The Tree of Light

Andy is an award-winning director of theatre, music theatre and opera. He has also worked as creative producer of multidisciplinary arts programs, creative director of large-scale events and festival director. In 2007 Andy co-founded Adelaide based theatre company Slingsby. The company is now well-established as a leading international immersive theatre company, having toured to more than 170 venues, with over 1,000 performances across 13 countries and counting.

Andy is renowned for creating original live performance moments that are emotionally powerful and visually bold. His work across theatre for young audiences, opera, cabaret, music theatre and symphonic concerts has pushed him to develop a distinctive theatrical aesthetic that is at once personal and epic.

Andy has directed productions and events for Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, State Opera South Australia, State Theatre Company South Australia, Adelaide Festival of Arts, Adelaide Fringe, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide Chamber Singers, Australian String Quartet, Windmill Theatre, Restless Dance, Tutti Ensemble, Rundle Mall Management Authority and the International Astronautical Federation. In 2019 Andy was Show Director for the World of Wearable Art Awards Show in Wellington, New Zealand.

Quincy has spent his life being a freelance composer and musician. He has played and written for many bands over the decades, in many different styles – the most recent being the despicable gypsy band Golonka and the folk outfit Miranda Bede. 

He has written over seventy works for soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestras that have been performed in hundreds of concerts. And written the music for over forty theatre works, for companies all over Australia, with his second opera being scheduled for performance in 2025. 

He has toured many countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. 

He is co-director of The Firm, a company that presents concerts each year featuring Australian classical musicians in programmes of new Australian music along-side carefully chosen repertoire. 

Quincy lives in Adelaide with his dear Anna, and has three children: Arland, Clara and Miranda.

• soundcloud.com/quincys-room/sets
• quentingrant.com
• YouTube Channel

Ailsa completed the Bachelor of Dramatic Art in Design (NIDA) in 2003. Recent design credits include Jack Maggs and The Puzzle (State Theatre Company South Australia), Watershed (Opera Australia), The Marriage of Figaro (State Opera South Australia), Marrow (ADT, costume design) and The Tree of Light (Slingsby).

Design credits for State Theatre Company South Australia include: The Dictionary of Lost Words (costume design), Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Girls and Boys, Single Asian Female, Chalkface, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia (costume design), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Ripcord (set design), Gaslight, Jasper Jones, End of the Rainbow, Sense and Sensibility, Switzerland, The 39 Steps, Beckett Triptych, The Importance of Being Earnest, In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play, The Ham Funeral, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), The Price and The Cripple of Inishmaan.

Other design credits include Tracker (ADT, costume design), Dido and Aeneas (State Opera South Australia), A Christmas Carol (Ensemble), Boxing Day BBQ (Ensemble), The Boy Who Talked to Dogs (Slingsby, costume design), Emil and The Detectives (Slingsby, costume design), Cloudstreet! (State Opera South Australia, costume design), Yo Diddle Diddle (Patch), Cranky Bear (Patch), Debut 5 (Restless), Naturally (Restless). Ailsa worked in costume on The Straits, LAID, Undertbelly – A Tale of Two Cities, Underbelly – The Golden Mile, Blue Water High, The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce, Ten Empty, The Boy from Oz Area Spectacular, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – The Musical and High School Musical. Ailsa was the recipient of the 2011 Mike Walsh Fellowship.

Wendy’s Set & Costume Design credits include Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Tim Overton/Wickedly Good Productions), The Thing That Matters and Touch & Go (Sally Chance Dance), Seashore (Sally Chance Dance/Dream Big), Vaudeville (Brink Productions/Rory Walker), Land + Sea (Brink Productions), Supernature and North/South (Australian Dance Theatre), The Lighthouse (Patch Theatre), Picaresque (Robyn Archer, Adelaide Festival), Long Tan (Brink Productions/State Theatre Company South Australia), Babyteeth, Blastedand Pornography (State Theatre Company South Australia). Wendy also designed the Adelaide Cabaret Festival’s opening, closing and family galas from 2016 to 2018 (Adelaide Festival Centre).

Wendy’s Set, Costume & Lighting Design credits include Symphonie de la Bicyclette (Brink Productions/Hew Parham) and The World Is Looking For You (Control Party).

For Adelaide Festival Centre, Wendy’s event designs include Adelaide Cabaret Festival (Co-Designer 2015-2019) and Adelaide Guitar Festival (2016). Late-night club designs for Adelaide Festival include Blinc Bar(Designer, 2015), Lola’s Pergola (Design Assistant/Coordinator 2014), Barrio (Design Coordinator 2012-2013), Persian Garden (Assistant Designer 2006, 2008). Wendy also designed the biannual Bowerbird Design Markets from 2013 to 2017.

