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 and Karen Vickery’s new translation of Chekhov’s Seagull. As an assistant director, Caitlin has worked on Chaika’s Collected Stories and Canberra Youth Theatre’s Soul Trading, and The Initiation. Later this year Caitlin will be directing Lord of the Flies with Lachlan Houen at Canberra Repertory Society. 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 recently completed her 2023 English Honours Thesis on Sarah Kane under Dr Rebecca Clode. Her performance history encompasses companies such as Canberra Youth Theatre, Canberra Rep, 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.

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, pulsating theatre that ignites the imagination. Recent work has included directing Carpe DM for Canberra Youth Theatre’s Emerge Company; a solo adaptation of The Stranger by Albert Camus; and writing, directing and acting in his play about the dark arts of marketing, Smokescreen, at The Q in Queanbeyan. He will be directing, devising and acting in the Bare Witness production of I Have No Enemies at Gorman Arts Centre in March 2023.

Elliot Cleaves is a Canberra-based artist, seasoned in many areas of performance. He holds a qualification in live production within the creative industries and by day works within the education sector. Having experience in a wide range of genres including musical theatre, comedy, and Shakespeare some acting credits include Cosi (2021), Two Twenty Somethings… (2021), and Dags by Debra Oswald with Canberra Youth Theatre (2022). As an Artistic Director with the newly established Green Oak Theatre he supports the development of their original scripts, lends his dramaturgical expertise, and his technical expertise as lighting designer for various productions. Elliot is passionate about all styles and expressions of storytelling.

Rebecca Duke is an emerging playwright from Tasmania. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Australian National University and is currently pursuing a Masters in Writing for Performance at The National Institute of Dramatic Art. In 2020, she was a resident artist at Canberra Youth Theatre. Despite the challenges COVID presented at the time she enjoyed being embedded in the life of the company and grew immensely as a theatre artist under the mentorship of Canberra Youth Theatre’s core staff. Ever since she has been involved in the company through the Emerge program, Scratch, and most joyfully, as one of the company’s Workshop Artists.

Quinn Goodwin is a Canberra based actor and theatre maker. Originally working with Canberra Youth Theatre in 2019, as a part of the teen ensemble in Possibility she has since been a part of 2022’s How To Vote and the Emerge Company’s 503: Service Unavailable.Throughout the years she has appeared as Meg in Away, Allison in The Breakfast Club and directed her college’s production of Legally Blonde The Musical. Currently studying literature and cultural studies, Quinn is pursuing the development of independent projects which include building her performance, directing and writing skills.

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.

Charlotte Palmer is a Canberra-based actor and has been a part of Canberra Youth Theatre since the age of 11. Throughout her time at the company she has participated in weekly workshops, masterclasses as well as the Company Ensemble (2019) and Emerge Company (2021). She completed a double-major in drama at school, obtaining the highest score within the subject three years in a row. She devised and directed her own show (2019), working with twelve actors aged 13–18 over two months. Charlotte is now studying a Bachelor of Secondary Education/Bachelor of Arts majoring in drama and English studies. She looks forward to working together with Canberra Youth Theatre as a workshop artist to create a platform where youth are empowered to use their voices and express themselves through theatre.

Rachel has recently emigrated from Scotland. They graduated from Napier University with a BA(hons) in Acting and English Literature in 2017. They are one of the founding members of Storyboard Theatre, pieces of their work include the debut romantic classical fringe show The Shakespeares: Scenes from a Marriage written by Donna Soto Morettini and The Patient Prisoner by James Boal, written in response to 100 years of women winning the vote in Scotland. As well as this they worked as a drama assistant with Strangetown Co. and traveled to areas in Scotland delivering music workshops. Their ten years experience of the Edinburgh Fringe from performing, directing, stage management and technical work has prepared them for a world of theatrical oddities and they are excited to see what Canberra has in store.