The Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble is a community-based, non-profit organization run by two distinct bodies. The Core Ensemble is the artistic engine of the the company, and Core members contribute their skills to the day-to-day running of company. The Management Committee ensures that QSE activities are in line with the company's mission and vision, and adhere to the requirements of the Associations Incorporation Act of 1981. Copies of the Rules of the association are available on request.
Angel Kosch
Angel is a multi-talented artist and performer born and bred in Brisbane. In 2008 Angel was QSE's Associate Artist as well as assistant directing Shakespeare's Shorts earlier in the year. She has been working sporadically with the company since she was a core member in 2003-4. She is a facilitator for the 2009 ACE project. Her performance with the company includes: Food of Love: A Shakespeare Cabaret (dir: Cienda McNamara) - Titania/Desdemona/Achilles (current, 2009); Instant Romeo & Juliet and The Half-Hour Hamlet (dir: Anne Pensalfini) - Juliet/Prince/Apothecary, Ophelia/Gertrude (current, 2009); Twelfth Night (dir: Rob Pensalfini) - Feste (2008); As You Like It - musician (2002); Pericles Prince of Tyre - Dionyza/Diana/Pericles (2003); The Winter's Tale (rehearsed reading) - Mamillius/Mopsa/pirate (2002); Two Gentlemen of Verona (rehearsed reading) - Sylvia (2004); The 15-Minute Hamlet - Laertes (2005).
Angel is also a singer/songwriter and her other performance experience includes Vulcana Women's Circus; Hiphop Puppetree; self-devised solo performance involving aerials, poetry and song; and she periodically plays with fire. She has trained in stage combat with Andy Fraser and Kyle Rowling, voiceovers with WAAPA/AFTRS, screen acting with Perth Actors Collective; clown with Red Spoon Theatre, and Linklater voice work with Rob Pensalfini and Shakespeare & Co. Angel is a photographer and visual artist and recently designed graphics for the new QSE website.
Claire Pearson
Claire graduated from the BFA (Acting) course at QUT in 2008. While studying she played a variety of roles including Viola in Twelfth Night and even Mother Teresa in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. In her time outside of study Claire has written and produced plays for QUT's Capillaries Festival (Doll Box Melody, Battlefield Blues), BugFest (The Meeting) and has produced and directed two short films - Student Theatre Group in 2007 (Best Brisbane Film - 15/15 Short Film Festival) and The Gift Wrapper in 2009. She has been shortlisted twice for QTC's Young Playwrights Award.
In 2006, Claire founded the performance ensemble Unfortune Cookies who have created their own work for the 2high Festival (Life Outside the Box, Powerhouse Madness), Metro Arts Creative Development Festival (44 Thistle Rd) and most recently the Short and Sweet Festival (Cause of Breath). Claire has also participated in radio, stand-up comedy and student films. In 2008, Claire won the QNFA award for best female actor in the short film Years (QCA). Other credits include Miranda in The Tempest (BAT, 2005), Unfinished Story (QUT, 2005), Waiting Room (Qpix), Natasha in Three Sisters (QUT, 2007), a roving performer in Bottled Theatre's The Long and The Short of it (Brisbane Festival -Under The Radar, 2009) and Holy Guacamole written by Daniel Evans and produced by The Good Room (Adelaide Fringe Festival/Metro Arts, 2009). Claire is a proud member of Actors Equity.
Rob Pensalfini
(Artistic Director)
Rob was one of QSE's founders, and is currently QSE's Artistic Director. In 2002, Rob directed QSE's first full production, As You Like It. In 2003 he appeared as Coriolanus in QSE's Coriolanus. In 2005, he directed The Comedy of Errors for QSE to critical acclaim. In 2007 he played Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. In 2008 Rob directed Twelfth Night and played Sir Toby Belch. Rob also composes and performs music for many of QSE's productions. Rob's other Shakespeare credits include Prospero in The Tempest, Hubert in King John, Feste in Twelfth Night and Launce in Two Gentlemen of Verona. Non-Shakespeare roles include John in Mamet's Oleanna (in Chicago), Truffaldino in The Servant of Two Masters (in Italian) and Créon in Anouilh's Antigone (in French). Rob has led QSE workshops in schools, prisons, the Queensland Art Gallery, and other community groups.
Rob has lived in Brisbane since 1999 and is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and Drama at the University of Queensland. He completed his doctorate in theoretical linguistics and Australian Aboriginal languages at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997. He is one of only five people in Australia certified by Kristin Linklater to teach the world-renowned Linklater voice method. Rob has worked professionally as an actor, director, musician, and teacher in both the USA and Australia. He has worked (performed and/or taught) with Pilgrim Theatre and Shakespeare & Company (both in Massachusetts, USA), and Zen Zen Zo, Power of Will, and the Queensland Theatre Company in Brisbane.
