Paul Anthony Michael McDermott is an Australian entertainer, best known both for Good News Week and for his role as a member of the musical comedy group the Doug Anthony All Stars. He has frequently appeared at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and taken part in its two major televised productions, the Comedy Festival Gala and the Great Debate. McDermott has also performed and written numerous shows as a solo performer and authored children’s books and newspaper articles and directed short animated films.
Timothy Burstall AM was an English Australian film director, writer and producer, best known for hit Australian movie Alvin Purple (1973) and its sequel Alvin Rides Again (1974).
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starting in March and running through to April. The Melbourne Town Hall has served as the festival hub, but performances are held in many venues throughout the city.
Emilie de Ravin is an Australian actress. She starred as Tess Harding on Roswell (2000–2002), Claire Littleton on the ABC drama Lost, and as Belle on the ABC drama Once Upon a Time (2011–2018). De Ravin's film credits include Santa's Slay (2005), The Hills Have Eyes (2006) and Ball Don't Lie (2008). She starred as Emily, the heroin-addicted ex-girlfriend of Brendan Frye, in the neo-noir film Brick (2005). She had a cameo in Public Enemies (2009) and starred as Ally in Remember Me (2010).
Max Sharam is an Australian-American multi-disciplinary artist and singer-songwriter. In the mid-1990s, Sharam had three top 40 hit singles in Australia, "Coma", "Be Firm" and "Lay Down", from her top 10 album A Million Year Girl (1995). She received eight nominations at the ARIA Music Awards of 1995; winning ARIA Award for Best Cover Art with Dominic O'Brien for the album.
Betrayal is a play written by Harold Pinter in 1978. Critically regarded as one of the English playwright's major dramatic works, it features his characteristically economical dialogue, characters' hidden emotions and veiled motivations, and their self-absorbed competitive one-upmanship, face-saving, dishonesty, and (self-) deceptions.
Justin Marcus Heazlewood, p.k.a.the Bedroom Philosopher, is an Australian author, songwriter and performer. He has released several albums of musical comedy, toured Australia extensively, been nominated for an ARIA Award and published books about his experiences in the entertainment industry.
The Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in Cabaret, Dance, Theatre Companies, Independent Theatre, Musical Theatre, Contemporary and Experimental Performance and Opera in Melbourne.
Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festival held in Melbourne, Australia, from 1986 to 2019. It was to be superseded by a new festival called Rising from 2020.
Theatre of Australia refers to the history of the live performing arts in Australia: performed, written or produced by Australians.
Ben Steel is an Australian actor and director who is most known for his regular role of Jude Lawson in Australian soap Home and Away.
Barry Dickins is a prolific Australian playwright, author, artist, actor, educator and journalist, probably best known for his historical dramas and his reminisces about growing up and living in working class Melbourne. His most well-known work is the award-winning stage play Remember Ronald Ryan, a dramatization of the life and subsequent death of Ronald Ryan, the last man executed in Australia. He has also written dramas and comedies about other controversial figures such as poet Sylvia Plath, opera singer Joan Sutherland, criminal Squizzy Taylor, actor Frank Thring, playwright Oscar Wilde and artist Brett Whiteley.
Felicity Ward is an Australian comedian, best known for her TV appearances on Spicks and Specks, Thank God You're Here, Good News Week and as a writer/performer in the Channel 10 Network television programme The Ronnie Johns Half Hour. She is a part of The 3rd Degree, who made and starred in The Ronnie Johns Half Hour.
Alex Broun is an Australian playwright and screenwriter, who has worked extensively with Short+Sweet, a series of theatre festivals for productions of ten minutes or less. Born in Sydney, Australia, he has been referred to as "the Shakespeare of short plays". Broun has had over 100 ten-minute plays produced in over 2000 productions in more than 40 countries globally, and his plays have been translated into many languages. He has also worked extensively as a Rugby journalist and served as Media Manager for the Springboks (1997–2000), the British & Irish Lions (2001), and the Melbourne Rebels (2007).
Osamah Sami is an Australian stage and screen actor, writer, spoken-word artist, and stand-up comedian of Iraqi origin. His critically acclaimed book Good Muslim Boy, was the winner of the 2016 NSW Premier's Literary Award. It was also Highly Commended at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards that same year.
Joanna Murray-Smith is a Melbourne-based Australian playwright, screenwriter, novelist, librettist and newspaper columnist.
Julia Britton was an Australian playwright. Britton was perhaps best known for her literary adaptations and biographical plays.
Robert Chuter is an Australian theatre and film director/producer,writer, and actor.
Lucien Savron was an Australian theatre and film director noted for his imaginative productions.
Michael Rowe is an Australian film director and screenwriter.
