The Tree of Light

Andy is an award-winning director of theatre, music theatre and opera. He has also worked as creative producer of multidisciplinary arts programs, creative director of large-scale events and festival director. In 2007 Andy co-founded Adelaide based theatre company Slingsby. The company is now well-established as a leading international immersive theatre company, having toured to more than 170 venues, with over 1,000 performances across 13 countries and counting.

Andy is renowned for creating original live performance moments that are emotionally powerful and visually bold. His work across theatre for young audiences, opera, cabaret, music theatre and symphonic concerts has pushed him to develop a distinctive theatrical aesthetic that is at once personal and epic.

Andy has directed productions and events for Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, State Opera of South Australia, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Adelaide Festival of Arts, Adelaide Fringe, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide Chamber Singers, Australian String Quartet, Windmill Theatre, Restless Dance, Tutti Ensemble, Rundle Mall Management Authority and the International Astronautical Federation. In 2019 Andy was Show Director for the World of Wearable Art Awards Show in Wellington, New Zealand.

Quincy has spent his life being a freelance composer and musician. He has played and written for many bands over the decades, in many different styles – the most recent being the despicable gypsy band Golonka and the folk outfit Miranda Bede. 

He has written over seventy works for soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestras that have been performed in hundreds of concerts. And written the music for over forty theatre works, for companies all over Australia, with his second opera being scheduled for performance in 2025. 

He has toured many countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. 

He is co-director of The Firm, a company that presents concerts each year featuring Australian classical musicians in programmes of new Australian music along-side carefully chosen repertoire. 

Quincy lives in Adelaide with his dear Anna, and has three children: Arland, Clara and Miranda.

• soundcloud.com/quincys-room/sets
• quentingrant.com
• YouTube Channel

Ailsa holds a Bachelor of Dramatic Art in Design (NIDA). 

Recent design credits include The Marriage of Figaro (SOSA), The Dictionary of Lost Words (STCSA/STC – costume design), Lady Day (STCSA/MTC/Belvoir), The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (STCSA/STC – costume design), Tracker (ADT – costume design), Girls and Boys (Sydney Festival/Adelaide Festival), A Christmas Carol and Boxing Day BBQ (Ensemble Theatre), Single Asian Female (STCSA), Chalkface (STCSA/STC), Watershed (Adelaide Festival) and Myth or the Go Between (Gravity and other Myths/Blue Soup Films). 

Slingsby credits include Songs for Those Who’ve Come Across the Seas, costume designs for The Boy Who Talked to Dogs, Emil and the Detectives, The Mouse, the Bird and the Sausage and Ode to Nonsense. 

Credits for State Theatre Company South Australia include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Ripcord, Gaslight,  The 39 Steps, Jasper Jones, End of  the Rainbow, Creditors, Sense and Sensibility, Switzerland, The 39 Steps, Romeo and Juliet, Mendelssohn’s Dream,  Beckett Triptych, The Importance of Being Earnest, Hedda Gabler, In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play, War Mother, The Ham Funeral, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), The Price, The Cripple of Inishmaan,  Betrayal, A Doll’s House, Things I Know To Be True and Little Bird. 

Wendy is an Adelaide-based designer of theatre, events and spaces. Recent production designs (Set & Costume Design for all productions) include: Nursery 2014, (Sally Chance Dance), Babyteeth 2013, Blasted 2012, Pornography 2012 (State Theatre Company of South Australia), Land & Sea 2012, Skip Miller’s Hit Songs 2011, Harbinger 2010 (Brink Productions), Man Covets Bird 2010, The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy 2007 (Slingsby), Worldhood 2011 (Australian Dance Theatre), A Lion In The Night 2012, The Little Green Tractor 2011 (Patch Theatre Company), Cutaway III, 2013 & II, 2012 (Vitalstatistix), Ruby Bruise 2010 (The Misery Children & Vitalstatistix). Recent event designs: Designer Blink Bar 2015 Adelaide Festival of Arts Precinct, Design Assistant/Coordinator Lola’s Pergola 2014, Design Coordinator of Barrio 2013 & 2012, Assistant Designer Persian Garden 2008 & 2006 (Late Night Clubs of the Adelaide Festival of Arts), Event and Gala Designer Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2015, Design Coordinator Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2014 (Adelaide Festival Centre), Bowerbird Design Markets 2014, 2013, 2012.

