Workshop Artists

Caitlin Baker is a director, dramaturg and theatre maker living and working on Ngunnawal/Ngambri land. With a focus on feminist narratives, and reinvented classics, her work seeks to interrogate the intersections of politics, sex, and adaptation in contemporary Australia. Her recent credits include Joanna Richard’s philosophical thriller You Can’t Tell Anyone, Sophie McIntosh’s biting black comedy macbitches, William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Karen Vickery’s new translation of Chekhov’s Seagull, and Nigel William’s Lord of the Flies (co-directed with Lachlan Houen). In 2025 she will be directing Joanna Richard’s Lifeboat, as well as Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. As an assistant director, Caitlin has worked on Chaika’s Collected Stories and Canberra Youth Theatre’s Soul Trading, and The Initiation. As a dramaturg, Caitlin most recently worked on You Can’t Tell Anyone’s development, as well as Julian Lanarch’s AWGIE nominated How to Vote. She received First Class Honours for her 2023 English Honours Thesis on Sarah Kane under Dr Rebecca Clode. Her performance history encompasses companies such as Canberra Youth Theatre, Canberra Rep, Echo Theatre, Lakespeare and ACT Hub. Caitlin is thrilled to be returning to Canberra Youth Theatre as a Workshop Artist, after starting her journey as a participant nearly eight years ago.

Jade is a proud nonbinary creative living on Ngunnawal country. Since graduating highschool last year they spend their time putting off the looming threat of adulthood by writing plays highlighting the lived experience of young people. Their debut work Happy Meals, Happy Kids made its professional debut at The Q this year, a brave new piece exploring the expectations of teenagers amidst a raging climate crisis. They were incredibly fortunate to be a participant in ATYP’s National Studio, developing their craft as a playwright over a week with 19 other emerging writers. Jade’s work has an urgent focus on social justice and they hope to inspire the next generations of theatre makers to continue creating challenging and intersectional work.

Ella is a passionate and driven artist with a particular focus on acting, writing and directing, and has been an active member of Canberra’s theatre scene for eight years now. Some of Ella’s notable roles include Babe Botrelle in Crimes of the Heart (Canberra Repertory Society, 2023) Gwen in the premiere of You Can’t Tell Anyone (Canberra Youth Theatre, 2023), for which she received an Ovations award, and Mon in How To Vote! (Canberra Youth Theatre, 2022). Most recently, Ella performed in Bombshells (Echo Theatre, 2024) as Theresa McTerry, and Jean Fordham in August: Osage County (Free Rain, 2024). In 2022 she obtained her Certificate IV in Acting for Stage and Screen, and was a part of the 2022 Emerge Company where she co-devised and performed in an original work, 503: Service Unavailable. Last year,  Ella had her directorial debut with Happy Meals, Happy Kids (Sunny Productions, 2024). Ella is an enthusiastic advocate for youth theatre, and thoroughly enjoys being a part of Canberra Youth Theatre’s Workshop Artist team.

Christopher is a professional actor, writer and director from Ireland, trained at The Samuel Beckett Centre, Dublin, and Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Paris. Since moving to Canberra in 2016, he has become one of the city’s most prolific and celebrated performers, winning the inaugural Helen Tsongas Award for Excellence in Acting in 2019 for roles in Twelfth Night, Icarus, Howie the Rookie, and Metamorphosis. As artistic director of Bare Witness Theatre Co., he has produced ten shows to date, in Ireland, the U.K., France and Australia, winning a reputation for raw, physical theatre with a political edge. Recent work has included directing Sympathetic Resonance for Canberra Youth Theatre’s Emerge Company; the surveillance epic I Have No Enemies in Canberra and Melbourne; Crime and Punishment at The Street Theatre; and the multi-award-winning physical fable Plenty of Fish in the Sea with Clockfire Theatre Company at Sydney Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, and Edinburgh Fringe.

Anna spent nearly nine years in the United Kingdom where she worked for the Theatre Royal Bath and The Egg, Children’s Theatre, in a variety of roles from youth theatre tutor to director. In 2009 she was appointed the position of Trainee Theatre and Education Practitioner a full time Arts Council funded position that saw her work alongside and in collaboration with UK’s award-winning theatre companies, such as The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Pins and Needles Productions and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. 2015 saw her gaining the position of Associate Artist at The Egg Theatre, where she learned about and practised the devising process, working alongside and under the instruction of many award-winning theatre makers such as Sally Cookson, Amy Leech, and Emma Earle. For Canberra Youth Theatre she: created and directed a site-specific piece for I’m Me Festival (2017); co-directed Filtered (2018) for the young company; created and presented another original work for I’m Me Festival (2019) at Gorman Arts Centre; and co-directed Possibility (2019) for the teen ensemble.

Amy has worked as an actor, performer, puppeteer, singer, songwriter, musician for over 25 years. Amy holds a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Education from the University of Canberra and; a Master of Theatre and Performance (Directing) from the University of New England, from which she graduated with Distinction honours. She won top directing awards for the 2023 CAT awards, Ovation awards and Canberra Critics Circle awards for her critically acclaimed production of Gordon Graham’s The Boys, which was her thesis subject. Amy is a graduate of the Queenie van de Zandt Advanced Musical Theatre Course (Sydney, 2010) and holds several yoga teaching qualifications (200 hour YTT and 50 hour Yin YTT). She is currently studying a Cert IV of Mental Health and completing her VET assessor skill set qualification (CIT). She is an arts education officer and an occasional sessional academic for the University of Canberra’s Faculty of Education. She is a qualified secondary performing arts educator (years 7-12) and a workshop artist for Canberra Youth Theatre.

