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Breast Wishes is a new Australian musical about love, life, loss and silicon; a witty and heart-warming journey of courage and determination through laughter to triumph.
A celebration of breasts and those who support them, Breast Wishes is written by some of Australia's most respected comedic and dramatic writers including Merridy Eastman, Jonathan Gavin, Richard Glover, Wendy Harmer, Sheridan Jobbins, James Millar and Debra Oswald, with music and lyrics by Bruce Brown. Original concept by Anne Looby.
Meet four women - sisters, mothers, daughters, cousins. Add a fumbling boyfriend, a well-meaning husband, a bra-fitter who's seen it all, some show-stopping numbers and a brilliant cast with direction by Jason Langley, musical direction by Michael Tyack, choreography by Nathan M Wright, dramaturgy by James Millar, production design by Imogen Ross, lighting design by Trudy Dalgleish and sound design by Michael Waters you have a small musical about big issues.
A sophisticated and hilarious glimpse of cleavage and beyond which promises to make your heart sing.
Proudly supporting the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
'Bra-vo! A cheerful show'
The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 April, 2009
'we've had Menopause…, but Breast Wishes is by far the best'
Stage Whispers, 9 July 2009
'the atmosphere of sisterhood celebration was palpable…..and is likely to follow for a while yet' The Daily Telegraph, 20 April 2009
'...the comedy is balanced by an edgy reality that moves you to tears'
The Courier Mail, 9 July 2009
'Extends the genre into ground I don't think it's occupied before.
And that's really something.'
Australian Stage Online, 17 April 2009
'cheeky, light-hearted and occasionally poignant'
The Canberra Times, 29 May 2009
'This is a wonderful feel-good piece of theatre that provokes as well as entertains' ozbabyboomers.com, 18 April 2009
'Mammaries are made of this…….and I think it's going to inspire some comparable, homegrown ventures. Of course, whether they manage to be comparably good remains to be seen'
Australian Stage Online, 17 April 2009
'The man in front of me was laughing fit to bust, as were most people of both sexes' The Australian, 28 May 2009
'delightful humour, absolute veracity and genuine compassion' ozbabyboomers.com,18 April 2009
'..take us on a warm and wonderful journey that is both irreverent
and bravely honest'
The Courier Mail, 10 July 2009
'slick, mostly funny, but also very real'
ArtsSound FM, 30 May 2009
'It very much lives up to its subtitle of being “an uplifting musical”, and should be high on the must-see list of all thinking females and males' ozbabyboomers.com, 18 April 2009
'It resonates with the audience….a crowd pleaser'
The Canberra Times, 29 May 2009
'cheeky, light-hearted and occasionally poignant'
The Canberra Times, 29 May 2009
'...it is to be hoped that a piece of musical theatre such as this, which is at once celebratory and informative, will be seen by as many people as is humanly possible.' ABC Radio 612 - Brisbane, July 10 2009
'Uplifting, and joyous, and funny, and ultimately moving…hits its target audience with a whopping great big bang'
Stage Whispers, 9 July 2009
'Breast Wishes is for you! It is fun and filled with fond memories to which we can all relate. Australia's top writers and producers have put their heart and soul into this production and you will definitely come out remembering more than one tune ...... the sign of every great musical!'
Sue Murray, CEO, National Breast Cancer Foundation
MEET THE TEAM BEHIND THE SHOW.....
Bruce Brown - Music & Lyrics
Bruce Brown, originally from LA, established himself as a highly regarded pianist, singer, and songwriter performing at all the major jazz clubs in Southern California. His songs have been described as 'original standards' and reflect his love of the great American songbook. Holding all the lyrics in place is a beautiful, almost invisible architecture. His words flow in careful trickles, clever bursts and soulful yearns. His melodies dance and float over chord changes that provide daring colouration. Bruce arrived in New Zealand late in 1998 to take up the position as Senior Vocal Jazz Tutor at the Conservatorium of Music, Massey University Wellington where he currently teaches full-time and performs regularly in the capital. In 2000 Bruce recorded 'I Believe It' in Sydney with fellow Americans Gordon Brisker and Don Rader, and Sydney's own Hamish Stuart and Jonathan Zwartz. His second album 'Love Finds You' was recorded in his home town of LA in early 2005 with a circle of his lifetime friends and jazz peers including Larry Koonse - guitar, Dave Carpenter - bass, Ron Stout - trumpet.