Chris is a Lighting and Video Designer. Following his completion of the Technical Production course at the Adelaide Centre of the Arts, Chris has continued to develop his experience across theatre, dance, and other live events in Australia including:

2021: Creation Creation by Windmill Theatre Company; Hiccup! by Windmill Theatre Company; The Boy Who Talked to Dogs by Slingsby
2020: The Bleeding Tree by Theatre Republic; Of All Things by Alison Currie for ADT; Anatomy of a Suicide by Flinders University Drama Centre; Lighthouse by Patch Theatre Company; Incognito by Flinders University Drama Centre
2019: World of Wearable Art 2019; Madama Butterfly by State Opera of South Australia; A View from the Bridge by State Theatre Company SA; Cher by Vitalstatistix; ZOOM by Patch Theatre Company; 13 Ways to Look at Birds feat. Paul Kelly by GWB; Femme by Erin Fowler Projects; Zizanie by Restless.
2018: Lines by Theatre Republic; World of Wearable Art 2018 with Bluebottle; SOLO (Sea Wall & Bitch Boxer) by Flying Penguin Productions; Julius Caesar by Flinders University Drama Centre; Songs for those who come across the Sea by Slingsby; Brothers Wreck by Malthouse Theatre & State Theatre; Baba Yaga by Windmill Theatre Company; Terrestrial by State Theatre Company of South Australia; In The Club by State Theatre; The Walk of Fame Gala by the Adelaide Festival Centre
2017: Angelique by Is This Yours? ; Beep by Windmill Theatre Company ; Emil and the Detectives by Slingsby; Vigil by the Adelaide Cabaret Festival ; Mr Burns by State Theatre Company of South Australia & Belvoir St Theatre; Long Tan by Brink Productions 2016: Ingition 2016 by ADT; Love & Information by Flinders University Drama Centre; Juliet Letters by Flying Penguin Productions; Gorgon by State Theatre Company; Beginning of Nature (WOMAD) by ADT.

Thom Buchanan is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in Tarntanya Adelaide on the Kaurna country. His practice traverses a cross-disciplinary mode of investigations. Informed by his background in drawing and painting, it also incorporates installation, photography, video, performance, sound, murals and collaborations.

Buchanan is a master of large-scale live performative works and collaboration. He has been interrogating ideas of the physiological ramifications of built and natural environments for 15 years and is still asking questions.

He has exhibited extensively locally, nationally, and internationally and has won a number of Art Prizes and major grants.

His work has been commissioned by State Theatre Company SA , Australian Dance Theatre, Vivid Festival Sydney, Adelaide Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival UK, Limosani Projekts, Fringe Festival SA, SALA Festival, the Surge Festival in Glasgow, Wonderwalls Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Adelaide Guitar Festival, Canberra Centenary, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Zephyr Quartet, BIG Picture Pillar festival, Big Day Out, Rise Festival NZ, ExpandLAB Adelaide Film Festival, SIDance Festival Seoul, CubaDupa festival NZ and Slingsby Theatre Company.

David started working in theatre from 1979 to 1988 with the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust (AFCT) Production Department as a Mechanist and Flyman. 1n 1981 he went on his first tour with State Opera South Australia touring Regional South Australia with Don Pasquale and then again in 1982 with Cossi Van Tutti.

From 1889 through to 1994 he worked as Head Flyman / Rigger for the Australian Opera Company working mainly at The Sydney Opera House and Victorian Arts Centre and touring as required.

For the second half of 1994 through 1995 David was Head Mechanist with the Canberra Theatre Centre in the Australian Capital Territory.

Upon returning home to Adelaide South Australia in 1996 David was firstly Head Mechanist of the Festival Theatre and then from 2000 through to 2004 was Technical Coordinator for the AFCT Production Department.

From 2005 through to 2018 he was Production Manager for State Opera South Australia, Production Coordinator for Adelaide Fringe 2009, 20010, 2011, 2013 and a Production Coordinator for Adelaide Festival (AF) 2006 and 2008.

