In a short period of time, Tyran has firmly established himself as an acclaimed director on the Australian theatre scene. He directed the all-star production of ‘Follies’ at the Melbourne Recital Hall, followed by last years’ acclaimed production of ‘Barnum’ starring Todd McKenny and Rachael Beck. 

Professional Directing credits include the plays;‘Thom Pain’, ‘Pool (no water)’, ‘The Laramie Project’, ‘Great Expectations’, ‘Proof’,  the musicals; ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, ‘Lovebites’, Metro St’, ‘Cheek to Cheek’, ‘Rent’, ‘The Goodbye Girl’, ‘A Chorus Line’, ‘Hello Again’,  and the operas; The Coronation of Poppea and ‘The Fairy Queen’.

Tyran is a huge devotee of the work of Stephen Sondheim. Having played the title role in ‘Sunday in the Park with George’ professionally, he was thrilled to recently direct a much-acclaimed production in Perth in 2018. Aside from ‘Follies’, ‘Assassins’, which toured throughout Victoria after its sell-out Melbourne season was a highlight. ‘Into the Woods’ and ‘Everything’s Coming Up Sondheim’ repeated this artistic success. To celebrate the Composer’s 90th Birthday, Tyran will direct ‘Sondheim on Sondheim’ for the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in March this year.

Concert work includes the acclaimed ‘Rob Mills is Surprisingly Good’ ,Debra Byrne and Vika Bull in ‘Tapestry’, Caroline O’Connor’s, ‘From Broadway with Love’ and three separate national tours of ‘From Broadway to La Scala’ , over a six-year period.   

He is on the advisory committee of ‘New Musicals Australia’ in Sydney and ‘Homegrown’ in Melbourne while he continues to develop several new Australian musicals such as, ’Crossroads’ which he directed at Chapel off Chapel.

Other productions include the acclaimed, ‘Ordinary Days’ (Green Room Award – Best Director), ‘Big Fish’ (Broadway World and Glugg nominations- best director) at the Hayes Theatre, ‘Falsetto’s’, (Green Room Nomination- Best Director) and the opera ‘The Coronation of Poppea’ (Opera Chaser Award – Best director of an Opera).

As a teacher, Tyran has worked for all the major training institutions and is currently the Head of Music Theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts. He is also Artistic Director of Clovelly Fox Productions.

 tyranparke.com

Kathleen is a freelance Director and Producer and is currently the Executive Administrator to the Executive Director & Co-CEO at Melbourne Theatre Company. Most recently she was the Directing Intern for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  Other directing credits include the reading of Post – A Musical (The MC Showroom) Speaking in Tongues (Doughnut Productions/Pleasance for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017 & The Cockpit in London), after morning after (The Drayton Arms), and Girl in a Crisis at Omnibus Theatre where she was the Resident Assistant Director 2014-15. She was the Assistant Director on Judy! (Arts Theatre West End) and it’s previous version Through the Mill (Southwark Playhouse). Other assisting credits include Legally Blonde (Dir. Michael Ralph – James Terry Collective), Into the Woods (Dir. Gary Young – 3rd Year VCA Music Theatre), a promenade production of Macbeth (Omnibus), Associate Director of Clapham Ghost Ride (Omnibus) which had its audiences on bicycles, Peter Pan and the Designers of the Caribbean (The Bloomsbury Theatre) and Boris Godunov (The Brockley Jack). Kathleen has a Bachelor of Music Theatre from the Victorian College of the Arts.

Dann Barber is considered one of the most exciting designers in a new wave of emerging theatre practitioners. In only a short time since graduating NIDA’s design program, he has amassed a range of credits across many varied fields. Recent work includes his acclaimed re-imagining of ‘Barnum: The Circus Musical’ starring Todd McKenny (StoreyBoard Entertainment) ’33 Variations’ starring Ellen Burstyn and Lisa McCune (Mariners Group and Cameron Lukey), ‘Escaped Alone’ (Red Stitch Actors Theatre), ‘the Ghetto Cabaret’ (Fortyfivedownstairs) and the sold out season of ‘Angels in America’ (Cameron Lukey, Dirty Pretty Theatre). He has worked in Sydney at the Hayes Theatre, ‘Carmen: Alive or Dead’, and at the Griffin, ‘Thomas Murray and The Upside Down River’. Further north he has amassed a reputation for excellence across many styles including acclaimed productions for The Queensland Theatre Company with ‘A Tribute of Sorts’, The Brisbane Festival, ‘Klutz: A tragic comedy’; and La Boite Theatre Company with ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

His work spans costumes and set design across plays, musicals and opera’s with his work on ‘The Coronation of Poppea’ for Lyric opera in Melbourne receiving many accolades. Dann also runs his own theatre company- Goodnight Darling – and his first creation, which he both directed and designed, ‘Rainbow Man’ was programmed for a full season at Fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne in 2017. Dann has been the associate costume designer for Gabriela Tylesova for ‘Sleeping Beauty’ (Australian Ballet) and most recenty ‘Shakespeare in Love’ (Melbourne Theatre Company).

