Biography
Priscilla is a multidisciplinary director of theatre, opera and screen, whose body of work reflects an impressive track record for creating landmark productions across the Australian arts landscape.
Priscilla is the director of Sydney Theatre Company’s RBG: OF MANY, ONE by Oliver Award winning playwright, Suzie Miller. It stars Heather Mitchell, who won Best Actor at the 2022 Sydney Theatre Awards, as feminist icon, Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The production received outstanding critical and commercial acclaim, following it’s world premiere at Wharf 1 in 2022, touring nationally in 2024/25, playing to audiences, totalling over 100,000 across Australia.
Also in 2024 Priscilla directed (with Dan Daw), the Australian premiere production of Pulitzer Prize winning play, THE COST OF LIVING by Martyna Marjok (a Sydney Theatre Company and Queensland Theatre co-production). Her production represents the first on Australian mainstages to feature parity for disabled and non-disabled artists.
Priscilla’s ability to direct razor sharp political comedy, while navigating cross cultural nuances is seen in her award winning, Sydney Theatre Company production of WHITE PEARL (2019/21) by Anchuli Felicia King, which toured to Queensland Theatre and Canberra, opening the Oz Asia Festival Adelaide, and winning Best Ensemble (Sydney Theatre Awards).
She made her debut with Sydney Theatre Company in 2018 as the writer/director of STILL POINT TURNING: THE CATHERINE MCGREGOR STORY. Based on the turbulent life of controversial Australian trans military leader, Catherine McGregor, Priscilla’s play was the first production on Australian main stages centred on a trans narrative. Also for Sydney Theatre Company, Priscilla assistant directed THE FATHER by Florian Zeller (2017) and THE HANGING by Angela Betzien (2016).
Priscilla was the inaugural winner of the Sandra Bates Directing Award at Ensemble Theatre (2016) where she directed the world premiere of THE QUEEN’S NANNY by Melanie Tait (2024) which tours nationally in 2025. Also by Melanie Tait, Priscilla directed Ensemble’s sell-out hit comedy THE APPLETON LADIES POTATO RACE which toured across NSW & Victoria in 2018. She directed a new version of the play for Queensland Theatre in 2023. Priscilla directed Ensemble Theatre’s Boatshed Play reading of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (2017) and assistant directed BAREFOOT IN THE PARK and GOOD PEOPLE (2016).
In 2022 Priscilla directed Opera Australia’s national tour of THE BARBER OF SEVILLE which toured Australia in 2022/23. She was associate director for Opera Australia’s critically acclaimed production of BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE and assistant directed ERNANI, a co-production between La Scala and Opera Australia (2020). She has directed several national Schools Tours for Opera Australia (2018-2021).
Priscilla directed Bell Shakespeare’s A PLAY IN A DAY series (2021/22), and was the Resident Director of Sport for Jove’s Winter Season (2016).
Specialising in new work, Priscilla adapted GIRLS IN BOYS CARS based on the award winning novel by Felicity Castagna for National Theatre of Parramatta in 2023. For the National Institute of Dramatic Art, she conceived and directed a new multidisciplinary circus theatre work, EURYDIKE + ORPHEUS, leading the first co-production between National Institute of Dramatic Art and National Institute of Circus Art (2017). She directed AN IDEAL HUSBAND by Oscar Wilde at Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts (2019).
Priscilla’s international work includes an internship at the Komische Opera under Barrie Kosky as the 2017 winner of the Berlin Opera Award, from The Opera Foundation for Young Australians. Priscilla was invited to work with Complicite, London, collaborating with their Creative Learning Team (2013/14). She represented the Southbank Centre London at the Sydney Writers Festival in 2013, directing in the WOW Festival.
Priscilla is invested in the exquisite exchange between performers and audience through a dynamic use of space and the hybrid fusion of innovative arts and theatre practices in Australia.
