GET TO KNOW US
GRACE ROBERTS
CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/FOUNDER/PRODUCER
Multidisciplinary artist, Grace finds her passion in the world of theatre and performance.
Past graduate of the University of Tasmania theatre course and having completed her Master of Fine Arts in post-dramatic theatrical design and scenography, Grace spends her time as Co-Artistic Director and Producer of her multi-award-winning Theatre and Performance Company, IO Performance with Chris Jackson.
Previously employed as a lecturer at the University of Tasmania and Charles Sturt University, Grace’s passion comes from imparting knowledge and providing opportunities to emerging artists in the community.
Grace has been involved in many theatrical productions in different capacities, from Lighting Designing, Set Designing, Acting, Projection Design, Production Managing and Stage Managing, as well as working as the makeup artist on several productions.
Grace has worked with such theatre companies as: Three River Theatre, Relevant Theatre, Launceston Players, Mudlark Theatre, Blue Cow Theatre, as well as Stompin Dance, Tasdance and Moggie Riot.
Grace takes pride in her abilities to adapt and learn new skills to make her a better practitioner in the arts.
CHRIS JACKSON
CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/FOUNDER
Chris is Co-Artistic Director and cofounder of IO Performance, a multi/interdisciplinary artist with over 16 years of professional experience, holding a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts, Master of Contemporary Arts and Master of Fine Arts. He has worked in various capacities across the arts sector including: Directing, Writing, Acting, Performance Art, Production, Music and Design and his work has seen local, state, national and international stages and exhibitions. He has worked at several institutions as a lecturer in performing arts whilst maintaining an active presence in the rich cultural fabric of lutriwita. He is interested in intermediality in performance, how the entire assemblance of ‘things’ create the art.
Actor, Dancing Back Home (JUTE/Mudlark); Performer, Borders (Ihos Opera/JAF); Assistant Director, Barbarians (Ihos Opera/MONA FOMA); Actor, Savages (Persona Collective/JAF); Composer/Sound Designer, I Am A Lake (Mudlark); Performer/ Assistant Director, Backwards From Winter (Ihos Opera/ DARK MOFO); Vision/Sound Design & Music, WILD (Relevant/IO/JAF); Writer/Director, White Dark (Ten Days on the Island); Director, Let The Right One In (IO); Director, Blank (IO); Lighting Design, tuylupa (pakana kanaplila/soma lumia/tasdance); Lighting Design, Dissolving Labels (DRILL); Lighting Design, First Floor (Tasdance); Actor/director/designer, A Poster of the Cosmos (IO); Director, Anatomy of a Suicide (IO); Sound Design & Music Garden on the Moon (Mudlark).
KATIE HILL
Katie graduated from UTAS with a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts in Theatre in 2005, completing her Honours in Blacklight Puppetry the following year, and producing the experimental ultraviolet puppetry piece ‘What’s under Adam?’. Since then she has worked consistently as a venue, production, event, and stage manager, freelance technician, as well as an actor, puppeteer and physical theatre performer. Katie enjoys working with a wide range of creators throughout Tasmania, and believes the state has the capability to produce outstanding new work given the right vehicle and support. IO Performance fills a void in the Tasmanian theatrical landscape for those willing to take risks and produce innovative new theatre.
SHAWNA COLLINS
SHAWNA COLLINS
Lover of art, theatrics and dogs. Shawna has been working closely with the team at IO since 2019, having prior grown up in and around the Launceston theatre community. Event manager by trade and thespian at heart, she can be found pottering at any corner of the theatre, from BOH stage managing through to FOH stage combat. She has starred in and worked on a great number of shows with IO and surrounding Launceston performance companies and is thrilled to be working with IO.
STEPH FRANCIS
Steph has worked with theatre companies and practitioners in both Tasmania and Victoria and is a graduate of the University of Tasmania’s School of Creative Arts and Media (SOCAM). Steph is a multifaceted emerging theatre maker, having been a performer, director, and writer for a number of years. Most notably, she was the Assistant Director to Leticia Cáceres for Kate Mulvany’s ‘The Mares’, produced by the Tasmanian Theatre Company in March of 2019, and was a 2019 Tasmanian Theatre Award winner for ‘Best Supporting Female Performance’. Steph also participated in the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2019, her original show ‘Goose!’ (which she wrote, directed, and performed in) being a part of the Fringe program. Steph is also a trained counsellor and uses her knowledge of human development, characteristics, and psychology in her work as a theatre maker.
IMOGEN STORM
WORKSHOP OFFICER / SCHOOLS LIAISON
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Imogen Storm has completed a three-year bachelor's degree in Contemporary Arts, and has since worked within the arts industry in Tasmania, Melbourne, and overseas in Malaysia. Along her travels, she has had the unique opportunity to work for stage and screen not only as an actor, but also as a writer and director. Imogen Storm has also worked with youth & adults in Melbourne and Tasmania, which has broadened her skill of coaching the craft of acting for stage and screen from late teens to adults.
TRAVIS HENNESSY
VOCAL COACH
Travis holds a Bachelor and Masters degree in Theatre (UTAS), a Post Graduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching (USQ) and a Post Graduate Certificate and Diploma in Voice from the Victorian College of the Arts. Travis is a multi-award winning professional artist and for over 20 years has worked with many Tasmanian-based Theatre Companies including CentrStage, Encore Theatre, Three River Theatre, The Launceston Players, The Launceston Musical Society, Theatre North, Relevant, IO, Tasmania Performs and Mudlark Theatre on over 100 productions. He has formerly worked with national company WotOpera and is a live session musician with the internationally-recognised Baker Boys Band. Travis has been the resident Voice Coach and a member of the Performing Arts Staff at Launceston College for the past 11 years, as well as operating as a freelance Voice Coach with UTAS and other educational institutions. He also works with individual professional and aspiring actors statewide and across Australia, specialising in singing, speech, audition preparation and accent training. At present, Travis is the vocal director for Launceston College’s production of Matilda, co-musical director for Encore Theatre’s We Will Rock You and is an original member of one of Launceston’s longest running professional live cover bands Candy Feet, as well as being an in-demand soloist at many major community and corporate events throughout Tasmania and interstate. As an actor he is currently appearing in Hamlet with Launceston College and will appear in The Launceston Players’ production of 1984. Travis is thrilled to be working with IO and looking forward to enhancing and developing the skills of Tasmanian Artists with the rest of the talented team. His passion and philosophy around training lies in helping to provide artists with the diversity, versatility, ingenuity and longevity needed to thrive and create on an increasingly globalised stage.
