Kerry James Casey (9 November 1954 – 25 November 2015[1]) was an Australian actor, writer, director, and performance teacher. He worked in bilingual theatre in Australia with companies using Greek, French, Vietnamese, and Italian languages and cultures in performance.
Kerry Casey was born on 9 November 1954 in Wagga Wagga. He was the third child of James Casey and Joan (nee Gaffney). He grew up primarily in country New South Wales (Wagga Wagga, Captain's Flat, Milton) before his parents moved to the Sydney suburb of Bondi in the late 1960s. He was educated at St Gregory's College, Campbelltown, Marcellin College Randwick and Vaucluse Boy's High School (where contemporaries included George Smilovici).
He undertook a Bachelor of Arts with a Diploma of Education at the University of New South Wales. It was during this time he met his future wife, Maria. He had three children by her.
Aside from teaching, he had a career as an actor and director for over thirty years.
He completed a Master of Arts in Creative Writing towards the end of his life.
He died on 25 November 2015, following a long battle with cancer.[2]
1981–95 Hat, Cane and Suitcase 14 years as a street and event performer –character based improvisations incorporating audience participation, original texts, mime, juggling, acrobatics, magic and rope walking.
1981 Mannequins Too Australian Nouveau Theatre
1982 The Giant, Theatre of the Deaf. The Stables. Sydney.
1982 The Cheated, The Father, directed by Kai Tai Chan; One Extra Co. TPS.
1983 The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder, Tightrope Theatre Co. Sydney
1983 Dialogues of the Carmelites, Poulenc, Opera Australia.
1983 La Traviata, Opera Australia.
1983 Fidelio, by Beethoven, Opera Australia.
1984 Messy Diaper Love, Broadway, New York
1985 Dodo in Love. Yank, Erskineville Hotel, Erskineville.
1985 Dimboola. Bayonet, NSW clubs tours.
1985 Alpha/Zero Unlimited. A Sydney Festival commission.
1986 Fat City Circus, Adelaide Festival Fringe, performer and co-producer.
1986 The Men Who Stole the Sky. a Sydney Festival commission
1986 Pierrot and the Detective. The Detective; Sydney Festival commission.
1986 Manichino, directed by Don Mamouney Fortune NCT and The Wharf Theatre, Sydney.
1987 Not I, by Samuel Beckett, directed by Edmund Falzon, Fortune NCT.
May 1987 The Cherry Orchard Fortune Theatre Company
July 1987 Tartuffe Fortune Theatre Company
May 1988 The Intruder Series A
September 1988 Les Enfants du Paradis Company B Belvoir
1988 A Piece of Monologue, by Samuel Beckett. Harold Park Hotel.
April 1989 Medea Freewheeels Theatre Company
November 1989 Under Threat/Black River Sydney Metropolitan Opera & The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust
1989 The Remedy, Giallo, Sydney Metropolitan Opera. The Parade Theatre.
1990 Witnesses, Cicada Theatre Co
1992–1995 The Leaping Loonies. 4 years with the MO AWARD winning. Slapstick/acrobatic/improv troupe completing 2 national tours, live TV appearances and countless performances in schools, clubs, pubs, parks, stadia, theatres and country shows.
August 1996 Conversations With Charlie Citymoon & Variasians Theatre Festival
October 1996 Coriolanus Bell Shakespeare Company
1997 Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare in the Botanic Gardens
1999 Toss, directed by Paul Rogers
2000 Inland, male voice, directed by Gretchen Miller
2000 A Lifetime Slapping Water Buffalo on the Arse. Lead, directed by Paul Rogers. Sidetrack Theatre. Co-producer.
January 2002 Mobile Short+Sweet
2002 King Lear Harlos Productions
2002/2004 Runners-up.;[3][4] Played the armchair fanatic; directed by Debra Iris-Batten for Legs on the Wall. Sydney Opera House and National Tours.
2005: La Princesse et la Revolution, played Madame Tussaud. National Maritime Museum Theatre for Les Genies de la Mer
2005 The Ghost Gum Short+Sweet
2006: Party Political, played Kim Beazley; Newtown Theatre; Sydney
2006: Political Fiction.;[5] lead; Old Fitzroy Theatre; Sydney.
