Regions

Our Board

Our Board

The Performing Lines Board has representatives from business, media and the arts, chaired by Robi Stanton.

Current Members

  • Robi Stanton (Chair), Robi Stanton (Chair), Media & Entertainment Executive and Advisor, Elliott St Advisory
  • Anne-Marie Heath (Deputy Chair), Executive Director at The Arts House, Wyong
  • Natalie Jenkins, CEO at Short Back and Sidewalks
  • Eugyeene Teh, Independent Artist, Designer and Architect
  • Vernon Guest, CEO at Ten Days on the Island
  • Michelle Kvello, Director at Lantern Partners
  • Margaret Ross, Executive Producer, Scripted & Factual Children’s Content at ABC
  • Stephen Digby, Founder and Principal of Digby Law
  • Stephanie Hart, Senior Philanthropy Manager, Taronga Foundation

Robi Stanton | Chair

An experienced media executive with a strong focus on delivering strategic transformations and business development. Robi was at Warner Media for over 15 years in a range of senior leadership roles across Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. She is highly skilled in consumer and audience strategy, digital product development, financial management, marketing, and commercial deal making.

Robi has a Bachelor of Arts from UNSW and a Master of Business from UTS. Robi is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is currently Chair of Performing Lines and has been a Director of Carriageworks since February 2023.

Robi is an active advocate and driver of diversity and gender equality. She mentors female athletes with Minerva Network, participates regularly in Mentor Walks and is a committee member of Chief Executive Women.

(2017 to Present)

Anne-Marie Heath | Deputy Chair

Anne-Marie Heath has extensive experience in arts administration and has worked with a diverse range of companies and theatres in both metropolitan and regional locations.

Anne-Marie has facilitated audience development and community engagement programs and lead organisations through key strategic and innovative changes.

She is currently Executive Director for The Art House on the NSW Central Coast, a theatre built as part of the region’s cultural urban transformation and established as an independent business model. Her past appointments have included General Manager at Merrigong Theatre Company, Chief Executive Officer of City Recital Hall, Angel Place, General Manager at Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre and Business Operations Manager at Chapel off Chapel.

Anne-Marie has served on a range of arts organisation boards and committees and held the position of Chair of Performing Arts Connections Australia (previous APACA) for 4 years and a Board Member for 6 years and is currently a Board Member of Performing Lines and Terrapin Puppet Theatre.

(2013 to Present)

Natalie Jenkins

Natalie Jenkins, GAICD has over 30 years’ experience as an arts/culture and creative industries leader. She has led a number of highly successful arts organisations, including Co-CEO/Executive Director of Black Swan State Theatre Company in Western Australia. Most recently, she was leading in the commercial creative industries as CEO of Block Branding and late in 2023, returned to the Not-For-Profit sector as CEO of the national organisation Short, Back & Sidewalks. Natalie ran her own strategic advisory business for 8 years, offering high level advice and project management for the cultural, corporate and community sectors and has taught the next generation of arts managers over a period of 16 years, as a sessional academic in the Arts Management degree at WAAPA (Edith Cowan University). Alongside Matthew Lutton, she established and was General Manager/ Co-CEO of ThinIce Productions, as well as for Perth Theatre Company from 2000-2005. She was the inaugural General Manager of Theatre North in Launceston.

Natalie has Chaired and been a member of a number of national and state-based boards and advisory committees including: Chair of the Blue Room Theatre, President of the Australian Performing Arts Centres Association (now PAC Australia), Deputy Chair of Regional Arts Australia and Chair of Stages WA. She is a former member of the Commonwealth Government’s Playing Australia and Festivals Australia Committee; the Healthway (WA) Board, including chair of its Arts Advisory Committee and the Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board. Natalie is currently Chair of Seesaw Magazine and Board member of Future Now- the skills and workforce development advisory council for the Creative, Leisure and Technology sectors. She established and was inaugural Chair of IN: WA- an advocacy body for Western Australia’s Independent commercial creative businesses.

