Brief Biography

George is a local poet, playwright, composer, coach, director and actor, born in Canberra, 1967. He has been active in the Arts in Canberra since finishing his tertiary study - Bachelor of Arts (Australian National University)/Diploma of Education (Canberra College of Advanced Education) in 1988.

Since then he has been teaching Drama and English at Radford College by day, coaching soccer most afternoons and working for many diverse local theatre companies by night.

In 1993 he formed his own theatrical company with collegians from Radford College, Radical Theatre Company, which met with instant success at the Wagga Wagga 39th and 40th Festival of Plays. In 1995 he formed a second independent company, H & P Productions with Belinda Pearson. In 1998, Radical Theatre Company merged with another youth-oriented company, Free Rain. He recently published a memoir Not Just Footy (2001) as well as a collected work of poetry entitled An Unfamiliar Actor (2002) both with Ginninderra Press. In 2002, he formed his own independent theatre company, Huitker Movement Theatre (HMT), which received funding from artsACT for its inaugural season.

2005 saw the publication and launch of his new philosophical sporting book “How to Succeed Without Really Winning”, again with Ginninderra Press, as well as the opening of his Not Just Footy Club, an arts/charity/sports interactive website.

He currently lives in Curtin, A.C.T.

Contact
PO Box 284 Curtin ACT 2605
Phone: 6282 0054
e-mail: hmtheatre at bigpond.com

Awards

Theatre

Theatre (Company)

Poetry

Curriculum Vitae

Theatre

• The Merchant of Venice (1987 ANU English Department)
• Brother's Grim 1 & 2 (1991 ACT Playwright's Drama Festival & Canberra Rep: for Wagga Wagga PRIME 37th Festival of Plays)
• Fear & Misery of the Fourth Reich 2 (1991 ACTEST)
• Summer and Smoke (1992 Canberra Repertory)
• Astride a Wild Horse (1992 ACTEST)
• Winnie the Pooh (1992 Alpha)
• Paddington Bear (1993 Alpha)
• Anything Goes (1993 Queanbeyan Players)
• Merry Regiment of Women (1993 Phoenix Players)
• Savage/Love (1993 Radical Theatre Company)
• Blind Worm's Sting (1994 ACTEST)
• One for the Road (1995 H&P Productions)
• One for the Road (1996 Paradox Theatre Company)
• Cosi (1998 Free Rain Theatre Company)
• St James Infirmary (1998 Free Rain Theatre Company)
• The Removalists (1999 Free Rain Theatre Company)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1999 Canberra Repertory)
• Equus (2000 Free Rain Theatre Company)
• Return to the Forbidden Planet (2000 Phoenix Players)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (2001 Free Rain Theatre Company)
• Glengarry Glen Ross (2001 Free Rain Theatre Company)
• Jesus Christ Superstar (2001 Supa Productions)
• One For The Road (2002 Bohemian Productions)
• Les Miserables (2002 Canberra Philharmonic)
• Misery (2003 HMT)
• Ivanov (2003 The Street Theatre Professional Development Group)
• Big Heart Benefit Concert (2003 The Heart Foundation)
• Dealer's Choice (2004 HMT)
• Not Just Footy (2004 HMT)
• Jesus Christ Superstar (2004 Canberra Philharmonic)
• Return to Yellow Brick Road (2004 Canteen)
• Hard Day’s Crazy Night (2005 Tsunami Relief)
• A Night at the Hall (2005 St Vincent de Paul Kids Camps)
• Oz Rock (2006 Fred Hollows Foundation)
• Blues Brothers/Soul Sister (2006 Hartley Lifecare)
• A Top 40 Years (2007 teamSUPPORT)
• Oliver! (2007 SUPA Productions)
• Songs from the Silver Screen (2007 Carer's ACT)

Play-reading

• The Lesson (1986 A.N.U. Department of Modern Languages/English)
• The Death of Tarelkin (1987 Interact)
• Fire on the Snow (1995 Canberra Rep Fringe)
• The Browning Version (1995 Canberra Rep Fringe)

Direction

• Fear & Misery of the Fourth Reich 1 (1991 Radford Junior Drama Group)
• Squares 1 (1992 Radford Junior Drama Group)
• Savage/Love (1993 Radical Theatre Company)
• Steel Magnolias (1994 Canberra Repertory- assistant)
• The House of Bernarda Alba (1994 Radical Theatre Company)
• Man of Steel (1995 Radford College)
• Aloha, Mr Squeaky (1995 Radical Theatre Company)
• Brother's Grim 4 (1996 H&P Productions)
• Cyberbia (1996 Radical Theatre Company)
• The War in Heaven (1998 Free Rain/Radical Theatre Company)
• Gnat's Nightmare (2000 Free Rain)
• Glengarry Glen Ross (2001 Free Rain Theatre Company)
• Little Shop of Horrors (2001 Radford College)
• Return to the Forbidden Planet (2002 Radford College)
• The Learning Curve (2002 HMT)
• Harry's Christmas & The Education of Skinny Spew in FourPLAY (2002 HMT)
• damage (2002 HMT)
• Harry's Christmas 2 (2002 HMT)
• Big (2003 Radford College)
• Welcome to the Machine (2003 HMT)
• Big Heart Benefit Concert (2003 The Heart Foundation)
• Return to Yellow Brick Road (2004 Canteen)
• Hard Day’s Crazy Night (2005 Tsunami Relief)
• A Night at the Hall (2005 St Vincent de Paul Kids Camps)
• Oz Rock (2006 Fred Hollows Foundation)
• Blues Brothers/Soul Sister (2006 Hartley Lifecare)
• A Top 40 Years (2007 teamSUPPORT)
• Songs from the Silver Screen (2007 Carer's ACT)

