This is an ongoing archive of Next Wave Alumni spanning our 40-year history. You can browse the list below or use the filters to find someone fast. If you have been involved in a Next Wave Festival and don’t have an artist profile yet, fill in the form here. If you have any questions, email nextwave@nextwave.org.au.


Deborah Pearson

Deborah Pearson is a writer and performer, and the founder and co-director of UK-based Forest Fringe. Her most recent project, The Future Show, is currently touring internationally to Belgium, the USA, Canada, Ireland and Portugal among others. She is an associate artist with Volcano Theatre in Canada and is currently studying for a practice-based PhD at Royal Holloway in London where she is also a Reid Scholar.

She is the recipient of various awards, including an Edinburgh Festival Herald Angel award for her first solo show, Like You Were Before. Under her leadership, Forest Fringe has also won several awards including the Peter Brook Empty Space Award and a Fringe First for their approach to supporting work at the Edinburgh Festival.

For the Next Wave Festival 2014, Deborah will be premiering a new piece called Drifting Right. The project is a one-on-one conversation in a canoe with an audience member who is also a conservative voter. The piece seeks to engender a dialogue between her left leaning tendencies and those who support the current rightwards shift in Western politics. The project will conclude with a Breakfast Club, Next Wave’s highly successful talks series, curated by Deborah alongside her conservative canoeing co-pilots. Together they will open up the discussion about left vs. right and the tenuous possibility for dialogue to a larger audience.

Above:
  1. Deborah Pearson, Drifting Right. Photographer: Morgan McBride

  2. Deborah Pearson, Drifting Right. Photographer: Morgan McBride