Merridy Eastman - Writer
Over the last twenty years Merridy Eastman, a NIDA graduate, has performed in a swag of productions for the Melbourne and Sydney Theatre Companies, as well as the State Theatre Company of South Australia. She has had major roles in most current Australian soap operas, was a regular cast member on Channel Seven's Always Greener, but is best known for being a Playschool presenter for four years. In 2002, Merridy's first book was published by Allen and Unwin. A humorous memoir of her experience working as a brothel receptionist, There's A Bear In There And He Wants Swedish became a national best seller, and has since been published in the UK and Germany. Merridy's second book, published in 2007, traces her subsequent overseas adventure that began disastrously but ended happily - in Germany. Ridiculous Expectations has since been optioned for a feature film. Her third book How Now Brown Frau is an account of her last five years living as wife, mother and writer in Bavaria, and is due for release in 2010. Breast Wishes is Merridy's first experience as a writer for theatre, and she's loved every second of it. She's very proud to be part of such a creative initiative to raise awareness of breast cancer. Merridy's also very grateful to Breast Wishes for allowing her bra fitter to be included in Penguin's anthology Thanks For the Mammaries, for which all royalties go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Jonathan Gavin - Writer
Jonathan graduated from the WAAPA Theatre Course in 1998. He holds an Honours degree in English from the ANU, where he was awarded the Blackburn Medal for Drama, the Leslie Holdsworth Allen Prize for English, and the University Medal for Arts. While studying acting at WAAPA he wrote and performed the short solo works The Story Always Old and Always New and A Brief History of Western Drama. Following graduation he wrote Schmaltz for Canberra's Elbow Theatre, and Bender for the Tamarama Rock Surfers. He also co-authored the Tamarama Rock Surfers show Aperture. In 2004 he won the Philip Parsons Young Playwrights Award for A Moment on the Lips, which enjoyed two sold-out seasons in Sydney, and has subsequently been produced in Melbourne, Perth, and Vienna. Sleepless Night, originally written for the Practical Theatre Company, won the Melbourne Short & Sweet play competition and was a finalist in the Sydney Short & Sweet festival. It has since travelled the world, where it has picked up a number of other awards, including the Brighton Festival Angel Award and a Best of Edinburgh Top Five Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as part of White Room Theatre's Bite Size showcase. Jonathan has written plays commissioned by Company B Belvoir, the Melbourne Theatre Company, and Griffin Theatre Company. His play Tiger Country, which was presented at the SBW Stables Theatre in 2007, was shortlisted for the Philip Parsons Award. Current projects include BANG for White Box Theatre, and the screenplay for Wauchope, the recent winner of the Optus One80 Project with Starchild Productions. Jonathan is also an award-winning actor who has toured nationally and internationally with shows including 2 Pianos 4 Hands, Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Musica Viva), End of the Rainbow (Ensemble) and Bell Shakespeare's As You Like It. He will also appear in Bell Shakespeare's Pericles in 2009.
Richard Glover - Writer
Richard Glover is the author of ten books, including the bestsellers Desperate Husbands and In Bed with Jocasta. Richard's writing for the stage includes Lonestar Lemon, which has toured nationally with Genevieve Lemon, and A Christmas Story, which premiered at the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre with Richard Wherrett directing. He presents the Drive show on ABC radio in Sydney and has written a weekly humour column for The Sydney Morning Herald for over twenty years.
