Penelope Bartlau

Training
Current: Victorian College of the Arts, Post-Graduate Master of Puppetry
Acting: Commedia dell’Arte, Italy, Antonio Fava
Lee Strasberg Institute, New York City.
Writing: Professional screenwriting, RMIT
Academic: Bachelor of Arts Degree, Monash University, Politics and English Literature Double Major

Writing credits include: ‘Hatch’ (theatre) which toured India in January ’07, ‘Flush’ (Black comedy/cabaret), ‘Macca Strewth’ (animation) shown at over 30 international film festivals, ‘Nuts’, short film. Penelope also wrote, directed and performed bilingual shows for primary and secondary school children for Broccoli Education, a multicultural children’s theatre company.

Awards & Grants
‘Dispatch’ - R.E.Ross Playwrights’ Script Development Award, 2007
‘Hatch’ - Handspan Visual Theatre International Study and Travel Grant
‘Hatch’ - The Friends of the Victorian College of the Arts Grant (twice)
‘Macca Strewth’ - Nescafe Short Film Awards ‘Best Original Screenplay’
‘Macca Strewth’ - Flickerfest., ‘Best Comedy Screenplay’
‘Nuts’ - Quick Flicks Public Choice Prize.

Publications
The VCA News, Issue 2, November 2007, Beer and Art: The Prague Quadrennial
Australian Puppeteer Magazine, Union Internationale De La Marionette,
No.33, May 2007: ‘Ronnie Burkett Master-class at the VCA’
Australian Puppeteer Magazine, Union Internationale De La Marionette, No.33, May 2007: ‘Hatch on the Road: Sequins and Dirt’
Australian Puppeteer Magazine, Union Internationale De La Marionette, No.32, December 2006: Philippe Genty & Mary Underwood Masterclass VCA 2006

Puppetry Credits
‘Dispatch’, VCA Masters Performance Work, Rod & Object Puppetry & Blacklight Theatre. Created by: P. Bartlau
‘Cinderella’, Melbourne Lyric Opera, Rod Puppets, Object Puppetry. Dir: Michael Camielleri
‘Hatch’ India Tour, Object Theatre. Created by: P. Bartlau
‘Minmi Grows Up’, Melbourne Museum, Hand & Body Puppets - Dir: Anthony Balla
‘Sad Bird Boy’, Theatre in Decay (Dresden Dolls Gig), Shadow Puppets – Dir: Andrew Mc Dougall
‘Cabbage Patch’ Dioramas & Puppetry workshops, Melbourne International Puppetry Festival Dir: Bartlau & Boehme
‘Hatch’, VCA, Object Puppetry – Self devised work
Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony, Indigenous Section, Rod Puppet - Dir: Peter Wilson
‘All in One Night’, VCA, Bunraku - Dir: Bindi Green
‘Staff’, La Mama Theatre, Bunraku - Dir: Peta Hanrahan
‘Pinocchio’, Broccoli Theatre, Marionette - Dir: Rosanna Morales
‘La Strega Melanzana’, Broccoli Theatre, Hand puppets - Dir: Rosanna Morales

Acting Credits include:
Television – ‘Gotchya’, ‘Blue Heelers’, ‘Scooter’,
‘Neighbours’, ‘MDA’, ‘Something in the Air’, ‘Video Underground’, ‘Transmission’ (pilot episode), ‘Seachange’;
Feature Film – ‘Crushed’, ‘The Academy’, ‘Josh Jarman’, ‘Guru Wayne’;
Short Film – ‘A Thousand Reasons Why’, ‘The Staring Girl’, ‘The
Spider & the Fly’, ‘I Want Love’, ‘Nuts’, ‘Seven days Under Mavis’;
Theatre – ‘Cunversations’, ‘After the Rain’, ‘The Eight’, ‘Flush’, ‘Caresses’, ‘Man-40-Seeks-Woman-with-Good-Legs’, ‘Total Entertainment’, ‘Wide Brown Land’, ‘War Against Short Trousers’, ‘Three Musketeers’, ‘Ripe’, ‘Still’, ‘Open for Inspection’, ‘Women In Love’;
Other ABC radio dramas.