This Tree is a Story
(about everything, including you, as told by me)

Alexis West is a Birri Gubba, Wakka Wakka, South Sea Islander and White Australian woman living on Kaurna Country. She is a writer, director, collaborator and performer in film, theatre, poetry, dance and events. Alexis is passionate about First Nation voices, the stories of people with disability, oppression, diversity and collaboration. She has worked as an Artistic Director with Karrikarrinya Theatre Collective, co-written with Elena Carapetis for the State Theatre of South Australia, written and collaborated for Kurruru Youth Arts and No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability. A single parent of now adult sons. She is silly, introverted, nerdy, inappropriate, obnoxious, thoughtful and fun (with likeminded people).

Delia Olam is an award-winning actor/dancer, director, singer-songwriter, mum of 3, theatre designer, and playwright who has collaborated locally and internationally since graduating. For over a decade, Olam has created and toured diverse cabaret works with live original music elements. Sharing stories that empower and unite are Delia’s “raison d’être”.

Edgell is a proud Ni-Vanuatu man (from Pentecost Island), now living in Adelaide. From 2011 – 2019, Edgell was a core ensemble member of internationally renowned Wan Smolbag Theatre (Port Vila, Vanuatu), who work year round, producing, devising and touring plays, films, short videos, workshops programs and educational recourses.

Elleni Karagiannidis is a local artist living and working on Kaurna land, Adelaide. As a first generation Australian from a Greek Cypriot family, Elleni has always been surrounded by music, dance and stories of wondrous places both afar and home. It was therefore inevitable that her fascination for storytelling would lead her to a love for theatre. Since graduating from the Flinders University Drama Centre in 2007, Elleni has utilised her skills, knowledge and passion for the arts, as an actor, puppeteer, director, facilitator and program coordinator. Elleni has recently returned to Adelaide with her new family after living in Melbourne for 5 years. She is thrilled to be working with Slingsby as an ensemble member of The Flyng Squad, bringing new, captivating and beautiful theatre to audiences around our gorgeous state.

Josh Campton is a Larrakia (N.T), Wadaman /Karajarri (W.A) & Gulidjan (Vic) actor, dancer & poet. He has performed with SA First Nations Dance Collective, OSCA, No Strings Attached, Tutti, Act Now Theatre & Restless Dance, & studies at Tutti Arts. He acted in Mauriceʼs Symphony (2016), Jeremy the Dud & Mutt. (2017). Josh received an Australia Council for the Arts Jump Mentorship in 2012.

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 South Australia, State Theatre Company 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

Wendy’s Set & Costume Design credits include Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Tim Overton/Wickedly Good Productions), The Thing That Matters and Touch & Go (Sally Chance Dance), Seashore (Sally Chance Dance/Dream Big), Vaudeville (Brink Productions/Rory Walker), Land + Sea (Brink Productions), Supernature and North/South (Australian Dance Theatre), The Lighthouse (Patch Theatre), Picaresque (Robyn Archer, Adelaide Festival), Long Tan (Brink Productions/State Theatre Company South Australia), Babyteeth, Blastedand Pornography (State Theatre Company South Australia). Wendy also designed the Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s opening, closing and family galas from 2016 to 2018 (Adelaide Festival Centre).

Wendy’s Set, Costume & Lighting Design credits include Symphonie de la Bicyclette (Brink Productions/Hew Parham) and The World Is Looking For You (Control Party).

For Adelaide Festival Centre, Wendy’s event designs include Adelaide Cabaret Festival (Co-Designer 2015-2019) and Adelaide Guitar Festival (2016). Late-night club designs for Adelaide Festival include Blinc Bar(Designer, 2015), Lola’s Pergola (Design Assistant/Coordinator 2014), Barrio (Design Coordinator 2012-2013), Persian Garden (Assistant Designer 2006, 2008). Wendy also designed the biannual Bowerbird Design Markets from 2013 to 2017.

For Slingsby, Wendy’s work has included The Young King, Man Covets Bird, and The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy (Set & Costume Design), The Boy Who Talked to Dogs and Emil & The Detectives (Set Design) and, most recently, A Concise Compendium of Wonder – The Tree of Light (Environment Design).

Meg Wilson is an Adelaide-based interdisciplinary artist and designer whose practice spans installation, performance and set, lighting and costume design.

Recently she has designed set and costume with State Theatre Company of South Australia (Terrestrial  2018, Euphoria, 2021, Eureka Day 2021) and Windmill Theatre Co. (Amphibian, 2018/2021) and works extensively with Vitalstatistix (Bedroom lighting design 2021 and Progress Report set, costume and lighting designs 2021), Patch Theatre (Lighthouse, AF 2020) and Restless Dance Theatre, for whom she designed the 2018 Adelaide Festival productions of Intimate Space (2018) and Guttered (2021). She has been largely involved with the establishment of RUMPUS for whom she was venue designer. In 2016, Meg was Lead Artist Intern with The Rabble.

Meg premiered performance work SQUASH! with Arts House during the Festival of Live Art (FOLA, 2018) and has exhibited independently with Contemporary Art Centre SA (2015), BLINDSIDE, VIC; Constance ARI, TAS; Nexus Arts and FELTspace. She has created public projects for FELTspace (2014), Open Space Contemporary Arts (OSCA) (2017), and curated a public program for ACE Open (2019). In 2018 she was a resident artist with Urban Theatre Projects (NSW), hand-weaving trampolines for production Right Here. Right Now. Meg was awarded the 2019 Green Room Award for Contemporary and Experimental Performance (Innovation in Durational Performance), for SQUASH!.

Working within the area of drama and education is Deanne’s idea of a dream job. During her career in education, she has been involved in developing and writing curriculum resources across all of the years of schooling. The skills and knowledge she has developed has meant she has been able to work writing education resources for theatre companies both locally and internationally and most recently for the Adelaide Film Festival – Youth 2021. Now she is here at Slingsby – to liaise with teachers and schools and to develop education resources to support teaching and learning.

Andy Ellis is a multi-disciplinary creative who crafts beautiful, unique & thoughtful work out of his 100+ year old art & design studio, nestled amongst the vineyards in the sleepy village of Greenock in the Barossa Valley, South Australia.

Darian is a lighting, vision, and multi-skilled technician and technical designer from South Australia.

Since graduating from Adelaide College of the Arts’ technical production course, Darian has gained valuable experience working in local venues, with theatre and dance companies, at festivals, on installations, and events.

He has toured extensively with shows such as Patch Theatre’s Yo Diddle Diddle and Anna Goldworthy’s Piano Lessons. He has worked on and toured with many Slingsby productions including The Young King, Emil and the Detectives, and The Boy Who Talked to Dogs, as well as acting as lighting designer for This Tree is a Story and The River that Ran Uphill.

Jennifer Stefanidis (στις Έλληνες, Ευγενία Στεφανίδη) is a multidisciplinary Greek-Australian artist and performer. Bringing with her a strong background in singing, she trained as an actor within the Flinders Drama Centre under the leadership of Tom Healey and Renato Musolino. Jennifer has expressed a keen interest in devised work both onstage and onscreen, and is enthusiastic to expand upon her musicianship, as well as her capabilities as a dramaturg and theatre-maker.