ARTIST BIO

About Anita Hallewas

Born in Melbourne, Australia, I grew up in a large family where music and theatre was a big part of our family life. I wrote and directed my first play in Grade 5 and have never stopped participating in and loving theatre. I went to school in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and attended Deakin University to complete my Bachelor of Arts (Drama) and Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary). After graduating, I taught Drama in secondary schools for several years in Europe, Australia and New Zealand before immigrating to Canada in 2008. I have lived in the small town - Revelstoke - in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. I have since become a Canadian citizen and made Canada my home. It was in Revelstoke that I founded theatre company Flying Arrow Productions in 2014 with the motivation to support the local community in youth, senior and inter- generational theatre programming. With a strong focus to explore social theatre, I undertook my Masters of Applied Theatre at the University of Victoria, BC, Canada in 2017. I began my PhD in the area of Applied Theatre 2017 at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia under the supervision of Professors Michael Balfour and Julie Dunn. In 2019 I accompanied Professor Balfour to his new position at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia to complete my PhD in Applied Theatre in 2022. My PhD research explores the ethics of theatre projects conducted in Greek island refugee camps.