As a professional actor/puppeteer and touring presenter, Amy dedicated 10 years of service between Questacon and The Starlight Children’s Foundation (where she was employed as an Excited Particle and a Captain Starlight, respectively). She’s toured interstate with I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (NIDA, 2013) and abroad (representing Australia at the Mondial du Theatre 2017 in Monaco) with a revival of her acclaimed performance of Nell Gwynn in Pigeonhole Theatre’s Playhouse Creatures. A highlight of her career is performing this role at The Q Performing Arts Centre, The Playhouse (CTC) and The Princess Grace Theatre in Monaco.

Amy began her training in Musical Theatre, with some notable roles including Penny Pingleton in Hairspray, Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, April in Company, Holly in The Wedding Singer, Ado Annie in Oklahoma, Anita in West Side Story, Liz in High Fidelity and Fantine in Les Miserables. For Canberra Rep her credits include Rose of Sharon in Grapes of Wrath, Jane Hopcroft in Absurd Person Singular, Henriette in Casanova and Annelle in Steel Magnolias. For her beloved Everyman Theatre, her credits include Madeline Schiller in The Burning, Molly in Home at the End, and Sandra Gangel in Beautiful Thing. She was also in their small ensembles for Holding the Man and Pool (No Water) and GOD.

Since then, she’s worked with agencies like Victoria’s Models and New Faces Talent Academy, and got her Cert IV in Screen and Stage Acting at Perform Australia to immerse herself further into the industry — whilst also exploring a range of other creative disciplines. Always looking for new ways to interpret art, self expression, and culture; Tobi has found herself in several styles of dance classes, as well as studying Fashion Business in Melbourne, and even getting involved with slam poetry in her free time.

Some of her career highlights include winning second place for her monologue in a Sydney showcase; being invited to perform at the 2018 Australian Convention of Actors and Artists (AUSCAAS); ss well as performing at the Sydney Eisteddfod with her college dance crew the following year.

Forever a theatre kid at heart, Tobi has been in a number of plays including Turandot (2019), and The Park (2021), as well as an immersive theatre performance, The People’s House, for Enlighten at MoAD (2023).  In recent years, she’s developed a taste for short films, starring in both Panic (2022), and Relationships For Dummies (2023).

Jena Prince is a Canberra-based director, movement specialist and teaching-artist. She has worked in the Australian arts industry for almost 20 years and has experience acting for both film and theatre. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology/Drama) from the University of Queensland and spent time studying acting abroad at the University of California, Berkeley. Jena is passionate about creating extraordinary theatre with young people. She is currently a teaching-artist with a number of companies across Canberra and Sydney including Canberra Youth Theatre, the Australian Theatre for Young People, Canberra Theatre Centre, and Imagination Theatre. She regularly devises and writes plays with primary and secondary school students, and has been closely involved with writing and filming ATYP’s On Demand Plus units of work.

Recent directing credits include: for Canberra Youth Theatre, Soul Trading (2022, winner of an Ovations Award and Canberra Area Theatre Award); for ATYP, Charlie Pilgrim: or a Beginners Guide to Time Travel (2018, nominated for the Sydney Theatre Awards); for Perform Australia, Adventures of a Comic Book Artist (2022), Beauty and the Beast Jnr (2022); for Imagination Theatre, Space (2022), Medea (2020), Tantalus (2019). Recent choreography credits include: for Perform Australia, Adventures of a Comic Book Artist (2022), Beauty and the Beast (2022); for Cranbrook School, Buckets (2019); for Presbyterian Ladies College, A History of Everything (2019), Inheritance (2017); for ATYP, Fight With All Your Might The Zombies of Tonight (2016).

Coming Soon!

Miriam Slater (they/them) is a Queer interdisciplinary artist working across theatre, club performances and live art. They have been producing, directing, and performing original work nationally and internationally since 2017 in both ensemble and solo works.

With an Honors in Visual Arts from the Australian National University, they are also a multi award winning Fringe Festival performer in comedy and physical theatre including Nominated Best Comedy – Melbourne Fringe 2018, Awarded Best Circus – Adelaide Fringe 2019 and Awarded Best in Immersive and Interactive – Sydney Fringe 2022. They have trained extensively with Brisbane theatre company Zen Zen Zo in Suzuki, Butoh, Viewpoints and Devising, as well as working as a clowning and improv performer for all ages.

Miriam currently produces sell out shows in Canberra as well as touring interstate as a performer, dramaturg and choreographer.

Lily Welling is an Australian Actress. Lily studied Classical Acting at the London Academy of Dramatic Arts, has completed various NIDA short courses and is in the process of completing a Certificate IV in Acting through Perform Australia. Lily has performed in countless projects on both Stage and Screen, including Everything Real in a Make-Believe World (Anna, 2021), Little Girls Alone in the Woods (Violet/Bacchae 1, 2021) and Dags (Wendy, 2022) with Canberra Youth Theatre. Lily is happiest when she is creating, and thoroughly enjoys teaching young artists to embrace their passions too.