Guest Artists
Director
Brisbane-based director, Jon Halpin's theatrical career began on stage, appearing in amateur theatre productions at the University of Queensland's Cement Box Theatre. However, his true calling soon saw him step from the stage to the director's chair. The 2002 winner of a Matilda Award for Outstanding Achievement in Direction, Jon has directed Queensland Theatre Company productions of Bill and Mary (nominated for a Halpmann Award), BASH – Latter Day Play, Australian Sitcom Festival, The Messiah and, in August this year, The Lonesome West. He has also worked with numerous other theatre companies including Rolling Jaffa (Sexual Perversity in Chicago, The Duck Variations), La Boite (The John Wayne Principle), Armadean Players (Me and My Friend, Reservoir Dogs) and Hattrick Theatre (The Dumb Waiter, Self, Fool for Love).
Set Designer
Bruce McKinven graduated from the Visual Arts course at QUT in 1994 and from the Production Design course at NIDA in 1997. Prior to NIDA he was Design Assistant on many productions for Brisbane and Sydney based companies, including QTC, STC and QPAT. Since graduating, Bruce has designed seasons for Expressions Dance Company, Australian Dance Theatre, Thwack and West Australian Ballet, as well as The Dying Gaul for State Theatre Co SA and Bill and Mary and A Conversation for QTC. For the Adelaide Festival, he assisted on Red Square in 1996, was Production Manager for The Wasteland in 1998, in 2000 was the festival's Design Coordinator as well as the Co-Designer and Venue Coordinator for The Club and in 2002 was the Symposium Coordinator. In film, Bruce has worked as Assistant Art Finisher in Wardrobe on Mission Impossible 2 and as Costume Props Maker for Warner Brothers' Scooby Doo. Other credits include Assistant Stage Manager for Sydney Theatre Company and Force Majeure's Same Same But Different, Co-Designer/Production Manager for Boy Hamlet for the 2000 Brisbane Festival. In 2001, Bruce was awarded a Mike Walsh Fellowship and as part of his program, Bruce worked closely with Dublin-based dance company CoisCeim, on their contemporary production of Stravinsky's The Rite Of Spring. Bruce designed The Heidi Chronicles for the USQ Performance Centre in 2003.