Natalie has a degree in Arts Management from WAAPA (ECU) and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).

Eugyeene Teh

Eugyeene Teh is a theatre maker, architect and designer across theatre, dance, opera, and fashion. He has worked extensively on shows throughout Australia and internationally including Melbourne Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Burgtheater, Back to Back Theatre, Bell Shakespeare, Little Ones Theatre and Sydney Chamber Opera.

His works, in close collaboration with some of Australia’s most exciting artists, dismantle the patriarchy through decolonisation and advocate for and support underrepresented minority identities, particularly people of colour and the queer community.

Recent design credits include Die Troerinnen (Burgtheatre, Vienna); Happy Days, Laurinda, Endgame, Straight White Men, Hungry Ghosts, Abigail’s Party and Working with Children (Melbourne Theatre Company); Blaque Showgirls, Meme Girls, A Social Service and Atomic (Malthouse Theatre). With Little Ones Theatre, his many designs include The Happy Prince trilogy, Merciless Gods (with Griffin Theatre Company and Arts Centre Melbourne); Dracula, Dangerous Liaisons (with MTC NEON, Brisbane MELT, Darwin Festival). Other recent credits include Bell Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, Melbourne Festival’s Lady Eats Apple (Back to Back); RISING Festival’s Golden Square; Book of Exodus PartII (Fraught Outfit); Exil and The Howling Girls (Sydney Chamber Opera, Tokyo Festival); The Seen and Unseen(Asia TOPA) and Shanghai Mimi(Sydney Festival).

Some of his works have been presented at and recognized at International Festivals including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Darwin Festivals, Theatretreffen (Berlin), Tokyo Festival – World Competition, Pesta Raya Malay Festival of Arts in Singapore and Music Theatre Now Network of International Theatre Institute in Rotterdam.

He has previously worked as an architect, with LAB Architecture Studio, Tridente Architects, and RotheLowman Architects.

In 2019, Eugyeene presented a fashion collection at New York Fashion Week in collaboration with Angela Clark.

In 2020-2022, he was the co-president of the Green Room Awards Association with Sepideh Kian. He was the co-chair of the GRAA Independent Panel in 2018 and 2019.

Eugyeene is a recipient of a Green Room Award and has been nominated for three Sydney Theatre Awards. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Keith and Elisabeth Murdoch Fellowship and a placement through the Besen Family Artist Program.

Vernon Guest

As a senior producer, programmer and arts manager, Vernon Guest has curated festivals, venues, and events across Australia. After graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, his early career included stage managing the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sydney Paralympics, and production management for the Adelaide and Perth festivals. Vernon later held the post of Program Manager for the Perth International Arts Festival, Star Shell Manager for the Darwin Festival, Special Project Manager at Sydney Festival, Program Manager at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, 8 years as Producer of Major Outdoor Events for the Sydney Festival, and Executive Producer of Ten Days on the Island. With more than 20 years’ experience in the performing arts, Vernon has implemented strategic change in complex not-for-profit structures and led many innovative cultural projects across Australia. Vernon is currently the CEO of Tasmania’s Ten Days on the Island festival.

(2019 to 2023)

Michelle Kvello

Michelle Kvello is the founder of Lantern Partners, a CFO advisory firm, supporting founder CEOs of start ups and scale ups.  Through providing commercial and strategic finance support Lantern Partners helps them to grow scaleable, sustainable businesses.  Originally trained as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in London, she worked for blue chip companies including Reuters, Foxtel, and Yahoo!7 in Australia and the UK before starting Lantern Partners.  She was also named one of the top 50 Women in Accounting (2021) and top 50 Small Business Leader (2022).

