Deborah Pollard is a theatre maker, director and dramaturg. Her performances and installations have toured throughout Australia and overseas. Most recently Deborah presented her performance Slow Burn for the Sydney Festival (2022), and the video installation A Roaring Silence for Blacktown Arts Centre (2021). In the year prior to this, she was commissioned by NIDA to write and direct an online performance trilogy for third-year acting and design students as part of the NIDA Digital Theatre Festival (2020).

 

She was artistic director of Salamanca Theatre Company, Hobart (1997-2000) and acting artistic director for Urban Theatre Projects (2006-2007). Deborah has also worked extensively with version 1.0, Anino Shadowplay Collective (Manila) and Performance Space among others. Deborah’s extensive working practice includes leading roles in the development, coordination and facilitation of interdisciplinary arts labs for young artists in Australia including Splendid Arts Lab 2009, SITUATE- Art in Festivals 2016 and 2018.

 

Over her 30-year career Deborah has received many prestigious awards and fellowships, most notable being the Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship in 2000, the Rex Cramphorn Scholarship in 2001 and a New Media Arts Board Fellowship from the Australia Council in 2002/3. Deborah was awarded a PhD in Philosophy and Theatre Studies from UOW and is currently an adjunct lecturer at UNSW.