Artistic Statement
I seek to create theatre that mutates truth while at the same time consolidating it. Theatre that moves me most, is theatre that entices a visceral response from audiences – those exquisite, all too rare moments in a darkened space when we literally feel every molecule in our body involuntarily responding to the beauty or grotesqueness or tragedy or sheer presence of the living breathing moment. I am moved by beauty, I am moved by light and bodies, poetry in motion and language and sound and silence. Metaphor moves me. Space fascinates me. As a director I ask myself how does the language and quality of movement, text, sound and image interplay collectively so that the space itself becomes a living, breathing force?
We go to the theatre to see ourselves because we are inextricably invested in our humanness which paradoxically is also the source of our ‘otherness’. Theatre consummates our timeless struggle to both grapple and celebrate who we are and what our collective and solitary experience means. We are myth magnets, meaning hunters.
I am passionate about creating theatre that enlivens us culturally as Australians. Margaret Cameron’s statement “to audience is a verb” feels like a call to action for me as a director. I want to create theatre in which the audience is complicit because of the active consensus of shared imagination taking place between actor and spectator. I want to create theatre that enlivens the mind and stirs the soul – that vibrates with resonance, provocation and connection.
CV
Agent: HLA MANAGEMENT | Ph: 02) 9549 3000 | Email: Natalie.Stewart@hlamgt.com.au or hla@hlamgt.com.au
AWARDS
2022 Emerging Leader in Arts & Entertainment (finalist), Women’s Agenda
2019 White Pearl, Sydney Theatre Award (Best Ensemble)
2017 Berlin New Music Opera Award (directing), Opera Foundation for Young Australians
2017 Resident Director, Sport for Jove
2017 Belvoir Artist’s Workshop, Belvoir St Theatre
2016 Sandra Bates Directing Award, Ensemble Theatre
2016 Melbourne Director’s Lab, MTC, TheatreWorks, Melbourne Festival
2015 STC Nominee Emerging Director, Playwriting Australia’s Director’s Studio
2015 Highly Accomplished Teacher Accreditation award, Board of Studies Institute of Teachers NSW
2006 Deans Medal (College of Arts)
QUALIFICATIONS and EDUCATION
2015 Masters of Fine Arts (Directing), National Institute of Dramatic Arts
2010 Qualified Teacher Status, University of East London
2006 Bachelor of Secondary Teaching, University of Western Sydney
(Distinction & Awarded College of Arts Dean’s Medal)
1999 Bachelor of Theatre Arts, Acting (Distinction), University of Southern Queensland
PROFESSIONAL BOARDS & COMMITTEES
2020/21 Board member, NIDA Research and Scholarship Committee
2018 Belvoir St Panel, 25A Downstairs Theatre
2015 Committee member Board of Educational Studies NIDA
2014 Committee member for Sydney Theatre Company Education Teacher’s Advisory Group
2014 & 2013 Representational Educational Committee member, Riverside Theatre, Parramatta
2014 & 2013 Committee member for Professional Teacher’s Council NSW
2014 & 2013 Committee member for Drama NSW Teaching Association
2012 Director, NSW Multicultural Playwright’s Program – ‘Running for Freedom’ NSW State Drama Festival
PERFORMER
2013 Television, Nurse, The Power Games: The Packer Murdoch Story, Southern Star Productions, Geoff Bennett
2013 Television, Mrs Hepworth, Love Child, Playmaker Media, Shawn Seet
2010 Feature Film, Becky, The Man You’re Not, FMW, Alan Freestone
2010 Feature Film, Comedienne, The Laughter Clinic (Promotional Feature),Tin Pan Productions, Ed Blum
2010 Stage, Yelena, Uncle Vanya, Deadpan Productions, Harriet Mann
2007 Stage, Company Member, Playback Theatre Sydney, Maximillian Finlayson
