Stay Woke

Aran Thangaratnam is a playwright and improviser from Melbourne currently working on a play commissioned by Malthouse Theatre called Stay Woke. During the regular times, he improvises at the Improv Conspiracy and wrote his first play for Melbourne Fringe Festival, The Aussie Ethnic Identity Crisis in 2019. Aran seeks to tell interesting stories seldom seen in the Australian landscape, mostly about the business of growing up in Australia with a last name like Thangaratnam. 

For Malthouse, Bridget was Assistant Director on the large-scale immersive work, Because The Night and has directed the digital productions of The Lockdown Monologues and Hello, World! Her other recent directing credits include HYDRA (Darebin Arts), She is Vigilante (Theatre Works), MORAL PANIC (Darebin Arts), Desert, 6.29pm (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre/Wuhzen Theatre Festival), GROUND CONTROL (Next Wave/Brisbane Festival), Jurassica (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre/Critical Stages), and Kids Killing Kids (Next Wave). Bridget was Assistant Director on The Dream (Bell Shakespeare) and The Histrionic (Malthouse Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company). In 2015 and 2016 she lived in New York, where she worked with downtown legends Elevator Repair Service and for Wooster Group alumna, Anna Kohler. She was a part of the inaugural Melbourne Theatre Company’s Women Director’s program in 2014 and has been the recipient of the Ian Potter Cultural Trust Award, Mike Walsh Fellowship, and Dame Joan Sutherland Award. 

Mark Pritchard is a dramaturg, and the New Work Manager at Malthouse Theatre. Recent credits for Malthouse Theatre include Because The Night, Hello, World!, Atomic, Going Down, Heart is a Wasteland, Little Emperors, Turbine, and Blak Cabaret. He was also dramaturg on Mormon Girl (Hot Mess Productions) and Wael Zuaiter: Unknown (Next Wave Festival). He co-directed Shotgun Wedding, The Séance, and Unfinished Business (NO SHOW). Mark is chair of the Green Room Awards Association Independent Theatre Panel, a recipient of the Mike Walsh Fellowship, and an alumnus of the Australia Council’s Future Leaders Program. He is one half of the Centre for Dramaturgy and Curation.

Rose trained at Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), graduating in 2019. Her recent stage credits include F*CKED (MPavilion), DNA (Chapel Off Chapel), Mad Forest, Fucking A, and The Comedy of Errors (VCA). Rose’s recent film credits include Toilettes (dir. Lotte Sweeney), The Carpenters’ 1981 Christmas Special (dir. Aaron Warwick), Coming of Age (dir. Colin Budds), The Big Forget, and The Dress (VCA). Stay Woke is Rose’s professional stage debut at Malthouse.

Brooke Lee is a proud queer Chinese Australian actor. A graduate of the Acting BFA from Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Brooke has performed in Hello, World! (Malthouse Theatre), Let Me Know When You Get Home (National Theatre of Parramatta), Slaughterhouse (Belvoir 25A), Puffs or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years At A Certain School Of Magic And Magic (Life Like Touring), The Echo of The Shadow (Melbourne Festival/Teatro de los Sentidos), The Skin of Our Teeth, Peter Pan, Henry V (VCA), and Mamasquito (Melbourne Science Gallery/Gesundheit). Alongside acting, Brooke is a budding director and designer. Most recently Brooke was assistant director of Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang (Kings Cross Theatre), and their animation work in 落叶归根 (Luò yè guīgēn) Getting Home was nominated for the 2021 Green Room Award in Design. 

Dushan’s theatre credits include Australian Shakespeare Company’s Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth, and worked with Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre for Theatre on Fury, The Antipodes, and Right Now. Recent television credits include Fires, Jack Irish - Hell Bent, and Glitch for ABC, Stan original series The Gloaming, Network 10's My Life is Murder and Offspring, Foxtel's Wentworth, Stan's Romper Stomper, and the American TV series Hunters. He was also main cast in C31 Melbourne's Sonnnigsburg. Regularly developing his skillset, Dushan has graduated from Victorian College of the Arts Foundation Program, The Melbourne Actors Studio (Bruce Alexander), The Actor's Playhouse (Meisner Technique), and 16th Street (Chubbuck Technique). In London, he is a member of The Actors Centre. He has received a Green Room Award for his performance in Angels in America for Dirty Pretty Theatre.  

Kaivu is a Naarm/Melbourne-based performer and a recent graduate of Victorian College of the Arts. Stay Woke is his Malthouse Theatre debut. Kaivu’s recent credits include Pool (No Water) and Earthquakes in London (VCA). He also wrote and performed in the Melbourne University Law Revue as well as All I want for Christmas is Revue. Kaivu believes the stories and jokes we tell have a profound effect on national consciousness and is excited to craft work that reflects and elevates the values of an evolving Australia. 

