Susie Fraser (SA)

Susie graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts Drama School in 1980. She has had an extensive career as a performer from the 1970’s when she worked with James McCaughey in Theatre projects. In 1980 she was a co founder of TheatreWorks and in 1984 she left the company to concentrate on her own work. As an actor, she has worked for Playbox and other companies in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra and Perth, for film, television and radio.

Susie has created several pieces exploring the territory between dance and theatre, and worked collaboratively with visual artists, musicians and dancers.
In the 1980’s, she helped to organise residencies in Melbourne by post modern American dancers, Simone Forti and Deborah Hay and performed in their work. She has also taught Movement to actors and Performance Making at various tertiary institutions.

Since 1990 she has been living in Adelaide where her time has been divided between teaching the Feldenkrais Method, performing and mothering her three children. Her most recent body of work, Stories from the Interior, 1999-2001 was a series of solo performance events, an installation, and a radio work, It marked a return to performance making after a ten year break and was the first piece Susie had made since having her family and moving to Adelaide.

Steve Mayhew (SA)

For the past few years of his arts career, Steve has concentrated solely on the development of new theatre based works as a director, writer, designer, composer and dramaturg, creative producer. In all circumstances Steve has worked with many artists, community members and young people to devise works which attempt to tell stories with unusual and unconventional structures.

Recently he developed a 150 Celebration utilizing the community of Melrose, exploring the use of sound as a preliminary point to tell stories in his Come Out project, 7.15 took shower, 7.35 ate breakfast, along with Urban Myth’s 2002 work in progress, Brave. He has helped develop shows for young people; Risky with Junction Theatre, as well numerous shows with young people in Urban Myth and Riverland Youth Theatre. Steve has also worked as an advisor and mentor to students studying at Flinders University Drama Centre in their final years. He is currently working with emerging theatre based company The Border Project as dramaturg for Disappearance.

As an Arts Manager / Coordinator Steve has worked for Carlcew, and Tasmanian Regional Arts, Comeout 02. He was the Artistic Coordinator of Riverland Youth Theatre from 1996 to 1998. He was the Manager, Artistic Programs for Junction Theatre from 1998 to 2000. Steve is currently the Company Manager of Brink Productions.

Richard Lagarto (NSW)

Richard graduated from the University of Wollongong with a Bachelor of Creative Arts in 1992. He has worked with various companies including Accessible Arts, Powerhouse Youth Theatre and Sidetrack Performance Group, PACT Youth Theatre and Shopfront Youth Theatre, Melbourne Worker’s Theatre and the Footscray Community Arts Centre. Richard has done several shows with Urban Theatre Projects including Track Work, Speed St, <subtopia>,and has had several shows at the Performance Space including Me & Them, and Cultural Frankensteins & Other Gourmet Delights.

Richard was co-founder of Trash Can Bang Company, in which he directed, co-devised and/or wrote for productions such as Gone To See A Man About A Dog (Open House Belvoir St 98), An Idiot Amongst Us (Downstairs Belvoir Carnivale98), Worker’s Playtime (for Carnivale 99 and the CFMEU). In 2000 Trash Can Bang transformed into Platform 27, and with Richard as director/co-deviser has so far created Marinheiro (Performance Space 2000), The Waiting Room, with Melbourne Worker’s Theatre (Melbourne Trades Hall, 2002,) Also in 2002, Platform 27 worked on the creative development of The Jerusalem Syndrome, and Richard was awarded the 2002 Portuguese Community in Australia award for achievements in Theatre. Most recently, Richard has worked as dramaturg on Powerhouse Youth Theatre’s production of Sucked In, as well as running various performance workshops for performers with disabilities, whilst simultaneously working on his honours degree in Performance Studies at the University of Sydney.

Michelle Outram (NSW)

Michelle has undertaken practical training as a performance maker and sound artist as well as completing theoretical studies in performance (University of Sydney). She is the instigating artist and director of performance installation group Shagging Julie and has worked extensively at PACT Youth Theatre (both professionally and as a participant) as a performance maker, sound artist, facilitator, tutor and musical director. Recent works include Better than a Blow-Up Doll with Shagging Julie – a performance installation in a caravan demonstrating a range of space-age products to ensure your survival in the aftermath – for the Live Bait festival Jan 2004); Another Night: Medea with the opera Project in 2003; and Low Tech and Sawdust at PACT Theatre with Andrew Morrish and Heidrun Löhr in 2003. In the three years they have worked together, Shagging Julie have developed an ongoing practice encompassing movement, music, improvisation, development of work and analysis. All sessions are open and draw artists from a range of fields.

