BEHIND THE SCENES
MEET THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM OF CHESS
DIRECTOR
Erin James
Erin James
MUSICAL DIRECTOR
Dan Wilson
Born and raised in Lake Macquarie, Erin James graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Theatre and also holds a Diploma of Education (Music).
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A winner of the 2007 Bound For Broadway TDP Scholarship, Erin has performed in New York, New Zealand, Europe and Southeast Asia, as well as various tours in Australia.
Erin’s theatre credits include Australian and international productions of Fiddler on the Roof and CATS as well as touring Australian productions of Love Never Dies,
South Pacific, The King and I, Me and My Girl, Blood Brothers and My Fair Lady.
Her work in the feature film The Little Death earned her Best Supporting Actress nominations for both AACTA Awards and Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards. She also starred opposite Tom Ward (Please Like Me) in My Best Friend is Stuck on the Ceiling - a short film by Matt Vesely.
Most recently, Erin made her directorial debut at Hayes Theratre Co with the acclaimed production of She Loves Me.
Erin was Assistant Director for Stalking The Bogeyman at The Old Fitz (2018) Associate Director for the workshop of Vernon God Little (2012) featuring the cast of Love Never Dies, Resident Director for The Australian Voices’ national tour of Moon (2013), Dance Captain for Opera Australia’s South Pacific (2013-2014) and Dance/Staging Supervisor for Julie Andrews’ My Fair Lady (2016-2017). Erin is a proud member of Actor’s Equity.
With a Bachelor of Music Education, Dan is currently the Head Teacher of Creative & Performing Arts at Lambton High School and has received an award in the National Excellence In Teaching Award Scheme.
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He has performed the roles of Jack in “Into The Woods”, Tobias Ragg in “Sweeney Todd”, Dickon in “The Secret Garden”, Billy Crocker in “Anything Goes”, Bobby Strong in “Urinetown”, Cain in “Children Of Eden”, Tony and Action “West Side Story”, “Abelard and Heloise”, “Songs For A New World” and has also appeared on three separate occasions as Jamie in "The Last Five Years" and Mark Cohen in “Rent”.
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Dan has served as Musical Director for “The Witches Of Eastwick”, “Disney’s High School Musical”, “Grease”, “Annie”, “Wuthering Heights”, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “You Oughta Know: The Songs of Alanis Morrisette”. He has also had the awesome privilege to play in the orchestra for Original Australian productions of “Beauty And The Beast”, "The Phantom Of The Opera", "Wicked", “The Lion King” and "Side By Side By Sondheim" with Ruthie Henshall in Sydney. In 2013 he was the Music Producer and Assistant to John Foreman for the Special Olympics Opening Ceremony. As an arranger he regularly works with the “Schools Spectacular” and has also written arrangements for the Hunter Singers, Silvie Paladino, Erin James, Tyran Parke, Avagail Herman, Lucy Durack, Marina Prior, Debra Byrne and the casts of “Wicked” and “Love Never Dies”. He is most well known around the Hunter as the Musical Director and Conductor of “Star Struck” at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre, a role he has held since 2008.
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