Penny Harpham

Penny is the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of She Said Theatre. She has worked across Australia, South Korea and Germany as a director and performer. She is a graduate of the University of Queensland (Bachelor of Arts Drama/ Journalism), University of Melbourne (Post Graduate Diploma in Arts and Cultural Management) and the Victorian College of the Arts (Directing). Her theatre directing credits include the multiple award-winning HART for She Said Theatre (Australia and New Zealand tours); The Way Out for Red Stitch Actors Theatre; Fallen for Sport for Jove/She Said Theatre/Seymour Centre; Salt for She Said Theatre/La Mama Courthouse; Bock Kills Her Father for She Said Theatre/La Mama Courthouse; Slut for VCA One Act Play Season; Laika and Wills and Breaking for She Said Theatre/Melbourne Fringe. Her Assistant Directing credits are Antony and Cleopatra for Bell Shakespeare (directed by Peter Evans) and Rust and Bone for La Mama Theatre (directed by Daniel Clarke). She has performed for some of Australia’s leading theatre ensembles and companies, including Griffin Theatre (Virgins and Cowboys), Red Stitch Actors Theatre (You Got Older), Brisbane Powerhouse (The True Story of Butterfish), Elbow Room (Now More Than Ever, As We Mean To Go On), The Good Room (Rabbit), Little Dove Theatre Art (Six Women Standing in Front of a White Wall), and Stella Elektrika (This Trick).  Upon graduating from the VCA, Penny was awarded the Barbara Manning Scholarship for Excellence and the Global Atelier Scholarship for Overseas Travel. Penny has both received and been nominated for a Green Room Award, received three Melbourne Fringe Awards, an Adelaide Fringe Award, and was the 2015 recipient of the Ian Potter Cultural Trust Award. In 2018 Penny was appointed the position of Associate Director for Western Edge Youth Arts where she directed the Victorian regional tour of the company’s new work, Caliban, and is a workshop facilitator for young people across Melbourne’s Western suburbs. She also currently works for Footscray Community Arts Centre and St Martins Youth Theatre as a director and workshop facilitator.