Theatre dance rehearsals with Director Roman Berry and Illegals The Game Show Cast members.

DIRECTOR MOVEMENT THEATRE MAKER

ROMAN BERRY

"Never fear in telling your truth, be proud of your stories, have fun and learn from the process AND collaborate, collaborate & collaborate"

Roman Berry, Filipino Australian

(He/ Him)

As a creative, an immigrant & arts advocate, I acknowledge that I create, collaborate and work on what always was and always will be the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the wider Melbourne community and beyond. I recognise their unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and seas and their rich contribution to society.. Indigenous sovereignty has never been ceded.

Biography - THEATRE MAKER

Director/ Movement Director/ Choreographer/ Performer

Born from Cebu City, Philippines, Roman migrated with his family to Ceduna, South Australia, where he discovered his love for community theatre and the arts. He trained at Flinders University Drama Centre (Acting) and Centre for Performing Arts (Dance). Performance career highlights include playing the role of Ernie, in Jordan Shea’s Malacanang/ Montgomery (Part of the Cybec Electric 2023 program for Melbourne Theatre Company); Cameron Mackintosh’s Australian Premiere of Miss Saigon; Harry Miller’s Pageant: The Musical. Artistic Director II Commonwealth Youth Games Opening & Closing Ceremony (Australia) and created/ currently facilitator & conceptualised Body and Mind, Wellness Workshops since 2016 (The Voice of Domestic Workers UK). He is also the current resident facilitator at The Couch International Centre (Melbourne) for a series of Theatre Workshops.

He recently returned to Melbourne, after ten years in London, where he collaborated as Director/ Movement Director on several Off West End and Fringe Theatre productions, focusing on New Plays & New Musicals. These were with companies such as Get Over It Productions, The Bread & Roses Theatre, Goldsmiths University, The Hope Theatre, The Jack Studio Theatre, Arrows & Traps Theatre Company, just to name a few. He directed Lorna Wells’ sold-out season of It Tastes Like Home, The Musical (London). He was also an Artistic Associate and later promoted as Marketing and Production Manager at The Bread & Roses Theatre, London.

Whilst back in Australia, he was a recipient of Vitalstatistix 2023 Adhocracy residency, a national hothouse program for new and experimental works, with his semi autobiographical one-person show development of 'Not Very Berry'; he recently collaborated as actor and director, on Faerie Bread, a new play by Matthew McDonald as part of VCA's Masters of Theatre Writing Festival; co produced with Flight Path Theatre (Sydney) and Movement Director for Teenage Dick by Mike Lew; directed Jamila Main’s Butterfly Kicks for 2019 Queer Quickies Festival at Theatreworks (Melbourne); creative advisor for Narre Warren South P12 College's 2019 production of Hairspray the Musical; workshopped a development reading of DTC’s Illegals The Game Show at Multicultural Arts Victoria; directed Electric Dreams, the Musical by Drew Lane, produced by Music Theatre Melbourne. He produced Before Breakfast an Opera (Dan Graham - Director), which featured Australian Opera Soprano Jane Ede at the 2022 Sydney Fringe and was the Production Administrator for Kwento’s 2022, One Hour No Oil by Jordan Shea (Kenneth Moraleda - Director) at KXT Bakehouse Theatre (Sydney).

He is the Artistic Director for Divergent Theatre Collective, which champions new work.