995, was nominated for ten Australian Film
Institute Awards. In 1999 she received the Magazine Publishers’ Society
of Australia’s Columnist of the Year Award for her regular contributions
to HQ magazine.
Hannie made playwriting history when Life After George was the first
play to be nominated for the Miles Franklin Award.
Extinction was written with the support of the Manhattan Theatre Club
in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan foundation.
Brett is a founding ensemble member of Red
Stitch Actors Theatre. In 2005, he was awarded
the Green Room Award for ‘Best Actor in
Independent Theatre’ and was nominated
again in 2007. Brett features in the upcoming
feature film, The Menkoff Method, and recently
appeared in the MTC productions of The
Waiting Room and Glengarry Glenross. Brett has
performed dozens of roles at Red Stitch over
the company’s twelve years including Detroit, Out of the Water,
The Aliens, Stockholm, Creditors, Farragut North, Motortown, This Is
How It Goes, The Shape Of Things, and Some Voices. He has acted
in seasons with the Bell Shakespeare Company and the Australian
Shakespeare Company. Film and television credits include roles
on Howzat!, Winners and Losers, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries,
Underbelly, City Homicide, Bootmen, Neighbours, and JAG. Last year
Brett directed Wethouse at Red Stitch and will soon direct You got
Older. As a writer, Brett is in the final stages of development on his
first feature film, Menace.
Ngaire Dawn Fair
Ngaire graduated with a Diploma of Acting
from The National Theatre in 2008 and joined
the Ensemble in 2012. Red Stitch credits include
The River, Detroit, Eurydice, The Flick, ROAM,
Herding Cats, 4000 Miles, The Pride and My
Romantic History. Other theatre credits are
Stray (Big West, La Mama), No Names No Pack
Drill, One for the Road (Pine Heights Theatre),
Electronic City (Hoy Polloy), The Butterfly Catcher,
Bodybag (ITCH Productions), Playhouse Creatures
and Top Girls (National Theatre). Ngaire had her directing debut for
Red Stitch early this year with The Village Bike, followed by The Best
is Yet to Come at this year’s Playlist. Film and television credits
include Holding the Man (Neil Armfield), Offspring, Mr and Mrs
Murder, Crawlspace, Winners and Losers, The Slap, Killing Time,
Rush, Satisfaction and Neighbours.
Natasha Herbert
Natasha appeared earlier this year in The
Village Bike at Red Stitch. She has worked
extensively in theatres across Melbourne and
Sydney and recent credits include Dream Home,
The Unspoken Word is Joe, Dreamers, I Heart
John McEnroe and the Australian tour of U.K.
National Theatre’s War Horse. In Geelong she
has performed with Back to Back Theatre in
Small Metal Objects. For MTC her credits include
Neighbourhood Watch, God of Carnage, Dream Life of Butterflies,
The Pillowman, The Three Sisters, The Balcony, Hysteria, I’m not
Rappaport and I Hate Hamlet. Natasha has an ongoing creative
collaboration with writer/director Jenny Kemp and has worked with
her on Madeline, Kitten on the Edge, Still Angela, Black Sequin Dress,
Rapture and Skylight. At Malthouse she last appeared in On the
Misconception of Oedipus. Film credits include Emo the Musical, The
Menkoff Method, X, Lake Mungo, Corroboree and Boy Town. Recent
TV credits include Neighbours and The Doctor Blake Mysteries.
Natasha has been nominated for numerous theatre awards and won
Green Room awards for I Heart John McEnroe, On the Misconception
of Oedipus and Portrait of Dora.
Colin Lane
Her short play Hester Beckenbauer’s Good Fortune is opening at the
Sydney Theatre Company in September 2016 as part of PowerPlay.
Hannie published her memoir Hello, Beautiful! with Text Publishing in
2015. She performed Hello, Beautiful! as a one-woman show at The
Malthouse Theatre, in May this year.
Hannie has a monthly column in The Age. She lives in Fitzroy with her
husband, Michael Cathcart.
CAST/Cousins
BIOGRAPHIES
Brett
Photo David Parker
Colin Lane is best known as the Lano from
Lano and Woodley – Australia’s most loved
comedy duo. In almost 20 years together Lano &
Woodley won the coveted Perrier Award for best
show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, starred in
their own television series and toured sold-out
shows around Australia and Internationally.
