LINDZEE SMITH

EDUCATION


B.Arts, Monash University (English/Drama)
Master of Arts, University California (Dramatic Art)
Trained Primary Teachers’ Certificate, Deakin University



THEATRE EXPERIENCE


2004
Devised and Directed Smack Happy for the 15th International Conference on Drug – Related Harm. An assemblage of dramatic writings by Motherwell, Burroughs, Brecht, Bell-Wykes and others. Performed at the Trades Hall in April 2004 by Nightshift.


2003
Creator of Daddy/Zach adapted from a short story play by American original JAMES PURDY and presented in collaboration with Nancy Cato and Chapel offChapel for the midsumma festival 2003. Actors Wilfred last, Nick Politis and musician Ashley Gaudion with lighting designer George Axl completed the ensemble.


2002
Director mise en scene of Phil Motherwell’s Dreamers of the Absolute for graduating class at Adelaide School of TAFE and Mr David Kendall Director of acting.

Currently preparing American Dreaming: Birth of the Cool a program of work which includes plays by Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, James Purdy, Jack Gelber, Clifford Odets and Sam Shepard.


2002
Devised and Produced “Montage of Attractions”. Rehearsed readings of five new Australian Plays by Bill Green and Colin Talbot. Currently preparing production of Dreamers of The Absolute by Phil Motherwell for Adelaide School of TAFE.
Preparing season of new German theatre for Goethe House and Chapel off Chapel Theatre with Nancy Cato and others.


2000
Tunnel Vision with Tim Burns for Artrage (Perth) at Fremantle Film and T.V.


1999
Faust Unplugged by C. Talbot Director/Performer. Autogeddon by H. Williams for Artrage (Perth). Adapted, staged and directed by Lindzee Smith with Tim Burns.





1998
Produced, devised and directed The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht at the Trades Hall Melbourne to celebrate Brecht’s 100th birthday year. Steal Away Home by P.


1989 - 1990
Performer with Hungarian/American theatre group SQUAT. Toured the U.S.A and Europe, including appearances in Vienna, Hamburg, Zurich and Amsterdam in El Train to Eldorado.


1985 - 1988
Actor-Director with The Tide Theatre Company. Productions of the work of Melbourne writer Daniel Keene including the following works – The Hour Before My Brother Dies, The Fighter, Isle of Swans and Ruby Dark which were shown in Melbourne, Sydney, New York and the Edinburgh Festival.


1980 - 1984
Curator of two national film series for the Australian Film Institute – New York Stories 1 (8mm) and New York Stories 2 (16mm). With pioneer Video artist Joan Jonas performed The Juniper Tree (Grimm) and The Volcano Saga which was based on Icelandic Sagas. These two pieces were performed at M.O.M.A., The Whitney Museum and St.Marks in the bowery in N.Y.C.


1979
Founding member of Collaborative Projects a radical artistic collective in N.Y.C. which concentrated on collaboration between filmmakers, visual artists, writer and directors. Contributed to the Times Square Show a radical experiment in Urban Art.
Director of Nightshift New York an extension of the Australian Group. Major works: Men’s Business (Kroetz) at Squat Theatre N.Y.C. What is it Zach, The Berry Picker, True and Daddy Wolf (James Purdy) at various Theatres in Manhattan. The Needle Vestal (Sinclair Beiles) and The Hamlet Machine at Times Square N.Y.C. Acted in The Connection (Gelber) at Henry St. settlement New York. Produced by Rip Torn and starring Morgan Freeman.


1978
Directed the World Premier of Dreamers of the Absolute by Melbourne writer Phil Motherwell and also a season of short plays in the Back Theatre, again at the pram. Opened a new space at 303 Smith St, Fitzroy to accommodate more radical work….Ruffian on the Stair (Joe Orton) and Saliva Milkshake (Brenton) were early experiments. Developed Pre-paradise, Sorry Now by German artist Rainer Fassbinder for presentation at the Sydney Filmmakers’ Co-op.


1977
Attended The International Atelier for the Group Theatre in Bergamo, Italy directed by Eugenio Barba and performed The Fitzroy Yank (Motherwell) in the Cathedral.
The following is a list of work mounted during this period for The Pram Factory, Nightshift or as a freelance Director.
Kasper (Handke) at Rusden State College and later at The Pram Factory Cowboy Mouth (Sam Shepard), Michi’s Blood (Franz Xavier Kroetz), Killer’s Head (Shepard) with the newly created Nightshift.




1976
Prophesy And Calling For Help (Handke) at Laight St. Space, Manhattan. Run Home – Home Run at The Museum of Modern Art, N.Y.C. Fanshen (Hare) at Rusden State College and at The Pram Factory. AC/DC (Heathcote Williams) and My Foot My Tutor (Handke) at The Pram.


1975
Grant from The Australia-Japan Foundation to study Japanese Traditional Theatre in Tokyo (Kabuki, Bunraku and Noh). Directed The Floating World at the Festival Space in Adelaide.


1973 - 1979
Director, Pram Factory, Melbourne. Director of Nightshift, a group within the Pram Factory which focused on the production of work from International sources, especially radical new plays from Germany, the UK and America. By 1975 permanently resident in New York City but effectively working in N.Y.C and Melbourne. The following is a list of the most significant work of this period. (Many were created in Melbourne and later shown in New Yorkand Visa Versa.)
Africa (Steve Spears), The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria (Arrabal), River Jordan (Michael Byrnes), Floating World (Romeril)…. A World Premier of this Australian Classic, The Earth, Air Fire and Water Show (Romeril), The Golden Holden (Romeril), The Mother (Brecht) and Fefu and Her Friends (Maria Irene Fornes) for The Melbourne Theatre Company.


1970
Director of the A.P.G season at the Festival of Perth. Scholarship to University of California to undertake M.A. in Direction. Thesis Topic The New Australian Theatre. Directorial projects include Peer Gynt (Ibsen), Who (Hibberd) and The Exception and the Rule (Brecht).


1968 - 1970
Actor/Director with The Australian Performing Group. Major works include White with Wire Wheels (Hibberd), Norm and Ahmed (Buzo), The Man From Chicago (Romeril), Dimboola (Hibberd), The Exception and the Rule (Brecht) and other new Australian, International plays.


1968
Co-Founder The Australian Performing Group (PRAM FACTORY). Formerly The La Mama Actors’ Workshop, this group was dedicated to the development of a uniquely Australian form of theatre. Actor in Ned Kelly starring Mick Jagger. Director Tony Richardson.


1967
Director White With Wire Wheels by Jack Hibberd. A Contact Theatre Production at the Union Theatre Melbourne University. Actor in Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs by David Halliwell at Emerald Hill Theatre, Melbourne.