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Artists

afiefismailabdelrazig Afeif Ismail – Writer

Afeif Ismail Abdelrazig was born in        Elhassahisa, Sudan in 1962. A published poet writer, playwright, artist and human-rights activist, Afeif arrived in Australia in 2003.

Afeif has many works of poetry published in Arabic: “Traps and some Tracks” 2001 and “Bet of the Argil” 2003, “A Passage to the Aroma of Invisibility” 2006, and “It’s your Bird” 2007. His poems have been published in English, Japanese and German.

Afeif’s poetry has appeared in journals (incl. mascara, world is out, marginata, poet corner anthology, mena usa).  Afeif’s book of poetry Bet of the Argil was published in English 2005.

Afeif’s plays (in Arabic) have been produced in many cities, towns and villages in Sudan including Khartoum, from 1986 to 2000. These have included “The Race’, “The Night of the Nightingale”, “Doors”, “The Merchant”, “Starvation” and “The Centre of the Circle”.

Afeif was short-listed for the inaugural Kit Denton Fellowship for Writers of Courage in 2007, for which he submitted his plays “The Son of the Sun”, “The Labyrinth” and “The Shrouds or the Dead”.

“The Son of the Sun” has been commissioned by Barking Gecko Theatre Company in Western Australia and is scheduled for production in 2010. He was selected to workshop this play with trans-creator Vivienne Glance at the PWA Canberra Workshop in June/July 2008.

Afeif  has been awarded the inaugural Australian National Playwrights’( ANPC) Bursary for 2008.

photo-viv Vivienne Glance – Co-transcreator

Vivienne has been working with Afeif Ismail for over 5 years, transcreating his writing from Arabic to English. She has worked on a large number of his poems, and plays. Vivienne worked on Son of the Sun which was selected for PWA workshop in Canberra in 2008 and has since been commissioned by Barking Gecko Theatre Company. She is currently working with Afeif on two opera librettos.

Vivienne also writes poetry and for the theatre. Her full length plays have been produced in Seattle, London and Edinburgh and her short plays in Perth and Sydney. She is a professional actor and theatre director with over twenty years experience, and has worked in Europe, USA and Australia in theatre, film and TV. Vivienne’s poems and short stories have appeared in various publications including Short Stories Australia, Blue Dog, TEXT, The Weighing of The Heart and Amber Contains the Sun anthologies, and indigo journal, and she’s won prizes and a commendation in competitions. Her first collection The Softness of Water has recently been published by Roland Leach’s well-respected poetry imprint, Sunline Press. She regularly performs her poetry at readings and conducts workshops for writers on presenting their work in public, and on performance poetry. She has also chaired panel discussions with playwrights and writers on various topics.

Vivienne has wide-ranging production experience in the Arts including co-ordinator for the recent Out of the Asylum’s Finishing Line – an ArtsWA funded writers’ mentoring project. She has produced independent theatre in Perth, Seattle and Britain. Vivienne is currently an Associate Director for Prickly Pear Theatre Company in Perth, on Out of The Asylum’s Reference Group and board member for Stages WA Playwrights’ Consortium and for WINGS multicultural arts organisation. She is a former state committee member for Australian Writers Guild.

As co-founder and Artistic Director of the science/art agency The Arts Catalyst in London, she produced theatre and dance, developed a series of playwriting workshops investigating science, and organised a science/art debate with The Wellcome Trust. Vivienne has a BSc (Hons) in Life Sciences from Imperial College, University of London and a Postgraduate Certificate from the Drama Studio, London. She is currently undertaking a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Western Australia. 

moniem_ibrahim

Abdelmoneim Ibrahim – Director

Moneim has worked as actor, director and camera operator.  He is originally from Sudan where he worked as director and actor for Shoaf Drama Group (1991 – 1996) and as actor and director assistant for Sudan National Television.  Moneim studied at the High Institute for Music and Drama at Sudan University (1987 – 1994).  Political turmoil in Sudan forced Moneim to leave his home country and settle in The Netherlands where he is now a Dutch citizen.  Since then he has worked as a TV programmer for Sun & Shadow Foundation TV, as director and actor for Ta’aluf Sudanese Theatre Group, as theatre director for SUDACC Association, as actor in the documentary Sudan Story by Finish director Hanna Toivianen, as actor in the fictional film No Man’s Land by Canadian director Jean Francois and as actor/producer in The Delivery by Sudanese director Terwis.

