Our People
Sally Richardson
Productions of her work have been presented nationally and internationally. Sally has worked for companies and organisations including NIDA, WAAPA, ABC Radio, Sydney Theatre Company, Playwriting Australia, Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Deckchair Theatre , Black Swan Theatre Company, Perth Theatre Company, Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, The Malthouse Theatre, Belvoir Theatre, La Mama, The Flying Fruitfly Circus, The National Institute of Circus Arts, amongst others. She is a previous artistic director of Playworks (Australia) and Stages WA.
Her work has been a winner/finalist for Helpmann Awards, Green Room Awards, Equity Guild Awards, Ausdance Awards, Dance Australia Critics Choice Award amongst others. Projects range from theatre, dance, circus, puppetry, film, to corporate events, community projects and consultancy.
She was a recipient of an Australia Council Dramaturgy fellowship in 2006, and a Creative Fellowship from the Western Australia Department of Culture and the Arts in 2008. She was a member of the Theatre Board of the Australia Council 2001-5, and artistic director of Steamworks Arts Productions (since 2001). Sally was a board member of Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, and is on the Artistic advisory of Deckchair Theatre and Program Advisory of NICA. Sally was the Australian representative dramaturg for the 2010 New Visions, New Voices International Festival held at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC.
Successes include: H2O (Helpmann Finalist Best Visual/Physical Production, Best Presentation for Children 2004), Alice (Perth, Melbourne and Sao Paulo International Arts Festivals), the China tour of The Drover's Wives (Perth International Arts Festival 2005) to Shanghai and Beijing International Festivals in 2007, Rhapsody for NICA (National Institute of Circus Arts 2008), and The Promise for The Flying Fruitfly Circus (Sydney Festival 2009) which won the 2009 Helpmann Award for Best Presentation for Children.
Current projects include; The Dreamhouse with Pinstripe Circus, Nullarbor with Maakan (Melbourne), her adaptation of Sonya Hartnett's The Ghost's Child with Performing Lines WA, and the dance/theatre/fim project Standing Bird. 2012 Fringeworld - Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. This year she will devise/direct The Amazing True Adventures of Lucy and the Lost Boy for NICA (Melbourne)
Sally is an selected MAPS artist with PerformingLines WA since 2008. In 2011 Sally was artist in residence At Curtin University where she directed her adaptation of Euripides The Trojan Women.
Sally has produced a number of large scale events and productions and was creative director/event producer of Live@Woodside, a three year creative community partnership of Steamworks with Woodside. Most recently Sally was the Creative Directer for the Opening of the Place of Reflection at Kings Park, funded by Lotterywest and produced by Steamworks. Other clients include: WA Business News, WA Department of Culture and the Arts & WA Museum.
She is currently acting as sponsorship/partnerships Manager with Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, following a period as Acting General Manager, and was the dramaturg and producer of Waltzing the Wilarra for Yirra Yaakin which premiered at the 2011 Perth International Arts Festival. (Finalist for the 2011 Helpmann Awards including Best Original Score and finalist for nine WA Equity Guild Awards, winning three including Best New Play)
Writing/Directing Credits include:
The Drover's Wives, H20, Splat!, The Magic Garden, The Promise, Rhapsody, Rare Earth, I am Nijinksy, Five Fingers, Kamarade, Picasso and Francoise, So is it a lover?,Rites, Eliza
(Adaptations) The Ghost's Child, Medea 05, Antigone, Miss Julie, 3 Sisters, Virginia Who?, The Trojan Women
Additional Directing credits include:
Decadence, Miss Julie and Milk and Honey (Perth Theatre Company)
The Other Woman,Savage Grace and Nocturne (in association with Black Swan Theatre Company, & Performing Lines)
Kid's Stuff (PICA and Eat Life Productions)
The Morning After the Night Before (PICA and Mobile States)
Loaded (Company Loaded, National and NZ Tour)
Aine Whelan
She needs all of these qualifications to keep up with the pace of Steamworks Arts Productions and the amazing team of creators associated with the company. Aine has over 15 years senior experience working in the arts, government, corporate and tertiary sectors. Currently she is Leader of Learning & Innovation at WAAPA working across all the major artform areas.
.
Associate Artist: Humphrey Bower
In addition to his freelance work he is currently artistic director of Night Train, a chamber theatre company which focuses on the act of storytelling and the performer-audience relationship and features himself and composer/musician and visual artist Jess Ipkendanz as core creators and performers.
In the 1980s he was a founding member of the Melbourne ensemble Whistling in the Theatre. He co-founded Perth independent theatre company Last Seen Imagining in 2001, and founded Night Train back in Melbourne in 2007, writing or co-writing, co-devising, directing and/or performing in the work of all three companies.
He has also appeared in many productions with the MTC, Playbox/Malthouse, Anthill, Theatreworks, La Mama, Black Swan, Yirra Yaakin, Deckchair, the Blue Room and Steamworks. His written work has been commissioned and produced by Thin Ice, Deckchair, Spare Parts, TheatreWorks, Playbox/Malthouse and ABC Radio National.
He has narrated countless audio books and his voice is well known on ABC Radio National, where he has recorded many short stories, book readings and radio plays and worked as a freelance producer.
In 1991-92 he was dramaturg-in-residence at TheatreWorks in Melbourne. He has also worked as a dramaturg for Stages and the Australian National Playwrights Conference.
Humphrey has been involved in many Steamworks productions. He is part of the creative team for Standing Bird
Associate Artists and Photography/Documentation: Ashley de Prazer/Danielle Micich
ASHLEY DE PRAZER PHOTOGRAPHY/ DASHVISUAL
Steamworks has been collaborating with Ashley de Prazer and Danielle Micich over many years in various capacities.
Many of the videos and most of the images that appear on this website have been created by these award winning artists.
Ashley and Danielle are part of the creative team of Standing Bird