2007 Stage, Janine, Pluto, Short and Sweet Festival Sydney, Daniella Machetta
2006 Commercial, Mother, Colrox, Errol Morris
2005 Commercial, Wife, Carlton Midstrength, Fosters Australia, Steve Rogers
2005 Television, Melissa, All Saints, Peter Finch
2003 Stage, Maddie, The Vegemite Tales, Itchy Feet Theatre London, Melanie Tait
2003 Radio, Tayla, We Are Water, BBC World Service & Royal Court Young Writers, Marion Nancarrow & Simon Stephens (dramaturg)
2003 Television, Waitress, FortySomething, Carlton Television UK, Hugh Laurie
2001 Short Film, My Drug Buddy, Pumpskin Productions, Lester Francois
2000 Commercial, Girlfriend, 7 UP, Luscious International for Propaganda Films LA, Bryan Singer
PRESENTING & FACILITATION
2023 Directing Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company Education
2016 NIDA OPEN Introduction to Directing Theatre
2015 Presenter – National Drama Conference
2014 Presenter – NSW State Drama Conference
2014 Presenter – Department of Education and Communities, Creative Arts Curriculum
2014 & 2015 Presenter – Erudio Education Pty Ltd Teacher’s Professional Development
2014 & 2013 Presenter – Drama NSW Association Early Career Teacher’s Professional Development days
2013 Facilitator for Southbank Centre London at the Sydney Writer’s Festival ‘Under 10 Feminist Corner’
2013 Presenter corporate dramatist – Role Play UK
2012 Presenter corporate dramatist – Black Dog Institute & AnniInc
2009 Corporate facilitator – Skills To Success, London
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
May 2016 – 2021:
NIDA Lecturer and Course Curriculum Development Team
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Acting, Design, Props, Costume, Staging Technical Courses
Subjects include: Performance & Ideas, Student Led and Introduction to Collaboration courses
Masters of Fine Arts, Directing Course
Subjects include: Devised Theatre course, Contemporary Theatre Directors
Oct 2014 – Theatre du Complicite (UK) – Creative Learning Team (project collaborator)
On-line resources for theatre-makers in devised theatre practices
Aug 2014, 2013 – NSW HSC Practical Drama Examination Marker, NSW Board of Studies Registered Curriculum Writer
DIRECTING
2022/24/25 Stage, RBG: Of Many One by Suzie Miller, Sydney Theatre Company (director)
2024/25 Stage, The Queen’s Nanny by Melanie Tait, Ensemble Theatre (director)
2024 Stage, Cost of Living by Martyna Majok, Queensland Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company (director)
2023 Stage, Appleton Ladies Potato Race by Melanie Tait, Queensland Theatre (director)
2023 Stage, Girls In Boys Cars, National Theatre of Parramatta (director and writer)
2022/23 Stage, The Barber of Seville, Opera Australia, National Tour (director)
2021 Stage, White Pearl by Anchuli Felicia King, Sydney Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre, Oz Asia Festival Adelaide
2021, Stage, White Pearl, Oz Asia Festival, (director)
2021 Stage, Bluebeard’s Castle, Opera Australia (associate director)
2021 Stage, Ernani, Opera Australia & La Scala (assistant director)
2020/21 Stage, The Barber of Seville, NSW Schools Tour, Opera Australia (revival director)
2020 Stage, Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen, NIDA (director)
2020 Stage, A Broadcast Coup by Melanie Tait, Ensemble Theatre (director)
2019 Stage, An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde, WAAPA (director)
2019 Stage, The Barber of Seville, Victorian Schools Tour, Opera Australia (revival director)
2019 Stage, The Appleton Ladies Potato Race by Melanie Tait, Ensemble Theatre (director)
2019 Stage, White Pearl by Anchuli Felicia King, Sydney Theatre Company & NTofP (director)
