Biography
Priscilla’s background in acting has informed her work in both Sydney and the UK.
In 2019, Priscilla directed the award-winning Sydney Theatre Company/National Theatre of Parramatta production of White Pearl by Anchuli Felicia King, which won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Ensemble. Also for Sydney Theatre Company Priscilla wrote and directed Still Point Turning: The Catherine McGregor Story, (2018). Based on the turbulent life of controversial Australian trans military leader, the production received outstanding critical and commercial success in its world premiere season which starred Heather Mitchell. Previously for the Sydney Theatre Company, Priscilla assistant directed The Father by Florian Zeller starring John Bell (2017), and The Hanging by Angela Betzien (2016).
For Ensemble Theatre, Priscilla will direct a new Australian play, A Broadcast Coup by Melanie Tait, in 2020. Priscilla directed Ensemble Theatre’s 2019 hit comedy, The Appleton Ladies Potato Race, also by Melanie Tait. The production received outstanding critical and commercial acclaim and opened to a sell-out season in March 2019. It will tour nationally in 2021. Previously for Ensemble Theatre, Priscilla directed the Boatshed’s Importance of Being Earnest (2016) and assistant directed Good People and Barefoot in the Park (2016). She was the inaugural winner of Ensemble’s Sandra Bates Directing Award (2016).
For Opera Australia Priscilla is directing the NSW Schools Tour of The Barber of Seville (2020), following her Victoria production in 2019. She directed Opera Australia’s The Magic Flute (NSW Schools Tour, 2018). She also directed a new Australian production, Da Vinci’s Apprentice for Musica Viva, composed by Sally Greenaway with script by Catherine Prosser and Paul Bissett, which will tour nationally from 2018 – 2021.
In 2017 Priscilla was Resident Director for Sport for Jove’s Winter Season, co-directing with Damien Ryan The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet, and assistant directing A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
An advocate of new work, Priscilla conceived and directed Eurydike + Orpheus – a multidisciplinary work of scale, leading the first co-production between the National Institute of Dramatic Art and the National Institute of Circus Art (2017). In 2016 Priscilla co-conceived and directed, The Angelica Complex with playwright Sunny Grace for The Invisible Circus at Kings Cross Theatre – a festival of new work by Australian female artists.
Priscilla’s international work includes travelling to Berlin in 2017, as recipient of the Berlin New Music Opera Award, from The Opera Foundation for Young Australians, working at the Komische Opera under Barrie Kosky. In 2014/15 Priscilla was invited to work with Complicite (UK), in devising educational resources to support innovative devising processes. Priscilla represented the Southbank Centre London at the Sydney Writers Festival in 2013, directing the ‘Under 10s Feminist Corner’ to explore what being a feminist means for girls under ten years of age.
Priscilla is a lecturer in Creative Practices at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, where she completed her Masters of Fine Arts, Directing in 2016. Priscilla has presented at State and National Drama Conferences (2013, 2014 & 2015), and written dramaturgical curriculum for the Department of Education. Priscilla holds a Bachelor of Teaching (UWS), where she was the recipient of the Deans Medal of the Arts, and a Bachelor of Theatre Arts (Acting), (USQ).
Priscilla is invested in an exquisite exchange between actors and audience through a dynamic use of space using traditional and twenty-first century technologies and is excited by her contributions to the hybrid fusion of innovative arts and theatre practices in Australia.
Artistic Statement
I seek to create theatre that mutates truth while at the same time consolidating it. Theatre that moves me most, is theatre that entices a visceral response from audiences – those exquisite, all too rare moments in a darkened space when we literally feel every molecule in our body involuntarily responding to the beauty or grotesqueness or tragedy or sheer presence of the living breathing moment. I am moved by beauty, I am moved by light and bodies, poetry in motion and language and sound and silence. Metaphor moves me. Space fascinates me. As a director I ask myself how does the language and quality of movement, text, sound and image interplay collectively so that the space itself becomes a living, breathing force?
We go to the theatre to see ourselves because we are inextricably invested in our humanness which paradoxically is also the source of our ‘otherness’. Theatre consummates our timeless struggle to both grapple and celebrate who we are and what our collective and solitary experience means. We are myth magnets, meaning hunters.
I am passionate about creating theatre that enlivens us culturally as Australians. Margaret Cameron’s statement “to audience is a verb” feels like a call to action for me as a director. I want to create theatre in which the audience is complicit because of the active consensus of shared imagination taking place between actor and spectator. I want to create theatre that enlivens the mind and stirs the soul – that vibrates with resonance, provocation and connection.