Original Plays

• Brother's Grim 1 (1991 ACT Playwright's Festival)
• Brother's Grim 2 (1991 Canberra Repertory One-Act Plays)
• Fear & Misery of the Fourth Reich 1 (1991 Radford Junior Drama Group)
• Fear & Misery of the Fourth Reich 2 (1991 ACTEST)
• Squares 1 (1992 Radford Junior Drama Group)
• Blind Worm's Sting (1994 ACTEST)
• Brother's Grim 4 (1996 H&P Productions)
• Squares 2 (1996 Radford Junior Drama Group)
• Cyberbia (1996 Radical Theatre Company)
• Gnat's Nightmare (2000 Free Rain)
• The Bonsai Boy (2002 Radford College)
• damage (2002 HMT)
• Spitting Image (2003 Bohemian Productions)
• Welcome to the Machine (2003 HMT)
• Not Just Footy (2004 HMT)
  
• Squares 3 (2005 Radford College Middle School Drama)

Score Composition

• Marat-Sade (1992 Radford College)
• The Crucible (1994 Radford College)
• The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1998 Radford College)
• Macbeth (2000 Free Rain Theatre Company)
• Equus (2000 Free Rain Theatre Company)

Radio Plays

• Funeral Games (1992 CSPR)
• Brother's Grim 3 (1993 CSPR)
• Savage/Love (1993 CSPR)
• The House of Bernarda Alba (1995 CSPR)
• Disconnected (1995 CSPR- Live from Belconnen Mall)

Short Film

• Sticky and Salty (1994 Bearcage)
• A Little Piece (1999 Hugh McLean)
• Gabriel (2001 Hugh McLean)
• Perfect (2004 19th Hole Productions)

• Niagara Falls (1991 Blast)
• Dropping my Spy Novel (1991 The Canberra Times)
• The Day After Paddy Died (1993 Redoubt)
• Tertiary Entrance Score (1993 The Canberra Times)
• To Catch a Thief (1993 Blast)
• Holy Week: Good Friday (1993 Studio)
• From the Crow's Nest
• Valdez (1993 MUSE)
• 14.8.93 (1994 Blast)
• My Father's Last Year (1994 Voices)
• John Lee Hooker (1994 Finalist, Stephen Leacock Awards for Poetry)
• blood, sweat and tears (1994 Studio)
• From South Durras (1994 Redoubt)
• rejection slip (1994 MUSE)
• fame (1994 Blast)
• allan street (1995 Studio)
• Coober Pedy (1995 Studio)
• hymn 557 (1995 Studio)
• Kulgera Kids (1995 Redoubt)
• Honeysuckle Creek (1996 Studio)
• The Car My Father Gave Me is Breaking Down (1996 Redoubt)
• Little Elegies (1996/7 Studio, Highly Commended: Studio Poetry Competition)
• Snapshots (1997 Voices)
• Prank Caller (1997 Redoubt)
• Cape Howe (1997 The Canberra Times)
• Mt Ainslie Morning (1999 Studio)
• The World Game (1999 Studio)
• Roadside (2000 Redoubt)
• The Kid on the Train (2000 The Canberra Times)
• Pushkin (2000 MUSE)
• Ben (2000 Studio)
• Dislocation (2000 Studio)
• Snapper Point Soliloquy (2002 The Canberra Times)
• On Equilibrium (Studio)
• Snapper Point Soliloquy (2002 Studio)
  

Collections

• 1988 Studio 71, Featured Writer:
  • My Father's Last Year
  • The Day After Paddy Died
  • John Lee Hooker
  • Cabbies
  • Coober Pedy
  • Kulgera Kids
  • Little Elegies
  • Harry's Gap
  • They Blew Up the Hospital Where I Was Born & Beaches
    

• 1998 An Unfamiliar Sea: Collection of poetry published by Ginninderra Press
  
• 2000 The Actor is Happy: Collection of poetry published by Ginninderra Press
  
• 2001 Not Just Footy: A Memoir published by Ginninderra Press
  
• 2002 An Unfamiliar Actor: Collected Poems 1992-2002, published by Ginninderra Press
  
• 2003 Conversations
• Loreto
• Allan Street September 11
• In the House Where Keats Died
  
• 2006 Studio 25th Anniversary Collection
• Ben
• Cabbies
• Honeysuckle Creek
• On Equilibrium
• They Blew Up the Hospital Where I Was Born
  
• 2006 On Common Water - Ginninderra Press 10th Anniversary Collection
• In the House Where Keats Died

   

Conferences/Readings

• 1999:
  • Canberra Word Festival, 1999 -Hypothetical- Thrill Kill (Panel Member)
  • An Afternoon of Words Images and Music, Ginninderra Press, Gorman House (Poetry Reader)
  • Majura Primary Writers Festival (Speaker)

• 2000
  • What's the Point of Being a Man?, Ginninderra Press (Panel Member)
  • Armistice Day Commemoration, Ginninderra Press (Reader)

• 2001
  • Majura Primary Writers Festival (Speaker)
  • ADFA : Performing Pinter (Guest Lecturer)