Dr Shane Pike
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Creative Practice,
Drama
Biography
Dr Pike is a Senior Lecturer in Drama at the Queensland University of Technology. He is also a practicing writer/director with an emerging authority in digital dramaturgy and designing augmented reality experiences for live performance. A graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) with a PhD in Directing and Actor Training, for which he received an Edith Cowan University Research Excellence Award. Several of his dramatic works have been published by Playlab, including the play "Nineteen", which received competitive funding from Arts Queensland for its world premiere at Brisbane Powerhouse. Recent works in collaboration with the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, designed as arts-based therapeutic interventions for young people with eating disorders, have been supported with grants from the IHBI Synergy scheme and the Don Batchelor Award for innovation in performance practice. Shane collaborates regularly with the Brazilian company Taanteatro Companhia and is one of only two artists in Australia trained in their Theatre of Tensions method for performance making. This informs both his practice and teaching across the Drama, Acting and BCI disciplines at QUT. In addition to his PhD in Performing Arts from WAAPA, Shane also has a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Drama Honours), a Bachelor of Laws and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, all from the Australian National University, and a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts (Theatre) from the University of Tasmania.Personal details
Positions
- Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Creative Practice,
Drama
Research field
Performing Arts and Creative Writing, Film, Television and Digital Media, Cultural Studies
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD - Performing Arts, Directing (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts)
- GDLP (The Australian National University)
- LLB (The Australian National University)
- BA - Drama Hons. First Class (The Australian National University)
- BCA - Theatre (University of Tasmania)
Professional memberships and associations
Australasian Association of Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies. International Federation for Theatre Research. Matilda Awards Judging Committee. Golden Key International Honours Society.
Teaching
Dr Pike has taught and coordinated units across the Drama and Acting disciplines. He has experience and qualifications in applied theatre, actor training, screen acting, theatre devising, performance making, playwriting, directing (stage, film and TV), arts and entertainment law, digital dramaturgy, digital design, performance theory and drama history, Australian theatre and practice-led research practices. Currently: Coordinator and lecturer KTB326 Drama Practice: Realisation Coordinator and lecturer KTB227 Leadership in a Creative Context Coordinator and lecturer KTB216 Drama Practice: Interpretation Tutor KTB217 Story and Performance Guest Lecturer KTB110 Plays that Changed the World. Previously at QUT, Shane has coordinated and taught: Applied Theatre, Process Drama, The Actor and the Screen, Acting Fundamentals, Socially Engaged Arts Practice, Post Dramatic Theatre, Acting Skills 1 and 2, Situated Creative Practice Projects and Performance Innovation. Dr Pike has previously taught various units in directing and acting for film and TV, live production, theatre history and classical theatre, Australian theatre and theory and practice of realism and post-realism at Edith Cowan University, The University of Queensland and the University of Tasmania.
Experience
Awards and Achievements
- Dr Don Bachelor Award for innovation in live performance
- Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Synergy Project Grant
- Queensland Arts Showcase Program Grant
- Edith Cowan University Research Excellence Award
- Edith Cowan University Postgraduate Research Scholarship
Professional Outputs and Engagement
- Panelist, Matilda's Awards Judging Committee
- Director, The Last Athenian, Geoffrey Rush Studio, Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble
- Adjudicator, The Gold Coast Secondary Schools Drama Festival
- Director, Nineteen, Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
- Co-Artistic Director, Wax Lyrical Productions
- Director, Appalling Behaviour, Turbine Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse
- Creative Producer and Production Manager, Carrie the Musical, Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
- Director, Ma Ma Ma Mad, Turbine Studio, Brisbane Powerhouse
- Writer/Dramaturg, Ten Percent Terror (Development), Brisbane Powerhouse, Dancenorth, Company 2 and Ministry for the Arts.