This year he will design a major commercial run of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne. And the Australian premiere of Amelie the Musical at the Eternity Theatre in Darlinghurst, Sydney. In addition to his NIDA design degree, Dann has a degree of Fine Arts- Drawing from RMIT.

Jack’s interest in theatrical sound began before long entering the professional realm, through his father’s involvement in sound engineering productions from the Cameron Mackintosh heyday such as Phantom of The Opera, Les Miserables and Cats. Growing up around the world of theatrical sound design, it seemed that professional sound would be the ideal career and over the past ten years, Jack has worked for The National Theatre of England, The Production Company and System Sound on over 20 commercial productions of both plays and musicals including Phantom of The Opera World Tour, Kinky Boots, Book of Mormon, Chicago, Warhorse, Antigone, Ghost and many more. Jack’s love of small theatre and design is now leading him out of large scale commercial theatre and into the fertile and fundamentally meaningful grounds of small theatre, where new and innovative ideas can be developed and works can take form with vibrancy, creativity and the other fleeting qualities that simply don’t thrive in the commercial realm. Through founding Jax Audio Systems, Jack has designed and engineered You Will Be Found and Everything’s Coming Up Sondheim whilst developing in-roads to acoustic treatment and installations for venues and acting as Deputy Head of Sound on the current touring production of Chicago The Musical. Jack is proud to be involved with Tyran Parke for a second time in Clovelly Fox’s first production, When The Rain Stops Falling.

Christopher Harley is a playwright and composer. His play Blood Bank was premiered by Ensemble Theatre in 2015, and his latest play Remembering Pirates premiered at Darlinghurst Theatre Company in 2016. In same year, Christopher was shortlisted for the 2016 Ensemble Theatre New Writing Commission for his play Losing Things. In 2013, Birdcage was performed as part of ATYP’s Out of Place (subsequently published by Currency Press) and his play Tortoise Love was presented by Griffin Theatre as part of their Festival of New Writing. His first full-length play Kimono Queen was developed and presented by Queensland Theatre Company in 2012 after winning their Young Playwrights’ Award. As a writer/composer, Christopher’s music theatre works include The Lonely Leaf (Gondwana Choirs), Peter Pan: The Boy Who Could Never (Hunter Drama), and Pink Tutu (NIDA), the latter winning him a CONDA award for Best Musical Score. His musical theatre songs have been recorded and performed by Australia’s leading performers at events such as The Adelaide Cabaret Festival, The Sydney Cabaret Festival, Light the Night and featured regularly at the Homegrown Australia’s New Music concert series.

Christopher’s sound design / theatre composition credits include Blood Bank (Ensemble Theatre), Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing (Sport for Jove), Pool (no water) (NIDA), Cymbeline and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Globe Shakespeare Centre Australia), As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors and The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other (Tantrum Theatre), and this year he will compose the score to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (StoreyBoard Entertainment). He was also the composer for short films Animal Love and Past Everything. Most recently, Christopher was commissioned by The Bellingen Music Festival to compose a concert work for strings, clarinet and percussion titled Hiraeth.

Christopher holds a Bachelor of Music (Composition) (Honours – Class I) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Penny Larkins is a performer and facilitator with 25 years as a professional singer, actor, writer, educator, choir director and workshop facilitator. Penny combines studies towards MFA in Voice (NIDA), Bachelor of Arts Musical Theatre (WAAPA) and Diploma of Education (RMIT) with a lifetime of practical and empathic experience to cultivate a rich palette of expressions and capacities.
Most recent dialect coaching work has involved Pursued By Bear’s Bright Star, Patalog’s Punk Rock and Sovereign Hill’s new sound & light spectacular AURA.
Performance and project involvement include the original Australasian tours of both Boy From Oz and Mamma Mia!, Hamlet, Oz Opera’s Way Dead Cool, Doubt: A Parable, Woodford Festival Fire Event finale, the premiere of Ned (a new Australian Musical), Punctum Live Arts Hardcore Member and curation of Quiet Place concert series.
Teaching experience includes Penn State University, University of Southern Mississippi, Jugend in Wien (Austria), NIDA, AIM, Sydney Children’s Festival choir, Melbourne Millennium Chorus and Schools Chorus.

Kara Bertoncini is a freelance Media Advisor and currently an Advisor, Media and Communications at Arts Centre Melbourne and the Australian Music Vault. Kara has had a career in the media industry as an arts, film and travel journalist/editor for The AU Review, a music journalist/editor for Acid Stag and Vulture Magazine, and a copywriter for music label Mammal Sounds. In addition to this, Kara was an Associate Producer and Presenter for Big Review TV covering high profile red carpet events including the ARIA Awards, TV Week Logie Awards and opening nights of The Lion King, Dirty Dancing and Cirque du Soleil’s Totem. Kara has a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Journalism and Italian from Monash University.