2019 House Plays Programme

2019 House Plays Festival Adjudicator

Sam Foster Sam is story teller, performer and theatre maker. He has worked as an Actor, Director, Writer, Producer, Stunt Performer, Stunt Rigger, Physical Theatre Performer, Movement Director and workshop facilitator. He is the co-owner and co-founder of Shock Therapy Productions. Sam works in theatre, film, TV and large scale events and has worked for a number of companies and festivals over the past 16 years. His career has taken him to New

York, London, Namibia, South Africa, Denmark, Norway and India as well as all over Australia. He recently appeared in the first season of the Netflix Australia original production, Tidelands. Sam has won a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for his work as a Stunt Performer in Mad Max – Fury Road . He was also awarded Best Director at the 2015 Matilda Awards for Shock Therapy’s production of Martin McDonagh’s “ The Pillowman ”. Sam has written and created a number of works with his company Shock Therapy Productions including “Viral” which was awarded Best Independent Production at the 2016 Matilda Awards and was also nominated for Best New Australian Work. Shock Therapy has won a total of 5 Matilda Awards, including Best Independent Production 3 years in a row. He has worked extensively on large scale events as a director and movement director. In 2015, he was assistant to Gavin Robins on the Opening Ceremony of the Asia Cup. In 2016 Sam was the Movement Director on a major project for the 2016 Bleach Festival called “ Shifting Sands ”, Directed by Donna Jackson. He was Movement Director for the Woodford Folk Festival Opening Ceremony in 2016 and has been Performance Director for the Fire Event at Woodford since 2017. Sam also performed in and directed a section of the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games . Shock Therapy Productions were also commissioned to create a new work for the Commonwealth Games Arts Festival, Festival 2018 called “Welcome to Sameville”. Over the past 15 years Sam has toured extensively in secondary schools throughout Australia mainly with Zeal Theatre. He is also a highly-experienced workshop facilitator and has worked for Queensland Theatre, Qld Arts Council, Grin and Tonic, Soapbox Theatre Productions, Zeal Theatre, Backbone Youth Theatre, The Young Company (Cairns), ATYP (Australian Theatre for Young People), Empire Theatre (Toowoomba), NORPA (Northern Rivers Performing Arts), Drama Queensland and Griffith University (Gold Coast Campus). He has also worked as a facilitator with Qld Shakespeare Ensemble’s “Shakespeare in Prison’s project” in 2015. Sam continues to perform and create work that is meaningful and thought provoking and enjoys exploring cross art form collaborations.