Benjamin Prindable
This is Benjamin's first year with the QSE. Throughout the year Ben has been performing in Shakespeare's Shorts - The Half-Hour Hamlet and Instant Romeo & Juliet. Ben's acting career began in earnest in 1996 when he was offered a place at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City. After graduating, he returned to Queensland where he completed a BA (Drama) from QUT. His theatre credits include title roles in Richard III, Othello and Pericles. Also, he has played the roles of Doc Gibbs in Our Town, Vershinin in The Three Sisters, Claudius in Hamlet, Cleomenes in The Winter's Tale, Marcade in Love's Labour's Lost, Sidney Black in Light Up the Sky and Andy in Down Came a Jumbuck.
His feature film work includes roles in Gettin' Square, Hunt Angels, Seconds to Spare, Kiss Me Stupid (which he co-wrote and produced), as well as Have You Seen the Moon - a Documentary of Yoshi Oida for ARTE (France). Numerous short film appearances include the award winning Eustice Solves a Problem, I've Met the Devil, Sugar and Spice, and Attack of the Other, which he also wrote, produced and directed - the film won Best Comedy at the Sour Grapes Film Festival in Sydney. Ben has featured in such television shows as All Saints, Through My Eyes, Mermaids, Beastmaster and Water Rats as well as many commercials and corporate videos.
Ben is thrilled to be a Core Ensemble member of QSE for 2010 and is a proud member of Actors Equity.
Colin Smith
Colin has trained with the Ensemble since 2001 and became a core member in 2007. He has been in the position of Treasurer on the QSE Committee since 2006, and was assistant director for QSE's 2009 production of As You Like It. He has performed for QSE as King Leontes of Sicilia in the staged reading of The Winter's Tale (2001); Dogberry and Shylock in Shakespeare's Briefs; or Let's Kill All The Lawyers (2006); Horatio and Polonius in The Half-hour Hamlet (2006-2010); Nick Bottom in Midsummer's Mechanicals (2007); Don Pedro of Arragon in Much Ado About Nothing (2007); Jove, Tereus, Tiresias and Hermaphroditus in Metamorphoses (2007-8); Friar Laurence and Mercutio (2008-9) and Romeo Montague and Lady Capulet (2010) in Instant Romeo & Juliet; Duke Orsino of Illyria in Twelfth Night (2008); Pandarus, Jaques and Diomedes in Food Of Love (2009); Orlando de Boys in As You Like It (2009); and Othello, Peer Gynt and Harold Mitchell in the Vis-à-Vis: Moving Stories (2010) co-production between QSE and Queensland Ballet.
Colin got his start in acting in 1983 at the age of 12 in a short for ABC TV, but got sidetracked by a career in the I.T. industry before coming back to theatre in the mid-1990s. He graduated from QUT's Bachelor of Creative Industries program, majoring in Performance Studies, in 2004. His theatre credits include The Bald Prima Donna, The Drought, The Fifth Elephant, Jesus Christ Superstar, Men At Arms, The Night Watch, Noises Off, One For The Road, Sherwoodstock, and Sleuth. His short film credits include The Last Aussie Hero 3: The Search For Kip, and the film clip for "The Fugitive" by Tuesday Night Casualties, and he has appeared in numerous television shows, including Mortified and Sea Patrol. He was a founding member of the Six Of The Best improvisational theatre troupe and a core member of Edge Improv, and has performed in improvised theatre with Dang Bang, the Flying Wombats, QUT, Theatresports Queensland, tofulama, and Yes And... Entertainment; he has also taught improvisation for Six Of The Best and the Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts. Colin is a proud member of Actors Equity.
Liz Verbraak
Liz studied drama for a year at UQ before pursuing a career in teaching. She has written and directed English language plays for high-school students in Hong Kong and coached successful contestants in the annual Hong Kong English Speech and Drama Competition. After a short stint with Alice Springs' Totem Theatre Company where she played the female lead Lucida in Last Love along with assisting in costuming and set design, Liz returned to Brisbane and joined QSE's Apprenticeship Program for 2008.
She was Assistant Director for QSE's production of Metamorphoses in 2008 as well as Assistant Director, Assistant Front of House and Understudy for Curio, Officer 1 and Priest in Twelfth Night (2008). Liz played Cressida in Food of Love and Amiens, Le Beau and William in As You Like It in 2009. In QSE's Shakespeare's Shorts collection, she has played Tybalt, Nurse and Balthasar in Instant Romeo & Juliet (2009-10) and Laertes and Marcellus (2009) and Hamlet (2010) in The Half-hour Hamlet. She has been Secretary for the QSE Committee since 2008 and Business Manager for the Ensemble since 2009.
