Crew

Darragh Martin	Writer
Yvonne Virsik	Director
Ellen Gales	Stage Manager
Sayraphim Lothian	Designer
Christopher Elliott	Composer

 

 

Darragh Martin An Air Balloon Across Antarctica is the first in a series of five plays that Darragh is writing about the elements. The second, Everything is Invisible (water) premiered at the Melbourne Fringe in 2005 and he is currently writing the third, The Last Brontosaurus (earth). Other writing credits include The Disappearance of Jonah, The Storm and two short films, Francium and Mirth and The Emptys, which was shortlisted for Tropfest 2006. His most recent directing project was a bare words and dirt adaptation of Macbeth which played at Chashama Theatre in New York in March 2007. Darragh graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, with a BA in English and Drama and is currently pursuing a Theatre PHD at Columbia University on a Fulbright scholarship.
Yvonne Virsik Yvonne is currently the Artistic Director of Monash University Student Theatre. For M.U.S.T. she has directed pieces including Slow Falling Bird (2003 National Playwrights' Competition Winner) by Christine Evans, Declan Greene's BOG which premiered at M.U.S.T. and was then remounted off campus at Theatreworks, and Laugh Out Loud (2005 National Playwrights' Competition Winner) also by Declan Greene and has facilitated the creation of dozens of theatre works. In the last few years, she has also worked with Theatre @ Risk, directing a rehearsed reading of ID by Antony Sher, with Theatre in Decay on All of Which are American Dreams, and directed Treading Water for La Mama. Last year, Yvonne directed Chris Hodson's Spring Session for The Short and Sweet Festival at the Victorian Arts Centre, which was chosen for the gala final and subsequently won several prizes. She is a graduate of Directing at the VCA where she was awarded the Yvonne Taylor Scholarship.
Ellen Gales Ellen has been involved in the technical side of theatre since 2002, taking on a number of roles in theatre, fashion shows and variety performances.  Her stage management credits include the 2005 Amnesty International Standup For Your Rights Gala, and both the Australian and European premieres of White Whale Theatre’s Macbeth Re-Arisen (Melbourne, 2004, and Edinburgh, 2006).  She also received the 2004 University of Melbourne’s Union House Theatre Technical Award for stage management.
Sayraphim Lothian Sayraphim Lothian is an art mercenary who has worked in theatre, film and television in a wide range of jobs including set design and construction, props, puppet design and construction, costuming, graphic design, web design, research and general art department.    Highlights include being the designer for The International Puppet Carnival at Federation Square, working on Spike Jonze's upcoming film Where The Wild Things Are, building monster puppets for the Pixar exhibition at ACMI and doing a 5 year stint as a Lieutenant with the award winning Melbourne theatre company theatre in decay. On the side, Sayraphim is an artist who works in the media of photography, digital imagery, sculpture and found objects and she's currently knitting her way through as many monsters as she can think of. Her website is www.sayraphimlothian.com
Christopher Elliott Christopher Elliott was born in New Zealand and began playing music at an early age. He is a classically trained percussionist and has played in orchestral, jazz, and rock groups. He has taught drumming both professionally and privately. Since settling in Melbourne in 2004, he has undertaken a range of projects as a composer for plays and short films. He recently completed a Diploma in Audio Engineering in SAE Institute and is playing and working on a number of musical projects.