For Slingsby, Wendy’s work has included The Young King, Man Covets Bird, and The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy (Set & Costume Design), The Boy Who Talked to Dogs and Emil & The Detectives (Set Design) and, most recently, A Concise Compendium of Wonder – The Tree of Light (Environment Design).

Chris is a lighting and video designer from Adelaide, South Australia. Following his completion of the Technical Production course at the Adelaide Centre of the Arts, Chris has continued to develop his experience across theatre, dance, and other live events in Australia and internationally.

Chris worked on the inaugural Illuminate Adelaide Festival to deliver their flagship project Light Cycles in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, crafted by the world-leading Montreal-based studio Moment Factory. Chris has since been working on a number of large outdoor lighting installations with Illuminate Adelaide, Moment Factory and others.

Chris has worked with State Theatre Company South Australia on Single Asian Female, A View from the Bridge, Brothers Wreck, In The Club, Terrestrial, Mr Burns, Red Cross Letters, Eh Joe for the Beckett Triptych, Gorgon, Masquerade, The Kreutzer Sonata, Maggie Stone and Little Bird. Chris has completed designs for Gravity and Other Myths’ Ten Thousand Hours and Playbook. Carla Lippis’ Mondo Psycho live at WOMADelaide 2022. Theatre Republic’s The Garden, How Not To Make It In America, The Bleeding Tree and Lines. Australian Dance Theatre’s The Third, Objekt, Of All Things, The Beginning of Nature Part 1 and Ignition 2016. Restless Dance Theatre’s Zizanie and Touched. Slingsby’s The Tree of Light, The Boy Who Talked to Dogs, Songs for Those Who’ve Come Across the Seas, Emil and the Detectives and The Mouse, The Bird and The Sausage. Windmill Theatre Company’s Moss Piglet, Rella, Creation Creation, Hiccup!, Beep, Grug and the Rainbow, Big Bad Wolf and Story Thieves. Vitalstatistix’ The Photo Box, Cher and Quiet Faith. Flying Penguin’s Oleanna, Bitch Boxer and Seawall.

Thom Buchanan is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in Tarntanya Adelaide on the Kaurna country. His practice traverses a cross-disciplinary mode of investigations. Informed by his background in drawing and painting, it also incorporates installation, photography, video, performance, sound, murals and collaborations.

Buchanan is a master of large-scale live performative works and collaboration. He has been interrogating ideas of the physiological ramifications of built and natural environments for 15 years and is still asking questions.

He has exhibited extensively locally, nationally, and internationally and has won a number of Art Prizes and major grants.

His work has been commissioned by State Theatre Company SA , Australian Dance Theatre, Vivid Festival Sydney, Adelaide Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival UK, Limosani Projekts, Fringe Festival SA, SALA Festival, the Surge Festival in Glasgow, Wonderwalls Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Adelaide Guitar Festival, Canberra Centenary, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Zephyr Quartet, BIG Picture Pillar festival, Big Day Out, Rise Festival NZ, ExpandLAB Adelaide Film Festival, SIDance Festival Seoul, CubaDupa festival NZ and Slingsby Theatre Company.

David started working in theatre from 1979 to 1988 with the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust (AFCT) Production Department as a Mechanist and Flyman. In 1981 he went on his first tour with State Opera South Australia touring Regional South Australia with Don Pasquale and then again in 1982 with Cossi Van Tutti.

From 1889 through to 1994 he worked as Head Flyman / Rigger for the Australian Opera Company working mainly at The Sydney Opera House and Victorian Arts Centre and touring as required.

For the second half of 1994 through 1995 David was Head Mechanist with the Canberra Theatre Centre in the Australian Capital Territory.

Upon returning home to Adelaide South Australia in 1996 David was firstly Head Mechanist of the Festival Theatre and then from 2000 through to 2004 was Technical Coordinator for the AFCT Production Department.

From 2005 through to 2018 he was Production Manager for State Opera South Australia, Production Coordinator for Adelaide Fringe 2009, 20010, 2011, 2013 and a Production Coordinator for Adelaide Festival (AF) 2006 and 2008.

From 2019 through to 2023 David was the Production Manager for Adelaide Festival’s Operas.

Darian is a lighting, vision, and multi-skilled technician and technical designer from South Australia.

Since graduating from Adelaide College of the Arts’ technical production course, Darian has gained valuable experience working in local venues, with theatre and dance companies, at festivals, on installations, and events.

He has toured extensively with shows such as Patch Theatre’s Yo Diddle Diddle and Anna Goldworthy’s Piano Lessons. He has worked on and toured with many Slingsby productions including The Young King, Emil and the Detectives, and The Boy Who Talked to Dogs, as well as acting as lighting designer for This Tree is a Story and The River that Ran Uphill.