Margaret Ross

Margaret Ross is a Dhungutti/Gumbangirr woman from Northern NSW with over 10 years’ experience in the Indigenous media sector, starting out in print and currently working in web, digital content, social and broadcast media. Crossing the bridge from SBS/NITV in 2014, Margaret has been a Producer within the ABC’s Indigenous department ever since. During this time, she spearheaded online, brand and social media development, strategy, content and editorial as well as focusing on audience engagement and building and sustaining an ABC Indigenous online community. A productive five years at ABC Indigenous has seen Margaret work in various capacities on titles such as Redfern Now: Promise Me, Gods of Wheat Street, Cleverman, Black Comedy, Black As, Aussie Rangers, KGB, Wrong Kind of Black (social), Will We Ever Have a Black PM? and Blue Water Empire among other titles. In her new role as Executive Producer, Margaret is responsible for the management of the digital strategy for ABC Indigenous, as well as identifying, developing, and managing new content for the ABC Indigenous slate across all platforms and genres.

Stephen Digby

Stephen Digby is the Founder and Principal of Digby Law, a leading boutique law practice providing legal, commercial, and strategic advice in the media & entertainment, innovation & technology, communications & leisure sectors.

For more than 35 years of practice, Stephen has worked with Australian and International individuals and businesses, whose intellectual property is their main, and sometimes, sole asset and who can turn new and imaginative ideas into reality. From innovators who challenge the norm to those who create and communicate things of beauty, utility and/or entertainment. Stephen’s role as legal, commercial, and strategic adviser has been to help these clients identify, protect, and defend these assets and to get his clients proper value and reward for their past, present, and future efforts.

(2020 to Present)

Stephanie Hart

Stephanie Hart is a Sydney-based arts professional and Senior Philanthropy Manager (Major Donors) at the world-renowned Taronga Conservation Society, where she works collaboratively with high-net-worth donors to secure the necessary resources for various conservation projects to create major positive changes for wildlife. With fifteen years’ experience at Taronga, Stephanie has developed a creative approach to fostering relationships with philanthropists and fundraising for the society- even employing her performance skills by singing in the Zoo Band.

Similarly, with six years of fundraising support for Performing Lines as well as a further six years on the External Fundraising Advisory Committee of Hayes Theatre Co, Stephanie has a wealth of experience in development and philanthropy in a performing arts context and a deep understanding of the need to diversify income for the long-term health, stability and ambition of an organisation.

Founded in 1982 as the Australian Content Division of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust (AETT), Performing Lines incorporated as an independent non-profit organisation in 1990.

We’ve worked with many of Australia’s leading contemporary performing artists and companies. Highlights include Nigel Jamieson and Paul Grabowsky’s extraordinary Indonesian collaboration The Theft of Sita; Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman’s The 7 Stages of Grieving; William Yang’s Sadness; Tanja Liedtke’s construct and Twelfth Floor; the Chooky Dancers and Nigel Jamieson’s Ngurrumilmarrmiriyu (Wrong Skin); and Wesley Enoch’s I am Eora.

We’ve had a significant influence on the Australian theatre scene, and particularly in the touring and presentation of Aboriginal theatre. Performing Lines toured Robert Merritt’s The Cake Man to Denver, Colorado in 1982 – the first time an Australian Aboriginal production toured internationally. Other significant works include ILBIJERRI’S Jack Charles V the Crown’; Jack Davis’ The DreamersNo Sugar and Honeyspot; Sally Morgan’s Sister Girl and the Indigenous musical Bran Nue Dae.

Performing Lines has produced some of the most exciting and significant contemporary theatre and dance practitioners, including Lucy Guerin, Force Majeure, version 1.0, Chamber Made Opera, Back to Back Theatre, post and Aphids.

More recently, we have produced a range of works from artists including Nicola Gunn, Lz Dunn, Ghenoa Gela, Roslyn Oades, Ahilan Ratnamohan, The Farm, Gravity & Other Myths and Chunky Move.

Our History

In everything we do, we acknowledge that we live on Aboriginal land and constantly learn from the wisdom of First Peoples.

Where we are and the history that precedes us informs how we work and how we move forward.