CV
Agent: The Yellow Agency | Ph: 02 80904421 | Email: contact@theyellowagency.com
AWARDS
2017 Berlin New Music Opera Award (directing), Opera Foundation for Young Australians
2017 Resident Director, Sport for Jove
2017 Belvoir Artist’s Workshop, Belvoir St Theatre
2016 Sandra Bates Directing Award, Ensemble Theatre
2016 Melbourne Director’s Lab, MTC, TheatreWorks, Melbourne Festival
2015 STC Nominee Emerging Director, Playwriting Australia’s Director’s Studio
2015 Highly Accomplished Teacher Accreditation award, Board of Studies Institute of Teachers NSW
2006 Deans Medal (College of Arts)
QUALIFICATIONS and EDUCATION
2015 Masters of Fine Arts (Directing), National Institute of Dramatic Arts
2010 Qualified Teacher Status, University of East London
2006 Bachelor of Secondary Teaching, University of Western Sydney
(Distinction & Awarded College of Arts Dean’s Medal)
1999 Bachelor of Theatre Arts, Acting (Distinction), University of Southern Queensland
PROFESSIONAL BOARDS & COMMITTEES
2018 Belvoir St Panel, 25A Downstairs Theatre
2015 Committee member Board of Educational Studies NIDA
2014 Committee member for Sydney Theatre Company Education Teacher’s Advisory Group
2014 & 2013 Representational Educational Committee member, Riverside Theatre, Parramatta
2014 & 2013 Committee member for Professional Teacher’s Council NSW
2014 & 2013 Committee member for Drama NSW Teaching Association
2012 Director, NSW Multicultural Playwright’s Program – ‘Running for Freedom’ NSW State Drama Festival
PERFORMER
2013 Television, Nurse, The Power Games: The Packer Murdoch Story, Southern Star Productions, Geoff Bennett
2013 Television, Mrs Hepworth, Love Child, Playmaker Media, Shawn Seet
2010 Feature Film, Becky, The Man You’re Not, FMW, Alan Freestone
2010 Feature Film, Comedienne, The Laughter Clinic (Promotional Feature),Tin Pan Productions, Ed Blum
2010 Stage, Yelena, Uncle Vanya, Deadpan Productions, Harriet Mann
2007 Stage, Company Member, Playback Theatre Sydney, Maximillian Finlayson
2007 Stage, Janine, Pluto, Short and Sweet Festival Sydney, Daniella Machetta
2006 Commercial, Mother, Colrox, Errol Morris
2005 Commercial, Wife, Carlton Midstrength, Fosters Australia, Steve Rogers
2005 Television, Melissa, All Saints, Peter Finch
2003 Stage, Maddie, The Vegemite Tales, Itchy Feet Theatre London, Melanie Tait
2003 Radio, Tayla, We Are Water, BBC World Service & Royal Court Young Writers, Marion Nancarrow & Simon Stephens (dramaturg)
2003 Television, Waitress, FortySomething, Carlton Television UK, Hugh Laurie
2001 Short Film, My Drug Buddy, Pumpskin Productions, Lester Francois
2000 Commercial, Girlfriend, 7 UP, Luscious International for Propaganda Films LA, Bryan Singer
PRESENTING & FACILITATION
2016 NIDA OPEN Introduction to Directing Theatre
2015 Presenter – National Drama Conference
2014 Presenter – NSW State Drama Conference
2014 Presenter – Department of Education and Communities, Creative Arts Curriculum
2014 & 2015 Presenter – Erudio Education Pty Ltd Teacher’s Professional Development
2014 & 2013 Presenter – Drama NSW Association Early Career Teacher’s Professional Development days
2013 Facilitator for Southbank Centre London at the Sydney Writer’s Festival ‘Under 10 Feminist Corner’
2013 Presenter corporate dramatist – Role Play UK
2012 Presenter corporate dramatist – Black Dog Institute & AnniInc
2009 Corporate facilitator – Skills To Success, London
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
May 2016 – Current:
NIDA Lecturer and Course Curriculum Development Team
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Acting, Design, Props, Costume, Staging Technical Courses
Subjects include: Performance & Ideas, Student Led and Introduction to Collaboration courses
Masters of Fine Arts, Directing Course
Subjects include: Devised Theatre course, Contemporary Theatre Directors
Oct 2014 – Theatre du Complicite (UK) – Creative Learning Team (project collaborator)
