Eavesdropping on Artists: Framed Movements / Opus

Daniel is a director, dramaturg, actor and writer. With Daniel Schlusser Ensemble, he has created M+M (Theatre Works/Melbourne Festival), Menagerie (MTC Neon), Ophelia doesn’t live here anymore (Chamber Made Opera/Bell Shakespeare’s Minds Eye), The Dollhouse (fortyfivedownstairs), Life is a Dream (The Store Room) and Poet #7 (Full Tilt at The Arts Centre). Peer Gynt (2008) was the research component of Schlusser’s MA in directing from the Victorian College of the Arts.

Daniel has also created works for major festivals, staged numerous premiere productions by both Australian and international writers as well as working with classics from the Russian and European canon.

In 1996, Daniel was the second Australian (after Barrie Kosky) to be invited to the Young Directors Theatre Forum at the Berlin Theatertreffen. In 2003, Australia Council and Goethe Institute grants enabled him to work with Armin Petras at the Frankfurt Schauspielhaus. In 2008, he was awarded a Besen Family Fellowship and assisted Bruce Gladwin on Back to Back’s Tour Guide development for the Festival Linz 2009 in Austria. He was an artistic associate at The Store Room and an associate artist of The Rabble.

In 2012, Daniel was awarded the prestigious George Fairfax Memorial Fellowship.

Ian Pidd is a Melbourne-based freelance director of theatre and festivals. His theatre credits include his artistic directorship of Back To Back, including the Green Room award-nominated Minds Eye, plus ten years of works at Snuff Puppets, where his productions have travelled throughout the world. With Snuff Puppets, Ian has created large-scale theatrical works in Japan, Singapore, Brazil, and in many parts of Europe and Australia.

Ian has directed shows for The Business, Barry Morgan, Polyglot and many others.

Ian’s production of Men Of Steel’s Hard Rubbish was a popular and critical hit for The Malthouse in late 2013. He has been the artistic director of festivals as diverse as Moomba and The Works and was for six years the chair of Melbourne Fringe.

He is co-artistic director of boutique festival The Village and the director of Junction Arts Festival in Launceston. He curates the Village program at all three Falls festivals. Ian has an ongoing relationship with the creative community in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, where he has directed a series of large outdoor theatre works, as well has hosting a number of Indonesian artists on projects in Australia.

Ian sits on several boards and funding panels. He works in a variety of contexts, but has a particular interest in creating works that are highly participatory and which feature professional and vernacular artists working side by side.

Kate is the founding artistic director of Rawcus. She is a long-term collaborator with Back to Back Theatre, working with the company since 2000. Kate was the recipient of an Asialink Performing Arts Residency (India), a board member of the Next Wave Festival for eight years, and was selected for MTC’s inaugural Women Director’s Program.

Angela Conquet is artistic director of Dancehouse. Before moving to Australia in 2011, she worked for 11 years in Paris where she commissioned, presented and mentored over 100 dance artists. She initiated several international residency exchange and mobility programs for independent artists.

She is acknowledged for recognising and supporting dance artists who take creative risks, and for her bold and creative approach to linking artists with new performance contexts. She is the founder of the Dancehouse Diary, a quarterly publication linking the moving body to wider societal issues.