The Hypotheticals

Jeffrey Jay Fowler is a playwright, dramaturg, director and actor. He wrote and acted in award winning shows A History of Drinking and ELEPHENTS. He has performed in and co-created FAG/STAG (winner Scotsman Fringe First 2017), BALI, THE ADVISORS, PERPETUAL WAKE, ALL THAT GLITTERS and LÉ NØR [THE RAIN] with The Last Great Hunt, of which he is a founding artist.

His other plays include MINNIE AND MONA PLAY DEAD, PRICE TAG, THE ONE, Second Hands, Hope is the saddest, and IMPROVEMENT CLUB.

Among the shows he has directed are Girl Shut Your Mouth, Blithe Spirit, The Eisteddfod (winner 2017 PAWA Best Director and Best Mainstage Play), and In The Next Room, or The Vibrator Play for Black Swan State Theatre Company.

Jeffrey Jay was Associate Director of Black Swan from 2014 to 2017, and then he was their Director of New Writing for 2018 and 19. His postgraduate studies were in directing at NIDA in 2010. In 2020 Jeffrey Jay was awarded the NT Literary Award for The Hypotheticals which he co-wrote with Sarah Reuben.

Sarah Reuben is a Darwin-based writer, theatre maker, performer and producer. For her own Theatre Company, Ruby Gaytime Productions, Reuben co-wrote and performed: Best, Short Change, Death Party and This Jew Sits. Sarah co-wrote and performed I’ll Tell you in Person, which had seasons at both Darwin Festival 2020 and Perth Festival 2021 and Lower The Bar for a season at Darwin Entertainment Centre 2020 and a regional tour with ArtBack 2021. Sarah co-wrote and performed The Hypotheticals, which premiered at Darwin Festival 2021 and a regional NT tour in 2022. Most recently Sarah has been funded to co-write a web series, Reformed, an site-specific all ages theatre work, NYE1999 and an immersive sensory work for babies, Above.

Sarah is a co-creator of the nationally touring show Shania Choir, creator of the web series ‘Deadly Tales’, regular panel host on NT Recap: Season 2, mentor for ATYP’s Fresh Ink program and in 2020 was awarded the NT Literary Award for The Hypotheticals, which she co-wrote with Jeffrey Jay Fowler. In 2021 Sarah completed her Postgraduate through the University of Melbourne in Creativity in Health, focusing on the intersection of performing arts and medicine. This resulted in a large-scale storytelling project aimed at increasing health outcomes for children living in remote Aboriginal Communities.

Adam Mitchell is an award winning stage director known for his inventive Theatre, Music Theatre and Opera productions.

He was the Associate Director for Black Swan State Theatre Company and has directed nearly twenty productions for the company. Production highlights include; Oil, Every Brilliant Thing, Next to Normal, Death of a Salesman, The Motherfucker With the Hat, Clinton:The Musical, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Boy Gets Girl and When the Rain Stops Falling.

He was the Artistic Director of Black Swan's HotBed Ensemble, production highlights include: Yellow Moon: The Ballad of Leila and Lee, The Shape of Things, pool (no water), The Laramie Project, Falling Petals and the world premieres of Portraits of Modern Evil by Robert Reid and The Dark Room by Angela Betzien.

His Independent work includes La Fanciulla del West (FFO), Those Who Fall In Love Like Anchors Dropped Upon the Ocean Floor (Griffin Independent/The Blue Room) and The Great Ridolphi for The Last Great Hunt.

Commercial work includes: Fame -The Musical and premiere productions of Mimma: A Musical of War and Friendship and Dragon Lady (Adelaide Cabaret Festival commission).

He regularly directs Theatre, Opera and Music Theatre for The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), has worked with The National Institute Dramatic Arts (NIDA), Victoria College of the Arts, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Playwriting Australia, Sydney and Melbourne Theatre Companies, Barking Gecko Theatre Co., The Australian Theatre for Young People and is a member of the Lincoln Centre Theater Directors Lab (New York).

He is a 40 Under 40 Award winner and has received Equity Guild Awards, Blue Room Theatre Awards, PAWA Awards and the Martin Sims and The West Australian Arts Editor Award.

