DPS Academy

Our artist training program and incubator for design-led performance.

DPS Academy is our flagship artist training program and an incubator for new design-led performance work. Presented in partnership with The Princess Theatre, DPS Academy 2024 invites theatre makers of all disciplines to participate in a ten-part masterclass series exploring Dead Puppet Society’s creative methodologies.

Sessions will focus on vision, devising for visual theatre, story mapping, design conceit and creative producing, marketing and publicity, production design and prototyping, fabrication and preparing for production. Over the course of the program, artists will undertake creative development of their own original performance concepts, under the mentorship of Dead Puppet Society.

DPS Academy is supported by The Jelley Family Foundation. Additional program support provided by Studio1.

Dead Puppet Society and The Princess Theatre offer Academy artists:

Concept-specific creative mentorship and overarching producing support by Dead Puppet Society.
Cash contribution of $2,000 per artist/group to assist with costs of materials and creative development.
35 hours private rehearsal space per artist/group prior to THE DPS LAB.
A 20-minute public-facing showcasing opportunity to demonstrate an original performance concept, with full technical production support.
In-kind marketing, publicity support, ticketing and Front of House services for THE DPS LAB.

Introducing the 2024 DPS Academy artists.

Darcie Boatswaine is a circus artist and creator of Glitter Martini, a company under which she has produced several original circus shows. For DPS Academy Darcie is joining forces with collaborator Calum Johnston, an actor, director theatre maker, puppeteer and clown.

A cross-disciplinary mix of physical theatre, circus and puppetry, their new work will explore gender and how we perceive humans and 'the other' through the lens of an alien.

Julie Ritchey, a director-creator specialising in immersive, participatory theatre for young people and their families, and co-creator Georgette Kelly, a Chicago-based theatre maker, have come together to create a multisensory work for new babies and their caregivers.

As co-pilots through a new universe, audiences will visit imagined planets and experience the joys, discoveries and challenges of early parenthood along the way.

Jade Brider is a freelance dancer practitioner, clown and visual artist, and founder of VOiiid Collective, a company dedicated to empowering independent artists to share raw and vulnerable stories.

Jade's new work will follow two characters on a fantastical world harbouring self-discovery in an AI-generated immersive world.

The DPS Academy will culminate in bite-sized showings from the artists at THE DPS LAB on Wednesday 10th July 2024 at The Princess Theatre. Tickets on sale soon.