Wonderbox

You can access the preparatory materials, including the social story for Wonderbox HERE. 

Francis Italiano - Co-Artistic Director, Performer & Designer

Francis Italiano founded Sensorium Theatre with Michelle Hovane in 2010, bringing their unique immersive sensory theatre to thousands of children with disabilities since its inception. Under his direction, Sensorium has spearheaded national discussions around access for additional needs audiences, highlighted by presentations of Oddysea at the Sydney Opera House and Arts Centre Melbourne and two Helpmann Award nominations. In this capacity, he has facilitated Professional Learning for artists and industry professionals across Australia and internationally, as well as touring Oddysea to Lincoln Center Education’s Big Umbrella Festival in New York and The Artground, Singapore. Over a 25-year career, particularly as a community artist, he has worked as artistic director, artist-in-residence and principal artist for numerous arts and cultural institutions. He has worked as a writer/director/designer/performer at festivals across Australia and continued his professional development in this specialised art form by collaborating with global leaders, including Oily Cart, Bamboozle and Punch Drunk (UK) and Teatro de los Sentidos (Spain).   

Michelle Hovane - Co-Artistic Director & Performer   

Michelle Hovane is a physical performer, somatic practitioner and co-artistic director of Sensorium Theatre. She is passionate about the transformative potential of the arts and the importance of live storytelling in maintaining human communities. She is a founding member of Sensorium Theatre and has been instrumental in the development of the company and the articulation of the company’s methodology. She has been a co-devisor and performer on Sensorium Theatre’s current productions The Jub Jub Tree, Oddysea and most recently Whoosh! and has led metropolitan, regional and national tours. 

Over the past 20 years Michelle has facilitated and performed with many communities of diverse abilities, cultures and identities which gives her a deep ability to tailor each performance to the individuals she encounters.

Daisy Sanders - Movement Director & Performer 

Daisy Sanders is a Boorloo (Perth) based independent artist, a proud senior company member of Sensorium Theatre and a WAAPA graduate (2013 BA Dance with 2017 First Class Honours). She devises immersive choreographic works and is a uniquely joyful multidisciplinary artist working across a variety of roles – performer, creator, director, dramaturg, researcher and teacher. Recent projects include Patch’s Lighthouse (Perth Festival), The Last Great Hunt’s inaugural Gatherer’s Collective, Mám by Teac Damsa (Ireland), GuiShu/BELONG by Steamworks Arts (WA) and HOME by Geoff Sobelle (USA). In 2022 Daisy became a core artist in Contours, a new work by Janine Oxenham dancing songlines through remote communities in WA’s Gascoyne Region. Daisy’s experience of chronic illness (2015 - 20) enabled her to develop a unique rest-focused dance practice and a deeply considered approach to building creative ecologies. She draws on this in her work as a passionate emerging arts advocate, facilitator and leader.   

Jamie David - Musical Director & Performer  

From 2013 until the present, Jamie David has been musical director and performer with Sensorium Theatre. In this role he composed the music and did sound design for Oddysea and Whoosh!. His extensive background in composition, songwriting, performance, multi-artform collaborations and community arts has included touring internationally with music acts; collaborating in theatrical, circus and dance productions; film soundtrack composition; as well as musical studies in West Africa and Southern India.   

Rebecca Bradley - Musical Collaborator & Performer

Bec Bradley is a theatre maker with a passion for creating works that enliven the imagination and enrich the heart. With over two decades of experience as a performer, puppeteer, musician, clown, facilitator and director, she has made countless shows, toured and trained across Australia, as well as in Europe, Asia, and the USA. In her hometown of Perth, Bec has worked with Spare Parts Puppet Theatre since 2005, performing in over 10 of their repertoire shows. She received multiple award nominations from Performing Arts WA for her work with Spare Parts and performed and co-created the award-winning shows On Our Beach (2019) and The One Who Planted Trees (2021). 

In 2010 Bec became a core artist and musician for Sensorium Theatre, touring extensively with the company ever since. More recently she has directed work for Curtain University (The Scale of Things, 2017), Spare Parts (String Symphony, 2020) and Sensorium Theatre (Hutan, 2022).   

Crystal Nguyen - Performer & Collaborator

Crystal Nguyen kickstarted her performance career at 15 placing sixth in the inaugural season of Vietnam's Got Talent. Crystal (who lives with Brittle Bones Disease) is a performing artist and disability advocate who has collaborated with organisations such as UNICEF to raise awareness and challenge the stigma surrounding disability and self-expression. Currently residing on Whadjuk country, Crystal's performing and devising credits include The Events (2018), Our Town (Black Swan State Theatre 2019), PASSING (Fringe World 2021), BESIDE (WA Youth Theatre Company 2021), The Complete Show of Waterskiing (Laura Liu) and most recently the contemporary dance work From Here, Together (Emma Fishwick, 2022). As an emerging artist coming from a non-traditional background, born and raised in Vietnam, Crystal considers each project to be a fresh ground to learn from peers and offer her unique perspectives. Crystal desires to create works that sit in the in-between spaces of discomfort and bliss, connecting marginalised communities together through the message of belonging.