Wendy Harmer - Writer
Wendy Harmer is one of Australia's best-known humorists. As a stand-up comedian she performed her one-woman shows at the Melbourne, Edinburgh, Montreal and Glasgow Mayfest Comedy Festivals, in London's West End and the Sydney Theatre Company. Wendy enjoyed huge popularity leading Sydney radio station 2Day FM's top-rating Breakfast Show for 11 years and winning 84 of the 88 ratings surveys for that period. She has hosted, written and appeared in a variety of TV shows including ABC's The Big Gig. A former political journalist, Wendy is the author of seven books for adults including her best selling novel Farewell My Ovaries, Love And Punishment and Nagging For Beginners, a how-to guide for women. Her latest novel Roadside Sisters was published in April 2009. Wendy's children's book series about Pearlie the park fairy have sold more than 400,000 copies in Australia and internationally since the first title Pearlie In The Park was published in 2003. A stage show of the books adapted by Wendy played at the Seymour Centre in Sydney and toured regional NSW in 2005 and then nationally in 2007. The animated television series based on Wendy's Pearlie books is currently in pre-production in Australia and Canada with Sticky Pictures and Canadian broadcaster Nelvana co-producing. The fifty-two part series is expected to air on Network Ten in 2010. Wendy is developing the series as Creative Producer and has written many of its episodes. Stuff, a four-part television documentary series which Wendy produced, wrote and presented, premiered on ABC TV in March 2008. In late 2008 Wendy and Angela Catterns recorded a 16 part podcasting series for ABC Radio Local called Is It Just Me?. Together they debate and discuss their observations and conclusions on everyday life. The podcasts are currently available for download from the ABC Radio Local website. Wendy and her husband Brendan have two young children and live on Sydney's Northern Beaches.
Sheridan Jobbins - Writer
Sheridan Jobbins is a Sydney-based screenwriter. She is a member of the Writers Guild of America and the Australian Writers' Guild, who, along with Director, Stephan Elliott, recently adapted Noel Coward's play, Easy Virtue for the screen. She has worked extensively as a journalist and television presenter on shows such as Simon Townsend's Wonder World, Billboard and House of Fun, and for several years was a Director of Latent Image Productions during which time they produced the multi award winning feature films, 'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert', Paws and WillFull. Her deep past includes holding the Guinness World Record for being The Youngest Host of a TV show for Cooking With Sheri... hobbies include pole dancing, and rocking the boat.
James Millar - Writer
Trained in writing at the University of Technology, Sydney, James has penned two musicals with composer Peter Rutherford: The Hatpin, which played seasons in Sydney and New York in 2008; and Lovebites: A Song Cycle - both of which were nominated for Sydney Theatre Awards in 2009. He is currently penning his third musical with Rutherford, Lemon Butter Bay and working alongside Sarah Lambert on the play Hollow. James is also an actor and was trained at WAAPA. His work on television includes A Country Practice, Water Rats, Naked: Coral Island, Home And Away and Police Rescue and in 2009 he appeared in the film The Eternity Man, directed by Julien Temple. His theatre credits include Snugglepot and Cuddlepie for Company B Belvoir, Eureka for the Melbourne International Arts Festival, Oklahoma! for the Production Company, Boyband, LoveBites, Nostradamus and Company at the Theatre Royal. In 2006, James won the Green Room Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance of Jud Fry in Oklahoma!. In the same year, he was selected to perform in Cardiff for BBC Radio 2's Voice of Musical Theatre. This year, James originated the role of Doug Simon in the Sydney and Melbourne seasons of Gutenberg and is currently performing the role of Chucky in the Australian premiere of Jerry Springer: The Opera at the Sydney Opera House. He has loved working alongside Anne, the team and the wonderful line-up of writers to help bring Breast Wishes to the stage.
