BitsFestival

Brisbane Independent Theatre Sampler Festival is an idea about to happen.

The idea is to make it possible for Brisbane to have a truly independent Fringe Festival, run by Brisbane independent theatre makers, for independent theatre makers.

A Fringe Festival, (festival of Fringe theatre) is not curated. It is a madcap mayhem of creation which occurs when independent theatre makers make theatre, find a venue and put it in front of an audience.

We have the talent, and the commitment, and now – the venues.

Get involved, any way you can.

WHO ARE WE?

At the moment, ‘we’ are a group of volunteers, including

Flloyd Kennedy (coordinator)

FLLOYD began performing aged six in Townsville Town Hall; joined Brisbane Arts Theatre and Brisbane Rep in the mid 1960s, travelled to London and became a folk singer,  street theatre and cabaret artist; was Artistic Director of Golden Age Theatre (Glasgow), directing and performing in classic and contemporary plays, touring to festivals, theatres, schools and community halls (with workshops) around Scotland, and created Performance Exchange, facilitating training opportunities for professional performers across Scotland. Flloyd joined VoiceTheatre NY in Columbia (Maryland, USA), and trained with the Maly Drama Theatre of St Petersburg. Since returning to Brisbane in 1997, she has directed Madama Butterfly, La Serva Padrona, A Life in the Theatre, All’s Well That Ends Well, Faith Hope and Charity, and performed with Gyre Theatre, Trocadero Productions, Crossbow Theatre, Tempest Productions,  QSE, Emerge! Project and THAT Production Co, as well as appearing in children’s TV (Mortified, H2O – Just Add Water) and many short films. Her musical play Blame it on Your Mother was performed in Scotland by The Wicked Ladies, and by The Girls at the Empire Church Theatre, Toowoomba. Her adaptation of David’s Malouf’s An Imaginary Life was presented by Vena Cava/Off The Planet. Flloyd teaches voice and acting skills at QUT and through her private practice Being in Voice www.being-in-voice.com and is in the process of establishing Thunder’s Mouth Theatre Co.

Sarah Thomasson (venue and artist liaison)

Sarah is an MPhil candidate at the University of Queensland researching festivals and found spaces. With a background in Stage and Production Management, Sarah has is committed to independent theatre in Brisbane. Over the last five years Sarah has a worked for a number of local independent companies including the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble, She Said Productions, Starlight Theatre Co-op, BlackLight Arts Collective, and on performances produced as part of the Metro Arts Independents Program (Metamorphoses – Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble) and the Emerge Project (The Fool’s Journey – Birdwing Lane Productions). Recent productions as Stage Manager include: Crave (BlackLight), Private Lives (Starlight), and Minefields and Miniskirts (MadCat Creative Connections).

Sally Clarke (Registration)

SALLY CLARK has a Bachelor of Theatre Studies majoring in Technical Production from James Cook University. For the last four years she has worked as Tenures Officer for the Queensland Government , Sally has acquired a wealth of knowledge and experience in many elements of technical production and administration skills, from working on all forms of productions from Euripedes to contemporary Australian play and festivals. Originally from Charters Towers, Sally is a well known person in regional theatre of North Queensland having lent her skills to a number of productions including Queensland Music Festival’s Charters Towers The Musical. She is a qualified trainer, and acts as consultant to training organisations. She is currently advising TEIA Ltd on the development of a Certificate II in Live Production for school ages students.

Noel Sheridan (theatre practitioner)

NOEL is a performing Artist and Producer and will MC and liaise with the venue that is The Joynt, Montegue Rd  West End. Noel has 25 years experience in the industry and has been involved with many Brisbane, State, National and overseas events including World Expo 88, Warana, Brisbane Festival, Federation Event, Moomba, The Rocks Sydney Festival, Starlight Stampede Longreach, Inaugural Spirit of the Outback , Winton Festival, Beef Week Rocky and Casino, Australia and Pacific Tourism Festival Fiji and more recently was nominated for an award at Brisbane’s inaugural Short and Sweet Festival. Noel is a Leo and looks forward to the enlivening of new work in his beloved Brissy. He believes in BitsF as an uncurated event and an avenue for new work… do a bit…

Hamish Clift (Operations Manager)

HAMISH  is a postgraduate student of economics at the University of Queensland. He has three children: Horsythe, Horatio and Henrietta. He is interested in the economics of the performing arts and intellectual property. Hamish regularly wears hats, rarely leaves home without a camera and has a penchant for fine couture.

Joe Collings (event manager)

David Jackmanson (media consultant)

There are four venues.

THE JOYNT, MONTAGUE STREET, WEST END (apologies to The Joynt, their logo went straight to the new website)

and then there is our first major sponsor: