MEET THE ARTISTIC DIRECTORS
NICOLA DOBINSON
Co-Artistic Director
Nicola is a costume designer, seamstress, set designer, graphic designer, director and stage manager. Although Nicola, for the most part, prefers to remain offstage, she did appear in Shakespearean Jeans’ first production, Medea, in addition to designing and making some 15 costumes. Nicola was similarly coerced into joining the chorus in a VCE Theatre Studies production of Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad, for which she was the costume designer. That same year Nicola was nominated for VCE Top Acts, showcasing her outstanding costume design for the production Into The Woods. She has appeared in various other theatre productions, as well as circus and dance performances. Most recently, Nicola performed in Shakespearean Jeans' How To Be A Good Person, a two-person comedy circus show. Having been training for several years with Women’s Circus, and previously practising gymnastics for over a decade, Nicola was excited to put her skills into practice. While planning to pursue post-graduate study in diplomatic history and international relations, Nicola is keen to keep up her design and visual art practice and continue to feed her love of literature and theatre.
LUCY SEALE
Co-Artistic Director
Lucy Seale is an altogether over-committed theatre-maker who splits her time between comedy, circus, acting, playwriting, directing, producing and production management. She’s braved three Melbourne Fringe Festivals and two Melbourne International Comedy Festivals, most recently as one half of comedy duo, Juicy. Lucy was the recipient of a directing mentorship from Petra Kalive (Associate Director MTC) in 2017. In 2018 she participated in the UHT (Union House Theatre) Writer-in-Residence Program, through which she developed her first full-length play, Her Hour Upon The Stage, mentored by playwright Marie Lourey. Shakespearean Jeans staged Her Hour in November of 2019 at The Butterfly Club. Also in 2019, Lucy directed the Mudcrabs (Melbourne University Comedy Revue Board) weekly show Rowdy Laughter, for which she wrote and performed across three years. In 2020, she had the pleasure of working as Assistant Director for Complete Works Theatre Company. Lucy was recently thrilled to receive the Robert McDonald Professional Development Award, which grants her an attachment on an MTC (Melbourne Theatre Company) production. You can read more about Lucy on her website.