Janie Gibson is an actor, theatre-maker and teaching artist with a background in Eastern European ensemble theatre, Shakespeare performance and devised theatre-making. Janie is committed to story-telling as a way to free the voice, give life to the human spirit and as a search for connection. Janie believes that stories, in the traditional sense, are like medicine - a way to show us who we are, speak about what is unspoken and offer a pathway towards deeper connection to each other, to nature, to our history and our ancestors. The starting point for her work is often through her voice and an investigation into oral tradition. Janie writes for theatre as an actor-author, devising and creating original pieces from found texts, stories, myth, music and my imagination. Her arts practice has been influenced by two major theatre companies that she have worked and trained with over the last 6 years: Song of the Goat Theatre (Poland) and Shakespeare & Company (USA). Janie also developed her practice as a theatre-maker within the contemporary performance scene in Sydney (through PACT Theatre, Performance Space, Lan Franchis, Cabaret Sauvignon) and community arts practice in Western Sydney (BYDS, UTP). Janie has co-founded several artistic collaborations: Whale Chorus, Odra Ensemble (Poland) and Pu^^y Film Collective.