An alternative theatre company founded in 1981 by Bruce Keller and Jean-Pierre Mignon, Australian Nouveau Theatre (Anthill or ANT) closed in 1994. It consisted of a group of actors whose anti-naturalistic style and emphasis on classics and contemporary European drama provided audiences with a repertoire and style of productions not seen elsewhere in Melbourne. Frenchman Jean-Pierre Mignon produced exciting contemporary avant-garde work. The company's employment of ethnically diverse performers and its highly stylised productions of plays by writers such as Raymond Cousse, Anton Chekhov, Molière and Heiner Muller represented a culturally enriching contrast to the more homogeneous Anglo-Celtic theatre that dominated mainstream companies.