LAURA BOYNES is an award-winning independent dance artist based in Boorloo/Perth, working nationally and internationally as a performer, choreographer, educator and movement director. Laura’s practice is centered on presenting social, cultural and political happenings as they intersect with individual experience. Her practice utilises the body as metaphor and as a meeting point for investigating ideas of human resilience, social responsibility, adaptability and ecological change. She uses performance as a tool to inspire critical thought and reflection on the contemporary world. She has choreographed multiple short and full-length works and co-directed large commissions for dance companies such as LINK Dance Company, CO;3 Youth Ensemble, Buzz Dance Theatre (Created with Cadi McCarthy, Winner Australian Dance Award 2014) and the WA Academy of Performing Arts. Her theatre credits include choreography and movement direction for Black Swan State Theatre Company, Lost and Found Opera, Renegade Productions, Steam Work Arts, Yirra Yaakin and Variegated Productions. Her solo work Wonder Woman created with Adelina Larsson and Julie-Anne Long (2019) was nominated for four PAWA Awards and won the Australian Dance Award for Independent Dance in 2020. She recently Premiered her new work Equations of a Falling Body in the Perth Festival 2023.

Matthew McVeigh is an interdisciplinary artist that graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts 2008, majoring in Design for Live Performance.

Matt's practice is best described as process and collaboratively driven, working  across theatre, visual arts, public art and community art. He has worked in the areas of dance, physical theatre, musicals, opera and puppetry. Matt has designed for BlackSwan theatre, Yirra Yaakin, SteamWorks, Spare PartsPuppet theatre, WA Ballet, Performing Lines, Barking Gecko, Western Australia Opera, Sensorium Theatre and Waytco. He has been assistant designer for the Australian Ballet and Victorian opera as well as designing for many other independent companies.  In the community sector he has worked in correctional facilities, with youth at risk, disability services and remote Aboriginal and regional communities. Matthew was the recipient of Outstanding costume design for his debut show with Western Australian opera- Koolbardi Wer Wardong at the 2022 Performing  Arts Awards WA.

Matthew art work can be found in private and public collections nationally and Internationally including AGWA, Janet Holmes a'Court, North Metro Tafe,  University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Shire of Ashburton, Perth College and Keizo Ushio (Japan)

Born and based in Western Australia, Peter is an experienced and versatile creative professional who specialises in lighting design, implementation, and creative projects. Since graduating from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2019, Peter’s presence in the field has quickly grown with a comprehensive and diverse list of credits to his name. Theatre design highlights include world premiere productions such as Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company’s FIFO (2020) & Dating Black (2021) as well as Fremantle Theatre Company’s production of Meat (2021). In addition to his creative credits, Peter has worked extensively, in a technical capacity, at many of the major theatres and performing arts venues across Western Australia including His Majesty’s Theatre, Crown Theatre and the State Theatre Center of WA.

A graduate of WAAPA’s BA of Performing Arts in Stage Management, Izzy engages across many theatrical disciplines from plays, musicals, ballet, events, and devised works. Recently Izzy been working with Black Swan State Theatre Company on Things I Know to be True (2023) and Toast (2022) as Stage Manager and City of Gold (2022) as Assistant Stage Manager.

Other projects include Company Stage Manager for The Gruffalo (Melbourne Tour 2023, CDP Theatre Producers), Stage Manager & Technical Mentor on Project 10, (2022-23, West Australian Ballet), Stage Manager for the premieres of both Unheimlich (2021, Performing Lines WA and PICA) and Minneapolis (2021, Performing Lines WA). Outside of stage managing, Izzy also works as a stage technician in props, mechanist, lighting, and wardrobe teams.

Libby is a director, producer, teacher and performer working in the industry for over 20 years. Recent projects include I’m With Her (Half the Sky 2022, Midwinter Productions 2023), Hide the Dog (Performing Lines Tasmania, 2023) JULIA and Savage Grace (Steamworks Arts, 2021-22); Creative Weekender (Perth Festival 2022), The Golem, (Humphrey Bower, 2020), My Robot (Barking Gecko Theatre, 2019) Wonder Woman (Laura Boynes, 2019), and BANG! BANG! (Scott Elstermann & Shona Erskine, 2019-2022). Libby runs Variegated Productions, creating award winning shows Ragnarokkr (2020), Frankie’s (2018), The Man and The Moon (2016), Ramshackle & Kitsch (2017). She associate directed Black Swan’s The Tempest (2021), directed Kaitlin Tinker’s Earthside (2022); and Charlotte Otton’s hit touring juggernaut Feminah (2019). She sits on the boards of CircuitWest and Chamber of Arts & Culture WA; lectures at ECU and is a strong advocate for Western Australian independent artists.