Courthouse ARTS have announced the appointment of its new Artistic Director, Ross Mueller.

Mueller is excited to be joining the Courthouse at a time of great change. A newly renovated Courthouse Arts venue will reopen later in the year after a $6.5 million dollar renovation. When open the venue will become an exciting hub to promote the work of young and emerging artists of the region.

“I am thrilled to have been appointed Artistic Director of Courthouse ARTS. My love for the arts was grown in Geelong and the opportunity to be part of this organisation at this time fills me with a palpable sense of home. I believe that Courthouse ARTS has the capacity to become a unique laboratory of creation and I look forward to working with this great team and turning the arts in the Courthouse into capital letters. “

Mueller is a Geelong resident and a writer/director of national significance. His most recent work ZEBRA! starred Byran Brown and Colin Friels and premiered with a completely sold out season at Sydney Theatre Company.

In 2002 Ross was the Australian playwright at the International Residency of the Royal Court Theatre in London. He is the winner of the Wal Cherry Play of the year 2007 for his play The Glory. In March 2007 his play, The Ghost Writer, was premiered at Melbourne Theatre Company. Construction of The Human Heart was short listed for the 2007 AWGIE Award for Best New Play and was nominated for five green Room Awards. He is the winner of the 2008 New York, New Dramatists Playwright exchange for his play Concussion which  premiered at Sydney Theatre Company in March 2009 . In April 2009 his play Hard Core was shortlisted for the Patrick White Award and the Griffin Award for new writing. In late 2010 he was commissioned to write a new film; Fishbowl with Melissa Bubnic and Kate Mulvany for Resolution Independent.

Mueller also has an impressive experience in working with small to medium size companies. St Martins Youth Arts Centre commissioned him to work with their ensemble and write a play for the participants. The resultant work was Colosseum, for a cast of eighteen and published by Currency Press. He was also recently commissioned by Canberra Youth Theatre to adapt the Makus Zusak novel The Messenger.

Mueller has worked with Geelong’s Back to Back Theatre on a residency/development project at Nelson Park Primary School called Light Letters. This project saw artists meeting with community members and detailing their experiences of life in Geelong to create an extensive piece of image based community theatre. He is a qualified teacher with an extensive teaching background and has worked at Swinburne University, Ballarat University, and Gordon Institute where has taught script and performance modules. Ross will take over the reins from outgoing Artistic Director Ben Laden on July 1.

Congratualtions to Ross and Courthouse and stay tuned for the Lowdown on what is sure to be a bright and creative future for this company.