Michelle participated in Time_Place_Space 2. Later in 2004 she plans to visit Europe to seek out opportunities to augment her training in performance, sound and spatial/visual dramaturgy. Michelle operates Pyrmont Bridge (the oldest electrically operating swing-span bridge in the world) and is currently the financial manager at Omeo Dance Studio.

Teik Kim Pok (NSW)

Arriving in Sydney from Singapore in 1999, Teik Kim enrolled in an Arts degree at the University of New South Wales, graduating with a Theatre and Performance Studies major in 2002. His solo work Post-Op Chamber Piece, which deals with the cultural identity crisis, emerged from his final undergraduate year and has been shown twice at Performance Space, once with Urban Theatre Projects, before the final presentation at the university in September 2002.

In 2000, Teik Kim was awarded a place at PACT Youth Theatre's imPACT scholarship program in 2000 and trained with Christopher Ryan, Caitlin Newton-Broad, Nigel Kellaway and Regina Heilmann. There he met Michelle Outram and Gavin Sladen and formed the ensemble, Shagging Julie. Shagging Julie has produced numerous works that have been shown at Performance Space, (Remixing The Aftermath, 2003), Adelaide Fringe Festival, (Point Blank Recital, 2002) and the first Live Bait arts festival, (Better Than A Blow-up Doll, 2004).
Having recently completed a short video production course at MetroScreen in Paddington, Teik Kim is embarking on a self-initiated exploration of form through video art and production, which he hopes to incorporate into his upcoming solo development, The Pontianak Presentation Series (working title).

Kate Richards (NSW)

Kate is a multimedia artist and producer/designer based in Sydney. Kate’s electronic art, films and videos have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Video Brasil, d.art in Sydney, Macau Museum of Art, DAC/Playengine in Melbourne and in North America, Europe and Africa. Current projects include a suite of works in collaboration with writer/historian Ross Gibson. Based on scene of crime images, the suite, Life After WarTime, comprises a print exhibition (Crime Scene - currently touring regional NSW), 2 CD-Roms, live performance (Life After WarTime, live with The Necks – Adelaide Fringe 2002 and Sydney Opera House 2003) and an installation Bystander (in progress). She is in development on a triptych project, The End of Nature, which looks at notions of hybrid species, the ghetto-isation of micro-environments, mimesis and emergence.

Kate works by day as a multimedia producer and designer for cultural sector clients. In May 2003 she finished a 2 year contract as Multimedia Producer for the Historic Houses Trust (NSW), based at the Museum of Sydney. She created or commissioned over 10 video, sound, interpretative interactives, multi media and website projects. Recent clients/commissions include the multimedia design for the new visitors’ gateway at Sydney Olympic Park with Landini Associates; a database design for The Port Arthur Authority and multimedia design for an environmental interpretive centre in far NW Tasmania for architects Jacob, Allom and Wade.

Kate is active in the electronic arts community; she was recently a board member of ANAT and in 2002 presented papers at the inaugural Biennale of Electronic Art (BEAP)/Caiia STAR in Perth; data.terra in Sydney and the AAANZ conference at the AGNSW.

Alan Schacher (NSW)

Alan has integrated his passions for dance and design through a particular interest in spatial atmospherics and architectural experiences. His range of practice extends from ensemble performance to dance, video, sculptural installation and performance art. The body is a primary reference point in works which examine the human condition, fundamental issues of interaction and labour, notions of presence and relationships between body, space and matter.

The founding member of Gravity Feed in 1992, he has performed in all the company’s works and was concept designer of the sets for In the House of Skin, The Gravity of the Situation, and Tabernacle. He collaborates with Gravity Feed sound artist Rik Rue on other projects, including installation: Sleeping Between Whispering Walls (Orange Regional Art Gallery, NSW, 2002), an industrial residency in Nuremberg, Germany resulting in the performance Kunstwerk (1998), and travel in outback NSW, resulting in the performance Trace Elements /Residual Effects (1996). In 2001, he collaborated with Berlin artist Volker März, inventor-technician Joey Ruigrok and local performers, on stage 1 of the Scham Project, in which the team brings to life März’s clay figures. He co-created two award-winning video-dance works: Bridge of Hesitation (1996), and D-VOID (1995). Co-recipient of the NSW Government’s Robert Helpmann Scholarship for Dance (1994), he has been profoundly influenced by the work of Min Tanaka, and his Butoh Dance Company Maijuku, with whom Alan worked in Japan between 1989-91. Earlier dance influences have been Katie Duck (GROUP-O) and Russell Dumas (Dance Exchange). He also trained with Drama Action Centre, Sydney (1980) and studied 3-D Design at Berks. College of Art, U.K. (1972-74). He holds a Grad. Dip. Professional Arts Studies (C.A.I., Sydney, 1981), and Master of Fine Arts (CoFA, UNSW, 2000).

