WONDERBOX by Sensorium Theatre

Sensorium Theatre leads Australia in creating original live performance for young audiences with disability. Founded in 2010 by Co-Artistic Directors Michelle Hovane and Francis Italiano, Sensorium is Australia's leading company creating immersive, multi-sensory work for young audiences with multiple and complex disabilities and those on the autism spectrum.

Based in Perth, Western Australia, Sensorium creates high quality hands-on theatre which delights and inspires by inviting children to touch, taste, smell, hear, feel and see stories unfold around them within a specially designed immersive sensory environment. The intentionally small audiences are onstage with the artists who continually adapt their performance to connect with the individual learning abilities and communication style of participants. Every child becomes an active participant in the storytelling experience.

Sensorium's first production, The Jub Jub Tree toured schools throughout Western Australia. The Company then partnered with Performing Lines WA to  create the Helpmann Award­ nominated production Oddysea, which toured extensively around Australia, including to the Arts Centre Melbourne, festivals (Dream Big and AWESOME) and to the Sydney Opera House, who hailed the 2015 season as a landmark in accessible programming. In early 2018 Sensorium created a new interactive space adventure Whoosh!, before touring Oddysea to Lincoln Center Education's Big Umbrella Festival in New York and The Artground, Singapore. In February 2023 Sensorium premiered their fourth multi-sensory theatre work, Wonderbox, at Perth Festival.

Sensorium also delivers a year-round program of Sensory Storytelling sessions in schools, libraries and community centres and offers Professional Learning in their sensory methodology for artists and venues.

Director & Designer Francis Italiano
Assistant Director Michelle Hovane
Musical Director & Composer Jamie David
Songwriting and Additional Composition Rebecca Bradley and Jamie David
Movement Director Daisy Sanders
Costume Designer & Associate Set Designer Amalia Lambert
Headpiece Design & Construction Mand Markey
Costume Construction Ellen Flatters
Lighting Designer Lucy Birkinshaw
Audio Visual Designer & Projections Roly Skender
Creative Coder & Technical FX Steve Berrick
Dramaturgs & Devisors Francis Italiano, Michelle Hovane, Rebecca Bradley, Jamie David, Daisy Sanders
Rehearsal Director Ella Hetherington
Performers Jamie David, Rebecca Bradley, Rachael Woodward, Gabriel Critti­ Schnaars, Antonio Mazzella, and Michelle Hovane
Vocal Contributors Jamie David, Rebecca Bradley and Crystal Nguyen
Production Manager Roger Miller
Devising & Premiere Production Manager Ben Nelson
Stage Manager Joana Lavole
Produced by Performing Lines WA

Francis Italiano I Co-Artistic Director & Performer
Francis founded Sensorium Theatre (ST) with Michelle Hovane in 2010. Since then ST have brought their unique immersive sensory theatre to thousands of children with disabilities. Under Francis's direction, Sensorium has spearheaded national discussions around Access for additional needs audiences, and facilitated Professional Learning for artists and industry professionals across Australia and internationally. Under his direction, ST has toured the Helpmann Award-nominated Oddysea to the Lincoln Center's Big Umbrella Festival in New York and The Artground, Singapore and created five multi-sensory theatre works including the Perth Festival commission Wonderbox. Over a 25-year career, particularly as a community artist, Francis has worked as artistic-director, artist-in-residence and principal artist for numerous arts and cultural institutions. He has worked as a writer/director/designer/performer at festivals across Australia and continued his professional development in this specialised art form by collaborating with global leaders, including Oily Cart, Bamboozle & Punch Drunk (UK) and Teatro de los Sentidos (Spain).

Michelle Hovane I Co-Artistic Director & Performer
Michelle is a physical performer, somatic practitioner and co-artistic director of Sensorium Theatre. She is passionate about the transformative potential of the arts and the importance of live storytelling in maintaining human communities. She is a founding member of Sensorium Theatre and has been instrumental in the development of the company and the articulation of the company's methodology. She has been a co-devisor and performer on Sensorium Theatre's productions The Jub Jub Tree, Oddysea, Whoosh! and, most recently, Wonderbox. Michelle has led metropolitan, regional and national tours; led the development of Sensorium's highly regarded Professional Learning program, including a 2022-23 consultancy for Sydney Opera House; and developed ST's Sensory storytelling program. Over the past 20 years, Michelle has facilitated and performed with many communities of diverse abilities, cultures and identities which gives her a deep ability to tailor each performance to the individuals she 
encounters.

