Disgusting Human Mouth
By Counterpilot
Supported by Metro Arts
Nathan Sibthorpe - Director & Co-Devisor
Nathan Sibthorpe is a contemporary performance-maker and video designer based in Brisbane, Australia. He is best known as the Artistic Director of Counterpilot – the award winning collective of transmedia performance artists responsible for: Adrift (Metro Arts, 2022); C’est Bon Salon (Brisbane Festival, 2022); Avoidable Perils (Brisbane Festival & Darwin Festival, 2020); Truthmachine (Sydney Festival, Brisbane Festival & others, 2019-22); Statum (Brisbane Powerhouse & Flipside Circus, 2019); Crunch Time (Next Wave Festival & Metro Arts, 2018) and Spectate (Metro Arts, 2017). In 2018, Nathan was the recipient of the Dr Don Batchelor Award for Drama Research at QUT. In 2022, Nathan received a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Production for Young People, with I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You.
Nathan’s other credits as a performance-maker include: Maybe It’s Only Us (Flipside Circus & The Good Room, 2025); Bunker (Metro Arts & Lisa Wilson Projects, 2022); One Bottle Later (The Good Room & Brisbane Festival, 2020); I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You (The Good Room & Brisbane Festival, 2018-22); Tyrone & Lesley in a Spot (Queensland Cabaret Festival, 2015-19); and Some Dumb Play (Metro Arts, 2012). As a Video Designer, notable credits include: Horizon (Playlab, 2021); The Holidays (Queensland Theatre, 2020); To Kill a Cassowary (JUTE, 2020); Leotard (DeBASE & Metro Arts, 2020); Blue Bones (Playlab, 2017-22); Locked In (Shock Therapy Productions, 2015-21); and He Dreamed a Train (Brisbane Powerhouse, 2014).
Nathan was previously Queensland Theatre Company’s Geek-In-Residence in 2012-14; the Festival Director of Short+Sweet Queensland from 2013-16; an Australia Council JUMP artist in 2012; and the Creative Director for Markwell Presents Cinematic Theatre Company from 2016-18. Nathan sometimes teaches performance studies at QUT, where he holds a Masters Degree in contemporary performance.
Headshot by Jade Ellis Photography.
Christine Felmingham - Core Artist & Co-Devisor
Christine is an Australian lighting designer based in Brisbane, with a creative practice spanning theatre, dance, opera, installation, and circus. She loves collaborative, cross-disciplinary practice that blurs the line between forms. Christine is also a Company Director for Counterpilot, an award-winning collective of transmedia performance artists, where she spends much of her time working as their lighting designer and production / technical manager.
Her unique blend of technical expertise and creative flair has earned her three Matilda Award nominations for her outstanding lighting designs on Adrift (Counterpilot, 2022); Bunker (Lisa Wilson Projects, 2022); & The Bull, The Moon and The Coronet of Stars (The Hive Collective, 2021). In 2019 she was presented with the inaugural Emerging Female Leader Award at the Matilda Awards Ceremony, and values supporting and mentoring others throughout her creative practice. Christine holds Bachelor’s degrees in Technical Production and Drama from QUT where she also sometimes lectures.
She has created lighting designs for a diverse range of companies and festivals, including: Queensland Theatre Company (Malacañang Made Us, 2025); Opera Queensland (Lucia Di Lammermoor, 2024; Macbeth, 2023; The Sopranos, 2022); West Australian Opera (La Boheme, 2023); Australasian Dance Collective (Halcyon, 2023; Echo, 2019); Dead Puppet Society (ISHMAEL, 2021); La Boite Theatre Company (Caesar, 2021); Playlab (Rising, 2021; The Dead Devils of Cockle Creek, 2018); Understudy Productions (Sweet Charity, 2019); Vulcana Circus (As If No-one is Watching, 2018); Belloo Creative (Rovers, 2018-21); and Now Look Here Theatre Company (Sound of a Finished Kiss, 2018; Splendour, 2017; Slight Ache & The Lover, 2016).
Headshot by Jade Ellis Photography.
Mike Wilmett - Core Artist & Co-Devisor
Mike Willmett is an Australian sound designer, composer and key creative for dance, installation and theatre productions and a core creative in the award-winning tech-troublemaking collective Counterpilot. Mike’s sound design and composition has been reviewed as “superbly [heightening] the complexity…through a challenging and emotive score” (The Almighty Sometimes – Winner of the 2022 Best Main Stage Matilda Award); “of the highest order, extremely clever and genuinely exciting…a feast for the ears” (Crunch Time – Winner of the 2018 Best New Australian Work Matilda Award), “amazing” and “unnerving” sounds that “sit in the peripherals of your hearing, building the tension while not distracting” (Squad Goals), “evocative… immersive… inclusive” (The Stance), and as a “beautiful cacophony” (Room #328). In 2022, he was nominated for two Matilda Awards (best sound or composition) for The Almighty Sometimes and Adrift.
Outside of Counterpilot, other credits include Queensland Theatre Company’s A Few Good Men (2025); Medea (2024); Vietgone (2023), and The Almighty Sometimes (2022). Also, Let’s Be Friends Furever (The Good Room & Little Red Company 2021); and The Stance (Liesel Zink 2015-2019). Mike was part of independent band My Fiction from 2008 to 2015, co-writing and releasing: Your Tokyo (2008 EP); Fire! Romance! Fire! (2010 Album); and Shallow Highs (2013 Album) and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, holding a Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (QUT 2016), Master of Music (QUT 2009) and Bachelor of Creative Industries (Visual Art) with distinction (QUT 2007).
Headshot by Jade Ellis Photography.
Ada Lukin - Co-Devisor
Ada Lukin is a Meanjin based writer, actor, director, and artist. Her most notable works are ‘Hello Stranger’ and ‘The Bluff’, two original plays that found success on Brisbane stages in 2022, with ‘Hello Stranger’ taking home multiple awards from the Anywhere Theatre Festival. Matilda nominated (2024) she is an emerging artist that is eager to introduce more design work into her theatrical practice. Her most recent design work was set design for ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ at Ad Astra (2024) and ‘Pramkicker’ at Queensland Theatre (2025).
With a love of comedy and the absurd, her work is often a blend of magical realism and visual art. As a queer woman, Ada Lukin has a desire to share more queer stories on Brisbane stages, not only in her writing, but in her unique portrayal of well-loved characters. One such character was ‘Bowie’ in the short film ‘Adult Store’, directed by Tahlia Miller.
Lewis Treston - Co-Devisor
Nicholas Southey - Managing Producer
Nicholas Southey is an independent Producer who has worked nationally with renownedartists and arts organisations to deliver well over 150 new works, festivals and events across contemporary performance, dance, music and theatre. Whether it’s a communityroller-disco along Australia’s most famous beach, taking over suburban parks with freelive music, a hotel takeover for an 80s rooftop party, or burning an effigy in front of10,000 people — if you can think of it, he has probably worked on something like it. Notably, Nicholas served as the inaugural Producer / Touring & Engagement Broker forthe launch of Queensland’s statewide touring service, QTouring. In this role he managedthe rollout of their digital resource hub and directory, and delivered the return of an annual performing arts market to the state after they were put on hiatus in 2021. Other organisations he has worked for include Woodford Folk Festival, Queensland Theatre,Brisbane Festival, Bondi Festival and Metro Arts.
For his work he was awarded the 2021 MILKE Emerging Producer Award.
Acknowledgements
Through Metro Arts, this project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