2010 Apprentices
Crystal Arons
Crystal has been performing in Brisbane since 2001. Her many productions include A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, West Side Story and an all-female version of Reservoir Dogs. Crystal worked as Artistic Director for Nash Theatre 2005-2006. Her directing credits include Keep Everything You Love, The Importance of Being Earnest and Willy's Wicked Little Love Bits.
Crystal has trained with Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble, Queensland Actor's Playhouse, Grin and Tonic and recently completed a Bachelor of Theatre Arts (Acting) at the University of Southern Queensland. During her training Crystal performed in a plethora of plays including The Rimers of Eldritch, A Soldier's Tale, Bard Wired, and The Tempest, as Miss Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera, and Lazarus Won't Get Out of Bed by David Burton. Crystal is currently writing her full length play and is looking forward to an exciting year of Shakespeare.
Aisling Hoey
Aisling started training at the Rossmore School of Speech & Drama from the age of 10. While at Trinity College Dublin, she was heavily involved with the Theatre Français group, playing La Sorcière in L'Homme Poulain (2000, in French). She trained in clown with Barabbas Co, physical theatre with Dublin Arts Council, and improvisation with the Gaiety School of Acting.
Aisling graduated with a BA (Hons) in Creative Expressive Therapies, focussing on the use of creative arts in the therapeutic environment. She is a skilled creative facilitator; having worked with groups in social care, mental health and prisons. Aisling has made and exhibited two short films, created several dance/theatre performances, and collaborated with community artists on innovative mixed media events in UK and Ireland.
Arriving in Australia in 2007, Aisling has trained through Cape Byron Playback Theatre Co, Edge Improv and, of course, the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble.
Katrina Mawer
Katrina's interest in acting developed at a young age through performances in various eisteddfods, competitions and musicals. Her credits include Grease (Jan), Les Misérables (Cosette) and Jungle Fantasy (The Jungle Queen). During her senior year, Katrina participated in a year long NIDA Young Actors Studio course, obtained Honours in her AMEB Speech and Drama exam and received Dux of Drama. She also pursued various extracurricular activities including performing with the Queensland Conservatorium of Music Scholarship Choir, being a State Representative for the State Honours Ensemble Program and completing her CSTD Silver Star Tap examination. Since graduation, Katrina has continued to participate in various creative workshops in order to improve her skill base.
During the last two years she has been on hiatus from acting in order to study a Bachelor of Laws degree at QUT. This year Katrina hopes to study a double degree in Law/Journalism and throw herself whole-heartedly into pursuing the creative arts.
Belinda McCulloch
(Winner - Apprentice Scholarship 2010)
Belinda has been mixed up in the theatre pretty well from birth. She has taught with the Australian Acting Academy and design assisted with Harvest Rain Theatre Company. Recent acting roles include Sally in Falling Petals (Underground) and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Cazuela). Since graduating with a Bachelor of Creative Industries from QUT mid-2008, Belinda has directed her energies more into writing and directing.
Her first production was cabaret The Rift in 2007. She then wrote and directed theatre/animation hybrid production We Are All Space Monkeys in 2008. This was produced twice as part of the Emerge Project. She also wrote 48hr Film Project award winning shorts Derailed and The King of Lost Things. Belinda spent the 2008-9 winter teaching film in Korea. In 2009 she was based in the UK, collaborating and training with the Old Vic, Young Vic, Theatre Royal and site-specific London company, Punchdrunk.
Isabella Tannock
2010 is Isabella's first year with the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble as an apprentice. After graduating as a foundation student from the Queensland Academy for Creative Industries (QACI) in 2008, Isabella spent 2009 studying a Bachelor of Creative Arts at the University of Queensland.
Isabella also did acting and singing classes with Brisbane-based actors Andrea Moor and Liz Buchanan. Isabella performed the role of Evelyn Carrol in the Underground Theatre's Blue Murder in June and Bugfest in October at the Cement Box Theatre. In 2010 Isabella will also start a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) at the Queensland University of Technology.
Rhys Ward
Attending the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy from a young age, Rhys began his acting career through performing in numerous musical and cabaret productions including Bugsy Malone, Annie, My Fair Lady and the new hit Australian musical Evie and the Birdman (Mousetrap Theatre).
