Since graduating from WAAPA in 2006, Lucy Maunder has cemented her reputation as one of Australia’s musical theatre leading ladies performing in a huge range of roles over the last 17 years.Most recently she appeared as Winifred Banks in the critically acclaimed Cameron Mackintosh/Michael Cassel Group/Disney revival of Mary Poppins. Prior to this Lucy starred in Victorian Opera’s production of Kurt Weill’s anti-capitalist musical Happy End as Lillian Holiday. The start of 2022 also saw her...

Lucy Durack is one of Australia’s most well-known leading ladies with major roles to her credit including Glinda in Wicked, Sophie in The Letdown (Netflix/ABC), Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical, Roxy in Sisters (Netflix), Elle Woods in Legally Blonde (for which she won a Helpmann and Sydney Theatre Award), Audra in A Perfect Pairing (Netflix), Chantelle “Tugger” Waugh in Doctor Doctor (Nine) and most recently Mrs Lilicroft/Mrs Madrina in the World Premiere of Midnight the Musical.Further...

Robyn Arthur is one of Australia’s leading theatre performers who soon celebrates 50 years working in the Industry. Robyn toured with Jonathan Church’s Singin’ in the Rain and Jonathan Biggins’ Australia Day for Hit Productions and Mother & Son with Noeline Brown for McLaren House. In 2013, she toured Australia in Elizabeth Coleman’s play It’s My Party (And I’ll Die If I Want To!) with Henri Szeps for Hit Productions and appeared in the Production Company’s Singin’ in the Rain directed...

Amy Lehpamer is currently starring in the hit pop musical & Juliet as Anne Hathaway.Amy earned nation-wide critical acclaim playing Maria in The Sound of Music, receiving the 2015 Sydney Theatre Award for best Actress in a Musical, as well as Helpmann and Glug award nominations. She was Helpmann nominated in 2017 for her portrayal of pop and soul icon Dusty Springfield in the Australian hit musical Dusty for The Production Company. Amy played lyricist and hit-maker Cynthia Weil in the...

Damien Ryan is managing director and artistic director of Sport for Jove Theatre Company, now in its twelfth year, where he has directed more than 30 productions, written and developed three new works and adapted over a dozen plays.  The company has a comprehensive education program developed by Damien, and works with tens of thousands of Australian students annually at secondary and tertiary levels. Damien has worked extensively with Shakespeare, performing in or directing over 70...

One of Australia’s most highly regarded leading actors, Daniel MacPherson has most recently been seen starring as Sam Levine in Russell Crowe’s feature Poker Face and as fan favourite Hugo Krast in Apple TV+’s sci-fi behemoth Foundation opposite Jared Harris. Daniel will next be seen in the anticipated US action feature Land of Bad, reuniting with Russell Crowe and alongside Liam Hemsworth. In 2023 he starred in the theatre production 2:22 A Ghost Story, receiving critical acclaim in the role...

Jodie Gillies commenced her dynamic career in 1983, following her graduation from the Nepean College in Sydney. In the same year she was cast as one of Major Stanley’s daughters in the iconic Victorian State Opera’s production and consequent tour of The Pirates of Penzance. She then appeared in Camelot with Richard Harris; followed by the role of Marta in Stephen Sondheim's Company and Vikki Fowler in King of Country, both for the Sydney Theatre Company. In October 1985 Jodie won the...

Andrew Sharp began his professional career playing The Artful Dodger in J.C.Williamson’s 1966 revival of Oliver! He went on to work steadily in theatre and on television in the 1970s, in shows such as Peter Kenna’s A Hard God and Peter Handke’s Kaspar at the Nimrod Street Theatre, The Season at Sarsaparilla and Julius Caesar for The Old Tote Theatre Company, The Rocky Horror Show at The New Art Cinema in Glebe, as well as playing a regular role in The Young Doctors and guest roles in other...

Stephen Flaherty is a composer who writes for theatre, film and the concert hall. With longtime collaborator Lynn Ahrens, he won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for the Broadway musical Ragtime and was nominated for two Academy awards and two Golden Globes for the animated feature film Anastasia, which they also adapted for Broadway. Additional Broadway credits include Once on This Island (Tony Award, Best Revival), Seussical, Rocky, My Favourite Year, Chita Rivera: The...

Australian musical theatre performer Daniel Assetta is currently based in New York City, where he recently made his Broadway debut in the hot-ticket show, & Juliet. This follows an Off-Broadway debut with The Light in the Piazza for NY City Center Encores! Most recently, Daniel appeared in the Original Australian company of Hamilton as Samuel Seabury and performed Tony in the Opera Australia production of West Side Story across Australia, New Zealand and Germany. His theatre credits...

Kim Carpenter AM is an Australian visual artist, theatre director, designer and devisor. For thirty years he was artistic director of his company, Kim Carpenter's Theatre of Image. During the 1970s, Carpenter designed for the Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney’s Nimrod Theatre Company. He was, for a short period, co-Artistic Director of Nimrod in the early 1980s. In 1988, Kim established Theatre of Image as Sydney's first visual theatre company. Theatre of Image developed into a leading...

