Director Profile

Susan Provan is a producer with more than 15 years experience in the performing arts industry. From 1982 – 1986, she was the manager of Melbourne's legendary Last Laugh Theatre Restaurant where she worked with many artists who are now among Australia's most famous comedians.

From 1988 – 1993, Susan was the general manager of Circus Oz, during which time the troupe grew from a rough and ready collective into the internationally recognised company it is today. Susan set up and managed countless tours for Circus Oz, including visits to the UK, USA, Japan, Europe and Latin America. The company travelled the length and breadth of Australia performing in a variety of venues, from tents and theatres in capital cities to footy fields in Arnhem Land.

In 1993, Susan ran away from the circus and spent a year as associate producer of the State Theatre Company of South Australia. She returned to Melbourne to direct the 1995 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and, since then, has been instrumental in developing the Festival into Australia's largest annual cultural event.

The transformation of the Melbourne Town Hall and precinct into a 23-venue comedy central, attracting more than 300,000 people every Festival, is one of Susan’s most successful initiatives. Another great achievement is the hugely popular Raw Comedy, an annual national search for new comedians that has grown to epic proportions. Class Clowns, the national development program for high school comedians, has achieved similar success, as has the Comedy Festival Roadshow, which annually tours Festival highlights to more than 80 regional centres and state capitals around Australia.

Susan is a Board member of Neonheart Theatre and Strange Fruit, both Melbourne-based contemporary performing arts companies. She recently completed a six-year term on the Playing Australia Committee for the Federal Department for the Arts and a three-year term on the committee for the Sydney Myer Performing Arts Awards. In 2006, Susan chaired the nominating committee for the first comedy award as part of The Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia.