SPINELESS WONDERS PRESENTS...: THE ACTORS

THE ACTORS:

The Sydney Performers

Ella Watson Russell

Ella Watson-Russell is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts and works as an actor, theatre maker, producer and drama tutor. Her acting credits include work for Darwin Theatre Company, JUTE, CIYA, ArtBack, Festival of Darwin, Darwin Fringe Festival, Melbourne Fringe Festival, National Gallery of Victoria, La Mama & Optic Nerve Performance Group as well as roles in film, tv and voiceovers.

Her theatre-making and directing credits include Acacia Hills, The Hamlet Project, A Life is Passing and Unrequited as well as several short works developed with young people in her capacity as a drama tutor. Ella holds a special interest in the collaborative generation of new theatre works and working with writers and playwrights in the early development stage of new work.

Eatson

Tim McGarry

TIM McGARRY

Tim McGarry, a Western Australian Academy of the Performing Arts graduate, works as an actor, workshop facilitator, writer and producer in Sydney. Theatre credits include I Am Jack, Hitler’s Daughter, The Prospectors (Monkey Baa), It’s a Dad Thing (TML Management), The Sentimental Bloke (WATC), Bouncers (RTC), The Carthaginians (O’Punskys), Time Gentlemen, Macbeth, Italian Stories, (Theatre South) The Information (Company B Sharp), Big River (Gordon Frost). Film and TV credits include Lilian’s Story, The Camera Trap, Backberner, Goddess of 1967, All Saints, Underbelly - The Golden Mile and Manny.

Tim, along with Sandra Eldridge and Eva Di Cesare, founded Monkey Baa Theatre Company, one of Australia’s largest touring theatre companies presenting new Australian work for young audiences. In 2014 he toured in the one-man show I Am Jack throughout 14 cities in the USA. Tim is a proud member of the Media Entertainment & Actors Alliance.

LAUREN NEILL

Lauren Neill

Lauren’s performance career began immediately at birth, when her arrival ended a 350 year reign of male babies in the Neill family. The applause was deafening, and the reviews glowing. Fast forward a few years and Lauren was ushered into drama class, much to her reluctance in speaking with human beings (pixies and leprechauns are much better listeners). Fast forward a few more years, and she discovered she also had a fairly decent singing voice, and a scholarship to the Conservatorium of Music soon followed. A move to Sydney meant a few more acting gigs than if she’d stayed in Mackay, so the bags were packed and the move was made. Among the projects she’s most proud of, was her work on the ABC series The Gods of Wheat St, which screened earlier this year. Lauren is thrilled to be involved in this Spineless Wonders Project. She has the utmost respect for writers, and cannot wait to give a voice to written text that someone’s muse inspired them to write.

Alex Williams

ALEX WILLIAMS

Alex is an actor and singer with a flair for comedy. After Studying acting at the university of Wollongong, he has been privileged to complete three Theatrical seasons with the Sexy Tales Comedy Collective, performing wickedly comic plays by Patrick Lenton. Through this involvement Alex had the opportunity to perform at both the Sydney and Adelaide Fringe Festivals. He has also recently taken his hand to screen writing and acting in web published series and short films.

Luke Carson

LUKE CARSON

Luke graduated Actors Centre Australia in 2009. Luke’s stage credits include; We’re Bastards (Old 505 Theatre) Details Unknown (Sydney Police & Justice Museum), Jerusalem (New Theatre), Zoo Story (NIDA), The Solitudes (Tap Gallery), 12 plays of Christmas (Gallery), Equus (New Theatre), Fatboy (New Theatre) Morph (Cellar Theatre), Thom Pain: Based On Nothing (B Sharp/ Belvoir Theatre), C.H.I.C.O.M. ( Brand Spanking New),The Shoe Horn Sonata (Joan Sutherland Theatre), Bare Boards/Brave Hearts (Subtlenuance Theatre), Lovely Ugly (Griffin Theatre Company), There Will Always Be An England (ACA) & Marvellous Scandal (Friend in Hand Hotel) His Television credits include Love Child, Rake, Deadly Women, Home & Away and various commercials.

http://vimeo.com/lukecarson

Caitlin Harris

CAITLIN HARRIS

Caitlin is a performer, writer of plays, films and short stories. A native California, Cait is a phonetic speller who comes from a great home and missed out on most of her school lessons because a seagull was doing something funny outside the window at the time.A native to California, Cait's stories can be found in the ebook The Sturgeon GeneralPresents Cait Harris with Momentum Publishing.