Debra Oswald - Writer
Debra Oswald is a writer for stage, film, television and children's fiction. Debra's stage plays have been produced around Australia. Gary's House, Sweet Road and The Peach Season were all shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Award. Her play Dags has had many Australian productions and has been published and performed in Britain and the United States. Gary's House has been on the senior high school syllabus, been performed in translation in both Denmark and Japan. The Peach Season won the 2005 Seaborn Playwright's Prize. Mr Bailey's Minder broke the Griffin Theatre's box office record in 2004, toured nationally in 2006 and was produced in Philadelphia in 2008. Debra has written two plays for the Australian Theatre for Young People. Skate was performed in Sydney, on a NSW country tour and at the Belfast Theatre Festival. Stories in the Dark, which premiered at Riverside Theatre Parramatta in 2007, won the NSW Premier's Literary Play Award in 2008. She is the author of three 'Aussie Bite' books for kids, including Nathan and the Ice Rockets, and five novels for teenage readers: Me and Barry Terrific, The Return of the Baked Bean, The Fifth Quest, The Redback Leftovers and Getting Air. Among Debra's television credits are 'Bananas in Pyjamas', 'Sweet and Sour', 'Palace of Dreams', 'The Secret Life of Us' and award-winning episodes of 'Police Rescue'. Most recently Debra's play, Stories in the Dark won a NSW Premier's Award.
Jason Langley - Director
Jason graduated as an actor from Nepean at the University of Western Sydney with a BA in Performing Arts. Soon after he began dividing his time between performing and directing. In recent years Jason has directed the Australian Tour of Take Two starring Judi Connelli and Suzanne Johnston, two seasons of the Australian comedy Boyband, The Windows Project for the Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Elegies, Batboy, Once On This Island and Loving Repeating at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Noel Coward's Easy Virtue at the Australian Academy of Dramatic Art, The 25th Annual Premier's Christmas Concert at the Entertainment Centre, the Hats Off Concert at the Star City Showroom, and the inaugural Light The Night Concert. He was Resident Director on the Australian Tour of the British ghost thriller The Woman In Black and directed the entertainment for The 2007 Sydney Theatre Awards. Jason has also directed The Victor Chang Memorial Concert, Australian musical Chair In The Landscape and Australian play Three Winter's Green at the Stables Theatre. For Review Theatre: Our Country's Good, for Axis Theatre Michael Gow's The Kid, for Prompt Theatre two plays, If Only I Could Bear To Be Alone and Line Up Alone. He was guest director at the Newtown High School of Performing Arts working on productions of Nicholas Nickleby, The Golden Age, Our Country's Good, Abelard And Heloise and for three years was Artistic Director of The Youth Drama Festival for the Railway St Theatre Company. Jason returned to the stage last year to play Sir Robin in Monty Python's Spamalot at Melbourne's Her Majesty's Theatre.
Michael Tyack - Musical Director & Arranger
Michael began working as a professional musician in 1974 for J.C. Williamsons in Melbourne. He moved to Sydney to conduct the STC's production of Chicago then was Musical Director for their productions of The Stripper, Four Lady Bowlers in A Golden Holden, Jonah, Company, Merrily We Roll Along, Falsettos, Miracle City and Summer Rain as well as providing music for several of their plays. He has been Musical Director of The 20's And All That Jazz, Gershwin, Side By Side By Sondheim, Seven Little Australians, Nunsense, Chess, The Wizard Of Oz, Jerry's Girls, Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Red Hot and Rhonda, The Boy From Oz, Tivoli, The Witches Of Eastwick, Eureka, the Hugh Jackman tour of The Boy From Oz, Toni Lamond's The Times Of My Life at the Ensemble theatre, toured with Suzanne Johnson and Judi Connelli's show Take Two. Michael was Associate Musical Director for Spamalot, played piano for Songs From The Movies with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and most recently was the Musical Director for High School Musical. Michael's cabaret and concert credits are extensive, having worked with Australian and overseas artists including David Campbell, Caroline O'Connor, Tim Draxl and Judi Connelli both here and abroad. Michael has played on many Australian cast albums, musically directed an album of Sondheim songs with Geraldine Turner, Judi Connelli's last two CDs and the debut CDs of David Campbell, Chelsea Plumley, Rhonda Burchmore, Margi de Ferranti and Delia Hannah. He has also musically directed productions at NIDA and WAAPA.
