Nancy Black

AD and Secretary

Nancy is well known in Melbourne as a writer, director, teacher, producer, and dramaturg. She first encountered puppets directing BHT’s Caravan in 2001, succumbed to their magic, and has worked with BHT ever since, initiating and directing projects, setting up workshops, building networks for the company and its artists, and developing the company’s international work. Her work has been aimed at adults, families, and young people. She is a passionate advocate for puppetry’s place in contemporary theatre, and chooses to work across disciplines. Shows for BHT: Caravan(int’l tour), 2005 In the Beginning, 2008 Coop, 2010-2012 multi media projects: Girl in the River, Soul Catcher, Death by Numbers, Lost in Tranzit, 2012 Hutch, 2013 Into the Black Hole, 2015 Where the Wild Things Sing, 2014-15 she co-devised and directed Blind with the Duda Paiva Co., Nl. which premiered in France, is touring Europe, 2016 Theatre Works and Wuzhen Festival, China, and will have a NY season in 2018. 2014-15 initiated national series of workshops Fermenting Change.  2017 Alison Richards’ performance/installation The Book of Revelations. Since 2011 ten Puppet Slams in metropolitan and regional Victoria and NSW. 2015 the street theatre work Les Méduses that premiered France at the World Puppetry Festival, toured to the US, and in 2018 at the Commonwealth Games in Queensland. She has several works in development including The Line, an international collaborative co-production with First Nations artists, Dowtcha Puppets (Ireland), and non-Indigenous artists;  The Last Lighthouse Keeper by Katie Reeve.  Outside BHT she has directed several productions for the Victorian Opera:  2012 Manuel de Falla’s Master Peter’s Puppet Show and Elliott Carter’s What Next? 2016 Gertrude Stein & Virgil Thomas’ Four Saints in Three Acts, 2017 Respighi’s Sleeping Beauty. For the 2016 Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music she directed Jennifer Walshe’s experimental opera ###Live Nude Girls!! In 2007 she co-produced The Festival of Australian Theatre in China, taking five companies to Beijing and Shanghai.
Awards: 2003 Outstanding Direction in Independent Theatre – Caravan, Best Production 2008 Coop.