SOMETHING NEW.
Creative and Production Team Bios.
Samuel Gaskin
A creative tour de force.
-Rolling Stone
CO-CREATOR/PERFORMER
Creator & Change Agent , Samuel Gaskin is a proud Ngati Tūwhāretoa and Yoruba person who has always been one to stand out in a crowd. Not only is he an accomplished Artist and Actor, he also runs his own company Beat Entertainment, a BIPOC LGBTQI+ led and focussed entertainment company renowned for truly original bespoke concepts of deep heart. His work RECKŌNING recently took out four Melbourne Fringe Awards. He is also a finalist for this years 2022 APRA professional development awards. On top of his creative pursuits, Samuel is also a passionate activist for diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry. His early work “GANK” spent 4 weeks at no.1 on the Triple J Unearthed Electro Charts in 2010. “Marathon” his collaboration with Congo Tardis number one was signed to New York label Gold Whistle. In 2016 Sam signed with Razor Recordings and released two debut singles “Good Enough” & “Love”. Having collaborated with some of the most talented people in Australia. Most recently Samuel has been performing and writing almost exclusively with Indigenous Artists in Australia, working with Yothu Yindi & The Treaty Project and The Merindas. Credits include “New Gold Mountain” - SBS , All Together Now - Channel -7, Fit for Fashion - FOX ASIA, Hairspray - Dainty , Jungle Book - Australian Shakespeare Company
Still from Sam’s music video for the hit single Reckoning.
Zak Giles Pidd
Progressive, psychedelic, enterprising and purposeful... -Australian Arts Review
CO-CREATOR/MUSICAL DIRECTOR/PERFORMER
Zachary Giles Pidd (Zak) is a non-binary performer and sound designer based in Narrm (Melbourne). They completed VCA’s Bachelor of Fine Arts Theatre Practice course in 2015. In 2016 they worked as musical director/composer for Vanishing Act which won Best Cabaret at Melbourne Fringe and was nominated for four Green Room Awards including Best Musical Direction. Zachary's recent performance credits include KillJoy (Melbourne Fringe 2017 nominated for Best Circus), the world premiere of Credentials by David Williamson which they also sound designed (La Mama 2017), Elbow Room’s Prehistoric (Melbourne season and Edinburgh Fringe 2018) and School Of Rock (Melbourne, China, Brisbane, Sydney). Their film credits include Prasizzler Queen of the Dessert and the award winning Tasty. They frequently perform with Polyglot Theatre and have toured with them nationally and internationally. Zachary worked as co-director and sound designer on Apokalypsis (Next Wave 2018) which won three Green Room Awards (Design, Direction, Best Independent Production). They are an associate artist/facilitator with House Of Muchness, a performance and art making youth organisation and Loom Arts and Management, a management agency focussing on artists with disabilities. They also perform weird pop music under the name Dogchild.
Zak performing at a music festival (with hat).
Ibrahim Halacoglu
CO-CREATOR/PERFORMER
A theatre-maker from Istanbul, Ibrahim’s been professionally involved in theatre since 2010 predominantly as a performer, as well as a director, dramaturg, and playwright. A few years ago, he rediscovered theatre through meddah, an ancient form of Turkish/Ottoman storytelling. He developed a passion for revising traditional storytelling techniques to become a 21st century storyteller. His practice is quite eclectic but he currently focuses more on queering and contemporising the meddah. He is interested in combining autoethnography with postmodern narratives and metafiction. He truly believes that fiction can be used in art to make more sense of, or even authenticate, reality. Since he comes from a performing background, his directing organically incorporates a special focus on the performer. He received training in multiple methods (Meisner, Eric Morris, Suzuki, Viewpoints). He has recently finished his master’s degree in directing at the VCA.
Ibo performing in Fold Line, 2018.
Morgan Rose
Rose has wit that stings in equal measure with heart, mind and humour. -Timeout
CO-CREATOR/WRITER
Morgan Rose was born in New Orleans, grew up in New Mexico, and currently lives in Melbourne. She is an internationally produced queer playwright, performance maker, and dramaturg. She has a Master’s of Writing for Performance from VCA. In addition to her text-based work she has a background in physical theatre and devising. Recent works include: Virgins and Cowboys (writer, Theatre Works, Griffin Theatre), Everyone Is Famous (writer, Riot Stage/Speakeasy), Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise (writer, MKA/MTC NEON), The BachelorS17E05 (co-creator, La Mama), and desert, 6:29pm (writer, Red Stitch). She teaches and mentors at universities across Melbourne. She was resident writer at youth company Riot Stage for 10 years and is the current co-artistic director of Rawcus.