Nathan M Wright - Choreographer
Nathan has worked extensively throughout Australia & Asia in all facets of the entertainment industry. He began his training at The Conroy Dance Centre in Brisbane and made his professional musical theatre debut at the age of twelve, starring as Louis alongside legendary Hayley Mills in the Gordon Frost's Production of The King And I. He played The Wicked Faced Boy alongside Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge. He also performed as a motion capture Artist in George Miller's Academy Award winning film Happy Feet. Television credits include The Footy Show, Mornings with Kerri-Anne, The Good Friday Appeal, The Melbourne Comedy Festival Gala, Astra Awards, The Helpmann Awards and Breakers. Commercials include Coca-Cola, Lipton Tea, Wendy's Ice Cream and Warner Bros Movie World. Musical Theatre credits include the role of Simon Zealotes in Jesus Christ Superstar in Korea, featured roles in the Australian productions of Pippin (Theo), Eurobeat, Oh! What A Night,(Sydney and Melbourne Seasons) Leader of the Pack (Sydney and Melbourne Seasons), Get Happy (Carmen Miranda), Hot Shoe Shuffle (Tap Bros), Shout! The Legend of The Wild One (Young Johnny), Mamma Mia (Pepper) for which he was nominated for the prestigious Green Room Award as a Best Supporting Actor in a musical. Nathan was Assistant to the Director of Choreography (Jason Coleman) for The 15th Annual Asian Games in Doha, Qatar for David Atkins Enterprises and worked on the Parade of Athletes for The 2007 World Special Olympics Opening Ceremony in China, coordinating (choreographing) 500 Marshals for the welcome of over 150 countries to Shanghai. Additional Choreography credits include The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Dracula's Theatre Restaurant. In 2007 Nathan was Assistant Choreographer to John O'Connell on Gale Edwards' production of Company, and was Associate Choreographer on the recent production of The Rocky Horror Show, during this time Nathan hosted the Guinness Book of Records for the worlds largest Timewarp and also had the pleasure of teaching Gretel Killeen, Derryn Hinch and Hamish & Andy The Timewarp!! In 2008 he choreographed, the Fund Raising Concert version of Breast Wishes, a new Australian Musical and restaged the finale of Boeing Boeing. Earlier this year he choreographed Gutenberg! The Musical for Neil Gooding Productions and following Breast Wishes the Australian Premier of Avenue Q for Arts Asia Pacific.
James Millar - Dramaturge
Trained in writing at the University of Technology, Sydney, James has penned two musicals with composer Peter Rutherford: The Hatpin, which played seasons in Sydney and New York in 2008; and Lovebites: A Song Cycle - both of which were nominated for Sydney Theatre Awards in 2009. He is currently penning his third musical with Rutherford, Lemon Butter Bay and working alongside Sarah Lambert on the play Hollow. James is also an actor and was trained at WAAPA. His work on television includes A Country Practice, Water Rats, Naked: Coral Island, Home And Away and Police Rescue and in 2009 he appeared in the film The Eternity Man, directed by Julien Temple. His theatre credits include Snugglepot and Cuddlepie for Company B Belvoir, Eureka for the Melbourne International Arts Festival, Oklahoma! for the Production Company, Boyband, LoveBites, Nostradamus and Company at the Theatre Royal. In 2006, James won the Green Room Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance of Jud Fry in Oklahoma!. In the same year, he was selected to perform in Cardiff for BBC Radio 2's Voice of Musical Theatre. This year, James originated the role of Doug Simon in the Sydney and Melbourne seasons of Gutenberg and is currently performing the role of Chucky in the Australian premiere of Jerry Springer: The Opera at the Sydney Opera House. He has loved working alongside Anne, the team and the wonderful line-up of writers to help bring Breast Wishes to the stage.
