Emma Buzo has BA (Performance) and a Graduate Diploma in Education. She is a producer, educator, publicist, actor and presenter.
In 2007, Emma founded The Alex Buzo Company to nurture and build upon the work of her late father, pioneering Australian playwright and author Alex Buzo (1944-2006). She feels privileged to be working closely with her father's magnificent canon and is constantly invigorated by the memory of his energy, integrity and commitment to excellence. It has only been since his death that Emma has examined her father's work in detail. Her ongoing research provides an extraordinary path of learning about Australia's cultural and social history as well as inspiration and direction for the company’s future.
Emma recently mixed the classic with the contemporary, epitomising The Alex Buzo Company's raison d'etre, by producing a double bill of Buzo’s iconic Norm and Ahmed (now a NSW HSC Drama text 2010-2012) with Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah, by Alana Valentine - the first new work to be commissioned by the company, written as a contemporary companion play for an Australian theatre icon. The production was nominated for Best Independent Production in the 2009 Sydney Theatre Awards.
Emma has subsequently introduced two additional divisions of The Alex Buzo Company: BUZO ED, an education program to provide teachers and students with inspirational resources and theatrical experiences and BUZO PR, enabling other organisations to take advantage of the company’s expertise in public relations.
Laurence is a graduate in Arts (Theatre Studies) from UNSW, in Acting from WAAPA, in Directing from NIDA and he has an MA in Writing from UTS.
He began his professional performing career as a stand up comedian in 1982 under the nom-de-mic ‘Pat McGroin’. In this guise he travelled to all corners of Australia as well as to the USA, Britain, Ireland and throughout south east Asia.
His first professional theatre role was as Harry the convict in Alex Buzo’s Macquarie in 1984. Since then he has worked for all the State Theatre Companies in Australia, Bell Shakespeare, Perth, Adelaide and Sydney Festivals, Marion St, Q Theatre and many commercial and independent producers.
Stand out acting roles for him in the past 27 years have been Ron Blair’s Christian Brother’ that he toured throughout Ireland and Britain; and Alex Buzo’s ‘Norm’ from Norm and Ahmed.
Laurence has taught at WAAPA, NIDA, VCA, ACTT, AADA, UNSW, University of Sydney and at Leeds University. He also provides communication training to government, business, sporting organizations, the military and NGOs.
Craig is a graduate from Theatre Nepean (UWS) and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Performance) degree as well as a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) degree from the University of Technology, Sydney. He has taught with TAFE NSW for over five years across several disciplines with various faculties including Business, Marketing, Events Management and the Humanities.
Craig has also been engaged with the Board of Studies as a HSC marker, marking the NSW HSC Economics paper at the Marking Centre as well teaching Economics for several years. Craig has also taught acting and drama at Shopfront Theatre, NIDA, Darlo Drama and TAFE NSW.
As a director Craig was also involved with the youth theatre project 'Page to Stage' for three years working with teenagers on new short plays in areas of writing, dramaturgy, directing, performance and staging. Indeed Craig worked briefly with Alex Buzo on one of the plays selected for ‘Page to Stage’. Alex was one of a handful of professionals who helped further shape some of the ‘Page to Stage’ submissions with the selected writers before their showcase at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney.
Craig has had the great opportunity to work on several productions of Alex Buzo’s work including the recent double bill premiere of Norm and Ahmed with a newly commissioned companion piece by Alana Valentine at the Seymour Centre in Sydney. In addition, Craig performed at NIDA in The Roy Murphy Show for the launch of The Alex Buzo Company as well Aarne Neeme’s revised Norm and Ahmed at the Old Fitzroy Theatre.
Aarne Neeme has been Artistic Director at The Hole in the Wall (Perth), Hunter Valley Theatre Company (Newcastle), and National Theatre Company (Perth), and has directed plays for most of the major Australian theatre companies. His work and studies have taken him overseas to The National University of Singapore (as a Senior Fellow) and to Europe (as a Churchill Fellow). Aarne has also had Resident Director posts at Nimrod Street Theatre in Sydney and The Octagon Theatre in Perth. He has taught at both academic and vocational tertiary institutes in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, and was Head of the Theatre Department at WAAPA. His television directing credits include Neighbours, All Saints, Home and Away, MDA, Out of the Blue and Blue Heelers.
A close friend and colleague of Alex Buzo, Aarne has directed 14 of his plays including Norm and Ahmed, Rooted, Coralie Landsdowne Says No, Martello Towers, Big River, Macquarie, Pacific Union and Shellcove Road and the premieres of Makassar Reef, The Marginal Farm and Stingray. Aarne recently directed the world premiere of Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah for The Alex Buzo Company in a double bill with Norm and Ahmed which was nominated for Best Independent Production at the 2009 Sydney Theatre Awards,.