Eleni Schumacher

ELENI SCHUMACHER

Eleni is a Sydney-based actor, writer and theatre-maker, is a graduate of Atlantic Acting School in New York City (2013). Whilst in New York she appeared in independent feature film Night and a Switchblade.
Since returning to Sydney, she has appeared in several independent films (Schadenfreude, Earth Hour Projects) as well as performing in immersive theatrical production Details Unknown for Penguin Plays Rough and Sydney Living Museums (Dir. James Dalton). She will appear in Dead Time at the TAP Gallery with Lace Balloon Productions in November 2014.

Eleni writes and devises for theatre, having written and performed developments of original work for GrifFRINGE, and a stage adaptation of a short story “Singing My Sister Down” (Margo Lanagan).

The Adelaide Performers

Tamara

Since graduating from the Centre for the Performing Arts, TAMARA LEE has worked extensively as an actor in film, TV, and theatre, touring shows within Australia and overseas. In 2008 she performed the one-woman play A Solitary Choice at Holden Street Theatres, which went on to seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe, Seymour Centre in Sydney and Theatre works in Melbourne. Her Film and TV credits include Look Both Ways, Closed for Winter, The Marriage of Figaro and McLeod’s Daughters. Tamara won the 2011 Adelaide Critics Circle Award for her performance in five.point.one’s That Face. Tamara is currently Associate Artist at Urban Myth Theatre.

Craig

CRAIG BEHENNA trained at Flinders Drama Centre and has worked as an actor, director, dramaturg and writer for companies including State Theatre Company of South Australia, Griffin Theatre Company, ATYP, Shopfront Youth Theatre, The Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Fringe. More recently he has turned to filmmaking, including Death of a Bogan(writer/producer with Nick Matthews - Flickerfest 2012, Shorts Film Festival 2011, Tropfest shortlist 2010) and Collision (co-producer - Melbourne International Film Festival, Oberhausen International FilmFestival). Craig is currently working on the feature film One Eyed Girl with director Nick Matthews as part of the South Australian Film Corporation's FILMLAB initiative.

Stephen

STEPHEN SHEEHAN is an actor, comedian and theatre maker who is a grad of Flinders Drama Centre. His credits include Waiting for Godot (State Theatre), Special Delivery (Patch Theatre), The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy (Slingsby Theatre) and his own show Stevl Shefn and His Translator Fatima. He is currently developing a new comedic theatre show called A Little Horseplay.

Ashton

ASHTON MALCOLM is an actor, theatre-maker and avid picnicker. Since graduating from Flinders Drama Centre with First Class Honours in 2009, she has worked with the State Theatre Company of South Australia, Brink Productions, the ABC, five.point.one, ActNow Theatre and Urban Myth Theatre of Youth, as well as multiple independent artists in both metropolitan Adelaide and regional South Australia. She has also appeared in several short films and music videos. She is a founding member of Milk Theatre Collective, whose first show Alice and Peter Grow Up was performed in 2011 as part of the Festival of Unpopular Culture.

Holly

HOLLY MYERS is home after 3 years as a guest of Columbia University NYC, Theatre Arts Department in the MFA program. She is now 1of 120 people in the world to become a Designated Linklater Vocal Coach. Since graduating from the Centre for the Performing Arts, Holly has performed with State Theatre Company of South Australia, Shakespeare & Company USA and Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company. Holly has coached voice & directed Shakespeare in Los Angeles, NYC, Boston, Martha’s Vineyard and Adelaide. Regular leading roles in TV series Blue Heelers, The Hollowmen, MDA and Chuck Finn. Films include Cut, The Bank, Selkie, Hating Alison Ashley & more recently nominated best actress in the UK & USA for short horror film Alistair. Holly will be performing in the new Australian play Sepia in this year's Adelaide Fringe Festival.
http://www.creativerepvoices.com.au and http://hollymyers.voice123.com/