Imogen Ross - Designer
Imogen trained as a production designer at W.A.A.P.A., before moving to Sydney. Since 1993 she has designed and/or coordinated numerous theatre works, musicals, dance pieces, operas, corporate events, short films & commercial television pieces. She has designed the last 4 productions for Monkey Baa Theatre for Young People: incl. Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat, Hitler's Daughter (winner of two Helpmann Awards), and The Prospectors, as well as Thursday's Child, currently touring nationally. Recently Imogen worked with Legs on the Wall, designing costumes that went to Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, as well as collaborating with their artistic director Debra Batton on her one-woman show No Regrets; and created the Aviatrix on stilts for Circus Wow/Viva la Gong. Imogen was A Master of Costume at Shakespeare's International Globe in London 2003 - designing both Edward 2 (with Mark Rylance) & The Taming of the Shrew (Phyllida Lloyd). Imogen has also worked extensively with glitter in the art departments of the 60th Asian Games in Doha, the Sydney Gay Games and assorted musicals; shot rifles & made explosives on low budget film-shoots in Bourke; developed multi-media interactive storytelling with youth theatre in Sydney's south-western suburbs; mentored younger designers from Pact, Powerhouse and Shopfront theatre companies; helped to develop and design the first on-line drama course in Australia at Macquarie University; taught Performance Design at many tertiary institutions; administered a youth drama school in northern NSW and taken a creative part in the infamous Woodford NYE Fire Ceremony; amongst other performance design-based projects. Imogen has also written - Performance Design in Australia - co-authored with film designer, Kristen Anderson. It remains the only book to have been published in Australia on the changing face of performance design.
Trudy Dalgleish - Lighting Designer
Trudy Dalgleish graduated from NIDA after a three-year degree in technical Production. In 2000, she was nominated for a Mo Award for outstanding contribution to musical theatre. For her White Devil lighting design she was awarded a 2001 Helpmann Award (Best Lighting Design, Theatre) and in 2002 she won an 'Entech' Award for Best Lighting Designer - Live Events. Trudy Dalgleish also won the John Truscott Design Award for Excellence and, most recently, the Music Theatre Technical Design award for the lighting of Eureka at the Green Room Awards. More recent engagements include Opera Australia's productions of Manon, HMS Pinafore and Trial By Jury in Sydney and Melbourne, and The Pirates of Penzance in Sydney and on tour, Dead Man Walking, Eureka - The Musical (directed by Gale Edwards), Leader of the Pack for Newtheatricals, Dusty the Musical, which opened in Melbourne and then toured nationally, The Anzac International Military Tattoo, Eurobeat for Glynn Nicholas and Dreams in Strasbourg France. She was also Associate Lighting Designer for SEL Gordon Frost's The Producers - The New Mel Brooks Musical. 2007 engagements included The Shoehorn Sonata on tour for Christine Dunstan Productions, Kaiden for Meryl Tankard, Pippin for Kookaburra, The Pirates of Penzance in Melbourne for Opera Australia, Dead Man Walking for Andrew McManus Presents, The King and I for Broadway Asia in China, Eurobeat at the Edinburgh Festival and Voyage in Strasbourg France. In 2008, Trudy returns to Opera Australia for My Fair Lady and Orlando. Other engagements include Shout in Sydney and Melbourne, a tour of Eurobeat in the UK, lighting Inuk 2 choreographed by Meryl Tankard and Sids for Sydney Dance Company, Bubble for Legs on the Wall, Gallipoli directed by Nigel Jamieson for Sydney Theatre Company, Little Women for Kookaburra and Rolf Harris Live at The Sydney Opera House. Other theatre credits include: Lighting Designer for The Way of the World for Sydney Theatre Company, Fame in South Africa, Sydney Opera House 30th Anniversary concerts, The Man From Snowy River, Opera Australia's Sweeney Todd in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane, IMG and David Atkins' Singing in the Rain in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, Kevin Jacobson's Shout, What the World Needs Now at the Theatre Royal, Fame - the Musical, and Sisterella, SEL and Gordon Frost's Man of La Mancha, Wizard of Oz, Annie, Grease - the Arena Spectacular, The Sound of Music, Grease - the Mega Musical and Cabaret, Gale Edwards' The Boy from Oz, Sydney Theatre Company's White Devil in Sydney and New York, Steel City at Radio City Music Hall, New York and Australian Tours, Dein Perry's film Bootmen, Rhythm of the Night at Jupiter's Casino, Australian lighting designer for Disney's Beauty and the Beast at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne and Her Majesty's Theatre in Sydney, The New Rocky Horror Show for both Australian and Hong Kong season, Hey Hey it's Cinderella for the Paul Dainty Organisation, Pageant for Harry M Miller, Carols by Candlelight for the Seven Network, Australia Day Live for the Nine Network, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Opera in the Park for the Sydney Festival. Trudy was also Lighting Director for the Sydney Entertainment Centre for seven years where her lighting designs included everything from circus, ice-skating, opera, ballet, and corporate theatre to rock concerts and sporting events. She has also been Assistant Production Manager for The Big Day Out, Bolshoi Ballet's Tour of South East Asia and the Australian Film Industry Awards.
