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NIKKI GAERTNER
(Website & Events Manager)

Nikki would generally describe herself as a "techie" who loves the limelight! She has worked in the Information Technology industry since 1998 and has been involved in both large and small IT projects.

Nikki first stepped on stage at the age of 5 with Allegro School of Dance, and was involved in a number of productions with the company, including Hansel and Gretel and Mary Poppins.

Nikki's favourite theatre roles include Miss Adelaide in Guys & Dolls for Marie Clark Musical Theatre, Glinda The Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz for Northern Light Theatre Company and Maureen in Time of My Life for Galleon Theatre Group. She has appeared in numerous other shows with Northern Light, The Met and Marie Clark.

Nikki is thoroughly enjoying being able to combine her love of performing and theatre with her IT flair in her role as Manager of the Adelaide Theatre Guide.
RICHARD FLYNN
(Reviewer Coordinator)

With a love of theatre spanning some six decades, Richard has acted in plays and musicals, and directed heaps more - from Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, Shaffer, Ayckbourn, Brecht, Wilder and Wilde to Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals.

He founded his own theatre company for young people wanting to continue their association with theatre on leaving school - Adelaide's first such theatre, the Court Theatre Company, existing for 22 years up to 1997.

Richard is a teacher of Senior Secondary School English and Drama, and an editor and theatre critic for print and online publications.

Recently he collaborated with two colleagues to write a musical "Shoah!", a love story set in the time of Hitler's extermination of Jews and others on his hate list.
TALIA GAERTNER-JONES
(Administrative Assistant)

Talia has had an interest in music from a young age, starting to learn the piano when she was five years old. Over the years she has also acquired skills in playing both the clarinet and bass guitar (but not at the same time!).

In theatre, Talia has appeared in shows such as The King and I with Marie Clark Musical Theatre and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Once Upon a Mattress, A Fractured G&S Trilogy and The Witches of Eastwick (all for Northern Light Theatre Company).

Talia is pleased to be listing your shows on the ATG website.
NICK BUCKLAND
(Reviewer)
TONY BUSCH
(Reviewer)
FRAN EDWARDS
(Reviewer)

Fran has been involved in amateur theatre in South Australian for almost thirty years. That involvement has spanned just about every aspect of productions. She has notched up 118 productions doing everything from set and costume design, operation of lights and sound, stage management, publicity, front of house, direction and, of course, treading the boards.

Fran has directed a number of award-winning productions for Northern Light Theatre Company, including Annie and The King and I.

Whilst studying drama at Adelaide University she was asked to review for On Dit the campus newspaper, which she did for 5 years, continuing after she graduated as the editors were short of willing reviewers. When she heard that ATG was asking for experienced reviewers she gladly volunteered because she believes that critics and reviews are another important part of theatre and every show deserves balanced feedback.
BRIAN GODFREY
(Reviewer)

Brian has about 40 years experience in the Adelaide amateur theatre scene, having started at the delicate age of 9. Over that time he has acted, directed, stage managed and worked back stage.

Where acting is concerned, Brian specialises in comedy roles having played many leads in many farces. But when he tries his hand at drama he prefers meaty roles such as psychopaths, serial killers and “not nice” guys.

Brian has worked with many Adelaide companies and would be well recognised by any regular Actad patron. In 1993, he won the Advertiser Oscart award for Best Actor for his role as real serial killer John Reginald Christie in “Christie In Love” and for his performance in the one person show “Harry’s Christmas”.

After being involved for so long on and back of the stage, he feels the time is now right to try his hand at reviewing and so far is enjoying every minute of it.
JOHN WELLS
(Reviewer)

Since being released from a Moroccan gaol in 1988 (where he was held on trumped-up gun-running charges), John Wells has dedicated himself to all facets of the theatrical arts. John has a wide-ranging, practical knowledge of theatre. An experienced stage actor and writer, he has, in recent times, worked as a director. John brings a breadth of experience and knowledge to his role as a reviewer, having been in many hugely successful shows and his fair share of productions that should have closed at interval.

A lawyer by day and a critic by night, John is sorely disappointed that although he is the same age as both Russell Crowe and Shane Warne, he has not made the millions of dollars our Russ has, nor has he sent as many text messages as Warnie.

John does not own a mobile phone, writes with a fountain pen, drives a 1961 Rover, eats a lot of blue cheese and listens to Stravinsky. He has no idea who The Veronicas are.
MAGGIE WOOD
(Reviewer)

Maggie is a theatre and comedy junkie, both as performer and audient! She started in her native Scotland as a part time drama student, ploughing through the drama exams of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and gained experience with MSD Productions in a variety of roles.

The move to Australia soon delivered the dream gig of reviewing Adelaide Fringe comedy for the SAFM Breakfast show, which in turn led to her somewhat erratic but nonetheless satisfying comedy career, which was topped off by a Peoples’ Choice award at Fringe 2007 for the ensemble all female standup show, Titters!

Returning to theatre after a (literally) pregnant pause of 11 years, she resumed her theatrical activities in 2005, including roles as actor and Production Manager, and most recently, Producer of her own comedy room at the Griffin’s Head Hotel, commencing January 2008.
JAMIE WRIGHT
(Reviewer)

Having moved to Adelaide from the somewhat culturally-starved northern Queensland in late 1997, Jamie's life was changed forever by the arrival of the 1998 Fringe Guide in his letterbox. From then on he became a dedicated theatre-goer, and, despite having the desire to try his luck at performing, the demands of work and study kept him on the other side of the stage. But at the end of 2002 he found himself with a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing and Communication in one hand and a sudden increase in spare time in the other.

Since being cast in his first production, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' with Burnside Players, Jamie has rarely been away from the theatre for more than a few weeks. While the majority of roles have been with Burnside - including their ATG 'Curtain Call' award-winning 2006 production of 'The Crucible' - he has also performed with The Rep, Therry, SALOS, Marie Clarke and Unseen Theatre Company/Insight Presents. When not on stage he can often be found backstage, having worked as one or more of stage manager, production manager and crew for nearly every Burnside Players show in the last few years, and even found time to move things around for Northern Light on a couple of occasions.

Reviewing combines two of his great loves - theatre and writing - and he's rarely happier than when scribbling notes on the back of programmes in the dark. Reading his own handwriting afterwards, of course, is another thing entirely...



Photography by Butterfly Expressions (www.butterflyexpressions.com.au) ©2005