- Commission, The Boys of St Crispian, Playlab (Lab Rats Development Programme)
- Writer/Performer, Bloke: A man's 21st century guide to emotional fulfillment (or not, maybe it's just about sex...), Blackwall Artist Space, Anywhere Theatre Festival
- Writer, Yesterday's Hero, Velvet Lounge, Perth Fringe World
- Writer/Director, Yesterday's Hero, Enright Theatre, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
- Writer/Deviser/Performer, FUCK!Dance, Taanteatro Companhia Rural Theatre Space, São Paulo - Brazil
- Director, Lifted!, The Castello, Perth Fringe World
- Director, Go by Night, Feast Adelaide and ANU Arts Centre
- Director, Dole Diary, The Street Theatre
- Co-Writer/Director, Sail Away, GMS Theatre (Children's Theatre), Seoul - South Korea
- Resident Artist, Taanteatro Companhia, São Paulo - Brazil
Publications
- Pike, S., (2023). Moving in a Different Direction (Directing Downunder): the Evolution of Director Training into Studies of 'Creative Leadership' in an Australian Context. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 14(3), 320–325. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/242607
- Pike, S., Neideck, J. & Kelly, K. (2020). 'I will teach you in a room, I will teach you now on Zoom...': A contemporary expression of zooming by three practitioner/academics in the creative arts, developed through the spirit of the surrealist's exquisite corpse. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 16(3). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/205059
- Lewis, C., Miller, E. & Pike, S. (2023). Writing research-based theatre on aged care: the ethnodrama, After Aleppo. Culture and Organization. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/239769
- Kelly, K., Rixon, T., Neideck, J., Pike, S. & Brumpton, A. (2021). Dark Mountain: Scenography for the end of the world and a more-than-human future. Theatre and Performance Design, 7(3-4), 163–179. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/214296
- Neideck, J., Pike, S., Kelly, K. & Henry, K. (2021). The Iconography of Digital Windows: Perspectives on the Pervasive Impact of the Zoom Digital Window on Embodied Creative Practice. Body, Space and Technology, 20(1), 51–60. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/208573
- Pike, S., (2020). Virtually relevant: AR/VR and the theatre. Fusion, 17, 120–128. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/200083
- Pike, S., Mackay, S., Whelan, M., Hadley, B. & Kelly, K. (2020). 'You can't just take bits of my story and put them into some play': Ethical dramaturgy in the contemporary Australian performance climate. Performing Ethos, 10(1), 69–87. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/208572
- Pike, S., (2019). 'Make it so...': Communal augmented reality and the future of theatre and performance. Fusion, 15, 108–118. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/128459
- Pike, S., (2017). Articulating the inarticulate: Performance and intervention in masculine gender (re)presentation. Social Alternatives, 36(2), 48–54. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/112399
- Pike, S., (2017). The boys of St Crispian [Textual]. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/108110
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Shane, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2022
- Details
- The Creative Sparks Grants Program is an arts and cultural grants program managed by Brisbane City Council in partnership with the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. The grant program aims to: support practitioners and producers to develop products, partnerships and new work that grow Brisbane¿s reputation as a global city for creativityensure that Brisbane residents and visitors to the city have access to a diverse range of creative and cultural activities and experiences provide cultural, social and economic outcomes that benefit and add value to Brisbane. Applications must demonstrate excellence and articulate the artistic, cultural, social and/or economic impact of the proposed activity or project and their outcomes. Funding was awarded to this project, "Alex," ($10,000) to fund a full-length theatrical production utilising augmented reality technology hybridised with live performance, fusing traditional theatre practice with augmented reality techniques invented spec
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- The Dr Don Batchelor Award is awarded annually to projects within the Drama/Theatre/Performance Studies Discipline, in the Creative Industries Faculty, where a live performance exploring the human condition is a central and chief focus of the project. The recipient receives a $9,000 endowment to put towards their research. The project receiving this award was titled "Alex". It is an interdisciplinary work that brings together live performance with augmented reality technology and clinical healthcare via collaboration between experts in theatre making, clinical psychology and digital entertainment. The result is a large-scale, never-before-attempted digitally augmented performance exploring the human condition through mental illness, enabling artistic exploration, novel scientific research and innovative content creation.
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2019
- Details
- These finds were awarded as part of the Synergy scheme for a pilot study of the impact of applied theatre that incorporates AR/VR technology in improving body image and self-esteem in young adults with an eating disorder. This scheme aims to fund quality transdisciplinary projects to foster and develop new innovative research partnerships amongst QUT researchers. These grants will fund synergistic teams and projects to develop pilot data which can be used to support applications to larger external schemes, such as NHMRC Synergy Grants, ARC Discovery or Linkage Projects, or similar. $22,500 was awarded to lead researchers Dr Shane Pike and Associate Professor Esben Strodl.
