Theatre board members
Rosalba Clemente SA (chair)
Rosalba Clemente was appointed chair of the theatre board and a member of Council for three years from 26 March 2008.
Rosalba is a highly regarded theatre director, actor and playwright. She was the artistic director of The Theatre Company of South Australia from 1998 to 2004, where she established an innovative theatre laboratory to bring new Australian works to the mainstage. Rosalba has worked as both an actress and director for many Australian theatre companies. She has directed many plays, including world-premiere seasons of the highly acclaimed plays Radiance and My Vicious Angel. Her work has been nominated for many awards including Sydney Theatre Critics Circle, Victorian Green Room Awards, Mo Music Industry Entertainment Award and The Helpman Awards. Her first play Helly’s Magic Cup received the Rodney Seaborn Australian Playwriting Award for 2008. She has served on many theatre boards and advisory bodies, including the Belvoir Street Theatre board, the dance and drama advisory committee to the NSW Ministry of the Arts, and theatre advisory committee to the South Australian Department of the Arts.
Fraser Corfield QLD
Fraser Corfield has been the artistic director of Backbone Youth Arts in Brisbane since 2005. Over the past fifteen years he has worked as a director, actor, writer, workshop facilitator and artistic director. From July 1997 to December 2000 Fraser was the artistic associate of La Boite Theatre where he was responsible for coordinating development initiatives operating alongside the main house season. From 2001 to 2003 he was artistic director of Riverland Youth Theatre in South Australia and in 2004 was appointed as the regional touring officer for the Arts Regional Touring Service with the Queensland Arts Council. In 2007 Fraser was one of seven Australian artists selected for the Next Generation International Symposium meeting in Adelaide in 2008 and Linz, Austria in 2009. He has served on the boards of Young People in the Arts Australia (2007–09), Metro Arts (Qld, 2005–08) and the Theatre Arts Network of Queensland (2006-07). Fraser has been a company associate of Queensland Theatre Company (2006-08), chair of the selection panel for the Youth Arts Mentoring Program (2006-08) and is a member of the selection panel for Queensland’s theatre industry awards, The Matildas.
Sue Broadway VIC
Sue Broadway has been artistic director of Strange Fruit since January 2007. She was one of the founders of Circus Oz in 1978, working as an aerialist and acrobat. After working in Europe 1984 to 1992 with her own company, she became artistic director of Circus Oz from 1992 to 1995. She was the circus director for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sydney Olympics, and associate producer, circus and street events, for the 2006 Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival. In 2006, she worked in Doha as special skills associate director for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Asian Games. Sue maintains her practice as a freelance performer, director and teacher and is chair of ACAPTA (Australian Circus and Physical Theatre Association).
Fiona Winning NSW
Fiona Winning is an independent writer and producer. She spent nearly a decade as director of the Performance Space in Sydney, and was instrumental in negotiating the development of the CarriageWorks contemporary arts space. As Director of Performance Space, she was responsible for programming and producing a range of performances, installations, international exchanges and training and development projects. Previously, Fiona was Artistic Director of Playworks – the women performance writers network. From 1990 to 1995 she was Artistic Director of Death Defying Theatre (now Urban Theatre Projects), relocating and relaunching the company in western Sydney in 1990, and initiating the company’s practice of collaborating with local communities to make work fusing contemporary performance and popular culture. Fiona was awarded a Fellowship by the Australia Council’s Community Cultural Development Fund in 1995. She was Writer-in-Residence at University of Western Sydney’s School of Social Ecology the same year. She served on the NSW Ministry for the Arts’ Theatre Program Committee from 1993 to 1998, including three years as Chair.
Matthew Lutton WA
Matthew is a Perth-based theatre-maker and director of ThinIce. He has directed numerous productions including: Tartuffe (Malthouse Theatre), The Lady Aoi (Black Swan Theatre Company/Perth International Arts Festival 2007), Woyzeck, The Visit, Mountain Language, Striptease (Black Swan Theatre Company Be Active BSX-Theatre), The Goose Chase (deckchair theatre/ThinIce), The Gathering, Bed, The Bald Prima Donna (ThinIce) and Out at Sea, The Martyrdom of Peter Ohey (WAAPA). As assistant director, he has worked with Neil Armfield (Company B), John Pierre-Mignon (Sydney Theatre Company), Lindy Hume (West Australian Opera) and Tom Gutteridge (Black Swan Theatre Company). In 2006 he was Black Swan Theatre Company’s associate director and from 2003 was artistic director of their Be Active BSX-Theatre program. Matthew received Best Production at the Perth International Fringe Festival 2003 for The Bald Prima Donna, Best Production at the 2005 Equity Guild Awards for The Visit and was awarded Young West Australian of the Year for Arts in 2005. In 2007 he received an arts fellowship from ArtsWA.
Chris Puplick NSW
Chris Puplick has a long involvement with the arts industry, in particular the performing arts, dance and the film industry. During his term in Parliament (1978-1981 and 1984-1990) he chaired the Coalition Backbench Committee on Environment and the Arts and was Shadow Minister for the Arts and Heritage from 1987. Chris had been on the board of the Griffin Theatre Company where he served for 15 years, including several years as deputy chair or chair. He served six years on the Board of NIDA (from 1994), and in 2007 he returned to the Board of NIDA for a further three years. Chris Puplick has an extensive interest in museum and archive matters. He served as a Trustee of the Australian Museum, and is currently the chair of the Archive Forum (a national support group for the National Film and Sound Archive) where he is developing a project designed to research and preserve material which shows the way in which significant original Australian stage works have been developed into films.
Suellen Maunder QLD
Suellen Maunder is the Artistic Director and a founding member of JUTE Theatre, an award winning regional theatre company based in Cairns. JUTE Theatre is one of the Theatre Board’s Key Organisations. Suellen is an actor and director and plays a leadership role in the development, production and touring of new work from across regional Australia. Suellen was one of the key players in gaining $2.7m in capital works funding from State Government and was integral in the design and development of the Centre of Contemporary Arts in Cairns.
Suellen has served on the Arts Queensland peer assessment panel, the Regional Arts Development Fund committee and from 2000-2007 was a Trustee of the Board of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. In 2003 Suellen was nominated for Cairns Business Woman of the Year. Suellen is deeply committed to the development of professional theatre practice in the regions.