The Team
Mark Radvan - Artistic Director / Chairman
Mark Radvan is Imaginary Theatre's founding Artistic Director. He is a Lecturer in Performance Studies and a Theatre Director at the Queensland University of Technology, lecturing in Acting and Directing, a position he has held since 1984. He is the former Artistic Director of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre's Out of the Box Festival for 3 to 8 year olds, where he lead two festivals in 2006 and 2008. He has also taught Acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. A graduate of NIDA, he has directed over seventy theatre productions, most of them in Brisbane, for QUT, La Boite Theatre, Brisbane Festival, City Theatre and others.
Fiona MacDonald - General Manager
Fiona MacDonald is a creative producer working across Theatre and Festivals in Brisbane. A graduate from QUT Creative Industries majoring in Drama, Fiona brings considerable experience to Imaginary as an artist, stage/production manager, project coordinator and producer. She is a founding member of Imaginary Theatre and has worked for the company tirelessly since 2004 in creative, technical and administrative capacities.
Fiona has also worked in varying capacities for Brisbane Festival since 2006, including producing UNDER THE RADAR in 2008 & 2009. She has also worked for QUT, LATT Children's Theatre (South Korea), TOY Arts Collective, Richard Stratton, Restaged Histories Project and many others. Fiona is enjoying freelancing as a Producer while preparing for Imaginary's national tour.
Thom Browning - Artistic Development Co-ordinator
Thom Browning is a Brisbane based multi-disciplinary artist whose practice focus centres around creating work for and with young people. He is a graduate of the QUT Creative Industries faculty majoring in Performance Studies and over the past seven years has immersed himself in creating art, working extensively in Brisbane and Asia as a performer, performance maker, sound and multimedia designer, composer, musician, DJ, VJ, arts worker and producer. Thom is a founding member and director of Imaginary Theatre and has been working with the company in a variety of artistic and managerial roles since 2004. He has also worked freelance as an artist and producer with many organizations, artists, and groups including Circa, State Library of Queensland, LATT Children's Theatre (South Korea), deBase Productions, Restaged Histories Project, Louise Bezzina, Daniel Santangeli, Red Paper Performance Company, Vena Cava, The Beans, Boogie Lounge Bandits and Liam Griffin.
Joanna Smith - Program Administrator / Secretary
Joanna Smith completed a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Drama) at the Queensland University of Technology in 2005, graduating with distinction. In the past three years she has codevised 7 of the 'Tashi' performances and performed in nine seasons, including stints at the 2004 and 2006 Out of the Box Festivals and at the Brisbane Powerhouse's 'Powerkids!' program in June and September from 2005 - 2008. She was the co-Stage Manager for the June and September 2005 Powerkidz Season and also co-facilitated craft and story drama workshops for the September season. Other projects include working with Susan Richer on the QPAC Summer Holiday Program as a workshop facilitator (for the 5-8 years age group); facilitating two workshops for children aged 4-8 years for the 2006 Ideas Festival and also performing in Matilda Women, QUT (2003). Joanna also has extensive experience with children and an understanding of their creative and educational development, which she has gained over the past 5 years by working in a family day care centre.
Andrew Cory - Associate Artist / Board Member
Over the last twelve years, Andrew Cory has worked professionally in Australia, Asia and in Europe as an actor, a movement director and a clown. He has been an associate artist with Imaginary Theatre since 2006, when he joined to company to develop a training aesthetic and act as a movement director for 'Tashi' at the 2006 Out Of The Box festival for 3 to 8 year olds. Andrew has also worked with a number of other companies in Australia including The QLD Ballet, The QLD Theatre Company, The QLD Symphony Orchestra, The South Australia State Theatre Company, and has studied movement and clown internationally at a variety of training centres. In 2007 Andrew joined Queensland's leading youth arts theatre company, Backbone Youth Arts Inc. as Artistic Development Coordinator, and in 2009 was appointed as Backbone's new Artistic Director.
Margi Brown-Ash - Associate Artist
Margi Brown-Ash brings a wide range of experience to Imaginary Theatre having worked as a psychotherapist, narrative therapist, actor, director, devisor and educator for over 30 years in Australia, London and New York.
Margi is a registered teacher for Education Queensland and has been a member (33years) and delegate of M.E.A.A (Actors Equity). She is a member of La Boite's Creative Reference Group 2008 and is on the Advisory Board of both Imaginary Theatre Company and Grin & Tonic Theatre Company. She teaches Performance Studies within the Creative Industries Faculty at QUT and is a guest tutor in School of Psychology and Counselling, QUT. She also teaches private acting classes at Metro Arts and supervises teams using an arts based process.
Presently she facilitates workshops aimed at developing resilience and understanding of self-using the arts. She also supervises experiential professional development workshops designed specifically for artists, educators and professionals in the humanities, arts and social sciences throughout Queensland. She works primarily with young adult artists, individuals in transition and children.
