The Board
Tom Gutteridge - Chair
Prior to his appointment as Artistic Director of Black Swan Theatre Company, Tom had twenty years experience in the performing arts as a director, actor, dramaturg, composer, devisor and teacher.
For Black Swan, Tom has directed The Carnivores (World Premiere), Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Proof, a new version of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya by Reg Cribb, and co-direct Ruby’s Last Dollar with Jeremy Sims. Other direction includes the World Premiere of Birthrights and the World Premiere of Charitable Intent both by David Williamson, Company for VCA School of Drama, as well as The Sound Garden for Oz Opera, Opera Queensland and West Australian Opera. Tom was Artistic Associate at Queensland Theatre Company from 1996 – 2001 where he directed many plays included The Forest (starring Bille Brown and Geraldine Turner) and Vertigo & the Virginia (World Premiere).
Tom was an original member of the innovative collective Whistling in the Theatre between 1986 and 1992, and was involved in devising, writing, directing, composing, producing, publicising and performing 13 original works including tours of the acclaimed The Country of the Blind, Ship of Fools and A Thousand and One Nights.
John Aitken
John is the author of thirty stage plays including Some Other Town, Watershed, Authority, Daisy Bates and the Dancer (Festival of Perth 1993) and Music From The Whirlwind, which has been performed around the world and produced by the BBC and the ABC in London. Early in his career John won the inaugural Michael Edgley Award and used this to travel to England where he was attached to the Royal Opera and the RSC. He also worked at the Theatre Workshop, Stratford East as an actor and assistant director to Joan Littlewood. One of John’s most recent plays The Song of the Earth was commissioned by the School of Music of the University of WA and a radio drama version was subsequently commissioned by the ABC. John feels privileged to be a staff member of the International Schools Theatre Association. For ISTA he frequently flies to cities around the world to work with young writers, performers and directors. His new play Kokoschka’s Doll has been shortlisted for the prestigious Third International Onassis Playwrighting Award. Last year saw the successful premiere of his play about Noel Coward, Imperial Façade and his new radio play The Dollmaker starring Amanda Muggleton and directed by Gillian Berry premiered on Radio National earlier this year.
Vivienne Glance – Secretary
Vivienne has had full length plays produced in Seattle, London and Edinburgh and short plays in Perth and Sydney. Vivienne is an actor and theatre director with nearly twenty years professional experience and has worked in Europe, USA and Australia in theatre, film and TV. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in various publications including Short Stories Australia and Blue Dog, and she’s won prizes and a commendation in competitions. She regularly performs her poetry at readings and conducts workshops for writers on presenting their work in public and on performance poetry. Vivienne has wide-ranging production experience in the Arts including co-ordinator for the recent Out of the Asylum’s Finishing Line, an ArtsWA funded writers’ mentoring project. She has produced independent theatre in Perth, Seattle and Britain, and was co-founder of Arts Catalyst, the Science-Arts Agency in London. Vivienne is currently an Associate Director for Prickly Pear Theatre Company in Perth, a state committee member for AWG, on Out of The Asylum’s Reference Group and board member of WINGS multicultural arts organisation.
Suzanne Ingelbrecht
Suzanne Ingelbrecht is a playwright and independent theatre producer, whose plays include Fragmented, The Quiet Country, Hard Ware and Angel. She is also co-founder of the biennial August Peace Festival, an artistic and cultural celebration, held in the Hills, east of Perth, and a current PhD scholarship student in writing at Edith Cowan University. She is a passionate advocate for getting new original WA performance writing to the stage, and looks forward to what will be her second tenure on the Stages board. She has been a member of Stages since 1999.
Alan Payne – Treasurer
John Pratt
John Pratt is a graduate of UWA. He has been a professional actor in all forms of theatre including stage, radio, film, television (and even did a fire-eating act in a circus!) He toured Australia with the first production of Boys in the Band; worked in TIE for the Melbourne Theatre Company; appeared in the Rock Musical Jesus Christ, Superstar and appeared with The Two Ronnies in their stage show in Melbourne and Sydney. His writing credits include Faint Tappings at the Wrong Windowworkshopped at the ANPC in Canberra, Child Sacrifice workshopped at the Stables Theatre in Sydney, Mosquito – broadcast on ABC National Radio and produced by the Prickly Pear Ensemble at the Blue Room, Perth, and a weekly theatre column in The Surry Cosmopolitan in Sydney. His most recent work Grey Hair has received development funding from STAGES and another work Space Invasions is slated for production later in the year. He teaches English, Languages and Drama.