ABOUT RIOT STAGE

Riot Stage is a Melbourne-based independent theatre company that creates original multi-disciplinary performances with teenagers for adult audiences. Riot Stage aims to bring together innovative professional theatremakers with brave young artists who are interested in live performance. The result is work that is audacious, effortlessly intertextual, and anchored in the unique perspectives of the next generation. Riot Stage aims to be an incubator for the diverse artists of tomorrow, a breeding-ground for contemporary storytelling, and at the vanguard of new ways of theatre-making.

The company began in Queensland in 2010, through a partnership with the Mackay Festival of Arts, but relocated to Melbourne in 2013. Riot Stage unites the contrasting practices of physical theatre director Katrina Cornwell, contemporary American writer Morgan Rose, and the unique voices of the young people we collaborate with. Our work sits somewhere between the practices of socially engaged arts and experimental independent theatre. We aim to capture the real live experiences of the participants through long-term collaboration and artistic rigor, in order to deliver performance works that are aesthetically and conceptually engaging, and incorporate the latest practices in live performance while maintaining a strong connection to the community. Riot Stage is committed to finding the artist in every young person. We understand that the arts can be hard to access, and we endeavor to fill that gap by providing free professional artistic experiences to the young people that desire them. 

BELOW: The 2018 Riot Stage Company.
(back row) Jack Palit, Anna Elise Louey, Jade Colletti, Sunny Chiron, Bonnie Brown, Jack Zapsalis
(front row) Alex Veljanovski, Amelia Newman, Ziggy Zagorski, Todd Kingston, Mila Lawson

KAT CORNWELL - DIRECTOR

Katrina Cornwell is a theatre director, performer and facilitator. She has a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Performance) from QUT and is currently undertaking a Masters in Community Cultural Development at VCA. Katrina is the founder and Artistic Director of the new Australian youth theatre company Riot Stage. Katrina has been teaching performance to young people in Australia and internationally for more than a decade. In 2016 she directed the new work ‘F.’ for the the Poppy Seed Festival. Her previous directing credits include: Love and Information (2016), Forever City (2015), So Much Yes (2013), Animal Farm (2013), The Chorus (2013) and Prometheus Days (2011) for the Mackay Festival of Arts and After 3 (2011) created for the Anywhere Theatre Festival. As a performer and theatre maker Katrina has worked throughout Australia and internationally in Europe, Asia and America. Previous performance credits include: Virgins and Cowboys (Motherboard Productions / Theatreworks), Deluge (Motherboard Productions/ Brisbane Festival / Seoul SIDance Festival), TWIN (Red Moon Rising), We Only Meet in Summer (Mullae Arts Centre, Seoul), The House of Bernada Alba (Arouet Theatre, Seattle), The Hamlet Apocalypse (La Boite Theatre/ Danger Ensemble/ Melbourne Fringe/ Adelaide Fringe), Sh*t (Two Hours Traffic/ Anywhere Theatre Festival), Who Killed Amanda Palmer World Tour (Danger Ensemble/ Europe & USA), Romeo & Juliet (Zen Zen Zo / Queensland Arts Council), Zeitgeist (2008), Sub Con Warrior 2.0 (2008), Dracula (2007), Sub Con Warrior 1 (2006), Those with Lucifer (2005) and The Odyssey (2004). 

MORGAN ROSE - WRITER

Morgan Rose was born in New Orleans, grew up in New Mexico, and currently lives in Melbourne. She is an internationally produced playwright and performance maker. Her work is contemporary and darkly funny, with an element of absurdism. In addition to her text-based work she has a background in physical theatre and devising. She has studied with SITI Company (NYC, USA), Pacific Performance Project (Seattle, USA), Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre (Brisbane, Australia), and Dairakudakan (Hakuba, Japan). She completed a Master of Writing for Performance at VCA in 2013. In 2020 she was a dramaturgy placement with Malthouse Theatre as part of the Besen Family Artist Program. She was a recipient of the INK writing commission with Red Stitch Actors Theatre in 2014 and again in 2018. Recent works include: Virgins and Cowboys (writer, Theatreworks, Griffin Theatre), F. (writer, Riot Stage/Poppyseed Festival), Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise (writer, MKA/MTC NEON), The BachelorS17E05 (co-creator, La Mama), desert, 6:29pm (writer, Red Stitch/Wuzhen Festival/Currency Press), and little girls alone in the woods (Currency Press). She is a co-founder of the dramaturgy initiative Lonely Company (lonelycompany.com). More info on her work a playwright at roseisnotarose.com. She is left handed.