She is left-handed. More at roseisnotarose.com.
Production still of Fast Food by Morgan, Red Stitch 2022
Sonya Suares
CO-CREATOR/PERFORMER
Sonya Suares is a multidisciplinary artist and activist whose work spans film, television and theatre since her screen debut at 16. She founded acclaimed Sondheim repertory company Watch This, realising a body of work that has amassed 27 Green Room Award nominations/ 4 wins. She's been nominated as an actor in MTC's Melbourne Talam; for Polyglot Theatre & Papermoon Puppet Theatre's international hit, Cerita Anak; for Best Direction of a Musical for Sunday in the Park with George (co-directed with Dean Drieberg in 2019) and received 6 nominations including Production of the Year for Into the Woods (co-directed with Melanie Hillman). She is currently working with composer/ lyricist Vidya Makan and Hayes Theatre Co on The Lucky Country and with Essential Theatre/ Arts Centre Melbourne on Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's Emilia.
Sonya performing in Whale, Darebine Speakeasy, 2019
Katrina Cornwell
Cornwell’s direction is excellent with beautifully choreographed scenes -Theatre People
CO-CREATOR/DIRECTOR
Katrina is a queer theatre director, performance maker and actor. She has a Bachelor of Creative Industries from QUT, a Graduate Diploma in Arts and Community Practice from the VCA and is the newly appointed co-Artistic Director of Rawcus. She has worked throughout Australia and has toured internationally. Recent work includes: A Resourceful Hero Struggling Against Incredible Odds (Rawcus/ Midsumma/ Malthouse Forecourt); Us (St Martins Youth Arts); Everyone Is Famous (Riot Stage/Darebin Speakeasy/Next Wave, 2021); Grand Gesture (The People/La Mama, 2021 & 2019); Fanaticus (Rawcus, 2020); Green Room Award-nominated A Disorganised Zoom Reading of the Script from Contagion (The People/Melbourne Fringe, 2020); Whale (Darebin Speakeasy/MLIVE Fest 2019); award-nominated Lovely Mess (Riot Stage/Melbourne Fringe/FOLA, 2018), The Bachelor S17E05 (La Mama, 2018); Death Match (Monash University/The Malthouse Tower) and F. (Riot Stage/Poppyseed Festival), which was featured on ABC’s 7.30 Report.
Production still of A Resourceful Hero Struggling Against Incredible Odds, directed by Katrina, Rawcus with St. Martins/Malthouse/Midsumma, 2022
Kate Hood
Flipping roles and power relationships and literally spitting the dummy, Hood unapologetically breathed life into the existence
of a wheelchair on stage -Susan Doel
CO-CREATOR/PERFORMER
Kate Hood had a career as an able-bodied jobbing actor for many years, performing in theatre, TV, musical-theatre, voice-over and film. She became a wheelchair user over a decade ago, reinvented herself as a disabled actor, writer and theatre-maker, and reignited her mainstream career. Her company, Raspberry Ripple Productions dissolves the divide by making original, accessible theatre to tell stories of disabled and non-disabled people living together in the world. Kate believes that disability is a gift to theatre, alongside all the other diversities, and that the performing arts has an obligation to reflect the world as it actually is.
Kate in Contest, 2018, Darebin Speakeasy.
Rachel Lee
Rachel Lee’s lights are invitingly warm, beautiful and nuanced, as they quietly transform with the show’s oft shifting moods. - Suzy Goes See
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Rachel Lee is a Singaporean-Chinese lighting designer and artist based in Naarm. She works primarily with new writing and is a member of theatre collective, New Working Group. Rachel enjoys the collaborative nature of her process and her works reflect her interest in exploring and interrogating the social ecosystem of her cultures. As an artist, Rachel is concern with the politics of spaces and challenges that notion in the visual spaces she creates. She designs across several companies and festivals. In particular, she works with Western Edge Youth Arts, education programs and other community-led groups to amplify their voices. Other works include The Malthouse Theatre, Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Yirramboi, Midsumma, Fringe Circuits, AsiaTOPA, RISING: and Melbourne International Comedy Festival. She co-produced and designed award-winning落叶归根 (Luò yè guī gēn) Getting Home (Melbourne Fringe). She was awarded Best Production (Green Room).