Currently he works as part of the audiovisual team at Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

jeremyriceJeremy Rice – Dramaturge

Jeremy has worked as a director and dialogue coach in both theatre and television since graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1993. He began as artistic director of Barking Gecko Theatre Company in Perth, Western Australia, since February 2006. He was previously been artistic director of Corrugated Iron Youth Arts in Darwin and Shopfront Theatre for Young People in Sydney where he directed for a diverse range of performers and audiences, including African refugees, Cantonese-speakers and Indigenous communities. In Darwin Jeremy developed and directed The Dead Zone, winner of the 2005 Australian Writers’ Guild award for Best Play for Young Audiences. For Shopfront he co-directed Rated X, winner of the 1999 award for Best Community Play. His television credits include the children’s series Ocean Star (as dialogue coach) shot entirely on location in Broome Western Australia, the drama series Pacific Drive and In The Swim, a half-hour comedy for SBS starring ex-Olympic swimmers. Jeremy’s wife Kate is an actress and playwright and their two daughters are their most loyal and toughest audience.

gemmaGemma Pepper – Creative Producer

Gemma has a long history of working with diverse communities and young people creating distinctive performance and multi-artform work.

Gemmas early training was in circus, theatre and spectacle performance with Denmark Arts and Southern Edge Arts. She has since worked in various communities around Australia, including the Murray Bridge community (SA), where she worked to create Shishka-Car for the 2002 Adelaide Festival.

Gemma has  also worked with several communities internationally including an action packed 3 month residency with Peacelinks in Sierra Leone working with young people impacted by the civil war. With a Masters of International & Community Development and a Community Cultural Development Board Young Leader’s Award under her belt Gemma subsequently spent 12 months with the United Nations in Vietnam.

Gemma has recently focused her attentions on arts policy and program development with the WA Department of Culture and the Arts, conceptualizing and developing the AU$5million Major Production Fund.  As well  as producing a range of project works and consulting to a range of arts organisations Gemma has just taken on the role of Executive Officer for the National Arts and Culture Alliance, Australia’s peak body for community arts practice.

ASIM-027886Asim Gorashi – Composer/Musician

Asim Gorashi has a bachelor degree in music from the University of Sudan majoring in composition. He has arranged more than twenty Sudanese folkloric songs in ten different local languages and participated in numerous festivals including Khartoum International Festival, Djibouti Horn Festival, the Galaa Festival (Egypt), the Mela Festival 2006 in Norway and recently, the Woodford Folk Fest 2007.

A multi-instrumentalist, Asim performs on the oud (Arabic lute) and violin; he sings, plays keyboards, the Sudanese traditional Tamboor, as well as the mandolin and viola. In performance he is regularly joined by musicians with whom he has been collaborating in Sydney for the past three years. They have a wealth of experience in various styles from around the world, including African, South American, Jazz, Reggae and North Indian music.

He formed his first trio with Daniel Goodacre (Piano) and Steven Manovski (Drums). This group has performed for various concerts, festivals and community events since he moved to Sydney in 2003 and include a number of appearances in the Café Carnivale series, the annual World Culture and Arts Festival, performances for the Sudanese community and other groups in Sydney.

Asim has also performed at Kulcha in Perth and at the Sydney Opera House.

Asim performs in different ensembles: Asim Gorashi trio (violin, piano and drums), Asim Gorashi Band (violin, piano, organ, bass guitar, electric guitar and percussion).

P1010666Bianca Martin – Choreographer

Bianca is a graduate of the WAAPA dance program.

In Australia Bianca has performed for Buzz Dance Theatre, Co Loaded for the Perth International Arts Festival 2005, Tall Concrete Collective and as a milburist for musician Lindsay Vickery.

