Festival Director - David Berthold

David Berthold is a leading Australian theatre director. He has directed many premieres of plays by major Australian writers and has held several significant positions in leading Australian theatre companies.

He was the Artistic Director of Griffin Theatre Company 2003-06, Artistic Director of the Australian Theatre for Young People 1999-2003, Associate Director of Sydney Theatre Company 1994-99 and Artistic Associate of Queensland Theatre Company 1991-93.

He has directed major productions of Australian plays by Elaine Acworth, Nick Enright, Daniel Keene, Caleb Lewis, Tony McNamara, Tommy Murphy, Louis Nowra, Debra Oswald, Hannie Rayson, Stephen Sewell, Alan Seymour, Katherine Thomson, Karin Mainwaring, Ian Wilding and David Williamson as well as Aristophanes, Jim Cartwright, William Congreve, Brad Fraser, Christopher Marlowe, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter, Philip Ridley, Shakespeare, Sam Shepard and Leo Tolstoy for companies including Griffin, ATYP, STC, MTC, QTC, Playbox, NIDA, QUT, La Boite, Opera Queensland, Auckland Theatre Company, the National Theatre, London, and Theater an der Parkaue, Berlin.

Resident Artist - Michael Futcher

Michael Futcher is a writer, director, actor, drama coach and co-founder of the award-winning Matrix Theatre.

As a writer, Michael has co-written a number of plays including The Drowning Bride (winner of a 2005 Matilda Award, short-listed for the 2005 Qld Premier’s Literary Awards, published by Currency Press) for La Boite; A Beautiful Life (published by Currency Press) for Matrix/La Boite/Performing Lines/Brisbane festival; Citizen Jane (published by Playlab Press) for Queensland Arts Council; The King and the Corpse! (performed in Brisbane’s Mount Coot-tha Botanical Gardens and for the 1996 Brisbane Festival, and winner of a 1995 Matilda Award Commendation); 1347 and Cutting Loose for Matrix Theatre; Disobediently Yours, Edmund Kean at London’s Hen and Chickens Theatre; The Rise and Demise of Katie Who and The Gypsy’s Gift for Clayfield College; Rapunzel, The Magic Jewel and The Bush Genie (520 performances) for Krakajak Theatre and QAC; Explosions for QTC’s education programme; The Duel (adapted from Chekhov’s short-story) for QUT; and a public reading of The Master And Margarita (adapted from Bulgakov’s novel) for Matrix Theatre at The Brisbane Powerhouse.

Similarly, Michael’s directing and acting credits are extensive and have been critically acclaimed. He has directed and acted in companies such as La Boite Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Matrix Theatre, Queensland University of Technology, Performing Lines, the Brisbane Festival, Rheingold Theatre Club and the Latchmere Club in London, just to name a few, as well as enjoying numerous television and short film roles in Australia and the United Kingdom.

As a drama teacher, Michael has taught at James Cook University, QUT, USQ, Griffith University, and participated in numerous residencies and workshops at high schools throughout the state. He has also run holiday drama programmes at QTC and QUT, and tutored at the Qld Writers Festival.

Associate Resident Artist - Maxine Mellor

Maxine was an Australian playwright delegate at World Interplay 2005, as well as a university secondment to the organisation throughout 2005 where she took on clerical and administrative duties.

Maxine is currently Associate Writer with Queensland Theatre Company from 2006-2008. She is a three-time winner of Queensland Theatre Company’s Young Playwright’s Awards; Stuck (2001), Boy Slaughter (2002), and Little Hitler’s Ode to an Austrian Bentwood (2003), and won Queensland Theatre Company’s George Landen Dann Award for Magda’s Fascination with Wax Cats (2005). Her work has been shortlisted (Queensland Premier’s Drama Award, Dogwood Playwright’s Initiative, and QTC’s Works Festival), publicly read, and produced (Magda’s Fascination with Wax Cats, 2006, Australian Theatre for Young People, Little Hitler’s Ode to an Austrian Bentwood, 2005, Metro Arts Theatre, Boy Slaughter, 2003, Metro Arts Theatre, and twice in 2005 at the University of Tasmania).

In 2005 Maxine received a scholarship from the Queensland Screen Development Centre (QPIX), and graduated with distinction from the Queensland University of Technology’s Bachelor of Creative Industries (Drama). In 2004 she received an Australia Council New Work grant and in 2003 she was an Affiliate Writer at Queensland Theatre Company. Boy Slaughter and Little Hitler’s Ode to an Austrian Bentwood are published in the Australian Script Centre’s collections 5 and 6 respectively.

Festival Producer - Nadine Kelly

Aside from her duties at Interplay, Nadine is an actor, drama teacher, education artist, front of house manager and arts administrator in a number of reputable Brisbane-based theatre companies including the Shakespearian theatre company Grin & Tonic, and Imaginary Theatre. With Grin & Tonic, Nadine has performed in over 200 high schools throughout Queensland. With Imaginary , Nadine has perormed 'The Tashi Stories' in many festivals, including QPAC’s Out of the Box Festival of Early Childhood the World Children’s Picture Book Festival in South Korea.

Nadine has most recently been appointed Associate Director of Grin & Tonic Theatre Company. In this role, Nadine will be co-driecting 'Timon of Athens' with Bryan Nason, while also taking on the role of Katherina in the company's presentation of 'The Taming of the Shrew'.

Previously, Nadine was the Administrator/General Manager and an Artistic Director of Ann’s Street Party in Brisbane, Queensland in 2006, an event that allows the shopfront windows of Ann Street, Fortitude Valley to come to life one night a year with performances and installations. Nadine was also the QUT Festival Co-ordinator for the Fusion Festival in 2005, and was one half of the performance co-ordination team for Backbone's 2high Festival in 2004.

Nadine has a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Drama) from QUT and her Associate Diploma in Speech and Drama through the Australian College of Music.