Team Biographies

LISA CHENEY - Composer 

Lisa Cheney is an Australian composer of acoustic and acousmatic music, living in Melbourne. Her music communicates through varied styles, which often explore notions of connection and authenticity through fascinations with expression, poeticism, fragility, delicacy, resonant space, pacing, light and dark and atmospheric soundscapes. Her body of work incorporates orchestra, chamber, voice, acousmatic collaborations and works for theatre and ballet. Cheney is the recipient of several scholarships and awards and has had music performed by The Southern Cross Soloists, The Australian Voices, Plexus, Syzygy, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Ballet amongst others. She has also been a composition fellow at a number of international festivals including the Atlantic Music Festival, Brevard Music Centre, Yale Norfolk New Music Workshop. Cheney holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition (2008) and Master of Music (2013) from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music where she studied with Gerard Brophy and Gerardo Dirie respectively. In addition to her role as co-founder and curator of ‘Making Waves’, she is currently completing her PhD in Music at The University of Melbourne, supervised by Elliott Gyger.

 KATHRYN MARQUET – Writer/Librettist 

Kathryn Marquet is a Brisbane-based playwright and actor. She is a graduate of the acting program at the University of Southern Queensland and holds an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Writing and Editing from the University of Queensland. She is currently completing a Master of Philosophy at UQ in playwriting and tutors regularly in playwriting and performance. In 2013, Kathryn held the position of Playwright in Residence at La Boite Theatre Company. Her debut play, Pale Blue Dot, featured in the 2014 mainstage season at La Boite and was published by Playlab Press. Pale Blue Dot was critically acclaimed and went on to be nominated for five Matilda Awards, including Best New Australian Work. Kathryn received a grant from Playwriting Australia to workshop Pale Blue Dot with nationally-acclaimed dramaturge Jane Bodie. Kathryn’s contemporary adaptation of the classic novel The Secret Garden had a professional staged reading in 2015, directed by Ian Lawson and is currently under development. Her plays Other Countries and Conqueror were both shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award in 2014 and 2013 respectively. Kathryn sat on the board of Associate Artists at Queensland Theatre Company from 2011 until 2013 and was engaged in the Emerging Artist Program at QTC in 2009. As an actor, Kathryn has worked extensively in Australian theatre for La Boite Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare, and many independent companies. She won the 2009 Matilda Award for Best Emerging Artist and was nominated for the 2010 Matilda for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mary Warren in QTC’s The Crucible.

 BRIDGET BOYLE - Director 

Dr Bridget Boyle is a Brisbane-based performer, writer, director, researcher and teacher in Drama, with a focus on comedy and gender. In 1998, she co-founded Debase Productions with Liz Skitch and Robert Kronk. Their theatrical works, Concerto for Harmony and Presto, Lilly Can’t Sleep, Moulin Beige, The Clown from Snowy River, Chasing the Lollyman, Spoilt, Fly-In-Fly-Out, Hurry Up and Wait, Warmwaters and The Furze Family Variety Hour, have been performed in venues and festivals across Australia and internationally, including Brisbane Festival, Queensland Theatre Company, State Theatre Company of South Australia and the Out of the Box Festival. Currently, Bridget is a Lecturer in Performance Skills and Devising Performance at Queensland University of Technology and holds a doctorate in Drama, having completed my practice-based doctoral project - Bits and Bumps: understanding gender in contemporary physical comedy. As an actor, Bridget performed with Queensland Theatre Company in major productions from 2001 – 2007, and was nominated for Best Female Actor in a Music for the 2005 Helpmann Awards and a national finalist and the Triple J Raw Comedy Competition in 2004. Her publications include The Clown from Snowy River (Playlab Press - 2007) and Take me seriously. Now laugh at me! How gender influences the creation of contemporary physical comedy (Comedy Studies, Routledge - 2015).

 PENNY CHALLEN - Designer/Producer 

Penny Challen is an internationally accomplished designer, having trained at QCA (Fine Art 1995-1997) and NIDA (Design 1999-2001) before working mostly in the UK from 2002. Since returning to Australia she has designed La Boheme for Opera Q, Happy Days for Queensland Theatre Company, The Glass Menagerie and Water Wars for La Boite, Motherland for Ellen Belloo (QTC), and Sarah’s Heavy Heart for Artslink Queensland. Designs outside Australia include: London (world) premieres of When You Cure Me and Bites (Bush Theatre); Under The Earth (Battersea Arts Centre); Qabuka (Oval House Theatre); Protection (costumes – Soho Theatre); and a controversial reworking of Hair the musical (costumes – The Gate Theatre). Outside London she designed The Taming of The Shrew (Royal Shakespeare Company schools tour); and To The Moon (The Arches, Glasgow). Penny has also been involved in more than 40 UK based productions working closely with creative teams for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC); The Royal Opera House (ROH); English National Opera (ENO) and The National Theatre. She has worked on shows with some of Europe’s most notable directors. Highlights include working with cutting-edge designer Es Devlin on numerous productions including seminal director Max Stafford-Clarke’s groundbreaking all-black tour of Macbeth; Salome, directed by Sir David McVicar; Orphee, directed by Francisco Negrin (both ROH) and Britten operas for Hamburg Staatsoper conducted by Simone Young and directed by Simon Phillips.

ALICIA CUSH – Creative Producer

Alicia Cush is a Brisbane-based performer, musical director, arranger and independent producer. She commenced musical training at an early age studying violin, flute, piano and voice, following by formal tertiary study at The University of Queensland, The Victorian College of Arts and The Queensland Conservatorium of Music. Currently, Alicia is a touring vocalist/instrumentalist with Circa Contemporary Circus and the Creative Director of Little Black Dress Creatives, directing and performing with cabaret collective Babushka and operatic ensemble Belladiva. As a chorus member of Opera Q, Alicia has performed in the company’s productions of Carmen, Tosca, Turandot, La Traviata, Aida and ABC Classic’s recording of Opera’s Greatest Choruses. Recently, Alicia has been a Music Producer with 2high Festival, toured internationally with Circa Contemporary Circus’ Il Ritorno and finished an 18-month Fresh Ground Artist-in-Residence program at the Judith Wright Centre Contemporary Arts with her production company Little Black Dress Creatives and major production Doll. This year will see Alicia touring nationally to major venues with Il Ritorno, a Queensland state tour of Babushka’s Doll, feature in Women in Voice 2016 and in development for major projects and touring in 2017 and 2018.