Miss Kitty

KERRY REID has had a career in the arts multi-tasking as a performer, singer & designer. She has performed in shows for Patch Theatre, Oddbodies Theatre, Vitalstatistix, The Bakehouse Theatre and others too numerous to mention. She has appeared in various guises in a number of original cabaret shows and has spent the last 20 years often morphing into 'Miss Patsy DeCline - The Queen of Country Corn' who most recently appeared during the 2012 Adelaide Fringe in The Cowgirl's Revenge. Her newest character is that of 'Miss Kitty' in Gypsy Jazz Band 'Miss Kitty's Karavan' which debuted at the 2012 Adelaide Fringe. She won Best Supporting Actress at Bloodfest Film Festival in Melbourne for her performance in the Indie horror flick Family Demons by Ursula Dabrowsky & has just finished filming Inner Demons by the same film maker. She also really likes reading!

ears, toaster, camera, Hew

HEW PARHAM is an actor and clown, a graduate of Flinders Uni Drama Centre. He has studied at The Hunter Gates Academy of Physical Theatre in Canada and is trained in the Pochinko Canadian Clowning Method. Through his work in this style Hew has developed two clown shows with his naïve clown Schmoo and his demonic alter ego Oog: Schmoove Operator and Odyssey Schmodyssey. In 2011 Hew was accepted to perform at The Amuse Bouche New York Clown Festival and The Sangenuay Fringe Festival in Chicoutimi Quebec, Canada. Hew won the 2004 Melbourne Fringe Award for Best Spoken Word Performance for Pounding Nails into the Floor with My Forehead.

Indigo Eli

Indigo; n. (1) poet (2) co-founding co-director of 'the nameless project' (3) three time Australian Poetry Slam national finalist (4) 2011 Jump mentee (5) freelance artist and performer (6) general maker of well-meaning mischief. For more in-depth definitions see facebook.com/illusive.blue or myspace.com/identitypackage

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Emma Beech

EMMA started making shows for her mum in her bedroom when she was 6. Since then, she has graduated from Flinders Drama Centre and gone on to become an actor and theatre maker working around sunny Australia and the cold Europe. In the past 7 years, Emma has performed and created new work in Denmark with Carte Blanche & Group 38. In Australia, she was worked as an actor on screen with several local filmmaker, hosted the television series Artshow with ABC & the Australia Network. For theatre, she has had the pleasure of creating & performing with Last Tuesday Society, Cab Sav, Real TV, Patch, Monkey Baa, Playwriting Australia. Emma collaborates regularly & vigorously with Sarah John & is a proud founding member of the Australian Bureau of Worthiness. Emma also plays Fatima alongside Stephen Sheehan in ‘Dating the World’.

emmabeech.com

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Patrick Zoerner

PATRICK ZOERNER has acted in shows such as Rhinoceros, Pirates’ Ship, Also A Mirror, Out at Sea, and Weepie at this year’s fringe. He is studying film at Flinders University, and is a member of Urban Myth Theatre’s 2012 Senior Ensemble. In November he will be acting in the Senior Ensemble’s production of There’s Nothing Compassionate About Dogs, which he wrote and will return for the 2013 Adelaide Fringe.

G.S. Partington

GABRIEL PARTINGTON A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, Gabriel Partington is an Adelaide expat with a love for storytelling and cooked breakfasts. Finishing his degree in 2009, Gabriel found himself working with some of Melbourne’s best independent theatre companies including Band of Creatures (Manbeth), Four Larks (Peer Gynt) and Complete Works Theatre Company (The Crucible and Cosi). When last he was in Adelaide he worked extensively with Urban Myth Theatre Company and also enjoyed a role in Sean Riley’s Beautiful Words. Some of Gabriel’s most recent work includes The Woods by David Mamet and the award winning production of Six Characters in Search of an Author, both directed by Laurence Strangio for La Mama Theatres. His screen work includes numerous short films, a silly dairy commercial and roles on Neighbours and Mcleods Daughters. Gabriel is a proud member of Actors Equity.