In 2006, he joined Vena Cava Productions at QUT and performed in Rio Saki and Other Falling Debris, and The Dumb Waiter (Vena Cava Productions); and Who's Afraid of the Working Class? (QUT CI - short). He has also spent a number of years acting with N@sh Theatre, and performed as Macduff in Macbeth, Dennis in Loot, Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet and, finally, Hamlet in 2009 performing the title role. Rhys has recently returned from overseas where he completed summer school with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London.
Rhys graduated from QUT in 2008 and holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace Avionics), but has put that life on hold to pursue his passion for acting. He is currently working with a colleague to launch his own production company and expects 2010 to be an exciting year.
2010 Committee
President - Ruby Drewery
Vice-President - Stephen Mackie
Secretary/Business Manager - Elizabeth Verbraak
Treasurer - Colin Smith
Committee Officers - Christina Koch, Angel Kosch, Karen McLeod
Previous Ensemble Members and Committee Members
2009
Core Ensemble
Paul Adams, Andrea Carne, Ruby Drewery, Gavin Edwards, Angel Kosch, Stephen Mackie, Rob Pensalfini, Belinda Small, Colin Smith, Brad Turnbull, Elizabeth Verbraak
Apprentices
Venetia Brown, Jean-Marc Manning, Toby Martin, Sarah McLeod (Winner - Apprentice Scholarship 2009), Jade Ollerenshaw
Associate Artists
Jane Cameron, Franki Marrington
Committee
President - Rob Pensalfini, Vice-President - Christina Koch, Secretary/Business Manager - Elizabeth Verbraak, Treasurer - Colin Smith
2008
Core Ensemble
Andrea Carne, Ruby Drewery, Gavin Edwards, Kathleen Iron, Stephen Mackie, Tamara Meade, Rebecca Murphy, Rob Pensalfini, Belinda Small, Colin Smith
Apprentices
Sam Chen, Philippe Klaus (Winner - Apprentice Scholarship 2008), Candice Leask, Elliott Marsh, Liz Verbraak
Associate Artist
Angel Kosch
Committee
President - Rob Pensalfini, Vice-President - Christina Koch, Secretary - Elizabeth Verbraak, Treasurer - Colin Smith, Business Manager - Amanda Bell
2007
Core Ensemble
Gavin Edwards, Kathryn Fray, Chris Koch, Hannah Levien, Tamara Meade, Rebecca Murphy, Anne Pensalfini, Rob Pensalfini, Colin Smith
Apprentices
Amanda Bell, Claire Hielscher, Melissa Layton, Stephen Mackie, Linda Taimre (Winner - Apprentice Scholarship 2007)
Committee
President - Rob Pensalfini, Vice-President - Christina Koch, Secretary - Amanda Bell, Treasurer - Colin Smith, Business Manager - Anne Pensalfini
2006
Core Ensemble
Eileen Conway, Stephen Daniels, Chris Koch, Jess Loudon, Tamara Meade, Anne Pensalfini, Rob Pensalfini, Hugh Taylor, Mark Tsang
Committee
President - Rob Pensalfini, Vice-President - Mark Tsang, Secretary - Amanda Bell, Treasurer - Colin Smith, Business Manager - Anne Pensalfini
2005
Core Ensemble
Jane Barry, Stephen Daniels, Tim Dickenson, David Keirnan, Suzanne Little, Sarah Ogden, Anne Pensalfini, Rob Pensalfini
Committee
President - Anne Pensalfini, Artistic Director - Rob Pensalfini, Secretary - Jane Barry, Treasurer - Tim Dickenson
2004
Core Ensemble
Matthew Clowes, Stephen Daniels, Tim Dickenson, Flloyd Kennedy, Chris Koch, Angel Kosch, Anne Pensalfini, Rob Pensalfini
Committee
President - Suzanne Little, Artistic Director - Rob Pensalfini, Secretary - Anne Pensalfini, Treasurer - Tim Dickenson
2003
Core Ensemble
Matthew Clowes, Stephen Daniels, Tim Dickenson, Flloyd Kennedy, Chris Koch, Angel Kosch, Anne Pensalfini, Rob Pensalfini
Committee
President - Suzanne Little, Artistic Director - Rob Pensalfini, Secretary - Stephen Daniels, Treasurer - Sue Mahoney
2001-2002
Committee
President - Suzanne Little, Artistic Director - Rob Pensalfini, Secretary - Stephen Daniels, Treasurer - Sue Mahoney, Office Bearer - Emma Tonkin
Founding Members
Kym Brown, Matthew Clowes, Stephen Daniels, Suzanne Little, Sue Mahoney, Rob Pensalfini, Emma Tonkin