Last year Paul directed a revival of HAIR – The Love Rock Musical and his production of Jesus Christ Superstar toured to Greece and South Korea. Paul has just finished adapting and directing a new production of Chess.

Charl-Johan Lingenfelder

Charl-Johan Lingenfelder studied Musicology, Drama and Classical Culture at the University of Stellenbosch. He started his career as an actor and musical director. He consequently extended his talents from being an actor and musician to that of Musical Director, Musical Creator, and Composer for both stage and film.

Charl-Johan Lingenfelder has become one of this country’s most prolific and controversial theatre practitioners. He is an award-winning performer, well-known musical director, and is also known as the creator of highly innovative and controversial theatrical shows. These productions have always enjoyed huge public and critical acclaim. Previous productions include Bear Facts, Almost the Sound of Music (now banned), the highly controversial Follies 3:16, and parts 1 & 2 of the ALIEN CONSPIRACY TRILOGY: ABBA(toir) (now banned), DISCOvery and 2006’s Cape Town Smash Hit; Bangbroek Mountain- A musical about camping. Musically, these shows were all indicative of Charl's musical knowledge and love, encompassing all musical genres, ranging from Classical to Progressive Rock, Experimental to HipHop and beyond.

As a theatre practitioner, Charl continually pushes boundaries and experiments with new styles. He has collaborated with various dance companies creating scores for some of this country’s top choreographers. Charl composed the music for South African choreographer Veronica Paeper's ballet, Cleopatra and the soundtrack for a DISCOVERY CHANNEL documentary on the first circum-navigation of the Arctic; Circle of Ice. He has also written original music for over 50 South African plays, television programs and film. He also for 5 years co-owned the highly successful Warehouse Theatre in Cape Town with director Fred Abrahamse.

He composed a 10-minute segment for the 2003 Cricket World Cup Opening Ceremony and was musical director for the Opening Ceremony of The Cape Town International Convention Centre, working and composing for amongst others, Vanessa Mae and world renowned opera diva, Sibongile Khumalo. He has musically directed four Shoprite Checkers SABC 2 Woman of the Year Awards ceremonies. In 2004 he composed the soundtrack for Cinderella of the Cape Flats- one of 13 documentaries which formed part of the “10 years of democracy” series which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

Charl has been Musical Director on more than 20 Musicals- from Rocky Horror Picture Show to Cabaret and everything inbetween. 2006 saw him Musically Direct and Re-Arrange Jesus Christ Superstar for which he received a Naledi Award Nomination. This production subsequently toured to Athens and Korea in 2007. He also composed the score for a SABC commissioned international documentary, Keiskamma. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMcZ1Xk4AtE&feature=related)

He was musical director and re-arranger for Hair (Naledi Nomination) and Hairspray in 2007. 2008 saw Charl team up with designer/ director Andrew Botha to create OPERAmania for Packed House Productions- his most controversial and outspoken work since since Follies 3:16.

Currently he is the musical supervisor, arranger and programmer for the South African premiere production of Chess which has been hailed by press and public as being one of the best theatre productions ever to come out of South Africa.

David Gouldie - Choreographer

David has an Honour’s degree in Arts from the University of Natal specializing in Gender Studies. He was resident choreographer for the Fantastic Flying Fish Dance Company for six years. His works include: unfinished®evolution (2000), Grass Gardens with the band Landscape Prayers(2004), New Age Circus(2004), Run for Cover (2005) and Alice in Zululand (2005) . David has had the pleasure of working with many South African based dance companies. He has choreographed works for Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre (Silent Whispers never Spoken), Flatfoot Dance Company (Measure up), PACT Dance Company (Emergency Exit), Playhouse Dance Company (Bounce Back) and the Pretoria Technikon (riskfreepopularculture). He has received various commissions to create work like FNB Vita Commission to create a new work: the last time I checked I thought I loved you. David was a finalist in the prestigious DaimlerChrysler Award for South African Choreography held in Johannesburg, for which he created One colour short of a rainbow. He has received commissions from Jomba! Dance Experience to create tri, My shadows of my past have finally fallen, Forgotten Words, Disfluency and Solo. David’s choreographic career includes the following awards, FNB Vita Award for Best Choreography in a Contemporary Style for Romeo and Juliet together with Mark Hawkins. He was awarded the Durban Dance Award for Choreographer of the Year (2004) and Best choreography in 2007. David has a love for Musical theatre and has choreographed productions for Very Very Big productions including: the Lloyd Webber / Tim Rice musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Nunsense. He received The Best Choreography Award for Nunsense from the Durban Theatre Awards (2005). David’s Directing debut began with The Boy with a Clown’s Heart for Brincat Productions which received the Durban Theatre Award for Children’s Production. He is also involved in Industrial Theatre. Conceptualizing, Choreographing and Directing and has launched his own production label Urban Edge Productions which has been responsible for various prestigious events and launches. David has just been appointed Durban representative for BASA and recently completed CHESS at Monte Casino and Opera Mania at the Civic Theatre.

