ENSEMBLE THEATRE’S 2023 SANDRA BATES DIRECTOR’S AWARD GIVEN TO...

EMMA CANALESE AND MARGARET THANOS AWARDED

Emma Canalese (Left) and Margaret Thanos (Right) awarded the Sandra Bates Director's Award 2023

Ensemble Theatre is proud to announce the recipients of its 2023 Ensemble Theatre Sandra Bates Director’s Award (SBDA), Emma Canalese and Margaret Thanos. Mark Kilmurry, Artistic Director, Ensemble Theatre today announced the Award winners, who will work on two plays throughout 2023 and each receive $8,000.

“This Award aims to explore artistic potential and nurture emerging talent, and Ensemble Theatre is incredibly grateful to have the continued support from Jinnie and Ross Gavin to again deliver this opportunity to our local industry,” he said. “Each year I am impressed by the quality of submissions, and this year was no exception.

“Selected from 16 entries across Australia, I am thrilled to congratulate both Emma Canalese and Margaret Thanos as the recipients of this year’s award.

“Emma and Margaret are both rising stars who will bring a new dimension to Ensemble Theatre in 2023, and we look forward to working with them both over the next year.”

Emma Canalese said “I am honoured to be given this opportunity to learn from and develop with the artists of Ensemble Theatre. The support received with this award gives me the freedom to fully devote my time to the projects I am involved with, and I can’t wait to begin pre-production work in January 2023. I am so grateful to have the chance to reconnect with and become immersed in the Australian arts industry and to work so closely with two leaders of the theatre community.”

Margaret Thanos said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be awarded the Sandra Bates Director’s Award this year. This award is a fantastic opportunity for an emerging director like myself to step up into mainstage theatre, and be provided with truly valuable skills, mentorship and knowledge that may otherwise remain a closed door. It is a great vote of confidence in my abilities as a director, and the opportunity to be paid doing what I love is something I am incredibly grateful for. I am so excited to get started!”

This annual award commemorates the legacy of former Artistic Director Sandra Bates, after 30 years at the helm of Ensemble Theatre. Mark Kilmurry initiated the SBDA in 2015, and since then, recipients of the award have been mentored on 25 productions, with several progressing to direct for Ensemble’s 2023 season, including Rachel Chant, Shaun Rennie, Francesca Savige and Janine Watson.

Awarded each year, recipients of the SBDA are offered a paid position of Assistant Director on two of Ensemble Theatre’s main stage productions and assist in the ongoing creative development of new works.

ABOUT EMMA CANALESE Emma Canalese is a Graduate of WAAPA, The Neighborhood Playhouse, NY and Associate Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Her directing credits include Peter and the Starcatcher (nominated Best Director of a Musical, Broadway World Regional Awards), Silent Sky (Naples Florida Weekly Top Pick), Einstein and Mileva (World Premiere, Theatre Row), Hollywood, Hollywood (Midtown International Theatre Festival, nominated Best Direction/Best Choreography), America (Downtown Urban Theatre Festival, winner Best Audience Award), Par amnesia (One Extra Dance), and most recently Blithe Spirit in Naples, Florida. Emma is co-writer and director of A 100 Years of the History of Dance, a Western Australian Critics Choice winner at Fringe World Festival, with runs in Brisbane and several regional Australian tours. Emma also directed Holiday’s From The Heart, a virtual performance streamed on Playbill.com for The Actors Fund. She has taught and directed at The Papermill Playhouse Conservatory Summer Program, StageDoor Manor, Rutgers-RSAC, Pomona College, and UNSW Dance and Drama Department.

ABOUT MARGARET THANOS Margaret Thanos is a Cypriot-Australian director for theatre and film, based across London and Sydney. In 2022, Margaret directed the Australian premiere of Labyrinth by Beth Steel at Flight Path Theatre, and the world premiere of A Grain of Sand by Declan Coyle at Kings Cross Theatre, both to rave reviews. She is the co-artistic director of Meraki Arts Bar and her short Through the Window They Came is currently in post-production. She has also directed The Goat, Jim Got Shot and Project XXX at Sydney University Dramatic Society. Her short film Sugar High was selected for the Sydney Underground Film Festival showcase in 2020. Assistant directing credits include The Cherry Orchard (Chippen Street Theatre), Bathory Begins (ATYP), This Genuine Moment (Old 505), Animal Farm (New Theatre), the Originate Project (Q Theatre) and Linden Solution (KXT/Ratcatch). Margaret is also a public activist, and her production company Queen Hades Productions works to find the intersections between activism and art.

PREVIOUS WINNERS OF THE SANDRA BATES DIRECTOR’S AWARD: 2022: DANIELLE MAAS & SOPHIE KELLY 2021: URSULA YOVICH 2020: RACHEL CHANT & WARWICK DODDRELL 2019: ERIN TAYLOR & ADAM DEUSIEN 2018: LIZ ARDAY & FELICITY NICOL 2017: SHAUN RENNIE & FRANCESCA SAVIGE 2016: PRISCILLA JACKMAN & JANINE WATSON

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