Associate Professor Kim Durban
Associate Professor
Campus
Biography
Associate Professor Kim Durban trained as a teacher in South Australia, then as a director at the Victorian College of the Arts. She has a strong reputation as a director of new and classical texts across Australia, including Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, State Theatre Company of SA, St Martins Youth Arts Centre, La Mama Theatre and Red Stitch Theatre.
After leading the National Drama School in St Kilda, Kim was appointed senior lecturer in performing arts at Federation University in Ballarat, where productions include Orlando, Cymbeline, Warp and Woof, Welcome to Thebes, The Glove Thief, Embers, As You Like It, Machinal, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, The Hatpin, Murder on the Ballarat Train and Kiss Me, Kate.
Her work on classical texts ranges from the early modern stage to the twentieth century, with a special interest in Caroline playwright Richard Brome and the work of female playwrights. Her Australian premieres of Brome plays include The Sparagus Garden, The Northern Lass, Garden City Weeded, A Jovial Crew, The Antipodes and The City Wit. Kim has trained over 1,000 actors. She is currently the course coordinator of the Bachelor of Music Theatre and Acting.
More about Kim
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, La Trobe University
- Master of Dramatic Arts (Direction) (First Class Honours), University of Melbourne
- Diploma of Dramatic Arts, Victorian College of the Arts
- Bachelor of Education, South Australian College of Arts and Education
- Diploma of Teaching, South Australian College of Arts and Education
Areas of interest
- Actor training in Australia
- Australian theatre and playwrights
- Women playwrights and directors, including an investigation into the career and legacy of Australian director Ewa Czajor
- Caroline playwright Richard Brome
Awards
- 2015: Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching.
- 2012: EJ Barker Fellowship. This facilitated research at both the Royal Shakespeare Company archives held at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford upon Avon, and the archives of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London
- 2010: ALTC Citation
- 2000: Kim’s original work Alice Arden was a Master of Dramatic Art – Direction (by Research) production, which radically reinterpreted female representation in Arden of Faversham. She received first class honours, and, because of this work, she was invited to address a Directors' Forum in New York at the Public Theatre, on the topic "Expanding the Presence of Women Directors"
- 1999: Yvonne Taylor Award for Directors, Victorian College for the Arts
- 1994–5: Australia Council Training Artistic Directors grant, working as Artistic Associate at Playbox Theatre
- 1990: Joint winner of the inaugural Ewa Czajor Memorial Award
- Acting for the stage
- Directing
- Shakespeare and classical text
- Text analysis and new plays
Specialist roles
- 2000–2001: Judge, Louis Esson Prize for Drama Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
- 1999–2001: Selection committee, Ewa Czajor Memorial Award
- 1996–1998: Artistic directorate, Hothouse Theatre
- 1996–current: Peer register, Australia Council
- 1994–1999: Artistic committee, Playbox
- 1995–1997: Board member, St Martins Youth Arts Centre
- 1992: Accreditation committee, VCA
- 1992–2000: Founding member, Australian Women Directors Association
- 1988–1990: Drama peer group advisory panel, Arts Victoria
Professional association memberships
- Australian Women Directors Alliance (AWDA)
- Media, Entertainment and Art Alliance (MEAA)
Kim has extensive expertise in developing and directing the work of contemporary playwrights. Professional productions include the premieres of Running With Emus and Oriel (La Mama at Carlton Courthouse); Farragut North (Red Stitch Actors Theatre), Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) and Scenes From An Execution (State Theatre Company of SA); the premieres of The Conjurers, Gary's House and Good Works (Playbox); Lovechild (Queensland Theatre Company); the premieres of Vincent an acapella opera and Skins (St Martin's Youth Arts Centre); Barmaids (Zootango), Pushin' Up Daisies (Southern Lights); and the premieres of The Dam, Fairy Tales for the Future and After Dinner (La Mama).
Productions of classic texts include Happy End, Three Sisters, The White Devil, Ghosts and King Lear (VCA); The Comedy of Errors (Zootango and Araluen Arts Centre), The Recruiting Officer (Melbourne Theatre Company, where Kim was the first woman to direct on The Playhouse stage) and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (St Martins Youth Arts Centre).
Kim also has extensive experience staging the work of female playwrights.