CAST
James Bean
James’s work in theatre includes roles in Laughter on the 23rd Floor at the New Theatre, The Lady from Dubuque at Belvoir, Only Heaven Knows and Soft Targets at the Griffin. In Perth he appeared in The Recruiting Officer, Our Country’s Good, Tom and Viv and Down an Alley Filled with Cats at the Hole in the Wall, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at the Playhouse. He toured in The Importance of Being Earnest with Hinge and Bracket, and in Corpse! He has been a member of Equity for over twenty years. James is also develops materials for English language teaching. Recently he finished Grammar Club, a series of books for primary learners in Korea, Taiwan and Pakistan, and he is the editor of Robin Readers, a series of short fiction for teens, released in Germany, Austria, Turkey and Korea.
Celia Bickmore-Hutt
Celia Bickmore-Hutt graduated from the Ensemble in 2006 and has recently completed her first feature film role in Almost directed by Chris Noonan. Other film and TV appearances include the 2007 Tropfest entry Linguistically Challenged and a guest role on Water Rats. Theatre credits include, Road, Kindertransport, 100, Wuthering Heights, The Stronger, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Plaza Suite.
Dan Collopy
Dan studied Dramatic Art in Melbourne at the National Theatre in St Kilda, where mid study, he was offered the role of Sean Edwards in Neighbours.
In 2001, Dan was cast as Josh West in Home & Away. After two years of milkshakes and kissing behind the surfclub, it was decided time for the character to leave the show. He was re-written as evil to ease the exit, but created the Dan the perfect character. Subsequently Josh has appeared on and off the screens for the last five years.
After Home & Away, Dan took off to work in the UK. Then moved to live and study in Los Angeles where he focused on acting and writing.
While in L.A, Dan was invited back to Home & Away for six months for one last dance. For Josh to met his demise.
On moving back to Sydney, Dan rediscovered his love of the theatre. He appeared in A Quiet Table for Four in this years Short & Sweet, and has just finished a season playing Tom/Rick in Michael Gows classic, Away .
Dan is thrilled to be a part of The Italian Straw Hat.
Fiona Hallenan
Fiona is a graduate of Theatre Nepean. Directing credits include Hamlet – William Shakespeare (New Theatre), Good - Patricia Cornelius (Short & Sweet ’07) FiRE – Georgia Keighery (Darlinghurst Theatre) Nikolina – Van Badham (Griffin Searchlight), A Night of Desire - Tennesee Williams (assistant director. director Gale Edwards – Actors Centre Australia), Caucasian Chalk Circle – Bertolt Brecht (associate director. director Louise Fischer – New Theatre), Bedtime for Bastards – Van Badham (Crypt Theatre), Features of Blown Youth - Raimondo Cortese (New Directions), Some Mysterious Ways – Georgia Keighery (Short & Sweet ‘06) NQR – Margaret McKenzie (Short & Sweet ‘05), As You Like It – Williams Shakespeare (dramaturg. director Anna Volska - Q Theatre) and Rivers of China – Alma De Groen (dramaturg/assistant director. director Catherine Hill - Wharf 2). Fiona is a co-founder of Under the Table Productions along with Louise Fischer and is currently collaborating with new writers for the Metamorphases project at PACT in late July.
Douglas Hansell
Douglas is a 2003 acting graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Recent theatre credits include: Elizabeth Rex (Theatre 3, Canberra), Christmas In November (Company B – corporate performance), The Cold Child (Das Kalte Kind) (Griffin Stablemates) The Merchant of Venice (The Kirk), Actors At Work (Bell Shakespeare Company). Film and television work includes: All Saints (Channel 7 – semi-regular), Scheyeville (AFTRS Major Work), The Chocolate Cake (Project Greenlight finalist). Cabaret: Emotional Baggage – and other menial everyday tasks (Bar Me). Douglas has also worked as a composer on various theatre productions (notably Pericles WAAPA – dir. Kate Cherry) and tutors in acting, piano and voice at various venues in Sydney.
Victoria Haralabidou
Victoria Haralabidou studied at the Institute of Cinematography in Moscow and The Greek Drama School in Athens. Her acting credits include: Dear Elena, a contemporary Russian play by Lioudmila Razumovskaya (Best Actress award 2001), The Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard, A Bright Shinning Sun (Best Actress Award - Short Film Festival 2000), Suddenly (TV series for Mega TV Channel Greece) and a feature film Brides (Best Actress Award – Thessaloniki Film Festival 2005) a Martin Scorsese production.
She has translated various theatrical works in Russian, English and Greek. Her first performance in Australia was with Company B in Stuff Happens, a controversial play by David Hare Directed by Neil Armfield. One of her recent work is in SBS mini TV series East West 101 a most anticipated Knapman Wyld Television Production, Directed by Peter Andrikidis
Garth Holcombe
Garth is an Acting grduate of NIDA 2006. During his time at NIDA he played 'Larry' in Patrick Marbers Closer, 'Cymbeline' in Shakespeares Cymbeline, Vershinin in Chekhovs Three Sisters, and 'Don' in Don's Party by David Williamson. Previous to NIDA he travelled to Singapore to perform in Mammon Inc, and returned to Sydney to play the role of Gerald in Oscar Wildes A Woman of No Importance. He has also appeared in Channel 7's All Saints and played Seth Wallis in the ABC's HeadStart.
Dannielle Jackson
Dannielle Jackson is a young actor in her first year out of Acting school at QUT. Since her graduation last October her theatre credits include An Italian Straw Hat directed by Joseph Uchitel. Television credits include All Saints and she has also worked on an indigenous short film Days like These directed by Martin Adams.
