Jamaica Zuanetti (Playwright) is a Melbourne based writer and performer. She first started performing at the National Theatre Ballet School where she studied dance for ten years. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree majoring in Creative Writing and French from the University of Melbourne.
She is a graduate of the National Theatre Drama School. Her acting credits include The Visit, The Country, Picnic at Hanging Rock (The National Theatre Drama School), Big Maggie and Yes, Yes, Yes! (Bloomsday in Melbourne), More Intimate Than (Honeycreepers; Melbourne Fringe Festival), The Tragedy of Lucrece (Globe Productions; Melbourne Fringe Festival), Season to Taste (New Blood; Kingston Arts Centre/Adelaide Fringe Festival), Shakespeare and the Dark Lady (Globe Productions) and music video The Lake you Love (Linus Wilson).
In 2015, she graduated with a Master of Writing for Performance from the Victorian College of the Arts, where she was the recipient of the Cassidy Bequest Scholarship.
Rachel Baring (Director) has worked predominantly in creating new works as a director and dramaturge in Melbourne (Hildeguard/Knef for Darebin Speakeasy, Murder Ballads for 5Pound Theatre), Berlin (The Origin of the Species) and London (What Can You Play?, Zachery Briddling who was Awfully Middling – which subsequently became the original production of The Grumpiest Boy in the World).
Prior to this she has directed text-based works including Shakespeare, Ionesco, Albee and Coward, principally working in exploring the relationship of the darkness and violence in comedy. She has also directed two pieces as a part of the Shorter+Sweeter national tour, which performed 78 shows in 48 locations. She has also worked as an assistant director for extraordinary directors such as Gale Edwards, Max Lyandvert and Rob Reid.
In 2009 and 2010 Rachel was the festival director for Short + Sweet Theatre Melbourne. In 2011, she graduated from the directing course at NIDA, and in 2015 she was a member of the Women’s’ Director Program with Melbourne Theatre Company. Rachel is one of the Artistic Directors of Phrankly+Co.