From 2019 through to 2023 David was the Production Manager for Adelaide Festival’s Operas.

Jess has been active in the performing arts since 2015 and has completed a Bachelor of Arts (Performing Arts) at UniSA. She has worked as a stage manager for companies including Slingsby, Adelaide Festival Centre, and Disney Theatrical and has also worked as a mechanist and dresser. Her Slingsby journey began in 2023 with Emil and the Detectives and she is thrilled to be involved with the magical team bringing A Concise Compendium of Wonder to life.

Kate is an actor, theatre-maker and multimodal arts facilitator.

In 2018 she played the lead role in the AACTA-nominated feature film Strange Colours, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and earned her a nomination for Best Lead Actress by the Film Critics Circle of Australia. Additional on-screen credits include the award-winning telemovie Riot, ABC comedy series The Letdown, Stan series The Commons, Sexy Nails for Photoplay Films, Ladies in Black for ABC and feature films The Royal Hotel and One Eyed Girl.

Kate’s recent theatre credits include leading roles in Griffin Theatre’s Dead Cat Bounce and Babydoll for Ensemble Theatre. Previous theatre credits include Kill Climate Deniers (Kinetik Collective), Emil and the Detectives (Slingsby), That Eye, The Sky, Three Sisters, The Glass Menagerie, Hedda Gabler, Jesikah, Masquerade (State Theatre Company South Australia), The Overcoat (Belvoir), Big Bad Wolf, Fugitive (Windmill Theatre Company), Brief Encounter (Kneehigh Theatre UK), Minus One Sister (Griffin Theatre), Spring Awakening (ATYP – nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, Sydney Theatre Awards), 4 Minutes 12 Seconds (Outhouse Theatre Company) and Home Invasion (An Assorted Few – nominated Best Performance in a Leading Role, Sydney Theatre Awards).

Kate is a member of The Bait Fridge, a multi-disciplinary artist collective working in experimental and socially engaged performance.   

Kate was awarded the Emerging Artist of the Year by the Adelaide Critics Circle and was the recipient of the Neil Curnow Performing Arts Award and the Adele Koh Scholarship for Acting.   

Kate is a graduate of Adelaide College of the Arts (Acting).  

Originally from Adelaide, Felix graduated from WAAPA in 2009 (Acting). His professional theatre credits include; Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Henry V, The Winter’s Tale and Henry 4 (Bell Shakespeare), The Libertine and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sport for Jove), Billionaire Boy (CDP), The Song Was Wrong (Perth Theatre Company) and Debris (Old Fitz Theatre). He has also appeared in numerous educational shows; Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth Undone and Midsummer Madness (Bell Shakespeare). 

Felix’s TV credits include Desert King, Mr Inbetween, Top of The Lake 2: China Girl directed by Jane Campion, Underbelly: Razor, and The Moodys. He starred in the short film, The Beehive, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and has also produced and directed his own short films including Undeadicated which premiered at Austin Film Festival. Felix also performs in children’s hospitals for the Starlight Children’s Foundation. 

In 2022 Felix made his directorial debut, directing the Bell Shakespeare Players for The Wonderful World of Will. 

Ren Williams is an Australian film & theatre actor, having trained with Honours at the Flinders University Drama Centre. Also specialising in directing and writing, Ren is a co-founder of independent theatre company CRAM Collective.  

After graduating in 2020, Ren made her directing debut in 2021 with Deadset Theatre Company’s show Truck Stop along with winning State Theatre Company SA’s Young Playwright Award for her play Modified. In June 2022 Ren performed and produced The CRAM Collective’s world premiere Something Big (Dir. Connor Reidy), following their sold-out show of New World Coming – a show created in 5 days. In 2022 Ren performed as five different characters in Kinetik Collective’s Stateside show Kill Climate Deniers (Dir. Clara Solly-Slade). Most recently, as well as acting in a number of short films, Ren performed in the 2023 DreamBIG Festival in the one-woman show Guthrak (Dir. Matthew Briggs). Before joining the USA tour of Bluey’s Big Play (Dir. Rosemary Myers) at the end of 2023, Ren had the pleasure of puppeteering on the set of Windmill Pictures’ Beep and Mort Season 2.