CQUniversity Theatre graduate Jordan Edmeades is developing his innovative SportsComedy Australia business, with plans to present a StuntFooty League Roadshow...

StuntFooty is touted as a high-impact, large-scale entertainment spectacle involving elite athletes and professional acrobats performing stunts, acrobatics and feats of skill, agility and strength.

Jordan pictured with promotional images for StuntFooty

For more information visit http://www.stuntfooty.com/

Jordan's Brisbane-based company has already gained great support* for StuntFooty, which he describes as "an exciting fusion between Australian Rules Football and a range of physical theatre skills and techniques including acrobatics, circus, tumbling and gymnastics".

The StuntFooty League Roadshow has already been engaged for the Ray White EJ Whitten Legends game in Melbourne on July 6.  It will perform for over 20,000 people in Victoria's state-of-the-art roofed-stadium at Docklands, providing pre-game entertainment and a Half-Time StuntFooty Spectacle Show.

"We have put together a great professional troupe of footballers, acrobats and stuntmen and began training last week.  The troupe includes well-renowned AcroTramp Artists SPLAT, who have worked with the Brisbane Bullets in the NBL," Jordan said.

"In the second half of the year we will be touring the StuntFooty League Roadshow around the country with a Kids StuntFooty Clinic for interested schools, clubs and community organisations.

"We envision that this exciting new project will stretch far beyond the footy field as there are plans to create an innovative youth and community engagement program based on Australian Rules Football that utilises the techniques and ideas of the StuntFooty Model including sports acrobatics, circus tricks, advanced goal-kicking, specialty skills, and much more.

"This program will specifically target rural, regional and remote communities around Australia, as well as international communities interested in developing and promoting the sport."

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Jordan recently won the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music Student of the Year prize (awarded for the highest GPA in any program at CQCM) but was unable to attend graduation to accept it.

"As university students we tend to not give ourselves enough credit for the work we put in each day, so its nice to receive a pat on the back for all the hard work," he said.

"I can also thank the fantastic lecturers at CQCM for allowing me to direct my own learning, taking my activities into areas which I wanted to explore as a theatre artist."

The Theatre graduate has been busy working with Interactive Theatre as Basil Fawlty in the Faulty Towers Dining Experience.

"I have performed to sell-out audiences in a range of locations around Brisbane and the Gold Coast.  In August I will be touring Perth with the show and have been earmarked for a tour of the UK and Ireland in February next year.  The role is very challenging but offers great rewards for the emerging actor - lots of improvisational opportunities and very intimate relationships with the audience.

"I am having a ball exploring the in and outs of such a madcap restauranteur and hotel manager. Working with other professional actors who have years of experience in these roles has been an amazing learning experience and I suspect this 'curve' will continue long into the future."

Jordan is also currently completing a Masters in Applied Theatre, majoring in Community Development from the University of New England.

"This has been a great course, helping me to delve deeper into the dramaturgical side of theatre and find a process of theatre-making that sits well with my often challenging artistic approach."

Jordan is an experienced applied theatre director and producer from Melbourne who has developed and implemented numerous large-scale theatre productions and creative development programs with marginalised, at-risk and homeless young people in communities around Australia.

A qualified social worker, Jordan returned to CQUniversity's Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 2007 to complete a Bachelors degree in Music Theatre, majoring in Outreach Theatre and Directing.  In 2008, he received an OBE Scholarship to study in the United States at the State University of New York in Buffalo.

Over the years, Jordan has directed and produced a range of highly successful applied theatre productions including his final piece at CQCM Seven Children**, which was developed as a special fundraising event for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a London-based charity working with refugees in the Gaza strip. 

Jordan recently completed a six-week Directing Internship with The Actors Centre in Sydney, working under renowned director and founder Dean Carey.   Over the years, Jordan has received a number of awards for his community cultural development work, including a Best Practice Award from Arts Victoria for his program work with 'The Way It Is' Issues-based Theatre Group and also a Best Practice Award from Arts Queensland for his development work with the Whitsunday Arts Youth Theatre.

Jordan is also a ruckman for the Mt Gravatt Vultures.

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* Many interested organisations and corporations have come on board including internationally-renowned British theatre director, writer and producer, Toby Gough, who will be assisting the creative development team with his unique approach to creating large-scale entertainment spectacles. University of Queensland PhD Research Candidate Hana Alhadad, an experienced international applied theatre director and facilitator, has teamed up with Access Arts in Brisbane to deliver a groundbreaking community cultural development project and the StuntFooty Model has been chosen to be incorporated into their work to engage with multicultural and Indigenous young people.  AFL Queensland has shown interest in utilising the StuntFooty Model to  enhance their game development and promotion activities for Australian Rules Football in local, regional and remote communities, and potentially in South Africa. Jordan says: "We have also been lucky enough to have the support and guidance of world-renowned circus director and teacher Ira Seidenstein, who has worked with Cirque de Soleil and currently resides in Brisbane".

** Seven Children was a final year project, which culminated in a public showing in October last year. Jordan says: "I combined two plays that revolved around the fight for land and sovereignty in Gaza, each written from a different perspective. It's a heartbreaking story and one that deeply affected me throughout the rehearsal and performance process. I also used the opportunity to raise money for Medical Aid for Palestinians, an NGO based in the UK that assists people in the Gaza area".