Shane Anthony, Director of OFTEN I FIND THAT I AM NAKED  

What did you want to be when you grew up?
Director, Actor or Dancer

What did you become?
Director, Acting and Movement Coach

What's your official title?
Director of Theatre and Film

What's your background - how did you end up here?
I studied Theatre at university majoring in acting and directing in Brisbane. During this time I was invited to join a local Physical Theatre company as a performer, so I deferred my last semester to tour regionally and perform in festivals around the country. I continued to work with this company and completed my undergrad, but my interest to direct was developing greater than my passion to perform. I decided to pursue directing exclusively, so I created projects when and where I could and looked to learn from directors I respected. I eventually undertook post grad studies in Directing at NIDA and since graduating I’ve been working as a director in Australia and overseas.

How would you describe your work to a complete stranger?
I work with writers, actors, designers and other artists to tell stories on stage and screen.

What's the first thing career related you usually do each day?
I check my emails, almost before anything else.

Can you describe an "average" working day for you?
It varies hugely depending on what phase of a project I am in, but includes liasing with producers, discussing future projects, planning rehearsals, rehearsing, working with designers, researching and somewhere in there, dreaming of creative possibilities.

Who or what in the arts world most inspires you?
Artists who work hard to realise astonishing work of beauty and honesty.

What's the toughest challenge you've dealt with on the job?
The biggest challenges always involve people management and money: making sure everyone is working together and towards the same goal and having the budget to create what you have dreamt of.

What's the best piece of advice you were ever given for your career?
Find a way to do it, no matter what. Seek any opportunity to refine your craft and technique and pursue what arrests you attention.

What are the top three skills you need in your particular role?
I’m not sure there are ‘top’ skills needed as a director, but three I think are essential include deep observation of people, time and space, an ability to subtly create the right environment from which great work can happen, and a respect and understanding for the different skills other artists bring to the table.

What's the best thing about your job?
That I am always learning with every new project I work on, either about human psychology or some other aspect of human experience.

And the worst?
That for many projects time and money are often tight.

And if you had to sum your working life in a word or phrase, what would it be?
Order in total chaos.

BIO

Shane has worked for the past 10 years as a director, acting and movement coach. He is a 2006 graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) Directing Program and has also completed a BA in Theatre Studies at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). In 2007 he travelled to New York to train with Anne Bogart and the Saratoga International Theatre Institute. Recent directing credits include OFTEN I FIND THAT I AM NAKED (’09) by Fiona Sprott for the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Radio Hysteria (’09) for NIDA Open Program, War of the Worlds (’08) in Hong Kong for Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre, Motortown (’08) by Simon Stephens for 23rd Productions, Hong Kong: Fa Hoi Fu Kwai (’08) in Hong Kong for Zen Zen Zo. He has also worked as show director for CIRCA on their European tour of CIRCA (’09), movement coach for Angels in America: Part One (’08) for New Theatre, and assistant directed on The Kid (’08) for Griffin Theatre Company, The Laramie Project (’06) and Beach (’06) for NIDA, Greek (’04) for Punks Palace, Voices (’04) for Queensland Arts Council, The Man Who Sold the World (’00) for Brisbane Festival and Ashes of Atreus (’99) for Zen Zen Zo. In 2010 Shane will remount OFTEN I FIND THAT I AM NAKED in The Garden of Unearthly Delights at the Adelaide Fringe, direct a film adaptation of the Australian stage classic, Norm and Ahmed; produced and distributed through Ariel Media in Sydney, return to Hong Kong to direct The Cucible and direct My Name is Rachel Corrie for La Boite Theatre Indie.

Adelaide Fringe Festival
19 Feb – 14 Mar

Tickets for OFTEN I FIND THAT I AM NAKED click here