THE WRITERS:

JULIE CHEVALIER writes quirky poetry and short stories in Sydney’s inner west. Remembered phrases, writing exercises, and eavesdropping provide her inspiration. Permission to lie, a collection of her short stories was the first collection published by Spineless Wonders in May 2011. A poetry collection, linen tough as history, is forthcoming from Puncher & Wattmann and her series of poems about the life of the outsider artist Henry Darger called Darger: his girls has been shortlisted for the Newcastle Poetry Prize. Julie's website is at juliechevalier.net

TRICIA DEARBORN is an award-winning poet and short story writer whose work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies in Australia, overseas and online. She was joint winner of the Poets Union Poetry Prize in 2008, and has received two new work grants from the Literature Board of the Australia Council. In 2012, her second collection of poetry, The Ringing World, will be published by Puncher & Wattmann, and her first collection of short stories will be published by Spineless Wonders in 2012. She lives in Sydney and earns a living as a freelance book editor. To listen to Tricia read her work click here

PETER BOYLE is an Australian poet and translator who lives in Sydney. He has published 9 collections of poetry. He began writing poetry at age 15 but it was not until 42 that his first collection Coming home from the world appeared in 1994 receiving the National Book Council Award and the NSW Premier’s Award. Boyle is often drawn in his work toward moments of transformation when the painful or bewildering is balanced by beauty and tenderness. ‘Night Poems’ is published in Spineless Wonders Small Wonder anthology.

TOM CHO is an artist based in Melbourne. His first fiction book, Look Who's Morphing, was published in 2009. Look Who's Morphing was short-listed for various literary awards, including the 2010 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (South East Asia and the Pacific). He is working on a second fiction book, The Meaning of Life and Other Fictions. Tom's website is at tomcho.com

SHADY COSGROVE is a senior lecturer in Creative WRiting at the University of Wollongong. Her fiction has appeared in many journals & anthologies including Overland & Best Australian Stories. She is the author of the book She Played Elvis, Allen & Unwin 2009.

MAREE DAWES lives in Albany, WA. She has been published in many journals and anthologies including Best Australian Stories. Her work Women of the Minatour was dramatized for Poetica on Radio National, 2009.

SUSAN McCREERY’s short fiction has appeared in Island, Islet, Page Seventeen, Award Winning Australian Writing 2010 and Sleepers Almanac 7. Her first poetry collection is forthcoming from Ginninderra Press in 2012. Find out more at spineless-wonders-asks

THREASA MEADS is an award winning writer and teacher, currently completing her PhD at Flinder University. Her work has been published in anthologies, street press and online journals. Her autobiographical fiction, Nobody, was shortlisted for The Australian/Vogel Literary Award in 2008. In 2012 she received a teaching award from Flinders. She also runs writing workshops i the wider community and mentors writers from around Australia. Visit Threasa at The Art of Life Writing.

JENNIFER MILLS is the author of the novels Gone and The Diamond Anchor. A big fan of the short story form, her work has been widely published and awarded numerous prizes in Australia and internationally. A collection of her short fiction, The Rest is Weight was published in 2012 by UQP. After five years in Alice Springs she now lives in South Australia's beautiful Clare Valley. She is currently the fiction editor at Overland. You'll find Jen at jenjen.com.au

RYAN O'NEILL's stories have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Sleepers Almanac and Best Australian Stories. His collection of stories, The Weight of a Human Heart, was published by Black Inc. in 2012.

ALEC PATRIC writes in Melbourne and is a St Kilda bookseller. His stories have appeared in Best Australian Stories 2010 and in the literary journals. He won The Ned Kelly: SD Harvey Short Story Award 2011. Music For Broken Instruments, his first collection of poetry, was published in June 2010 by Black Rider Press. Alec is co-editor of Verity La, an online journal that is archived by the National Library of Australia and he has taught Creative Writing at RMIT. His collection, The Rattler & other stories, is published by Spineless Wonders. You can find him at a.s.patric.ink

CAMERON RAYNES has worked in Perth, Meekatharra, Katherine, Darwin and Adelaide as a barman, welfare worker, anthropologist, historian and academic. He has a PhD on the moral subtext of Aboriginal oral history but prefers to make things up. He writes short stories and film scripts and lives in Semaphore. His first collection of short stories, The Colour of Kerosene was published in 2012 by Wakefield Press.