2018 Stage, Still Point Turning: The Catherine McGregor Story, Sydney Theatre Company (director/writer)
2018 Opera, The Magic Flute, National Schools Tour, Opera Australia (revival director)
2017 Stage, Da Vinci’s Assistant, Musica Viva (director)
2017 Stage, The Father, Sydney Theatre Company (assistant director)
2017 Stage, The Tempest, Sport for Jove Winter Season (co-director)
2017 Stage, Romeo & Juliet, Sport for Jove Winter Season (co-director)
2017 Stage, Eurydike + Orpheus, NIDA&NICA co-production (director and conceiver)
2017 Stage, Relatively Speaking, Ensemble Theatre (director, transfer Glen St Theatre)
2017 Stage, Photosynthesis, Seymour Centre (director)
2016 Stage, The Angelica Complex, Invisible Circus season KX Theatre, (director & co-creator)
2016 Stage, The Hanging by Angela Betzien, Sydney Theatre Company (assistant director)
2016 Stage, Something For Cate: The Catherine McGregor Story, STC Rough Drafts (director & creator)
2016 Stage, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Ensemble Theatre Boatshed Program (director)
2016 Stage, Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon, Ensemble Theatre (assistant director)
2016 Stage, Good People by David Lindsay Abaire, Ensemble Theatre (assistant director)
2015 Stage, Love and Honour by Nam Le NIDA (director and adaptation)
2015 Music video clip, Walking for Days, WILSN NIDA
2015 Stage, the Sea, NIDA and Aboriginal Centre of Performing Arts
2014 Stage, Orpheus and Eurydice, NSW Arts Unit
2013 Stage, So City by Miles Merril, NSW Arts Unit
2012 Stage, Running for Freedom, NSW State Festival
WRITER AND DRAMATURG
2023 Girls In Boys Cars by Priscilla Jackman, National Theatre of Parramatta, (original stage play based on the novel by Felicity Castagna performed at Lennox Theatre, Parramatta October 2023)
2023/24 The Queen’s Nanny by Melanie Tait, Ensemble Theatre (dramaturg)
2020 Development workshop, A Letter To Molly by Brittanie Shipway (dramaturg, professional mentor)
2020 Stage, A Broadcast Coup by Melanie Tait, Ensemble Theatre (dramaturg)
2019 Stage, The Appleton Ladies Potato Race by Melanie Tait, Ensemble Theatre (dramaturg)
2018 Stage, Still Point Turning: The Catherine McGregor Story by Priscilla Jackman (writer/director, produced and performed by the Sydney Theatre Company 21 April – 26 May 2018)
2017 Stage, Eurydike + Orpheus (original stage concept and dramaturg, co-produced and performed by National Institute of Dramatic Art and National Institute of Circus Art, June 2017)
2016 Stage, Something For Cate: The Catherine McGregor Story (original stage concept and dramaturg, produced at Sydney Theatre Company for Rough Drafts Program, May 2016)
2016 Stage, The Angelica Complex by Sunny Grace (co-creator and dramaturg, produced for The Invisible Circus, Kings Cross Theatre, November 2016)
2015 Stage, Love and Honour by Nam Le (original stage adaptation and dramaturg, produced at National Institute of Dramatic Art, November 2015)
THEATRE COMPANY EMPLOYMENT
November 2007 – 2010: Imprology
London
Position Held: Facilitator, Coach and Company Member
www.imprology.com/contact.html
January 2005 – 2013: Playback Theatre Sydney
P.O. Box 770, Leichhardt, NSW 2040
www.playbacktheatre.com.au/about
Position Held: Performer & Company Member (Part Time/Contracted)
May 2001 – December 2003: Itchy Feet Theatre, London
Position Held: Managing Director & Cast Member
December 2001 – December 2003
MOPA Shakespeare Theatre
St Albans, Herts
Ph: +44 800 083 1637
Theatre ADAD
Lewisham, South London
Ph: +44 171727 765975
Position Held: Actor & Facilitator (contracted)
ACTING
January 2000 – 2014: Contracted work as an actor in London and Sydney.
For further information www.priscillajackman.com.au/portfolio-item/acting