ABOUT Short Straw Theatre Company

Short Straw Theatre Company is a Naarm/Melbourne-based company, committed to producing dynamic independent theatre. With thoughtful, contemporary writing and engaging stories, the company has gained a reputation for staging high-quality, timely works. 

Led by emerging artists Charlotte Rogers and Hazel Pigrum, Short Straw aims to generate warm, respectful creative spaces which foster exploration, play, and vibrant conversation.

Hazel Pigrum (she/her) is a performer, theatre-maker, and independent producer living in Naarm/Melbourne, and a co-founder of Short Straw Theatre Company.

With over 15 years of movement training, Hazel has worked across theatrical text-based work and devised dance pieces. Her work has been presented at Arts Centre Melbourne and the National Theatre, among other venues.

Hazel starred in Short Straw’s debut The Effect (2023) and produced their sell-out show, Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (2024). She has previously participated in Melbourne Fringe Festival, performing in Salad Day / Love in a Glass Jar (SSTC, 2024), and assistant devising Small Movements with Xanthe Beesely, as a part of Guild Fringe: Dance Edit (UHT & Melbourne Fringe, 2024).

She was formerly a youth ambassador for the Melbourne Theatre Company (2020), a member of the University of Melbourne Theatre Board (2023), and was awarded the Louise Homfrey Trust Prize for Excellence in Performance by Union House Theatre (2023).

Hazel is a 2025 Artist in Residence at La Mama Theatre. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Gender Studies) from the University of Melbourne.

Hazel Pigrum

Charlotte Rogers (she/her) is a director and theatre-maker from nipaluna/Hobart based in Naarm/Melbourne.

She works across both established scripted theatre and new work, drawn to dynamic contemporary scripts and vibrant stagings of classic texts. Her shows have been presented at La Mama, Union House Theatre, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Meat Market.

A co-founder of Short Straw Theatre Company, she has directed their productions of The Effect, Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons and Salad Day / Love in a Glass Jar. Her other directing credits include All I’m Saying, Dirty Old Town, Cosí and Lord of the Flies.

She has worked as an assistant for Roger Hodgman on As You Like It, for Petra Kalive on Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, and for Suzanne Chaundy on Melbourne Opera’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

In 2023, she received the Union House Theatre award for Best Director. Charlotte holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, English & Theatre Studies from the University of Melbourne.

Charlotte Rogers

PREVIOUS WORKS

  • THE EFFECT (2023)

    Something's in me but it's like it's come from outside of me. Like having the weather inside.

    Tristan and Connie form an unexpected connection on an antidepressant clinical trial. Are their feelings for each other real, or simply an effect?

  • LEMONS (2024)

    The average person will speak around 123,205,750 words over the course of their lifetime - but what if you were forced to say less?

    Lemons explores the significance of our words and the way we love in difficult times.

  • SALAD DAY & LOVE IN A GLASS JAR (2024)

    Patricia and Sean plot their escape from a nursing home. Patrick and Colette meet in a sterile hotel room with very different expectations.

    In these short plays, two ordinary interactions are not as they first seem.