JOSEPHINE ROWE writes fiction, poetry, and semi-occasional non-fiction. She lives in Melbourne with her husband and a very large cat. A collection of her short stories, Tarcutta Wake, was published bt UQP in 2012. Joespehine’s website is at josephinerowe.com

CAROLINE REID writes plays and fiction and the occasional poem. She is the author of Prayer To An Iron God (Currency Press, 2010). Caroline’s in love with a New Zealander and is having an affair with her first collection of short stories, Satisfied. Her work has been published in Australian anthologies and journals. She loves bringing people together in her role as The Curator of Spineless Wonders Presents... Find out more at carolinereidwrites & spineless-wonders-asks

JON STEINER: A native of Washington, D.C., Jon moved to Australia in 2000. He studied writing at the University of Technology, Sydney and has been published in the UTS Writers' Anthology.

LYNETTE WASHINGTON is a short story writer and digital evangelist. She's currently undertaking her phD in Creative Writing at the University of Adelaide, researching the intersection between digital publishing and the short story. Her story, The Swarm, is published in the forthcoming Spineless Wonders anthology, Stoned Crows, 2013.

KIM WESTWOOD’s stories have been chosen for Year’s Best anthologies in Australia and the US, and for ABC radio. She received a Varuna Fellowship for her first novel, The Daughters of Moab. Her second novel (just out) is The Courier’s New Bicycle. Kim's website is at kimwestwood.com

THE MUSICIANS:

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Choral Grief

CHORAL GRIEF is a choir that sings sad songs. Founded in 2011, the choir likes downbeat tunes, slightly ridiculous costumes (they've discovered it's hard to sing if you all wear monastic hoods but crepe paper neck ruffles and capes are fine) and singing together once a week.

Almost all members of Choral Grief are artists- including visual artists, designers, musicians and arts-workers. This concentration of creativity is key to the choir’s willingness to perform varied material in a range of circumstances. Since forming Choral Grief has performed at The Festival of Unpopular Culture and Moving Music, sung at weddings and a (fake) wake, hosted sell out concerts featuring mulled wine and air cannons and walked the streets of suburban Adelaide, singing Christmas carols to strangers.


musician or murderer?

DUNCAN CAMPBELL: Player of music; writer, recorder, sound editor, producer of music; composer of musical score for film Roadman, which won best thriller at Barossa Film Festival 2011. Has been known to play in a concept band, Mr Wednesday, with Felicity Davies (cello). Performs music in the vein of Nick Cave, Tom Waits, kinda mellow piano music. Very enchanting. For more info on Duncan's enormous talent and skills go to his website: duncancampbell.com.au

He gets chatty in the spotlight with SAE.

Ange

ANGE PANOUSAKIS lives in music. For years melodies and lyrics would flood in and out of her mind, lacking only chords to support them. Ange has spent many years writing and collaborating.With a mixture of acoustic folk, storytelling and poetry, Ange spins tales of joy, discovery, love lost and found, lust, struggle and magic. Her sound is both melancholy & uplifting and she delivers her songs with a rare, raw honesty. Prepare to be swept away by the cheeky, soulful adventure that is Ange's music.

House Red

HOUSE RED: From their humble beginnings belting classics in bathtubs, Ruby, Matilda, and Flick recently reunited as a capella group House Red. This young trio began as school chums with a mutual love of Cat Stevens in the car, dancing in the dark, and porridge. Their creamy vocals and lush harmonies bring to life old favourites and fresh numbers alike.

THE VISUAL ARTISTS:

PAYDEN HUNTER: is one of Sydney's young creatives. As well as his illustration and design work for Spineless Wonders he has turned his talents to theatre design and is an exhibited artist. He is completing a Bachelor of Design at COFA.