Scenes from the Climate Era

David Finnigan is an Australian writer at the forefront of climate change research and writing. David works with leading government, business and research institutions including the World Bank, Chatham House, Nesta UK, the Australian National University and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) leading teams to synthesise stories and science into research and for problem-solving.

In 2024, David performed in a season of his one person show Deep History at the Public Theatre in New York City (NYC). In 2023, David’s play Scenes from the Climate Era had its world premiere at Belvoir in Sydney; 44 Sex Acts In One Week was produced by Clubhouse Productions and has toured Australia and most recently went to Edinburgh Fringe; and David performed climate piece, solo show Deep History, at the Edinburgh Festival, the Barbican in London, the Sydney Opera House and at the Canberra Theatre.

In 2018 his breakout work, Kill Climate Deniers, won the Griffin Award and was staged at the Griffin Theatre. Following this, David’s plays have appeared in major festivals and venues including FutureFest London (CrimeForce, 2018), AsiaTOPA (Are You Ready, 2022) and the Sydney Festival (44 Sex Acts In One Week, 2022).

In 2009, David co-founded the Crack Theatre Festival in Newcastle, and in 2011 he co-founded the You Are Here Festival in Canberra. Both have grown into significant national events for experimental artists and are still thriving today.

In the late 2000s, David was writer-in-residence for Tanghalang Pilipino, the key government-funded theatre company in the Philippines. This led to an ongoing and fruitful creative relationship with the region, including an Asialink Fellowship in 2015 to develop a Philippines-Australian artist exchange programme. David co-founded science theatre company Boho to create work in collaboration with scientists. Boho has toured to venues including the Battersea Arts Centre, the London Science Museum, ArtScience Museum Singapore and CAMP Shanghai.

He began his practice as a playwright in Canberra in the 2000s, first attracting national attention with the 2011 production of his 22 Short Plays. Since then, he has received a Green Room Award for Best New Writing, the Griffin Playwrights Award, and his scripts have been nominated for every major playwriting award in the country. David was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2012 to research the interplay between science and the performing arts internationally. In 2014, this was followed by an Australia Council Early Career Fellowship for his cross-disciplinary performance work.

Ellison is a Singaporean-Chinese performer, playwright and educator. Her background is in puppetry, playwriting, the Suzuki Method of Actor Training and Viewpoints. She was Co-Artistic Director of The Finger Players from 2020 – 2023, and remains a member of its Core Team. She is Co-Founder of The Wanderlings, the first Singaporean collective to create baby theatre.

Notable acting credits: Dive (Wild Rice), Transplant《移心》(The Finger Players), Off Centre (The Necessary Stage), Art Studio (Nine Years Theatre and Singapore International Festival of Arts), I Am Trying to Say Something True (Esplanade: The Studios 2018). Notable writing credits: The Bench (The Finger Players), All The World is One’s Stage 《一个人的舞台》 (Toy Factory and Esplanade: Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts), The Dragon’s Dentist  (Esplanade: PLAYtime!)

Ellison was conferred the National Arts Council Arts Scholarship in 2020, and graduated from Rose Bruford College in the UK with a Masters in Theatre for Young Audiences (Distinction).