Jo Loth is an actor, director, educator and academic and is currently an Adjunct Lecturer at The University of the Sunshine Coast. From 2022- June 2024 she was the Director of The National Drama School in Melbourne. She also established and led USC’s Theatre and Performance Program from 2013 - 2019. She has taught for WAAPA, QUT, Griffith University, The Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts and Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre. She has trained with Kristin Linklater, The Suzuki Company of Toga, Oz Frank, Howard Fine, Shakespeare & Company, Pantheatre (France) and P3/East (Seattle).
Jo has worked in the independent performance sector for over 30 years and is a recipient of The Brisbane Lord Mayor’s Performing Arts Fellowship. Career highlights include performances for Tadashi Suzuki’s Theatre Festivals in Japan, The Brisbane Festival, The Brisbane Cabaret Festival and The Brisbane Powerhouse with companies including The Danger Ensemble, Oz Frank and The Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble. From 1993 - 2000, Jo was an actor with Oz Frank Theatre performing with the company in Japan and throughout Australia, with roles including Lady Macbeth (Macbeth: Crown of Blood), Jocasta (Oedipus Rex), Gertrude (Hamlet), and Eurydice (The Romance of Orpheus).
Jo has a PhD in cabaret performance and a Masters on applications of the Suzuki actor training method. She is on the pathway to Designation as a Linklater voice teacher. Her research interests include actor training and performance for social change.
Photos by Hannah Banks at The University of the Sunshine Coast.