Matilda Woodroofe is a set and costume designer with a diverse body of work spanning across theatre, dance, film/TV, and events. Design Associate credits include Because The Night (Malthouse Theatre), Going Down (Malthouse Theatre/ Sydney Theatre Company), Random (Belvoir St Theatre), and Minnie and Liraz (Melbourne Theatre Company). Select set and costume design credits include POONA (Next Wave), A Normal Child (Ridiculusmus/National Disability Slapstick Plan), Air Race, Trapper (Arena Theatre Co), and Sunshine, You Got Older (Red Stitch Actors' Theatre). Select screen credits include Spear (Bangarra Dance Theatre), 2040 (Madman Productions), Get Krack!n Season 1 – 2, Cleverman (ABC), and Preacher Season 4 (Sony Pictures/DC Entertainment). Matilda co-created Studio Fantasy, a portrait project for children as part of Artplay's New Ideas Lab in 2016. Matilda completed a year-long Emerging Designer artist placement with THE RABBLE in 2016. Matilda was nominated for a Green Room Award for Outstanding Set and Costume Design (Independent Theatre) for Mad as a Cute Snake (2020).

Rachel is a Singaporean-Chinese lighting designer and artist based in Naarm. She enjoys the collaborative nature of her process and her works reflect her interest in exploring and interrogating the social ecosystem of her cultures. As an artist, Rachel is concerned with the politics of spaces and challenges that notion in the visual spaces she creates. She also works primarily with new writing and is a member of theatre collective, New Working Group. Rachel designs across several companies and festivals including Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, Western Edge Youth Arts, Stephanie Lake Company, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, ButohOut!, YIRRAMBOI Festival, Midsumma Festival, Fringe Circuits, Asia TOPA, RISING, and Melbourne International Comedy Festival. She co-produced and designed award-winning 落叶归根 (Luò yè guī gēn) Getting Home (Melbourne Fringe Festival). She was awarded Best Production (Green Room Awards Association). Rachel was a part of the 2020 Besen Family Artist Program and 2019 Melbourne Theatre Company Women in Theatre Program. 

Daniella is a gender-queer sound designer and composer from Naarm/Melbourne. They specialise in sound design and composition for theatre, immersive works, and film. Select Malthouse Theatre events include the Season 2020 Launch. Daniella has also sound designed and composed HYDRA (Double Water Sign Theatre), Guerilla Sabbath (Midsumma Festival), Cactus (La Mama Theatre), Punk Rock (Patalog Theatre), Slut (The Burrow), The Dream Laboratory (Essential Theatre), Treats (Fever103 Theatre), Land (Three Fates Theatre Company), Never Said Motel (Writers Festival/OK Motels), Adam (Midsumma Festival), Tram Lights Up (Bighouse Arts), and Western Edge Youth Arts (WEYA – In School, Artist In Residency). Daniella is a design graduate of Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production). Daniella is a proud member of Melbourne Theatre Company's industry leading Women in Theatre program for 2021, and as an advocate for the arts, Daniella is driven to champion gender equity in technical design fields. 

Jess is a freelance Stage Manager and a graduate of Victorian College of the Arts. She has worked on many productions/projects including Blackie Blackie Brown: The Traditional Owner of Death, My Dearworthy Darling, Good Muslim Boy (Malthouse Theatre), Heart is a Wasteland, Jack Charles v The Crown (Ilbijerri Theatre Company), Glass, Song for a Weary Throat, Catalogue (Rawcus), Emerald City, Heisenberg, Arbus & West, Hay Fever, Macbeth, The Odd Couple, Jasper Jones, Miss Julie, and Buyer and Cellar (Melbourne Theatre Company), The Dream Laboratory (Essential Theatre), At the Illusionist’s Table (Scott Silven/Melbourne International Arts Festival), and Room of Regret (THE RABBLE). She has also worked on events such as Melbourne International Arts Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, and Castlemaine State Festival. 

Cessalee Stovall (she/her) is an Intimacy Director, Cultural Consultant and an Equity, Access and Inclusion Specialist, with a focus on the performing arts sector and an unapologetic champion for the physical, psychological, and cultural safety of all humans in the arts. As Intimacy Director, Cessalee has trained with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, Intimacy Coordinators of Colour, and Theatrical Intimacy Education in the US and studied under the founders of Intimacy Coordinators Australia. As a Cultural Consultant, she works closely with productions to support artistic vision, identity, and communication. Cessalee draws on her 20+ years of experience as a professional actor, director and choreographer, her certification as a Mental Health First Aider, her degree in theatre, two certificates in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from Purdue University and Cornell University, and her lived experience as a Black woman. With a consent-centered practice, Cessalee’s work balances the needs of the individuals with the vision of the project to empower communication and collaboration for all stakeholders. Currently, Cessalee is the Equity and Inclusion Manager at Malthouse and the founder of Stage A Change.