Bijou Cabaret: The Team

Chrissie Shaw: Writer, performer.

Chrissie visited Canberra with ‘Pipi Storm Company’, The Dresses and The Not Too Late Show in the 80s, returning in 1987 to work with TAU Theatre for 2 years, on eight productions. In Canberra, she worked for many companies including Women on a Shoestring and Jigsaw Theatre. She produced independent shows About Face, Footprints On The Wind, A Sweeter Fern – That’s Red!, Drumming On Water, The Keeper, Flotsam And Jetsam, Gran’s Bag, and most recently Bijou-A Cabaret of Secrets and Seduction. Additional productions are Lawrie And Shirley (The Street Theatre 2011), Pearl Verses The World (Jigsaw 2011), Rolling Home (Greg Lissaman 2012). Awards: MEAA Award 1997, and a new MEAA Award for 2013, ACT Performer of the Year, for BIJOU. Critics Circle Awards 2007, 2012, and a new 2013 Critics Circle Award for BIJOU. Chrissie is a proud member of Actors Equity.

Alan Hicks: Pianist, Musical Advisor

Alan is a leading vocal coach and accompanist and an innovative music educator. Currently Head of Vocal and Keyboard Performance at the University of Canberra, Music Director of UC Chorale, his current and former students perform for opera companies, and in festivals in Europe and Australia. He has made regular broadcasts for ABC Classic FM and national and international recital appearances. Theatrical credits include musical preparation for operas including Albert Herring, Dido and Aeneas, Die Zauberflöte, Die Fledermaus, chorus master for Tosca, The Barber of Seville, La Traviata.

Susan Pilbeam: Director, Dramaturg

Susan’s work has focused on the development of new writing, directing at La Mama, Theatreworks, Gasworks and comparable venues in London. She worked as a dramaturge and director at Holmesglen TAFE, later teaching Music Theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts and the University of Ballarat. Previous ‘biographical’ shows she has directed include Ada Cambridge Live, Velvet Rebel, and The Mark Twain you don’t know, which toured to the US. She is delighted to have an opportunity to work at The Street Theatre for the first time and to premiere Bijou.

   

Liz Lea: Choreographer

Liz, an international dance practitioner, is Artistic Director of Liz Lea & Co and Canberra Dance Theatre, and Associate Director at QL2 Dance. Currently Choreographer in Residence at CSIRO Discovery, she is Director of DANscienCE, a dance and science symposium held in Canberra for National Science Week 2013. She premieres two new solo works at The Street Theatre in October 2013: Kapture and Magnificus Magnificus with Tammi Gissell. Liz has received a 2013 Critics Circle Award for her contribution to Dance in the ACT.

Imogen Keen: Designer

A theatre designer-maker in Canberra, Imogen has worked on a wide variety of professional stage productions. In 2009 and 2011 she received the Canberra Critics Circle Award for Theatre Design and in 2011 received an MEAA Peer Acknowledgement Award. Her designs for sets, installations, costumes and puppets are informed by a close involvement with the making process and an experimental approach to media. Previous work with SmallShows includes Flotsam and Jetsam, Gran’s Bag, and Drumming on Water.

Victoria Worley: Costumes

Victoria has a long association with QL2 Dance Company, has previously worked on ‘Flotsam & Jetsam’ at the Street Theatre, and Canberra Youth Theatre’s ‘The Messenger’. Recently she exhibited her uniquely embroidered lingerie at the M16 Artspace. Victoria’s projects challenge and develop her design and technical skills. Her objective is to keep working with a variety of ACT artists. After designing and constructing her first corset for Bijou, looks forward to further developing her lingerie label, ‘Hello Laverne’.

Gillian Schwab: Lighting Designer

Gillian Schwab is a set and lighting designer creating weird and wonderful theatre in Canberra. Recent work includes venue and lighting design for the 2013 Capital Jazz Project, production design for serious’ playfully irreverent children’s show PEA! and production design for Boho’s epidemiological adventure Word Play at the CSIRO. Gillian is the resident lighting designer at The Street Theatre. She designed lights for SmallShows Gran’s Bag.