In Europe she has performed dance theatre work for Compagnie Abyla (France), Sebastian Prantl (Vienna, Austria) and Company Bettina Owczarek (Germany).   Bianca has presented her own work for the Lucky Trimmer Mini Festival in Berlin.

Bianca has completed residencies at the Australian Choreographic Centre, Canberra and the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art to develop a collaborative film/dance/theatre work with Deborah Robertson.

In 2007 Bianca presented her work Packed Like Sardines In a Football Stadium at the Blue Room Theatre, Perth, and choreographed La Valse Au Sujet Du Temps Et Des Frontieres for students at the WA Academy of Performing Arts.

In 2008 Bianca presented a version of Thomas Lehmen’s Schreibstück at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, for which she was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography at the 2008 WA Dance Awards. Last year also marked the debut of Home Alone as part of the Artrage Festival. This work was the debut production of new Perth dance company, Company Upstairs, of which Bianca is Director/Choreographer.

She is a dedicated contributor to the Perth arts scene, through STRUT dance and the Artrage festival.  Bianca’s latest work, Use-by Date was performed as part of STRUT’s Prime Cut season from April 2-5 2009.

She is also studying a Bachelor of Laws at UWA.

miaMia Holton – Video Artist

Mia was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. She enjoyed a copywriting and creative development course at Vega Brand Communication School, Johannesburg in 2003 and the following year she found herself in Perth, WA enrolling in BA Visual Arts at Edith Cowan University. At the end of 2004 she took part in the Northbridge Project exhibition at Spectrum Project Space and was also introduced to creating and operating visuals for a range of artistic performances:

In 2006 Mia contributed to post-production video editing for the WA Screen Academy and the following year she completed her 3rd year at ECU with her final installation piece entitled ‘Room to Breathe’ for the SOCA Graduate Exhibition where she was awarded the prize for Best Electronic Artist. On April Fool’s Day 2007 Mia graduated, officially receiving her Bachelor of Arts Visual Arts degree. Mia is the principle Visual Artist for the contemporary theatre group ‘Corazon de Vaca’ and has been a core member since it’s inception in 2005.

OdaOda Aunan – Performer

Oda Aunan is a performer with a great love for theatre and the creation of new work. She graduated from the School of Contemporary Art in 2005, Perth. Since then she has performed in a variety of shows in Australia and Norway amongst them are; The Visit with BSX (Black Swan) ‘05 under the direction of Matt Lutton, ‘Frihetspapiret’ Norway ‘06 and Specks In The Black at the Blueroom Theatre ’07. In 2007 she took part in a six week internship program called Feet First with the Sydney based company Legs on the Wall. There she developed her skills in physical theatre and broadened her understanding of what could be a theatre space. Oda has worked as a devisor and performer on several productions such as; Motor City Blues for the 2006 Adelaide Fringe, the promenade piece ‘Rotta Rotto’ Norway ’06, City of Cake at the Blueroom Theatre ’07, in the sold out season of Red Lashes for the UNIMA world puppetry festival, Perth ’08 and most recently taking onboard the role as a crazy scientist in The Rusalka Thread, Blueroom Theatre ’08. Later this year she will be performing in Heart of Gold at PICA.

Joni Tham – Performer

Joni hails from Singapore where she has worked extensively in education and family theatre. She has performed, written and directed numerous school tours, directed several school productions and tutored children of all ages. She is also credited for conceptualising, scripting and directing Fort Siloso Live! (2001, 2002 and 2003), an interactive, on-site educational production for Sentosa Development Corporation.

 

Her theatre credits include The Magic Paintbrush, Sparkleshark, Tall Tales 1 and 2 (Imaginarts); Rainbow Fish (AGGM), Little Violet and the Angel, Sincerely Anne Frank, Tall Tales 3: Dancing with Dragons, and The Acorn: The True Story of Chicken Licken (I Theatre). Joni has also performed in the Edinburgh Fringe Arts Festival (2004) and the first ever Malaysia’s Children’s Festival held in Kuala Lumpur (2005).