Production Still from Love/Chamberlain, Lighting Design by Rachel, Theatre Works, 2019.
Justin Gardam
Perhaps the most impressive part of the production is the use of technology (Sound & AV by Justin Gardam). -Theatre Press
AV DESIGNER/TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Justin Gardam is a Green Room award winning artist specialising in sound and video design for theatre. He is a graduate of Monash University’s Bachelor of Performing Arts and completed a Master of Dramaturgy at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). Sound design credits include Control, Wakey Wakey and Lamb (Red Stitch); Quite Drunk, Very Jesusy (Key Conspirators); The Market is A Wind-Up Toy, Paradise Lost, and The Nose (The Bloomshed); Private Peaceful (Moving Light Productions); Slaughterhouse Five (Theatre Works/MUST); Q (La Mama); Philtrum (North of Eight) and Ironbound (Q44 Theatre). Justin has engaged in associate sound roles on Suddenly Last Summer, desert 6:29pmand The Moors (Red Stitch); Merciless Gods (Arts Centre Melbourne/Little Ones Theatre); Abigail's Party (Melbourne Theatre Company); and The Lonely Wolf (MTC NEON). Video design credits include New Balance and Sneakyville (Before Shot), Sunday in the Park with George (Watch This), Philtrum (North of Eight), Awakening (fortyfivedownstairs/MUST), Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens (Underscore), and F. (Riot Stage).
Production still of Everyone One Is Famous, AV and Technical Direction by Justin, Riot Stage/Darebin Speakeasy, 2021.
Nathan Burmeister
There is much to recommend in this
production, not least of
which is the remarkable, floral
set design (Nathan Burmeister)
-Kate Herbert Reviews
SET AND COSTUME DESIGNER
Nathan Burmeister is a set and costume designer and theatre maker for live performance and is currently based in Melbourne. He has worked closely with new styles, forms, and stories, exploring contemporary dramaturgies, audience experiences, and aesthetics. Nathan’s work includes set and costume design for Animal Farm (Bloomshed); Considerable Sexual License (Joel Bray Dance/Darebin Arts Speakeasy); End Of (Darebin Arts Speakeasy); Love/Chamberlain (Theatre Works); Fly (Lyric Opera); Flora the Red Menace (VCA Music Theatre 2019); Q (La Mama Theatre); All That Is Right (Monash Academy of Performing Arts); Sneakyville (Before Shot Productions); things we should talk about (Union House Theatre); AntigoneX (Theatre Works); Never (VCA Theatre 2017); Caucasian Chalk Circle (VCA Theatre 2017); Elegies for Angles, Punks and Raging Queens (Underscore Productions); Ryan (La Mama Theatre); The Outsider (Stork Theatre Company); Antigone (Bloomshed); for Monash Shakespeare Company, Troylus and Cressida and Titus; Softly Pouting While Walking Into Breezes (MUST); The Government Inspector for (MUST); Knives in Hens (MUST). Nathan was set design secondment to Owen Phillips on Vivid White (MTC) and design associate to Eugyeene Teh on Nightingale And The Rose (Little Ones Theatre). Nathan holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts from Monash University and Masters of Design for Performance from the Victorian College of the Arts.
Production still from Paradise Lost, Set and Costume Design by Nathan, Bloomshed/Darebin Speakeasy, 2022.
Flick
Flick is an artist and independent producer. Under FLICKFLICKCITY, Flick looks to produce new Australian works that are bold and glittery. In Naarm, they’ve produced works with Theatre Works, Gluttony, Motley Bauhaus, Midsumma Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne Fringe, The People, and Frenzy Theatre Co. Flick is also a writer, with their most recent show SLUTNIK™ presented at both Midsumma and Melbourne Fringe in 2022, and Adelaide Fringe in 2023. Flick’s written repertoire has appeared on stages in Melbourne, Sydney and Los Angeles, and developed/produced by the likes of ATYP, Nightingale Content, Theatre Works, Katie Rowe, & Queerspace Arts. As a queer and disabled artist, they aim to honour their communities through radical accessibility and representative creative teams within the arts. Flick is about to complete a Master of Theatre (Dramaturgy) at the Victorian College of the Arts, is a member of the Green Room Theatre Independent Theatre Panel, and a writer in the 2022/23 Theatre Works SheWrites Collective.
Production still of Slutnik(TM) Written and Produced by Flick, Melbourne Fringe 2022, Adelaide Fringe 2023.