Anna Johnstone Creative Learning Producer
Anna Johnstone is a theatre director and performing arts educator rooted in the cultural landscape of Ngunnawal Country, Canberra. Anna spent her emerging artist years working at the egg in Bath, UK: a revolutionary theatre complex purpose-built exclusively for young artists and audiences. From 2009–2012, Anna worked in many roles there, including theatrical director, assistant director, teaching artist,
and education officer, and had the opportunity to collaborate with many award-winning UK theatre practitioners and companies such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, Emma Earle from Pins and Needles, and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She also led many projects for the Theatre Royal Bath’s Young Company as director/co director, and was a lead artist in The School Without Walls Project, pioneering the integration of art and education during a six-week residency with a primary school. In 2012 she became an associate artist of the egg.
Since returning to Canberra, Anna has directed and devised many new theatrical works (for Canberra Youth Theatre: Imagine, 2018, Filtered, 2018, Buzz, 2019, Possibility, 2019; and for Canberra Grammar School: Boring! (2021) The Best Ever Sleepover (2023) and directed development for The Street Theatre: This Rough Magic in 2022). In 2020, she was appointed as an Associate Artist of The Street Theatre, where she started writing/developing a new work for young audiences: Hatchlings — a story about the thrill of forging an unlikely friendship. Anna has recently directed The People’s House at MOAD Canberra, 2023, and participated in the Resident Street program at The Street Theatre as an associate artist.
As the Creative Learning Producer at Canberra Youth Theatre, Anna’s focus lies in bridging creativity and education with teachers and aspiring artists.