Rachael Woodward - Performer & Collaborator

Rachael Woodward is a theatre maker, performer, puppeteer and teaching artist who describes herself as neuro-diverse. She developed her own show Valentine which was presented at AWESOME International Arts Festival (2018 & 2020). As well as creating her own work for ASSITEJ Next Generation Asia, Melbourne’s Festival of Puppetry, and ATYP’s Fresh Ink Program, she has performed with companies such as The Last Great Hunt (New Owner), Spare Parts Puppet Theatre and Sensorium Theatre (Oddysea, Whoosh!, Hutan, Sensory Storytelling). She has a Bachelors in Performance Making from WAAPA and has trained at Bont’s International Clown School. Rachael is passionate about making work with and for young people, engaging communities through art, and making accessible art. As a teaching artist Rachael has taught through AWESOME’s Creative Challenge Program, DADAA and Barking Gecko Theatre Company. Rachael aims to ignite an audience’s creativity, and imagination by empowering youthful curiosity and playfulness.   

Steve Berrick - Creative Coder

Steve Berrick is an artist and creative coder. With a degree in Computer Science, his work focuses on software and technology. Steve creates software-driven experiences for interactive systems and performances. His collaborative practice has been presented globally in galleries, theatres, museums and the street. Steve is an artist with the ololo art collective. His recent works include The Box (Vi Park Projection Festival, 2021), FutureSkies (State Library of WA, 2021), Bumperball (Scitech, 2020), Guardians (with ololo, Winter Fest Perth, 2019), Hello Future Self (Experimenta, 2017)

Mand Markey - Costume Designer

After completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Edith Cowan University, Mand Markey has worked for various West Australian theatre companies as a costume designer and maker including Sensorium Theatre, Deckchair Theatre, Yirra Yaakin and Black Swan State Theatre Company.  Mand has also worked in many other roles in the performing arts. She was tour manager for Country Arts WA for several years as their remote and regional program, event designer for several Perth Festivals and designer and creator of several Joondalup Festivals. Mand and her family moved to Albany in 2017 where she continues to design and create events, and frequently tutors visual arts to schools and community groups. She is hugely delighted to be again designing and working with Sensorium Theatre. Mand and Francis have created works together for nearly 20 years.  

Amalia Lambert - Costume Designer

Amalia Lambert is an emerging Australian set and costume designer. In 2019 Amalia graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) with a Bachelor of Performing Arts majoring in Design. On completion of the course Amalia proudly received The David Hough Award for Outstanding Achievement in Design. Since graduating Amalia has designed the set and costumes for the West Australian Ballet’s production of The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, AWESOME Arts Festival 2020. Amalia has also designed the costumes for Strut and Fret's alt-circus production BoomBoom in the House of Casa BlahBlah (2019) at The Rechabite. Amalia is a passionate and dedicated young creative, who becomes immensely invested in all of her projects. 

Lucy Birkinshaw - Lighting Designer 

Lucy Birkinshaw is a lighting designer and artist whose work spans theatre, musical theatre, concerts, opera, dance, film and television. She graduated from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts with an Advanced Diploma of Lighting Design for Production and Performance and Curtin University with a Bachelor of Art, Fine Arts. Lucy has designed lighting for Black Swan State Theatre Company, Perth Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Malthouse, Griffin Theatre, Barking Gecko, WAYTCO, Melbourne Opera, Lyric Opera Melbourne, St Martins Youth, Side Pony Productions, Hayloft Project, Perth Festival, Opera in the Park, Australian Opera Studio and many others.   

Ben Nelson - Production Manager  

Ben Nelson is a professional production manager and audio operator with 10 years' experience in the theatre industry. He began his career mixing bands in Albany (WA) before joining the Albany Entertainment Centre as acting Head of Audio (2014 - 18), where he expanded his skills working with various touring productions. In 2018 he relocated to Perth and has since worked in diverse roles for various companies including Perth Theatre Trust, WA Ballet, Crown Theatre, Tura New Music, Perth Festival, Sensorium Theatre, Maybe (   ) Together and Performing Lines WA.

Roy Skender - Audio Visual Designer

Roly Skender is a Western Australian audiovisual artist, producer and musician working with digital design, video projection and new media technologies. His work often augments urban and natural environments, capturing the public imagination via mesmerising light-powered spectacles. Public artworks include the award-winning interactive digital performer ‘The Virtual Busker’ along with large-scale projection installations such as ‘If Buildings Could Speak’ and ‘LightWaves’, designed to provoke curiosity and conversation as ephemeral public displays. Under the umbrella of his production studio, Frankensound, he also creates visual designs for theatre and performance while continuing to innovate in public, private and in-between spaces.