Leah Mercer is a director/deviser/writer with the ensemble the nest which develops and produces new works for performance. She is also the co-ordinator of the Performance Studies course at Curtin University. Divided between Brisbane (where it was originally established) and Perth (where Leah currently lives) the nest was established by Leah and Margi Brown Ash in 2006 to accommodate the performance projects and creative developments initiated by them and a collaborative collective of variable independent theatre artists: directors; writers; designers; performers; composers; musicians; producers and technicians. The nest4change’s most recent production, Home was performed as a work in development in February 2011 at the Play with Purpose seminar at the Galveston Institute in Texas. Other work by the nest include Joey: the Mechanical Boy, co-written by Leah, Margi, Alex Brittan and Tessa Darcey which had a work-in-progress showing at Blue Room Theatre, Perth (2010) and A Mouthful of Pins (written by Leah and directed by Margi) which had a season at the Brisbane Powerhouse (2008). Her work Melancholia was produced at the Looking Glass Theatre (New York City, 2005) and showcased at the Playworks’ Festival (Sydney, 2006). Her practice-led PhD in Performance was based around a performance entitled The Physics Project which she co-wrote and directed at the Loft, QUT (2006) and presented as a work-in-progress at the Magdalena Australia Festival (2003). The Physics Project was awarded a Philip Parsons Prize for Performance as Research in 2008. She won a 2006 Silver Matilda Award for directing The Knowing of Mary Poppins (the nest) which she also co-wrote and the production was awarded a Special Commendation from the 2006 Matilda Awards in recognition of an outstanding independent production. It has had two seasons at the Brisbane Powerhouse (2005, 2006), one at the Adelaide Fringe Festival (2008) and another at the Darlinghurst Theatre in Sydney (2009). It was published by Playlab Press in an anthology entitled Independent Brisbane: Four Plays (2008). Other directing credits include: Stace Callaghan’s between heaven & earth (one hand clapping, Brisbane Powerhouse, 2006); Ted Hughes’ Metamorphoses (QSE, Metro Arts, 2006); Michael Gurr’s Something to Declare (Actors for Refugees/Qld Arts Council, 2005); Puppy Love (Qld Arts Council, 2005) and Joy Gregory’s Dear Charlotte (theatreACTIV8, Metro Arts’ Independents, 2004). For the student based Hayman Theatre Company at Curtin University she has directed Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman (2010), Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl (2009), The After-Dinner Joke by Caryl Churchill (2008), The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht (2008) and The Seagull by Anton Chekhov (2007). As a Fulbright scholar she completed an MFA in (Directing for Theatre) at CalArts in LA (1999). She also has an MA and BA (Hons 1) from UQ. She was on the organising committee for the Magdalena Australia Workshop Festival held in Perth in February 2010, where she took park in Margaret Cameron’s “Topographies of Performance” workshop. Other training includes: Per Brahe’s mask and Michael Chehkov work at the Purnati Centre for the Arts in Ubud, Bali (2008, 2009 and 2010); Jenny Kemp’s “Writing for performance workshop” at Playworks in Sydney (2006); Igneous Movement Video Lab (2004); Suzuki Actor Training with Frank the Austral Asian Performance Ensemble (1999–2003); Nikki Heywood Movement/theatre workshop, Brisbane Powerhouse (2002); Kalaripayatt Training with Vinildas Gurukkal and Igneous Performance Group, Brisbane Powerhouse (2001); Meyerhold Workshop with Gennadi Bogdanov at the Australian International Workshop Festival, Melbourne (2000); writing workshop with Maria Irene Fornes at CalArts (1999); Movement and text workshop with Enrique Pardo and Pan Theatre at CalArts (1999); Suzuki and Composition Training with Anne Bogart/S.I.T.I. Company, Summer Intensive, Los Angeles (1998); Writing workshop with Split Britches at CalArts (1996); Writing workshop with Deborah Levy at Metro Arts (1995); Forum Theatre workshop with Augusto Boal at the World Congress of Drama / Theatre and Education (IDEA) (1995) and Kyogen, Traditional Theatre Training in Summer School in Kyoto, Japan (1991).