Jess has been active in the performing arts since 2015 and has completed a Bachelor of Arts (Performing Arts) at UniSA. She has worked as a stage manager for companies including Slingsby, Adelaide Festival Centre, and Disney Theatrical and has also worked as a mechanist and dresser. Her Slingsby journey began in 2023 with Emil and the Detectives and she is thrilled to be involved with the magical team bringing A Concise Compendium of Wonder to life.

Kate is an actor, theatre-maker, dramaturg, and arts facilitator living and working on Kaurna Yerta. 

Since graduating from Adelaide College of the Arts, Kate has performed with many of Australia’s leading mainstage and independent theatre companies. Select theatre credits include Emil and The Detectives and The Tree Of Light (Slingsby), Kill Climate Deniers (Kinetik Collective), Baby Doll (Ensemble Theatre), Dead Cat Bounce, Masquerade and Minus One Sister (Griffin Theatre Company), Three Sisters, The Glass Menagerie, Jessikah, That Eye The Sky, Hedda Gabler (State Theatre Company South Australia), Big Bad Wolf and Fugitive (Windmill Theatre Company), the Australian tour of Brief Encounter (Kneehigh Theatre, UK), Spring Awakening (ATYP- nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, Sydney Theatre Awards), The Overcoat (Belvoir 25A) and Home Invasion (An Assorted Few- nominated Best Performance in a Leading Role, Sydney Theatre Awards). 

In 2018 she played the lead role in the AACTA-nominated feature film Strange Colours, premiering at the Venice Film Festival and earning her a nomination for Best Lead Actress by the Film Critics Circle of Australia. Additional on-screen credits include Riot, The Letdown and Ladies in Black (ABC), The Commons (Stan), Sexy Nails (Photoplay Films) and feature films The Royal Hotel, The Obscure and One Eyed Girl. 

In 2024, Kate was selected as one of five participants for Developing the Dramaturg SA, receiving mentorship and ongoing professional placement with Brink Productions. 

Kate was an inaugural member of the Belvoir Artist Workshop as a devising artist on new performance works and is a collaborator with The Bait Fridge, a multi-disciplinary artist collective working in experimental and socially engaged performance.  

For her work on-stage, Kate was awarded the Emerging Artist of the Year by the Adelaide Critics Circle and was the recipient of the Neil Curnow Performing Arts Award and the Adele Koh Scholarship for Acting.

Originally from Adelaide, Felix graduated from WAAPA in 2009 (Acting). His professional theatre credits include; Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Henry V, The Winter’s Tale and Henry 4 (Bell Shakespeare), The Libertine and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sport for Jove), Billionaire Boy (CDP), The Song Was Wrong (Perth Theatre Company) and Debris (Old Fitz Theatre). He has also appeared in numerous educational shows; Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth Undone and Midsummer Madness (Bell Shakespeare). 

Felix’s TV credits include Desert King, Mr Inbetween, Top of The Lake 2: China Girl directed by Jane Campion, Underbelly: Razor, and The Moodys. He starred in the short film, The Beehive, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and has also produced and directed his own short films including Undeadicated which premiered at Austin Film Festival. Felix also performs in children’s hospitals for the Starlight Children’s Foundation. 

In 2022 Felix made his directorial debut, directing the Bell Shakespeare Players for The Wonderful World of Will. 

Ren Williams is an Australian film & theatre actor, having trained with Honours at the
Flinders University Drama Centre. Also specialising in directing and writing, Ren is a co-
founder of independent theatre company ‘CRAM Collective’.

After graduating in 2020, Ren made her directing debut in 2021 with Deadset Theatre
Company’s show Truck Stop along with winning State Theatre Company SA’s Young
Playwright Award for her play Modified. In 2022 Ren performed and produced The CRAM
Collective’s world premiere Something Big (Dir. Connor Reidy), following their sold- out
show of New World Coming – a show created in 5 days. Later that year she also
performed as five different characters in Kinetik Collective’s StateSide show Kill Climate
Deniers (Dir. Clara Solly-Slade). In 2023, Ren starred in the one-woman show
Guthrak (Dir. Matthew Briggs) at the DreamBIG festival, the USA tour of Bluey’s Big Play
(Dir. Rosemary Myers) and Windmill Pictures’ Beep and Mort Season 2. In 2024, Ren
performed at AFC’s Space Theatre in a brand new Australian play: Hits (Dir. Rebecca
Meston) followed by undergoing a screen-acting diploma with Actors Studio UK at the
prestigious Pinewood Studios. Ren’s latest directorial short This is Fine. won Best
Directing and Best Film at the Adelaide 48 Hour Film Project, sending it to the 2025
Filmapalooza Festival in Seattle.