On-line resources for theatre-makers in devised theatre practices
Aug 2014, 2013 – NSW HSC Practical Drama Examination Marker, NSW Board of Studies Registered Curriculum Writer
Jan 2012 – 2014: Macarthur Girls High School – Drama Teacher, Year Advisor
1-19 Macarthur Street, Parramatta 2151
Ph: 9683 1866
Jan 2011 – Dec 2011 – Newtown High School of the Performing Arts – English and Drama Teacher
King Street, Newtown Sydney
Ph: 02 9519 1544
Sep 2008 – Dec 2010: Wanstead Performing Arts High School – Assistant Head of Drama & Dance Department
Redbridge East London EC11 2JZ
Ph: +44 208 989 2791
DIRECTING
2018 Stage, Still Point Turning: The Catherine McGregor Story, Sydney Theatre Company (director/writer)
2018 Opera, The Magic Flute, National Schools Tour, Opera Australia (revival director)
2017 Stage, Da Vinci’s Assistant, Musica Viva (director)
2017 Stage, The Father, Sydney Theatre Company (assistant director)
2017 Stage, The Tempest, Sport for Jove Winter Season (co-director)
2017 Stage, Romeo & Juliet, Sport for Jove Winter Season (co-director)
2017 Stage, Eurydike + Orpheus, NIDA&NICA co-production (director and conceiver)
2017 Stage, Relatively Speaking, Ensemble Theatre (director, transfer Glen St Theatre)
2017 Stage, Photosynthesis, Seymour Centre (director)
2016 Stage, The Angelica Complex, Invisible Circus season KX Theatre, (director & co-creator)
2016 Stage, The Hanging by Angela Betzien, Sydney Theatre Company (assistant director)
2016 Stage, Something For Cate: The Catherine McGregor Story, STC Rough Drafts (director & creator)
2016 Stage, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Ensemble Theatre Boatshed Program (director)
2016 Stage, Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon, Ensemble Theatre (assistant director)
2016 Stage, Good People by David Lindsay Abaire, Ensemble Theatre (assistant director)
2015 Stage, Love and Honour by Nam Le NIDA (director and adaptation)
2015 Music video clip, Walking for Days WILSN NIDA
2015 Stage, Beyond the Sky and the Sea NIDA and Aboriginal Centre of Performing Arts
2015 Stage, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams (abridged) NIDA
2014 Stage, Creative Learning Resource Project with Complicite (UK)
2014 Stage, Orpheus and Eurydice, NSW Arts Unit
2013 Stage, So City by Miles Merril, NSW Arts Unit
2012 Stage, Running for Freedom, NSW State Festival
WRITER AND DRAMATURG
2018 Stage, Still Point Turning: The Catherine McGregor Story (writer and dramaturg, produced and performed by the Sydney Theatre Company 21 April – 26 May 2018)
2017 Stage, Eurydike + Orpheus (original stage concept and dramaturg, co-produced and performed by National Institute of Dramatic Art and National Institute of Circus Art, June 2017)
2016 Stage, Something For Cate: The Catherine McGregor Story (original stage concept and dramaturg, produced at Sydney Theatre Company for Rough Drafts Program, May 2016)
2016 Stage, The Angelica Complex by Sunny Grace (co-creator and dramaturg, produced for The Invisible Circus, Kings Cross Theatre, November 2016)
2015 Stage, Love and Honour by Nam Le (original stage adaptation and dramaturg, produced at National Institute of Dramatic Art, November 2015)
THEATRE COMPANY EMPLOYMENT
November 2007 – 2010: Imprology
London
Position Held: Facilitator, Coach and Company Member
www.imprology.com/contact.html
January 2005 – 2013: Playback Theatre Sydney
P.O. Box 770, Leichhardt, NSW 2040
www.playbacktheatre.com.au/about
Position Held: Performer & Company Member (Part Time/Contracted)
May 2001 – December 2003: Itchy Feet Theatre, London
Position Held: Managing Director & Cast Member
December 2001 – December 2003
MOPA Shakespeare Theatre
St Albans, Herts
Ph: +44 800 083 1637
Theatre ADAD
Lewisham, South London
Ph: +44 171727 765975
Position Held: Actor & Facilitator (contracted)
ACTING
January 2000 – 2014: Contracted work as an actor in London and Sydney.
For further information www.priscillajackman.com.au/portfolio-item/acting