Cushla Matheson (Ngā Rere Wai O Ngāpuhi, Ngati Pakeha) graduated from EIT with a diploma in Performing Arts under Dick Johnstone having also worked with Richard Campion, Raymond Hawthorne, Paraire Huata and others. After graduation, Cushla took up residence in Te Whanganui-a-Tara and took a major role in Unsung Voyages which celebrated the 150^th anniversary of the Wellington Catholic archdiocese. Moving then to Tāmaki Makaurau in 2000 Cushla engaged in post graduate study at the University of Auckland completing a GradDip in Arts Management. She is currently studying on the He Papa Tikanga programme at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Following her arrival in Tāmaki Makaurau, Cushla played Rosalind in the 2001 UoA Summer Shakespeare production of As You Like It, directed and acted in a number of UoA drama club shows and directed notable productions of Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls and Bruce Goodman’s Sheer Silence. A double sporting international (karate and archery), Cushla works for World Archery as the Oceania Development Officer and is a member of the Archery New Zealand board.