Farewelling one director and welcoming another.

It is with much love that we announce that Andrew Strano, our leader from the beginning of time (2015), has stepped down from his role as director. Andrew is a super busy human, last year he directed both our show and our improvised potter show, he co-wrote a musical, he taught a bunch of people, he performed weekly and when he had the time, he slept (he didn't sleep). It is staggering that he has been able to achieve so much (it makes me anxious tbh). This year Andrew has big plans, and unfortunately to achieve these plans he has made the difficult decision to step down as Director of Soothplayers.

We would like to thank Andrew for his guidance, vision, guidance, support and sense of humour. He is a big reason as to why our motley little troupe works so well - he was able to create a working environment which was all at once hilarious, silly and respectful (and well-fed, in the early days we'd have these feasts and gosh, so good.) Sooth became a very safe space for all players and we have him to thank for this. We wish him all the success, happiness and fun that he deserves. We are certainly sad to see him go. Having said that Andrew will continue to direct our final season of Completely Improvised Potter for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival so we'll still get to see him!

Which brings us to now. We are over the moon to announce that our new director will be Brenna Dixon. Brenna has been a member of Soothplayers almost from the very beginning, is a company member of Impro Melbourne (where she also teaches) and is a super lovely human. We are excited to see where this next phase for Soothplayers takes us.

And finally just as a quick reflection, because I'm in a reflective mood. We've just returned from sunny Perth, where we were lucky enough to perform for awesome audiences and I feel humbled to be able to create such work with such talented and giving humans. So to Andrew and to Brenna, to my co-producer, Adam, to the cast of Soothplayers, to the audiences that have seen our silly plays, and to the audiences that have seen more than one of our silly plays; thank you all!