Kyle Morrison

Artistic Director

kyle@yirrayaakin.com.au

Starting in 1993 with Black Swan’s production of WAITING FOR GODOT, Kyle has been in the theatre industry since the age of eleven, working primarily as an actor for companies such as deckchair, Barking Gecko, Yirra Yaakin and Sydney Theatre Company. For the past three years Kyle has been developing his directorial skills with IN THE NYITTING TIME and MUTTACAR SORRY BUSINESS for Yirra Yaakin, then gaining an Australia Council Skills and Arts Development grant to work as an assistant director to Angela Chaplin (for deckchair Theatre’s MEMMIE LE BLANC), Wayne Blair (Sydney Theatre Company’s ROMEO AND JULIET), Tom Gutteridge (Black Swan’s FEMALE OF THE SPECIES) and Wesley Enoch (Company B’s YIBIYUNG). He was appointed Artistic Director of Yirra Yaakin in March 2009.

Fred J. Lyons

General Manager

fred@yirrayaakin.com.au

Originally from Jamaica, with a Military background, Fred has extensive West Australian experience working in both a management and mentoring capacity with Indigenous organisations. Fred has considerable (award-winning) expertise in the management of Perth’s largest Recreation Centres and was for three years, Operations Manager of the Zanzibar International Film Festival (the second largest in Africa). As well as involvement with the internationally acclaimed Kimberley-based film LIYARN NGARN (2007). Fred is also an Australian Writers Guild member (script writing) and has considerable arts-based experience in both administration and creative development.

Andrea Fernandez

Marketing Manager

andrea@yirrayaakin.com.au

Andrea’s been involved with theatre from the age of 11. She studied acting at Kaff Theatre under Wilson McCaskill, then went on to complete an Advanced Diploma in Film and Television, working on Short Films and TV. She did a three year stint in Sydney, working for an online advertising agency and later with the Austereo network in media sales. Andrea returned to Perth in 2009, and is currently completing a Bachelor of Marketing and the Media degree at Murdoch University and continuing with her love of acting.

Sally Richardson

Project Manager

sally@yirrayaakin.com.au

Sally is an award winning writer/director/dramaturg and producer across the performing arts industry in Australia. Her work includes projects across theatre, contemporary dance, circus, puppetry, to major corporate events, community projects and consultancy. She is the artistic director of Steamworks Arts Productions and this years representative dramaturg at The 2010 New Visions, New Voices Festival at the Kennedy Center for performing arts in Washington DC.

Sally has worked with Yirra Yaakin on and off over many years acting as a dramaturg and script advisor. She was also director of Alice, created with Alice Haines for Yirra Yaakin, which toured nationally and internationally. She is currently the dramaturg and project manager for Waltzing the Wilarra by David Milroy.

Vida Karabuva

vida@yirrayaakin.com.au

Vida has worked as a journalist, editor and educator/mentor for newspapers across Australia and Asia. Her most recent role prior to joining Yirra Yaakin was as the Executive Officer of Gumala Enterprises – the business arm of Gumala Aboriginal Corporation, which represents the interests of three Traditional Owner groups in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Her long-standing involvement in the arts has included roles as the inaugural co-ordinator and co-founder of the Australian Serbian Film Festival, which is now in its 10th year, as producer of a unique interactive theatre piece for Kulcha Multicultural Arts of WA, and playing the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet – in the first theatre production to be staged in Yangon, Myanmar in more than two decades.

Vida firmly believes in the power of theatre to inspire, provoke and educate, and for this reason looks forward to bringing more high-quality thought-provoking Indigenous theatre to communities and young people across WA and Australia through her current role at Yirra Yaakin.