Past Productions

A theatre director and designer, Ian Gaskell is the first Professor of Theatre Arts at USP. He is from Canada where he worked as both an academic and professional theatre artist.

His previous position, before coming to USP, was with Bishop's University where he was Professor in the Department of Drama and the Administrative Director of a three-theatre performing arts complex.

He obtained his doctorate from the Graduate Centre for the Study of Drama at the University of Toronto, with a dissertation on the plays of Christopher Marlowe. He has written articles and reviews on Elizabethan drama, Canadian theatre and plays from the South Pacific.

He has also worked throughout Canada in the professional theatre specializing in stage management, technical direction, design and theatre management. Included in his professional experience are seven years with the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, three years with the Charlottetown Festival and several seasons with regional theatres in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba. His current research interests are the work of regional playwrights and indigenous performance in the Pacific.

Over the past several years he has worked with the Wan Smolbag Theatre Company in assessing the educational effectiveness of community theatre. In his years at USP he has directed and designed major productions of plays by Edward Bond, Ntozake Shange, Bertolt Brecht and Larry Thomas. Recently he has made several videos with the performance group, ActIt.

Apete Marayawa has been Tutor for the Theatre Arts Programme since 2002. He is an indigenous Fijian who spent most of his early childhood in Port Vila, Vanuatu before moving to Fiji and receiving his education under the tutelage of the Marist Brothers.

He has always been interested in theatre but it was merely a hobby till he came to USP and was exposed to the Theatre Arts Programme. It was here that he was bit by the proverbial ‘theatre bug’. Since then he has assisted in various capacities on many productions, the most recent being The Caucasian Chalk Circle, where he acted and was production manager.

Apete is also Business Manager for a semi-professional group called the ActIt Theatre Company which has produced several videos and performance pieces.
He is currently researching traditional indigenous ceremonies, rituals and dances from a performance perspective.