Charles Sanders is a multi award-winning director, performer and producer, and artistic director of Adelaide based theatre collective Early Worx in theatre and art (Early Worx).

During his tenure at Early Worx, since 2011, Charles has directed seven productions - including Seven Jewish Children (Caryl Churchill), Modern American Masters (Mamet, Durang & LaBute) The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later (Moises Kaufmann) and Like A Fishbone (Anthony Weigh) – and created two original pieces of cabaret theatre – A Modest Exhibit and Queer: The Wicked Webs We Weave – both of which received great critical and popular acclaim. His 2012 production of Love Child (Joanna Murray Smith) for the company was awarded the Advertiser and Critics Circle Best In Fringe (one of four from over 900 shows) and toured to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2012. At the close of 2011 Charles was awarded the Adelaide Critics Circle Emerging Artist of the Year award for his body of work with the company. Charles also recently directed Slavs: Thinking About The Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness (Tony Kushner) for The Adelaide College of the Arts (AC Arts).

Performance highlights of Charles’ career include the Sate Theatre Company of South Australia (STCSA) production of King Lear in 2009 (under the direction of Artistic Director Adam Cook and alongside such luminaries as John Gaden, Dennis Olsen and Victoria Longley) and leading roles in Sweeney Todd (Stephen Sondheim, role: Toby), Crate of Souls (Verity Laughton, role: Mrs This-Is-a-New-Beginning) and Rosmershom (Heinrik Ibsen, role: Ulrick Brendal) while a student of acting at AC Arts. Also at AC Arts he – variously – directed, assistant directed and produced 121 (devised, from Shakespeare), Buried (Stephen Sewell), and The Juliet Letter (Elvis Costello) as well as producing the national tour of the Graduating Actors 2010 Showcase. During his time at AC Arts Charles had the privilege of working with and/or being directed by, among others, Terence Crawford, Corey McMahon, Peter Dunn, David Mealor, Sarah John, Rachel Moorhead and Rosalba Clemente.

Outside of the college Charles has appeared in many plays and musical including the roles of Belize in Angels in America (Tony Kushner), Simon Bliss In Hay Fever (Noel Coward), Mr Mistoffelees in Cats (Andrew Lloyd Webber), Herman in Cabaret (Kander & Ebb), Claude in Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen (Caryl Churchill) and understudying the role of Angel in Rent (Jonathan Larson).

Later this year Charles will travel to the U.S.A. to train with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company and to work on a development of a new verbatim theatre work entitled The Gender Project for Paul Lucas Productions – these last as a result of his recent receipt of the much coveted Neil Curnow Award. He will then return to SA where he will act as Assistant Director for Geordie Brookman’s STCSA production of Maggie Stone by Caleb Lewis.