Anne Looby - Producer
Since graduating from NIDA in 1988, Anne has worked with distinction in film, television and theatre. She has worked with some of the best theatre directors in Australia including Gale Edwards, Rodney Fisher, Jim Sharman, George Ogilvy, Rex Cramphorn and David Berthold. Her theatrical experience is extensive, having played such roles as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth; Goneril in King Lear; Olivia in Twelfth Night and Helena in The Rover; She has appeared in plays ranging from Tom Stoppard's Arcadia to Nick Enright's Mongrels - from the classics to contemporary Australian works. Most recently she performed to great acclaim the role of Joanne in Stephen Sondheim's Company. Anne has also worked extensively in film and television, appearing in such television classics as A Country Practice, GP, Wildside, All Saints and the award winning ABC mini-series Simone De Beauvoir's Babies. Anne has starred in the feature films Willfull, Daydream Believer and Strangers. Most recently she appeared with John Malkovich in the Australian produced feature film Disgrace. Anne has received the Sydney Theatre Critics award for Best Actress for her work in Arcadia for the Sydney Theatre Company. Most recently she was nominated for a Sydney Theatre award for her performance in Company and a Helpmann Award for Best Actress for her performance in Debra Oswald's play, The Peach Season. Anne has also been awarded an AFI as Best Actress in a Television Mini Series for her performance in Simone De Beauvoir's Babies. Anne is an active member of the broader industry - she has been a long standing member of the NIDA Board of Studies and the Actors Centre Board of Review. The original idea for Breast Wishes was conceived by Anne nearly four years ago and she has been developing it ever since with the skill and support of her incredibly talented friends. She is producing and starring in the premiere season in 2009 which will benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Simone Parrott - Producer
Beginning her career in Cameron Mackintosh's Sydney office, Simone was part of the team which produced and toured The Phantom Of The Opera, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and Rent throughout Australia/ New Zealand, as well as Les Miserables throughout Asia and South Africa. In 1999, she was also an integral member of the event teams behind The Great ANZAC Military Tattoo and 50th Anniversay Snowy River Reunion Project. In 2000, she undertook the role of Production Co-ordinator to the Associate Producers on the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies (SOCOG) before joining IMG's Arts & Entertainment division in 2001, where she further extended her theatrical experience as part of the production teams for the Australian productions of Singin' In The Rain, Oliver! and Cabaret. She was the Tour Manager for Jamie Oliver 'Live' Happy Days Tour (Australia and New Zealand), Renee Fleming in Recital, Production Administrator for the 2002 tour of Slava's Snowshow and part of the team which delivered Jose Carreras in Concert at Singapore's Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay. In 2003, Simone was the Production Administrator and Segment Producer for the Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts, before joining the production teams behind the Inaugural Sydney Affordable Art Show, Santa's Kingdom, Inaugural Melbourne Affordable Art Show and the return show in Sydney 2004, after being appointed Associate Producer for ICA. During her time at ICA she was the Associate Producer of The Imperial Russian Ice Stars Australian and New Zealand tour and preparations in Asia for The Sleeping Beauty on Ice. Simone then joined the Office of Protocol and Special Events (OPSE), NSW Premiers Department, for its newest audience development project, Discovery After Dark (formally Museums Light Up Sydney!) before undertaking fundraising event, the Trendwest Sydney Kings 3-Peat Celebration Ball also benefiting the National Aboriginal Sports Corporation. In 2005, Simone joined the production team behind the World Premiere tour of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage, the launch of Peter Cousen's Kookaburra - The National Musical Theatre Company and undertook the role of Associate Producer for the World Premiere season of Priscilla Queen of the Desert - the Musical. She was the Associate Producer for the 2007 Helpmann Awards and An Audience With Stephen Sondheim and Executive Producer on Jose Carreras In Concert and Tina Arena In Concert. Most recently, Simone was the Associate Producer for both A Musical Send Off, raising funds for the Australian Paralympic Team and the 2008 Helpmann Awards. In addition to being a Director of The Not For Profit Production Company, which produced the Breast Wishes Gala Concert benefiting the National Breast Cancer Foundation in October 2008, she is once again an Associate Producer for the 2009 Helpmann Awards. Simone currently develops education resource kits for musical theatre and live productions, as well as course curriculum to train and lecture in Event and Venue Management. She has a Bachelor of Creative Arts in Theatre from The University of Wollongong, a Masters in Management - Arts Management and a Diploma in Workplace and Vocational Learning from The University of Technology, Sydney. Simone also has a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and has recently completed a Masters in Adult Education also at The University of Technology, Sydney.