Since moving to Australia, Joni has tutored with both Barking Gecko and Spare Parts Puppet Theatre and performed in the metro tour of “Trains of Thought” by Barking Gecko.

Ella Hetherington – Performer

Since graduating from Total Theatre in 2005 Ella has performed with Black Swan Theatre Company (Red Dog), Barking Gecko (The Lost Girl, Castle Rascals, Fatty Wombat) The Kaliedocope Ensemble, Steamworks Productions and is a regular with Bizircus. In 2008 she was one of four chosen for intensive puppetry training with Noriko Nishimoto at Spare Parts. Ella has her own company, Pinstripe Circus, producing and performing circus works for theatre, corporate and street, they have

toured nationally with their show The Ayers Rock Surf Lifesaving Club. Ella also teaches a physical theatre program at DADAA and is a trainer at the WA circus School and is regularly involved in community arts projects including Fremantle Festival 06/07, Kununurra 07/08, Christmas Island Artist in residence 2008 and Sandfly Circus Broome 07/09.

James Berlyn – Performer

James Berlyn is an award-winning performing artist and teacher of twenty years experience. Since graduating with a BA in Dance from the VCA in 1987 (after being awarded the Pratt Scholarship), he has achieved a national profile as a dancer and dance-theatre performer and performance maker, working with companies and independent artists around Australia and South East Asia.

James’s teaching career started in 1988 in Victoria with Ensemble Dance Theatre giving dance and movement workshops, which further developed as a company member of WA’s dance-in-education company Buzz Dance Theatre, formerly known as 2Dance Plus. In addition, James has lectured in movement, dance, and devised performance for the Dance and Drama departments of WA’s Academy of Performing Arts, and as part of performance studies courses at Edith Cowan and Curtin universities, and at the Actor’s Centre in Sydney.

As an independent artist, James has written, choreographed and performed nine one-man shows that have been performed at fringe festivals around Australia. His works have been directed by Paige Gibbs, Ross Coli, Jim Hughes, Adrian Barnes, Sally Richardson and Simon Clarke. He performed regularly in cabaret for SGL Mardi Gras’s Club Bent in Sydney and Putting On An Act in Perth. He was awarded the Swan Gold Best Actor Award for theatre in Perth in 1993.

James has been a peer panelist for WA’s Department of Culture and the Arts Development funding panel for the last five years, was the chair of the panel in 2005-2007 and recently completed six months working as an acting Performing Arts Project Officer for the Department. He was a board member for Ausdance WA and the Blue Room Theatres (PACS).

In related work, James has five years experience working in numerous backstage roles for large music theatre productions such as Phantom of the Opera, Show Boat and Mamma Mia. He also received his CELTA qualification in 1999 and has nine years experience as an ESL teacher. More recently James has worked with Concepts 4 Change assisting in the delivery of training packages. He has just completed the Voices of the Wheatbelt project for Community Arts Network WA (CANWA), teaching digital photography and composition to school students at schools in the wheatbelt region of WA. James is currently on short-term contract at WA’s Department of Culture and the Arts as a performing-arts project officer.

Currently, James has resumed independent practice and in concurrence with the Manic Cures Project is developing a new solo show and collaborating with other West Australian performance artists and Arts organisations.
Dance/theatre credits:  Ensemble Dance Theatre (Vic), 2Dance Plus(WA), Fieldworks(WA), Paige Gordon and Performance Group(ACT), Club Terpsichore(WA), Deckchair Theatre(WA), Perth Theatre Company(WA), Perth International Festival(WA), Club Bent(NSW), Perth Pride(WA), Nigel Kellerway with Sidetrack Theatre(NSW). Putting On An Act, PICA(WA).

Devised works for:  Melbourne Fringe Dance Festival, Artrage Festival Fringe Perth, Paige Gordon and Performance Group, Steps Youth Dance Co, INC WA, Link Dance Co, Pride Festival, Melbourne Fringe, SGLMG Festival.

Maitland Schnaars – Performer

Juma Yango – Performer