Having spent the last 3 years working in and around the company, Carissa Licciardello (left) and Hannah Goodwin (right) have joined the Artistic and Programming team at Belvoir as Resident Directors. Both are directing mainstage shows at Belvoir in the 2022 season.

Eamon Flack, artistic director says “We’ve made it our mission in the last few years to give as many artists as possible a creative home. Artists at Work created over 300 gigs during the two lockdowns, but our great ambition is to bring more artists into the company on an ongoing basis. Recently we announced our new Associates Program as well as the new Balnaves and Andrew Cameron Fellows. 

“These new Resident Director positions were created specially to continue the excellent work Hannah and Carissa have been doing as Andrew Cameron Fellows. Carissa’s exquisite production of A Room of One’s Own re-opened Belvoir after the first lockdown, and Hannah and I have been co-directing our repertory season, which you’ll be able to see in April. They are two great emerging talents and I’m glad they’ve agreed to stick around for another two years.

“We have worked hard to grow and open up the Artistic and Programming team at Belvoir. Hannah and Carissa join Zainab, Tom Wright, Dom, Em, Shakthi, Kodie, Abbie-lee, Justice and Tom Weatherall.”

Carissa was the inaugural recipient of the 2019 Andrew Cameron Fellowship, her tenure culminating in the 2021 run away hit A Room of One’s Own and is kicking off her residency with her adaptation of the cult 1970s film Opening Night by John Cassevetes. Starting previews this weekend, Carissa’s Opening Night is part thriller, part psycho drama, and completely unmissable.

Hannah was awarded the Andrew Cameron Fellowship in 2020, and was an integral part of the Artists at Work creative development initiative at Belvoir during the COVID shutdown. The shutdown was a trial by fire, with Hannah’s mainstage Belvoir debut co-directing alongside Eamon Flack in the Repertory Season now re-programmed for 2022. The Rep Season is a first for Belvoir, Wayside Bride by Alana Valentine and Light Shining in Buckinghamshire by Caryl Churchill, two big works of scale and ambition, staged with the same cast and set, on alternating nights.

Carissa says “Belvoir is the company where I’ve had my most formative experiences as a director. The shows I watched at Belvoir as a young artist helped show me what’s possible in theatre, and the Fellowship gave me a chance to develop my professional skillset from inside a company. Adapting and directing my own work with A Room of One’s Own and Opening Night has allowed me to bring that artistic vision and skillset together, and I’m stoked that Belvoir has supported me to make the kind of work I’ve always aspired to make – theatrically ambitious, surprising, and driven by an excellent cast. I’m very much looking forward to continuing to develop and direct work for the Belvoir stage.”

Hannah says “Belvoir has always been a leading light for me artistically and the time that I’ve worked here as the Andrew Cameron Fellow has been deeply formative. The Fellowship changed the trajectory of my career and in a way, I think I have been particularly fortunate to be at the company during these volatile years. I’ve seen firsthand the determination, resilience, and defiant optimism required to make theatre especially during these pandemic years. I’m ready to exercise those qualities and the skills I’ve learnt here as we finally get the Rep Season onto our corner stage. It’s a phenomenal project to debut on – ambitious, theatrical, and beautifully human.”

Carissa and Hannah will work with Belvoir on season programming, casting, and creative developments over the next 24 months.