Our Bios

Gary Friedman
Accomplished puppeteer, performer, director and producer of live theatre, educational theatre and television, Gary has been involved in education and the entertainment industry throughout Africa, Europe, Canada, United States and Australia since 1978.

After initial studies at the University of Cape Town and the Institute International de la Marionnette, in France, Gary studied ‘Puppetry for Film and Television’ with Jim Henson of Muppet fame. In 1987 he started a non-governmental organisation ‘Puppets Against Aids’, to educate communities throughout the African continent and internationally on the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

Gary’s political career began in the early eighties with ‘Puns en Doedie - Puppets Against Apartheid’, which played in the streets during the difficult years of Apartheid in South Africa.

Many years later, during South Africa's first democratic election in 1994, Gary launched ‘Puppets for Democracy’ and using a satirical interviewer puppet, he covered the elections for the national television broadcaster, interviewing many of South Africa’s politicians, including the president, Nelson Mandela.

In 1996 Gary launched ‘Puppets in Prison’, a peer-group education program in Johannesburg Prison, which soon expanded to other prisons throughout South Africa. This was followed by ‘Puppets Against Abuse’ in South Africa and ‘Puppets Against Corruption’ in Kenya.

In 2001, Gary was awarded a “Distinguished Talent” visa by the Australian Government, and relocated to Sydney in 2002, where he is now based.

In Australia, Gary has been teaching  'Puppetry for Film and Television'  at the Sydney Film School, Seymour Theatre and TAFE, as well as running numerous workshops in the Australian school system. He has been involved in extended international lecture and workshop tours for the past 2 years and returns to Australia to continue his work. He is currently in post-production of a documentary film "Looking for a Monster" as well as developing a company to bring puppetry to the corporate world. 

News Update

Friedman is currently exhibiting his work in three international puppetry exhibitions which will be running through 2007. A special exhibition of Puppetry Mediator between Cultures opens at the Augsburg Puppet Theatre Museum in Germany on 14 November. The exhibition will highlight, amongst others, Friedman’s socio-political work during the eighties and nineties.
An exhibition of South African Jewish Migration is shortly opening at the Australian Jewish Museum in Melbourne featuring Friedman’s ‘Losh ‘n Horror Show’ – a political satire from South Africa. An exhibition at the Sydney Jewish Museum will also feature his work. ‘Looking for a Monster’ is a documentary film currently in post-production, in which Friedman tells the story of a young poet and puppeteer in Terezin, during the Holocaust.

 

Sharon Gelber

Sharon is a qualified Occupational Therapist, Kinesiologist, Brain Gymâ Instructor and BodyTalk Therapist. She has worked in the United Kingdom, United States, South Africa and South-East Asia. In 2007 she relocated to Australia where she is in the process of setting up her practiceand facilitating workshops with teachers, parents and learners of all ages.   

She is involved in some of the most break- through therapies in health care, working with state of the art techniques from the BodyTalk System to improve the mental, emotional and physical health of her clients. These range from children with co-ordination, learning and attention difficulties to adults with depression and anxiety, headaches and back pain.

Her workshops and lectures at pre-, primary- and high- schools give teachers and parents insight into dealing with problems in behaviour and learning. She provides them with practical and exciting techniques to keep the students concentrating and learning effectively in class as well as de-stressed and motivated.