Jamie David I Musical Director & Performer
From 2013 until the present, Jamie has been Musical Director and performer with Sensorium Theatre. In this role, he composed the music and designed the sound for Oddysea, Whoosh! and Wonderbox. His extensive background in composition, songwriting, performance, multi-artform collaboration and community arts has included touring internationally with music acts; collaborating in theatrical, circus and dance productions; film soundtrack composition; as well as musical studies in West Africa and Southern India.

Rebecca Bradley I Musical Collaborator & Performer
Rebecca Bradley is a theatre maker with a passion for creating works that enliven the imagination and enrich the heart. With over two decades of experience as a performer, puppeteer, musician, clown, facilitator and director, she has made countless shows, toured and trained across Australia, as well as in Europe, Asia, and the USA. In her hometown of Perth, Bee has worked with Spare Parts Puppet Theatre since 2005, performing in over 10 of their repertoire shows. She received multiple award nominations from Performing Arts WA for her work with Spare Parts and performed and co-created the award-winning shows On Our Beach (2019) and The One Who Planted Trees (2021). In 2010, Rebecca became a core artist and musician for Sensorium Theatre, touring extensively with the company ever since. More recently Bee has directed work for Curtain University (The Scale of Things, 2017), Spare Parts (String Symphony, 2020) and Sensorium Theatre (Hutan, 2022).

Rachael Woodward I Performer & Collaborator
Rachael is a theatre maker, performer, puppeteer and teaching artist who describes herself as neuro-diverse. She developed her own show Valentine which was presented at AWESOME International Arts Festival (2018 & 2020). As well as creating her own work for ASSITEJ Next Generation Asia, Melbourne's Festival of Puppetry, and ATYP's Fresh Ink Program, she has performed with companies such as The Last Great Hunt (New Owner), Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, and Sensorium Theatre (Oddysea, Whoosh!, Hutan, Wonderbox and Sensory Storytelling). She has a Bachelor's in Performance Making from WAAPA and has trained at Bont's International Clown School. Rachael is passionate about making work with and for young people, engaging communities through art, and making accessible art. As a teaching artist, Rachael has taught through AWESOME's Creative Challenge Program, DADAA, and Barking Gecko Theatre Company. Rachael aims to ignite an audience's creativity, and imagination by empowering youthful curiosity and playfulness.

Gabriel Critti-Schnaars I Performer
Gabriel Critti-Schnaars is a Greek Noongar Man. He first started learning dance with Jody Marshall Dance Company at the age of 8yrs where he learnt Contemporary, Jazz and Ballet. He is a graduate of the Gifted and Talented Dance Programme at Hampton Senior High School. Gabriel is a graduate of the Aboriginal Theatre Course at WAAPA and the Diploma in Acting at WAAPA. He was part of WAYTCO's award winning production Rest in 2019. In 2021, he was an integral part of WAYTCO's production for the 2021 Perth Festival Beside.

Daisy Sanders I Movement Director, Dramaturg & Devisor
Daisy Sanders is a Boorloo (Perth) based independent artist, a proud senior company member of Sensorium Theatre and a WAAPA graduate (2013 BA Dance with 2017 First Class Honours). She devises immersive choreographic works and is a uniquely joyful multidisciplinary artist working across a variety of roles - performer, creator, director, dramaturg, researcher and teacher. Recent projects include Patch's Lighthouse (Perth Festival), The Last Great Hunt's inaugural Gatherer's Collective, Marn by Teac Damsa (Ireland), GuiShu/BELONG by Steamworks Arts (WA) and HOME by Geoff Sobelle (USA). In 2022 Daisy became a core artist in Contours - a new work by Janine Oxenham dancing songlines through remote communities in WA's Gascoyne Region. Daisy's experience of chronic illness (2015-20) enabled her to develop a unique rest-focused dance practice and a deeply considered approach to building creative ecologies. She draws on this in her work as a passionate emerging arts advocate, facilitator and leader.

Ella Hetherington I Rehearsal Director
Ella Hetherington has worked extensively as an actor, physical performer and contemporary performance maker across a range of performance disciplines. As an actor, devisor and collaborator she has worked with all the major Western Australian theatre companies, The Last Great Hunt, Sensorium, aMoment, Steamworks, littleY, Emma Fishwick, Renegade Productions, Encounter and kdm Industries. She has toured internationally as a physical performer with her own projects and created works with companies such as Patch, La Fura Del Baus, Erth, Legs on the Wall and Force Majeure. Ella has received several Equity nominations for her theatre roles and a Helpmann nomination for The Red Tree. As a writer she has had works commissioned by WASO, Bizircus, The WA Museum with her first major work Shadow Boxing being commissioned, produced and toured by Black Swan State Theatre Company. Ella is a casual lecturer in devising at WAAPA.

Mand Markey I Headpiece Design & Construction
After completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Edith Cowan University, Mand has worked for various West Australian Theatre companies as a Costume Designer and Maker including Sensorium Theatre, Deckchair Theatre ,Yirra Yaakin and Black Swan State Theatre Company. Mand has also worked in many other roles in the performing arts. She was Tour Manager for Country Arts WA for several years for their remote and regional program, Event Designer for several Perth Festivals and Designer and Creator of several Joondalup Festivals. Mand and her family moved to Albany in 2017 where she continues to design and create events, and frequently tutors visual arts to schools and community groups.

Amalia Lambert I Costume Designer & Associate Set Designer
Amalia Lambert is an emerging Australian set and costume designer. In 2019, Amalia graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) with a Bachelor of Performing Arts majoring in Design. On completion of the course, Amalia proudly received The David Hough Award for Outstanding Achievement in Design. Since graduating, Amalia has designed the set and costumes for the West Australian Ballet's production of The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, Awesome Arts festival 2020. Amalia has also designed the costumes for Strut and Frets brand new alt-circus production BoomBoom in the House of Casa BlahBlah (2019) at The Rechabite. Amalia is a passionate and dedicated young creative, who becomes immensely invested in all of her projects.

Lucy Birkinshaw I Lighting Designer
Lucy Birkinshaw is a lighting designer and artist whose work spans theatre, musical theatre, concerts, opera, dance, film and television. She graduated from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts with an Advanced Diploma of Lighting Design for Production and Performance and Curtin University with a Bachelor of Art, Fine Arts. Lucy has designed lighting for Black Swan State Theatre Company, Perth Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Malthouse, Griffin Theatre, Barking Gecko, WAYTCO, Melbourne Opera, Lyric Opera Melbourne, St Martins Youth, Side Pony Productions, Hayloft Project, Perth International Arts Festival, Opera in the Park, Australian Opera Studio and many others.

Roly Skender I Audio Visual Collaborator
Roly Skender is a Western Australian audiovisual artist, producer and musician working with digital design, video projection and new media technologies. His work often augments urban and natural environments, capturing the public imagination via mesmerising light-powered spectacles. Public artworks include the award­ winning interactive digital performer The Virtual Busker along with large-scale projection installations such as If Buildings Could Speak and LightWaves, designed to provoke curiosity and conversation as ephemeral public displays. Under the umbrella of his production studio, Frankensound, he also creates visual designs for theatre and performance while continuing to innovate in public, private and in­ between spaces.

Steve Berrick I Creative Coder
Steve Berrick is an artist and creative coder. With a degree in Computer Science, his work focuses on software and technology. Steve creates software-driven experiences for interactive systems and performances. His collaborative practice has been presented globally in galleries, theatres, museums and the street. Steve is an artist with the ololo art collective. Recent works include The Box (Vi Park Projection Festival, 2021), FutureSkies (State Library of WA, 2021), Bumperba/1 (Scitech, 2020), Guardians (with ololo, Winter Fest Perth, 2019), Hello Future Self (Experimenta, 2017).

Roger Miller I Production Manager
Roger has an extensive background in theatre operations. After attending the Victorian College of Arts in 1981 he has worked in stage management, lighting, sound, production and operations management. During his stint in the eastern states, he split his time between operating sound for touring productions and working at venues including the Enmore Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Dance Company and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In 1994, Roger relocated to Perth where he has continued his work in lighting, design and stage management at numerous Perth venues. He has also been responsible for touring productions in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Thailand and Shanghai. He was Venue and Operations Manager at the Blue Room Theatre for 14 years and more recently the Production Manager at The Last Great Hunt from 2021 - 2023.

Joana Lavole I Stage Manager
Joana, originally from the sunny shores of Guadeloupe, brings contagious charisma and a vibrant French accent wherever she goes. With a background in music, theatre, and the ocean, she earned a diploma in Photography and Art Therapy before moving to Perth, Australia, in 2018. A former disability support worker, Joana's production journey began with Sensorium Theatre, where she started as a technician on Wonderbox, later joining the cast and now serving as stage manager. A true multitasker, Joana balances roles at His Majesty's Theatre, the State Theatre of WA, Perth Festival, and performing in her gypsy ska band.