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2019
- Details
- An invited speaker at the annual ADSA conference held this year at the Tasmanian College of the Arts, University of Tasmania. Paper presented: Brisbane Festival's Theatre Republic 2018: Sometimes so "woke" it put half the audience to sleep. ADSA is the peak body for performance research in Australia.
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2019
- Details
- In 2019 I was invited to present at the AusAct conference held at Queensland University of Technology. The presentation discussed my current research projects incorporating digital technologies into actor-training, particularly relevant to postgraduate studies in the conservatory.
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- In 2018 I was invited to present at the AusAct conference held at Charles Sturt University. The presentation discussed the potential barriers of incorporating ¿digital performance¿ into traditional actor-training courses and the limitations of the technology within a conservatory training context. It examined possible areas of conservatoire evolution to include such skills-based teaching units into academy offerings and assess the somewhat uncertain ongoing viability of this technology as a valid benefit to employment, considering barriers such as the cataloguing of motion capture and the subsequent declining need for live performers to provide ¿motion¿. Current practice-led research projects that attempt to generate ¿digital scripts¿ ¿ involving acting students in the provision and recording of 3D projected, interactive characters through motion capture technology ¿ were used as points of reference.
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- The Queensland Arts Showcase Program (QASP) provides funding to support individuals, organisations or collectives to deliver vibrant and accessible arts and cultural experiences for Queensland. The Arts Ignite category awards funding of up to $60,000 for new works to support the creative development and public presentation of new works which: respond to demand; and/or cultivate new and emerging talent and extends artists and/or organisations¿ practice, audiences and markets. This highly competitive grant was awarded to Dr Shane Pike for the production of a new work "Nineteen", a practice-led research project based on several years of field research exploring notions of masculinity in a contemporary Australian context, and how this construct may negatively impact the health and well-being of young people when shaping their identity. This project was supported Wax Lyrical Productions, Arts Queensland, the Queensland university of Technology, Playlab, Arts Centre Gold Coast, The National
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2016
- Details
- The Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance StudiesDr Pike was invited to present a paper, and an example of his practice, as part of a keynote session at the annual ADSA conference. The topic explored the commercial viability of practice-led research in the context of creative industries. ADSA is the peak academic association promoting the study of drama in any performing medium throughout the Australasian region. ADSA represents members of staff and postgraduate students of Australasian institutions of tertiary education who are engaged in teaching, research and practice in theatre, drama and performance studies. Directors of associated theatres and members of the theatrical profession are also active members. ADSA¿s annual conference is usually held in July.
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2015
- Details
- As Commissioned by the Brisbane Powerhouse Foundation, Dr Pike was a party to the funding application for Ten Percent Terror ($25,000)Brisbane Powerhouse, Dancenorth and Company 2 will partner together to develop a new performance work commemorating the ANZAC Centenary. Ten Percent Terror will use the contemporary art forms of circus, dance, and digital arts to connect modern audiences to the ANZAC legacy. Sitting across two time periods, Ten Percent Terror explores the dual narratives of contemporary Australians serving in Afghanistan with those of young soldiers in Turkey a century before. With themes of risk, trust and brotherhood, the work reflects on the emotional commonalities of war experiences, whether in Turkey in 1915 or Kandahar in 2015. The project represents a unique approach to the commemoration of the ANZAC legacy, demonstrating that 21st century reflection on, and recognition of, the impacts of war can take place in many diverse forms beyond those traditionally used,
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2015
- Details
- Dr Pike was an invited expert panel member on the ABC's Big Idea's program. Big Ideas is a nationally broadcast programme (internationally via ABC online), which brings the best of talks, forums, debates, and festivals held in Australia and around the world. As part of the ANZAC Centenary celebrations, Dr Pike was invited to speak as a key creative involved in the development of an inter-disciplinary performance work funded by the Federal Government's ANZAC Centenary Fund, exploring Australia's cultural identity and its strong foundations in the nation's wartime past.
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Gaming the Narrative: Authoring Emergence by Designing for Authority, Audience Agency, and Uncertainty in Theatre and Play
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Jane Turner