2009: La Princesse et la Revolution, played Madame Tussaud; Melbourne tour; Theatre LOTE Fantastique
2011 Coco, Curie et Jeanne d'Arc. Theatre LOTE Fantastique.
2009 Cellodiva.
2003 La Princesse et la Revolution, for Theatre LOTE Fantastique.
2003 Bouncers. Empire Hotel, Kings X. 'an astounding night out' – Kings X Times.
2002 Le Bossu (de Notre Dame). Writer/director for Theatre LOTE. Winner of the Frater Award for Excellence in Performances for Students.
1999 Homer Rules …the Odyssey, an original, demotic adaptation of Homer's Odyssey, for Take Away Theatre and Carnivale.
1988 Silent Partners, a mime/cabaret touring nationally.
1981–95 Hat, Cane and Suitcase, street, event and outdoor performances.
1986 Pierrot and the Detective, Sydney Festival commission, 2BL's Pick for 'Best of the Festival'.
1986 The Men Who Stole the Sky. Sydney Festival commission.
1984 Alpha/Zero Unlimited. Sydney Festival commission.
Writing
2003 La Princesse et la Revolution, with Louise Hall.
2002 Le Bossu (de Notre Dame), with Louise Hall after Victor Hugo.
2002 Legs on the Wall with Deb Batten and ensemble.
1999 Homer Rules …the Odyssey, with Freida Kritas and ensemble.
1992-5 Leaping Loonies, skits and texts including the hit narrative poem, How I Joined the Loonies
1981–95 Hat, Cane and Suitcase.
1986 Manichino, with Don Mamouney and ensemble.
1986 Pierrot and the Detective.
1986 The Men Who Stole the Sky with David Horton.
1985 Alpha/Zero Unlimited with Brian Keogh and Maggie Craigie.
1982 The Giant, with Margie Brown after Oscar Wilde.
1982 The Cheated, with Louis Nowra, including the song, Her Voice is Gone.
1981 Mannequins Too, poems, scenes and texts with Jim Hughes.
Academic teaching background
2011 HSC Drama at Sydney Secondary College.
2008 Drama coordinator Fort Street High.
2008 Rehearsal classes for Sidetrack Production of Checkpoint Zero.
2008 NIDA workshops in Meyerhold Biomechanics.
2006-7 Director of Australian Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA).
2004-6 NIDA: Film and the Actor's Body. Movement for film acting and Meyerhold Biomechanics.
2004-6 Australian Institute of Music tutor in Music Theatre and Acting.
1983–2005 Ensemble Studios classes in Mime, Mask and Commedia dell'Arte.
2003-4 Centre for Cross Cultural Relations, ANU; lectures and workshops with Greg Denning in Academic Performance and Making Theatre.
2003/4 Classes at Aerialize and Legs on the Wall in Voice, Speech and Text in Physical Performance.
1998–2001 Conservatorium of Music High, created program and gave lectures and classes in The Instrumentalists Use of the Body in Making and Playing Music.
1996 Bell Shakespeare Company, classes in Mime for Steven Berkoff and company.
1995 Odyssey House, The Body, Performance and Addiction, for recovering addicts.
1990 Arundel House, RPAH, Performance Therapy.
1989 Sydney Metropolitan Opera, Commedia dell'Arte and Opera Buffa.
1987 Company B. Belvoir, rehearsal classes.
1987 Conservatorium of Music, lectures and workshops in Contemporary Performance for Composition and Music Theatre.
1986-7 Fortune National Capital Theatre, company trainer.
1984-6 The Drama Studio, classes in Mask & Commedia dell'Arte and the research project Shakespeare and the Commedia dell'Arte.
1985 Hellenic Art Theatre, Mask and Chorus for production of Lysistrata.
1983 Macquarie University, classes in Mime..
Honours and awards
2002 Frater Award Excellence in Performance for Students for Le Bossu (de Notre Dame)
1991 Mo Award Specialty Act with the Leaping Loonies plus three further nominations.
1986 Radio National's Best of the (Sydney) Festival for Pierrot and the Detective.
1986 Adelaide Festival Fringe. 4 stars for Fat City Circus.