Neil Gooding - Producer
Most recently, Neil directed and produced (with Ian Stenlake and James Millar) the Australian premiere of Gutenberg! The Musical! which has played successful seasons in Sydney and Melbourne, and will be performing at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and a return season in Sydney later this year. Neil has also recently directed Nick Christo's cabaret show The Fabulous Frances Faye. The show was nominated for a Sydney Theatre Critics Award, and was presented in New York earlier this year at Don't Tell Mammas. In 2008, Neil produced (with White Box) the World Premiere of The Hatpin starring Caroline O'Connor, Peter Cousens, Barry Crocker AM and Melle Stewart, which then went on to perform at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in September 2008. Neil also served as the Assistant Director on both of these productions. Neil has also recently established The Pipeline - a not for profit organisation which has been set up to develop new Australian theatrical works - both musicals and plays. The first workshops for The Pipeline will be held later this year. For several years, Neil was employed by Jacobsen Entertainment, where he responsible for the financial administration of the Arena Productions of The Man From Snowy River Arena Spectacular, the Long Way To The Top concert series, De La Guarda and Dirty Dancing, as well as being the tour accountant on the road with Ja Rule & Ashanti in 2003. At the start of 2000, Neil established Neil Gooding Productions. The company's first production was Stephen Sondheim's ASSASSINS in June 2000, which Neil both Produced and Directed. This company works on a variety of projects - ranging from staging its own productions, providing production services to external productions, as well as administering the rights to Back To The 80's! which was written by Neil Gooding in 2001, and is now performed hundreds of times annually across the globe. Other productions staged by Neil Gooding Productions include the Sydney season of Back To The 80's!, Long Gone Lonesome Cowgirls, and The Hatpin. In 2005, Neil spent several months contracting to Jacobsen Entertainment exploring the potential of overseas productions of Dirty Dancing. Neil also worked for Delta Goodrem and toured Australia as her Tour Accountant on her Visaualise Tour. Neil established Fast & Fresh, the under 18 short play competition which is the offshoot of Short & Sweet - the largest short play festival in the world. 2009 will mark the 5th year of this successful competition. As a director, Neil has worked on many projects including Back To The 80's, The Road To Bethlehem for Short, Sweet & Song (which was awarded the Best Australian work), the Kookaburra workshop of The Silver Donkey (a new Australia musical by Dean Bryant and Matthew Frank), Keeping Annabelle for Short & Sweet 2007, Listen To My Heart (The Statement Bar), and the two workshops of new Australian musical The Hatpin. Neil was also Assistant Director / Ensemble Director for the launch concert of Kookaburra Music Theatre Company, directed by Gale Edwards, and also directed Building A Wing - a 10 minute musical for the inaugural Short, Sweet & Song competition. This piece was voted by the judges as the Winner of the Best Musical. Neil has been awarded a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Law, both from the University of Queensland.