They said “Goodbye” in 2006 with a national
tour that took in 34 markets and sold more than 150,000 tickets.
Since the farewell tour, Colin has appeared in Don’s Party for
MTC & STC, comedy and cabaret festivals, musicals, numerous
Australian TV dramas, variety, comedy and chat shows, and
regular guest roles on the UK TV favourite QI, alongside
Stephen Fry and Alan Davies.
CREATIVE/ PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES
Shaun Gurton | SET DESIGNER
Shaun has designed nationally and internationally since 1973.
Recent productions include: Georgy Girl-The Seekers musical for a
national tour. He is currently designing Disgraced for Melbourne
Theatre Company, directed by Nadia Tass.
Melbourne Theatre Company: Pennsylvania Avenue, Glengarry
Glen Ross, Ghosts, The Other Place, The Mountaintop, The Heretic,
Red, Hamlet, Apologia, RichardIII, Moonlight and Magnolias, Scarlett
O’Hara at the Crimson Parrot, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Festen, King
Lear, Cheech, Inheritance, The Recruit, Bombshells, The Rain Dancers,
Man The Balloon, Art, Measure for Measure and The Misanthrope.
Sydney Theatre Company: Inheritance, Close of Play, The Man From
Mukinupin, Fields of Heaven and The Perfectionist. State Theatre
Company of South Australia: Marat Sade, The Comedy of Errors,
Julius Caesar, Under Milkwood, Cabaret, Capricornia, A Delicate
Balance, King Golgrutha. Perth Theatre Company: Equus,Taking
Liberty. Black Swan State Theatre Company: Red Dog. The
Production Company: West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Chess,
The Boy from Oz. Centaur Theatre Montreal: Romeo and Juliet
and Cheech. Opera Australia: Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Otello
and Mer De Glace. Victoria State Opera: The Consul, Fly, The Flying
Dutchman and Carmen. National Tours: Mother and Son, Yes, Prime
Minister, Talking Heads, Weary and Steaming. Other Companies
include: Company B Belvoir, Playbox and Red Stitch.
Positions: Associate Director/Designer State Theatre Company
of South Australia 1990-1994. Simon Phillips Artistic Director.
Designer-Adelaide Festival 1994. Guest Designer – Shanghai
People’s Theatre 1994. Awards: Green Room Award – Best design,
Richard III, Festen, Steaming, Masterclass, Rivers of China. Helpmann
Nominations: Inheritance 2004, King Lear 2005. Recipient of John
Truscott award for excellence in Design 2004
David Parker | Lighting Designer, Photography &
moving image
David was a stills photographer until he wrote, shot and produced
his first movie, Malcolm in 1985. Directed by Nadia Tass, it was
a critical and box office hit. That partnership continued with
Parker in the roles of Writer, Producer and Cinematographer on
Rikky And Pete, The Big Steal, Amy, and Matching Jack. His other
cinematography credits include Mr Reliable, Stark, Pure Luck,
John Doe, Kath & Kimderella and six high-end US dramas for Disney,
Warner Brothers and Lifetime. Parker has also produced Hotel de
Love, Irresistible (starring Susan Sarandon) and The Gates Of Hell;
and directed three features: Hercules Returns, Diana & Me and The
Menkoff Method. He wrote the stage play for The Lion, The Witch
And The Wardrobe in 2002, and is currently a board member
of Film Victoria. Parker’s previous work with Red Stitch was as
Lighting Designer for The Flick and Out of the Water, both directed
by Nadia Tass.
Daniel Nixon | Sound Designer, execution av sequences
& Assistant Director (rehearsal)
Daniel is a composer, sound designer and multi instrumentalist.
He has performed with the MSO, Orchestra Victoria, John Farnham
Yothu Yindi, Sebine Meyer, Mikko Frank and many others. He has
written and recorded multiple albums and worked extensively as
a session player and programmer. He has scored and designed
numerous films, games, ads and plays including work with Flashgun
Films, Cascade Films, American Girl, Universal Television, Disney
Pictures, Red Stitch Actors Theatre, MTC, Dirty Pretty Theatre,
Little Ones Theatre, Madman, Farmhand films, and many others.