Douglas Griffiths – Assistant Choreographer

Douglas Griffiths studied Contemporary Dance as a matriculation subject at school, and it was during this time he decided to pursue a career in the performing arts. In 2004, Douglas auditioned for, and was accepted into Jazzart Dance Theatre's three-year Young Adult Training and Job Creation Programme where he honed his skills in dance and theatre. On completion of this programme, Douglas was offered a contract with Jazzart's professional company and has been engaged as a dancer and teacher since 2006. During this time, Douglas has performed in all of Jazzart's major works including Rain in a Deadman's Footprints, Guardian of the Flame, Cargo, I am Cinnamon and Gatherings. He has also gained extensive experience as a teacher and choreographer over the past 3 years - amongst other projects and engagements, Douglas has been instrumental in implementing Jazzart's artists in a residence programme in schools throughout the Western Cape and has choreographed for a number of productions including Jazzart's Annual Fundraiser Danscape in 2007.

Louisa Anne Talbot – Resident Choreographer

Louisa became a soloist in the Cape Dance Company at the age of 13 specializing in contemporary and classical dance. She received her Advanced ballet and Solo Seal Modern through Barbara Holden and Debbie Turner respectively. At the age of 19 Louisa made her international debut as a semi-finalist in De Concours De Paris International dance competition, and performed in the Grahamstown and Edinburgh International arts festivals annually. She then became a member of Jazzart dance theatre and went on to freelance for Free Flight Dance Company under the directorship of Adele Blank. Louisa performed on Costa Cruiseliners followed by starting her musical theatre career in 2004 with the musical Showboat, which toured to Germany and Oslo. She then went on to do the South African, New Zealand and Asian tour of We Will Rock You where she had the privilege of working with Ben Elton. Louisa Recently made her television debut as one of South Africa’s top 20 dancers on the internationally acclaimed series “So You Think You Can Dance” on SABC1

Illka Louw - Costume & Scenic Designer

Illka studied at the Royal Welsh Collage of Music and Drama, Cardiff, Wales in 2004 and 2005. She also has a degree in fashion design from the Cape Technikon, Cape Town. Illka has designed productions of Romeo and Juliet at Maynardville, Ghoema – The Musical at The Baxter, Masque – The Opera at Artscape, Fire Raisers for Magnet Theatre, Macbeth at Maynardville, Twelth Night at Maynardville and District Six – The Musical at The Baxter. Illka won a Fleur Du Cap for Best Costume Design for Twelth Night as well as being nominated for Ghoema – The Musical, and a Naledi for Best Costumes of Pieter Toerien's Hair – The Musical. Illka's most recent work include associate designer on the Jesus Christ Superstar tour to South Korea, and Chess - The Muscial.

Declan Randall - Lighting Designer

Declan has a B-Tech Degree in Stage Lighting Design and Arts Administration and began his career in stage lighting at the State Theatre in Pretoria, designing for Nataniel's show "Sweat". Since then he has designed the lighting for more than 250 productions covering all aspects of the performing arts including dance, drama, opera and musicals. Declan's work has been seen around the country and all over the world including India, China, Australia and most of Europe. His most recent credits include "African Footprint", "Saturday Night Fever", "Coupe", "Aida" and MID's 30th Anniversary Performance. Declan was invited to Holland by the Reisopera to design the lighting for their production of "Les Contes d'Hoffman" in 2007. In 2000, Declan started CONGO BLUE DESIGN which has grown to be one of South Africa's leading lighting design and consulting companies. He has won numerous awards for his designs and has recently published his first book on stage lighting.

Mark Malherbe - Sound Designer

With nearly 30 years in the industry, Mark Malherbe is the Technical Director of Prosound. His diverse accomplishments include the Design for the Paging and Public Address System for the Johannesburg International Airport, Domestic terminal, the Sun City Bridge of Time, as well as the Sound Design for Mbongeni Ngema’s world renowned Sarafina. Highlights of Mark’s career include winning a Naledi Award for the Sound Design of Richard Lorings That’ll Be The Day, and for Pieter Toerien Productions the Sound Design of Rock Musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and We Will Rock You for Showtime Productions. Along side Marks Musical productions, he has also designed for plays such as Athol Fugard’s Playland and most recently the Market Theatre’s production of Lord of the Flies.