Diana McLean has had a long career in TV, Film and Theatre and is best known by the public for her role of  Vivienne Jeffries in the iconic TV Soap,  The Young Doctors.On her return to Australia, after 16 years in UK and France, she appeared in many TV shows including, Water Rats, Murder Call, All Saints, Backberner, Number 96, Wonderland, and is still remembered for playing Bess O'Brien in Neighbours. Her miniseries credits include Ben Hall, The Norman Lindsay Series, Winner Takes All, and A...

The Arts are widely recognised as a unique tool for human expression and offer a valuable contribution to society. They define our humanity.For anyone working in the Arts, it is a wonderful and fulfilling profession. But a creative or performance career will present considerable emotional challenge. Navigating an industry with precarious employment opportunities means that artists (on and off the stage), may experience mental health concerns, anxiety or stress. Artists are required to manage...

Barry Creyton began his career at the age of 17 in theatre and in radio in Australia and by age 20, was playing leads on stage, and in national radio productions.  He also hosted his own weekly radio program devoted to theatre news and interviews. At 21, he made his Australian television debut as Lorenzo in a national television production of The Merchant of Venice.   For three seasons, he starred in the TV series The Mavis Bramston Show.  This ground  breaking show, the highest rated in the...

Luke Joslin is a graduate of The University of Western Sydney and The Actors College of Theatre and Television, Luke has forged a successful career in both musical theatre and straight drama, as well as being highly sort after as a director.Luke worked as an Actor for 15 years. His extensive credits include the national tour of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Play That Goes Wrong, both for Lunchbox and Jon Nicholls, Brigadoon for Production Company, Machu Picchu for State Theatre Company of South...

Francesca Zambello is an internationally recognised director of opera and theatre. She is the Artistic Director of The Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center; a role she has occupied since 2012.  In 2022 she retired from a celebrated role as the General Director of The Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, N.Y., having been appointed in 2010. Francesca has also served as the Artistic Advisor to the San Francisco Opera from 2005–2011 and as the Artistic Director of the Skylight...

Michael Lavine is a Broadway Performance Coach and Sheet Music Expert. He has also worked as a musical director, pianist, vocal coach and singer all over the world. He is very much; a Music Man!Michael gives master classes on auditioning in New York, Los Angeles, Australia and Martha’s Vineyard. He has worked several times at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. Accompanying many artists, he has worked regularly with Heather MacRae on her show about her father, Gordon and has accompanied Broadway...

Eddie Grey was born and raised in Sydney. An accomplished musician and talented performer, he graduated from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts and quickly garnered an impressive list of credits in productions of Spring Awakening (for the Sydney Theatre Company), and commercial productions of Legally Blonde, Wicked (as Boq) and The Book of Mormon.Whilst at WAAPA he started writing his own material. His first work was Frau Fangus’ Revenge, a musical about a masochistic Weimar-era...

Judith Hoddinott has made considerable impact as an educator and a theatre designer across all disciplines. Training at the University of New England and the National Institute of Dramatic Arts, her design work has been seen complementing a myriad of stages with companies as diverse as the Sydney Theatre Company, GFO, CDP, Jacobsen Entertainment, Playbox, Opera Australia, Performing Lines, Theatre of the Deaf, New Moon, Hunter Valley, STC, Marian Street, & Ensemble theatre companies, and...

On January 14th we learned of the passing of Theatre Impresario, Martin McCallum. He was a featured guest on the STAGES podcast in January 2019. The podcast was only a year old, but Martin with his enthusiasm and vigour for supporting new ventures was keen at my first suggestion. I am so honoured that we were able to record some of his story in this episode.Martin resided in Australia for the past 20 years. He was brought here originally when overseeing the transfer of global hit musicals...

Groundhog Day The Musical made its Australian Premiere at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre on Thursday February 1st - (incidentally February 2nd is the actual Groundhog Day). Direct from its record-breaking return season at London’s Old Vic, the Australian production will play a 13-week season in Melbourne.  Groundhog Day the Musical is a gloriously joyful and heart-warming production from the award-winning minds of Australia’s one and only Tim Minchin AM, the writer of the iconic 1993...

The STAGES podcast returns in 2024 for it's 7th Season - conversations with creatives about craft and career! Season 7 launches on March 7th.

We’ve arrived at the end of season 6 of the STAGES podcast and we celebrate with our annual Christmas episode.It’s been a huge year for the podcast - delivering 99 episodes! Every one a super conversation with artists and creatives and support staff across all disciplines.Old friends return to spread the Christmas cheer. STAGES catches up with Trevor Ashley, Rhonda Burchmore, Mark Humphries and Geraldine Turner - and of course, the episode wouldn’t be complete without the wonderful Kate...

It’s the time of year where folk are jetting off on holidays - a key destination for many theatre fans is to head to the West End of London or the bright lights of Broadway - theatre precincts which guarantee excitement and awe.Two gentlemen who make their own annual pilgrimage to the Great White Way or the West End -  are ‘Man in Chair’ Simon Parris, and Publicist Ian Phipps. The two theatre afficionados joined the podcast last year to offer a round-up of the shows they’d seen on recent...