After an extensive national search, Jigsaw Theatre Company, Canberra’s professional theatre company for young audiences, is pleased to announce the appointment of its new Artistic Directorate, comprising of Sally Blackwood, Ben Laden, Catherine Roach and Chris Thompson.
On their appointment, Dr Adele Chynoweth, Chair of Jigsaw Theatre Company said,
"The Board is thrilled that Jigsaw's inaugural Artistic Directorate is comprised of theatre practitioners with a broad range of experiences. All of them are passionate. With this breadth of expertise, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts! This is the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Jigsaw Theatre Company".
Rohan Shearn, General Manager of Jigsaw, says:
"We welcome these four highly accomplished individuals to Jigsaw and look forward to the experience and insightfulness they will bring. This is a very exciting time for the company as we set a new direction in creating a sustainable model of operation, whilst delivering inspiring and engaging theatre for young audiences”.
The appointment of the Directorate comes as Jigsaw prepares to stage Too Hot To Handle, a climate change musical for children by Peter J Casey at the Street Theatre (ACT) in late September, and in ACT schools during October.
More about the artists!
Sally Blackwood - a graduate of the University of NSW (BA – theatre/film and French), Sally has additionally gained a Post Graduate Diploma in Dramatic Art: directing from NIDA. Her production credits include television commercials, short films and TV drama, theatre, opera and live events.
Sally was an Assistant Producer and Producer at the Sydney Opera House between 2002 – 2007 and has worked on the Kids At The House and House:Ed programs including the productions of: Barking Gecko’s Hidden Dragons; Patch Theatre Company’s Who Sank the Boat and Sharon Keep Ya Hair On; Show; the Babies Proms series; Outlookers; The Flying Babies and Theatre Kazenoko. In 2008 she created KidsPlay Children’s and Family Program at Glen Street Theatre and was Creative Producer of this engaging program until May 2010.
Sally’s recent directing credits include Donizetti’s Operatic farce Il Campanello di notte at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music; JACK! (the musical), The Little Mermaid, Music Book ‘09, The Royal Seed and Strings & Things Proms for Sydney Opera House; Colder Than Here for New Directions (NT) and Antigone (Atelier Théâtre NIDA); One Good Beating, Savage/Love; Amexica, and devised pieces Jason and the Argonauts and Hansel and Gretel for NIDA.
Sally is currently directing Music Book ’10 for the Sydney Opera House in late August.
Ben Laden - has worked in the theatre arts industry over the past fifteen years having initially trained in the UK. He studied for two years under Desmond Jones, a pupil of Etienne Decroux and then worked extensively on contemporary circus, dance and physical theatre productions in London before touring from 1994-1997 with Colombian company El Teatro de los Sentidos. In 1997 he returned to Australia, working as a designer with Kaos Theatre, freelance artist and community arts facilitator, eventually forming his own company The Eater Presents.
Ben has an honours degree in Theatre from Murdoch University (WA) and a Masters degree in Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne. In August 2006 he was appointed as Courthouse Arts Creative Producer and then as the inaugural Artisitic Director in 2007. He has directed a number of major events for the organisation, including its 10th birthday festival in December 2006, Decadence and the 2010 Major Production, Master & Servant.
Catherine Roach - is a graduate of the Victorian College of Arts in Directing and is a theatre director, puppetry director and puppetry consultant. As an independent theatre practitioner she has maintained an artistic and creative presence in the ACT theatre scene over the past eighteen years. Her main body of work has been in directing for many companies and performance venues across the ACT and has creatively contributed to many of Jigsaws past productions as freelance theatre director, puppetry director and puppetry consultant on productions such as Wendy, The Lost Thing and the Long Time Till Tea.
Other directing credits include Unspoken, Boston Marriage, Barmaids and Speaking in Tongues for which she received a Canberra Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Direction. Catherine was a member of Company Skylark in the 1990’s creating and touring internationally and nationally with many shows including The Hobbit and Wake Baby. Other puppetry credits with Company Skylark include Mum’s The Word, Charlottes Web, Pocket Size and Telling Tales.
An experienced educator, Catherine tutors in acting, directing and puppetry in the community, schools. Currently she is a tutor at Canberra Youth Theatre. Catherine is also a partner of A Bunch of Posers the theatrical and musical entertainment group and has collaborated with all the national cultural institutions as a director, writer and performer creating historical characters and theatre specifically for the museum environment.
Chris Thompson - a writer, director and teacher, Chris is a former Artistic Director of St Martins Youth Arts Centre and Union House Theatre in Melbourne and founding artistic directorate member of HotHouse Theatre in Albury-Wodonga. His plays for young people have been nominated for four AWGIE awards, winning twice for Shady Characters and The Bridge and his screenplay for the feature film The Tumbler was nominated for the QLD Premier’s Literary Awards and won the 2007 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award.
He was co-creator and head writer for two seasons of Shock Jock on TV1-Foxtell and writer for the digital dome-show, Problem With Pluto at the Melbourne Planetarium. Chris reviews teenage fiction for Viewpoint Magazine, lectures at ACU in theatre and playwriting, is on the national Board of the Australian Script Centre, the Theatre Network Victoria committee and is Chair of the Victorian Writers’ Centre.
Most recently he wrote and directed Spinout for the Victorian Arts Centre which is currently touring schools. This year he is working with young composer Caity Fowler to develop Happy, a contemporary music-theatre piece to be performed in the Fringe Festival. He recently received funding from Screen Australia to develop a new screenplay and has been commissioned by Outback Theatre for Young People to write Debs as a performance project for 2011.