Previous theatre credits include Once in a lifetime directed by America’s Don Finn, Our Country’s Good directed by Kate Cherry and Twelfth Night directed by Anna Volska in which Dannielle played Viola and received Barbette Stephens Emerging Talent Award for in 2005.
Chris Leaney
Chris graduated from Ensemble Studios in May 2006. He landed his first professional job a week later, a part in the award winning production Stupid stupid man for tv1. Chris played the part of the new copyboy at a men’s magazine ‘Ross Hampton’ a young Christian man who has been sheltered from ‘the harsh world outside’ (quote from his mother). The show has recently been commissioned for a second series. Since then he has performed in a travelling Christmas musical, and has more recently been working on corporate gigs. Some of the diverse parts he played whilst studying at Ensemble include Skinlad a crazed skinhead who has recently found buddha in the play Road by Jim Cartwright. In the gripping production of A line in the dust written and directed by Clayton Buffoni. Chris had two roles- Zaid, an unstable taxi driver in Palestine on the verge of becoming a terrorist and Yonni, a young Israeli man who has lost his brother in a suicide bombing and turned his heartbreaking misfortune into a driving force of bringing peace to the world.
Margaret McManus
Margaret graduated in 2006 from The Ensemble Acting Studios. Her performances at the studios included A Line in the Dust, also staged at the Independent Theatre, Road, The Department of Nothing, Starting Now and Siren. Margaret is very proud of the work she did with an American theatre company in Seoul, Korea in the 80's. Her credits include, The Diary of Anne Frank, Something's Afoot, The Matchmaker (best actress award), The Miracle Worker and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon, and Marigolds. Since graduating, she has worked in commercials, corporate videos and print media, but her great love of course is the theatre. Margaret recently appeared in The Vagina Monologues at the Sydney Theatre before joining this production.
Neil Modra
A graduate of NIDA, Neil has worked extensively as an actor, director and teacher. Most recently Neil appeared in the Night Sky Production of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors in which he played both Angelo and The First Merchant at the Coogee Arts Festival in February. His film experience includes roles in The Last Crop and Mongrel’s Funeral. Neil’s television appearances include A Country Practice, Police Rescue, Children’s Hospital, Blue Murder, Snobs, All Saints, and Word and Worship. On stage he has played in Eternum, David, Angel Story of Singapore, Jesus the Rock, The Man of Passion,School for Scandal and Jesus the Rock Opera. He has performed in numerous corporate productions and appeared in TV commercials such for companies such as QANTAS, McDonalds, AMP, NRMA, Toyota, Hamilton Island, Yellow Pages, St George, RSPCA and Rent-A-Space.
Neil also loves to direct and has worked productions such as The Secret, JTRM and Now and Forever. He works as an acting lecturer at the Oxford Falls School of Creative Arts, teaches the Stanislavsky System to private students as well as coaches actors and singers in Voice Work.
Gus Murray
Gus' stage credits include Journey's End (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Fire (Darlinghurst Theatre), Birthdays, Christmas & Other Family Disasters (Riverside Theatre), Character Development (Short & Sweet), Oedipus: The Infernal Machine (Downstairs Belvoir), Hamlet (Seymour Centre), Badjelly the Witch (New Theatre) and various productions at SUDS.
His screen credits include The Chaser, Farscape, For Every Year (Tropfest Finalist 2004).
Gus has studied acting with various groups including ATYP and Screenwise.
Shondelle Pratt
After several years of teaching, Shondelle decided a change of career was in order. She graduated from Ensemble Studios in 2005. Shondelle has worked on productions such as Palace Whore, Escort?, Drought Breaker, The Vagina Monologues,Never in My Lifetime, La Ronde, The Wild Duck and Snoopy the Musical.
She also performed in and choreographed the cabaret Starting Here, Starting Now as well as choreographed Midsummer Nights Dream and Road for Ensemble Studios. Shondelle has appeared in several TVC’s, short films and also works as a voice over artist.
Matias Stevens
Before being excepted into NIDA, Matias Stevens lived in Brisbane where he was involved as an actor in more than half a dozen short films. He also performed in two theatre productions, being The landscape of men for the Brisbane art theatre and Speak truth to power for the University of Queensland. During his three years at NIDA Matias performed in more than seven plays, including, The Bear, Love's Labour's Lost, The Matchmaker, Beach and The Laramie project. He also wrote and directed a play for the NIDA short play festival called At the bus stop.
Paul Weingott
Paul’s performance during the 2003 Sydney Festival of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape was highly acclaimed. In October 2004 he completed a tour of Debbie Issitt’s comedy The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband. In January 2005 he appeared at Belvoir St. Downstairs in a new Australian play Crescent Moon,Yellow Star by Henry di Suvero and later the same year in The Ballard of Rachel Corrie also by Henry di Suvero. He followed the Belvoir season with a comic cameo in Malcolm D. Broun’s The Club at Short & Sweet 2005 and in 2006 performed in a short film Passing By, LococrabzProductions andat the Wollongong Unhinged Festival in Barren and at the Melbourne Fringe Festival in Totem by Lachlan Kerr.
Paul has worked as an actor in the UK at the Nottingham Playhouse with directors Jonathon Miller and Stuart Burge; in the Czech Republic with Ladislav Fialka at Theatre Na Zabradli, Prague and as a member of the South Australian Theatre Company with directors George Ogilvie and Rodney Fisher. He was the inaugural manager of education for the Sydney Theatre Company and a founding director of the Actors’ Centre, Australia. Together with his career as an actor and theatre director Paul has dedicated much of his efforts to developing performing arts curriculum as well as teaching and learning in drama and theatre arts at each level of education.
