Shannon Rush is a professional theatre director, holding an Advanced Diploma in Acting from the Adelaide College of the Arts (2003) and a Bachelor of Creative Arts in Directing with First Class Honours from Flinders University (2016). Shannon also trained at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (London, 2004) with funding assistance from the Helpmann Academy. 

Shannon most recently directed Limit, by Sophia Simmons as the State Theatre Company of South Australia’s Umbrella Program Production (2019). She has worked extensively with Oval House Theatre in London between 2004-2009 as a freelance director and worked as Assistant Director on the Auckland Arts Festival tour of 1984 (GWB Entertainment, 2018) as well as the Australian tour (State Theatre Company SA 2017). 

In 2016 she directed the world premiere of Duncan Graham’s play Red Ink for the Adelaide Fringe, and Rainer Werner-Fassbinder’s Pre-Paradise Sorry Now for Adelaide College of the Arts. In the same year she also worked as Assistant Director to Rosemary Myers on Rumpelstiltskin for Windmill Theatre Company and to David Mealor on The Juliet Letters for Adelaide Cabaret Festival. As part of her Honours year studies at Flinders University she worked on secondment with Gale Edwards on the world premiere of Cloudstreet for Opera SA. 

This year Shannon will direct Claire Della and the Moon for Madness of Two, and will be one of the Adelaide based directors working on the Future:Present project with Theatre Republic.