Get to Know Andrea
Get to Know
About Andrea
Actor, comedian and the co-founder of Australia’s longest-running program of refreshingly honest, bold, and brutally frank live storytelling.Andrea Gibbs has been at the forefront of autobiographical storytelling on stage in Australia for over a decade. Director, curator and storytelling coach at Barefaced Stories she’s helped thousands of people bring their chaotic humanity to the stage to be embraced by audiences across the world.
Originally hailing from Donnybrook, Western Australia – Andrea has been described as ‘the quintessential cousin from the country’ (The West Australian).
She presents Weekends with Andrea Gibbs on ABC Radio Australia-wide every Saturday after Roy & HG. She has been a guest speaker at TEDxPerth and Marieke Hardy’s Women of Letters. And you would have heard her voice on many an ad campaign, including Squarespace and Dairy Farmers.
Her debut play, Barracking for the Umpire produced by Black Swan State Theatre Company (2022) was published by Playlab and received critical acclaim. It is one of three new Australian works to have been selected for the Australian Theatre Festival in New York City, 2023.
What She Does
A Jill of all trades, storytelling is at the core of it all
Storytelling
After studying storytelling in NYC with award-winning storyteller Margot Leitman (The Moth), Andrea arrived home to find very few storytelling opportunities in Australia. A modern type of storytelling, one that was fresh, authentic, spoke to who we were right now.
She established Barefaced Stories in 2010 and today it is Australia’s leading homegrown live storytelling event. Our monthly live shows attract storytellers from all over Australia.
As the creative producer of Barefaced Stories, she has helped thousands of people on stage to share their stories. These are stories with nothing to hide. These stories are a love song for the human condition.
“Barefaced Stories is a bona fide West Australian success story. Starting in 2010, it has grown to be Australia’s leading monthly storytelling event, attracting sell-out audiences and talent from all walks of life. Now a local institution, it has a reputation not just for laugh-out-loud anecdotes, but also for hitting audiences squarely in the feels”
– Review, Xpress Mag 2022
Acting & Comedy
“One of the most exciting, funny, unique and talented comic performers I’ve had the good fortune to stumble upon”
– Tim Minchin, comedian, actor, composer, songwriter, pianist and director
In 2005 she was a national finalist in Triple J’s Raw Comedy competition and was selected for The Comedy Zone produced by Melbourne International Comedy Festival the following year. She was a core member of the premiere improv-comedy ensemble The Big HOO-HAA! and has performed at the National Theatresports Championships, Loose Moose Theatre (Canada) and Women in Comedy Festival (Boston).
As an actor, she was billed as a ‘revelation’ by The Australian newspaper in the lead role of 8 Gigabytes of Hardcore Pornography by Declan Greene (Griffin Theatre Company). Other recent performances include: Animal Farm by Van Badham for Black Swan State Theatre Company, Minneapolis by Will O’Mahony, Is This Thing On? by Zoë Coombs Marr at The Blue Room Theatre (Best Performance 2016), The Mars Project by Will O’Mahony (Best Supporting PAWA), Ben Elton’s feature film Three Summers alongside Magda Szubanski, Hug The Sun by Aunty Donna/Grouse House and How to Please A Woman opposite Sally Phillips.
She has voiced ads for Squarespace, Quit Smoking, RAC, Country Football WA, Western Power and more.
Writing
Andrea’s first full-length play, Barracking for the Umpire, was produced by Black Swan State Theatre Company (2022) and published by Playlab. It is due to be presented in New York City at the Australian Theatre Festival in November 2023.
“Barracking for the Umpire thrums off the page. It is such a delightfully truthful portrayal of an Australian family. There is courage and vulnerability in each and every character, just as there is in each and every one of us.” – Clare Watson, director
Andrea also writes for radio, was on the writing team of Hug The Sun webseries and has written multiple solo storytelling shows – including The Allnutt Street Diaries and Grow-up.
She teaches storytelling at Barefaced Stories and in the past has worked as a speaker coach for TEDx and Centre for Stories.
About ‘Barracking for the Umpire’
Andrea Gibbs‘ Barracking for the Umpire tackles blokes and their vulnerability, the fragility of the human body, and the impacts of brain injury on ourselves, our family, and our community.Set in regional Western Australia, Barracking for the Umpire deals with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), toxic masculinity and its impact on the well-being of men in Australia, and homosexuality in AFL, through the story of the failing health of one family’s patriarch.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Barracking for the Umpire was commissioned by Black Swan State Theatre Company as part of the Funny Girl Initiative through the Malcolm Robertson Foundation. The first draft of the script impressed then Artistic Director Clare Watson so much, it was programmed into their season and premiered at Subiaco Arts Centre in October 2022 to much acclaim.
It is one of three Australian works to be invited to the Australian Theatre Festival in New York City, 2023.
Learn more about Barracking for the Umpire.
“Andrea Gibbs’s play perfectly encapsulates the good, the bad, and the ugly of the AFL” – Pelican Magazine ★★★★★
“What a win! Perth audiences should get excited to see what she writes next” – The West ★★★★1/2
Story
Development
Andrea helps people to be seen and heard through storytelling. Which is no mean feat in a world which sometimes feels divisive and isolating.
Andrea’s work expands beyond the boundary of a single skillset. Not only a director and curator of stories but also a writer, a radio presenter and producer, a performer and a comedian, her mastery of so many artistic abilities make her an incredibly valuable Australian artist. Someone that makes every project better.
How you can use her talents to bring out the best stories you have:
- Story mentor
- Workshops
- Spit balls ideas
- Feedback & editing
Andrea can teach you how to burn new pathways into your brain to become a better storyteller. Whether you are working on a personal story, a script or narrative project – to find out how she can help – get in touch.
“Gibbs is a rare talent. In person – incredibly funny and down-to-earth with no pretence or artifice. Like most great artists, she makes it look easy but there are years of training and exceptional acumen at reading a room behind her performance” – Iain Grandage, Perth Festival
What
People Say
Current Works & Past Projects
The Fire Project (with support from MFI)
The Fire Project (with support from MFI)
A brand new audio work that highlights the impact fires have on regional communities, livestock and the environment.
The Chin Wagon
The Chin Wagon
The Chin Wagon, a mobile recording studio that can travel to regional WA or beyond, gathering more stories that are uniquely Australian.
“The Chin Wagon initiative is typical of Andrea’s vision and capacity to make things happen. As an object the Chin Wagon is of curse charming and irresistible in itself and the notion of travelling and collecting regional and suburban stories”
– Jim Cathcart, board member WA Chamber of Arts and Culture, The Last Great Hunt, and Art On The Move
Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear
Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear
Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear was created by the Bachelor of Performing Arts Second Year Performance Making students in collaboration with the Director, Andrea Gibbs, drawn from their own stories and experiences and performed at locations around Kings Park from 11-14 November to a select, in-house audience.
Earshot
Earshot
Andrea produced ‘A Promise Renegotiated | For the love of God’ – the sotry of Charlotte & Casey re-negotiating their marriage for RN Earshot.
Frequently Asked
Sure does. You can find more info on those right here.
Maybe. Get in touch and tell her about it.
Yep, via PlayLab.
Contact her agent Nerida Moore.
Yes. Contact her below and give her all the details.
Easily. She offers feedback over the phone/Zoom and can edit scripts too.
Get in Touch
To get in touch with Andrea directly fill out the form below. To reach her agent for acting enquiries please use the details in the footer.