Dr Frances Barbe
KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Dr Frances Barbe is the Associate Dean of Performance at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). She teaches the Bachelor of Performing Arts and Bachelor of Arts (Acting) courses and is a postgraduate research supervisor. She has also been a member of the Academic Board of the Intercultural Theatre Institute since 2017. 

She is a performance-maker with more than twenty years of experience. She has worked internationally as a performer, director, choreographer and teacher. Before commencing at WAAPA, ECU, Frances was based in the United Kingdom working at the University of Kent from 2001 – 2010 and as a special guest teacher at the Central School of Speech and Drama, Exeter University, Birkbeck University, Rose Bruford College, East 15 and Plymouth University.

She also worked freelance as a practising artist in London, throughout the UK and internationally. She was a member of Tadashi Endo's Butoh Mamu Dance Theatre (Germany 1997 - 2008), established Fran Barbe Dance Theatre (London, 2000 - 2010) and founded Theatre Training Initiative (London 1999 - 2010) for whom she curated two international Butoh festivals (2005 and 2009).

Sankar Venkateswaran
KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Sankar Venkateswaran is an Indian theatre director. Born in Calicut, Kerala, he studied directing at the Calicut University School of Drama and Fine Arts, and pursued his post-graduate training at Theatre Training and Research Programme (now Intercultural Theatre Institute), Singapore.

He is a recipient of the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar 2011 (Government of India) and International Ibsen Scholarship 2013 (Teater Ibsen, Norway) for his project “Tribal Ibsen Project'', furthering his work with the indigenous communities of the region and setting up Sahyande Theatre in Attappady, Kerala. His works have been shown at various venues and festivals, including Zurich Theater Spektakel, Spielart in Munich, Kyoto Experiment, Zoukak Sidewalks in Beirut, and Theatre Commons Tokyo.

Sankar served as the artistic director for the International Theatre Festival of Kerala (2015 and 2016) and was a jury member for Zurich Theater Spektakel 2016. During his term, the programme emphasised exchanges within the Global South to resist the Eurocentric agendas of cultural practice.