Alicia Talbot ( NSW)

Alicia Talbot’s artistic practice is primarily based in contemporary performance, where she works as a deviser, performer and director. Alicia is the Artistic Director of Urban Theatre Projects and most recently co-directed India@oz.sangam presented at Parramatta Riverside Theatre as part of Carnivale. Earlier this year, she co-directed Mechanix, a large scale performance spectacle in the Old Town Plaza, Bankstown. In 2002 she directed The Longest Night, commissioned by Peter Sellars for Adelaide Festival 2002. Previously, Alicia was artist in residence at High Street Youth Health Service where she directed The Cement Garage, and Wild Knights, devised the young men and staff of Cobham Juvenile Justice Centre. Alicia co-directed UTP’s <subtopia> with John Baylis (1999), The Ecstasy of Communication with Deborah Pollard for Salamanca Theatre Company (1998) and Mapping Indigo (1996), a series of site specific installations in rural Victoria.

As a performer, Alicia most recently appeared as a solo guest artist at The Blue Thong Club, Melbourne Festival. The Blue Thong was part installation, part performance and devised by the creative team of Neil Thomas and Katy Bowman. In 2002, Alicia’s solo work I Love You, directed by Nigel Kellaway was presented at Performance Space. This work was first developed with John Baylis during a Performance Space residency in 2000. Alicia has also appeared in Company B’s The Laramie Project, (2001) directed by Kate Gaul and in the feature film Soft Fruit (2000) directed by Christina Andreef. She has created and performed solo short works including Banks of Love, Mother’s Ruin, Simply Irresistible and Jesus Loves Me and a cameo performance as part of Guillermo Gomez Pena’s Museum of Fetish-ized Identities, Performance Space 2003.

Julie Vulcan (NSW)

Julie graduated from UNSW College of Fine Arts in 1991. From 1988-97, she created over 15 new video/sound installation works and amongst others, exhibited in Past Elements Future Icons (solo exhibit) 1989, the 4th and 7th Australian International Video Festivals and A Matter of Refraction-Women in Technology at the Performance Space; ARX 3 at the Lawrence Wilson Gallery, Perth; Experimenta at the Linden Gallery, Melbourne.

Julie has curated sound and video programs and has had her work aired both on television and radio. Recently she devised and performed B(b)UG at Headspace, a three week research development laboratory at the Performance Space. She performed in Balconies with ERTH Sydney Festival 2003 and participated in Time_Place_Space_1 2002. Julie has performed and co-devised work with Frumpus since 1995 and was a member of Icarus Performance Troupe from 1993-2001. She has been devising and performing physical theatre spectacle, touring nationally and internationally since 1998.

Martyn Coutts (TAS)

For six years, Martyn worked with Salamanca Theatre Company, (now is theatre ltd.) in Hobart, performing, teaching, devising, and touring. In 2001, he co-wrote Freezer - a performance installation set in a dance party. In 2002, Martyn was an associate artist on White Trash Medium Rare – a sound, video and performance collaboration with ten artists. In 2003, he was commissioned by the Works Festival, to direct Container: Passport to Happiness, a collaboration with members of Hobart’s new African community. Also in 2003, Martyn performed at the Bluebird International Children’s Festival, Seoul, Korea with is theatre’s Colour My World.

Martyn is co-producer of blink, a monthly performance improvisation night running in Hobart, and a founding member of Spect, a new media collective. In February 2004, he travelled to Berlin to attend Transmediale International Media Festival with support from the Australia Council’s New Media Arts Board. Martyn is undergoing an ongoing mentorship by improvisation artist, Andrew Morrish.

Martyn is currently undertaking postgraduate study at the VCA in Animateuring.
As co-creator of LAMP, a collaboration with a visual artist, Martyn will produce the site- specific performance Loading Zone, for the 2004 Next Wave Festival. He is a collaborating artist for is theatre ltd’s forthcoming production as part of Ten Days On The Island, 2005.

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