BLESSED UNION

Maeve Marsden

Maeve Marsden is a writer and theatremaker based on Dharug and Gundungurra land. Best known as director of award-winning national storytelling project Queerstories, she has also toured extensively over the past fifteen years, presenting work at Sydney Festival, Brisbane Festival, Darwin Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Sydney Opera House, Hayes Theatre Co, Riverside Theatre, Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Bath Comedy Festival, London Underbelly, Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Sheffield Documentary Festival, Taranaki Arts Festival and countless venues and festivals in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

A well-respected cultural commentator, Maeve has hosted and curated events for Sydney Writers Festival, Melbourne Writers Festival, Adelaide Writers Week, Mudgee Readers’ Festival, Newcastle Writers Festival, Wollongong Writers Festival, Sydney Mardi Gras, All About Women, and Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali. As an opinion writer, essayist and critic, her work has appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, Guardian Australia, Overland, Junkee, ABC, SBS, ArtsHub, Daily Review, Archer Magazine and Audrey Journal.

Hannah Goodwin

Hannah Goodwin (she/her) is a director who lives and works on Gadigal land. She is currently Resident Director at Belvoir Street Theatre. Her work includes Wayside Bride by Alana Valentine (Belvoir), Light Shining in Buckinghamshire by Caryl Churchill (Belvoir), The Sorry Mum Project by Pippa Ellams (National Theatre of Parramatta, Bondi Feast), A Girl in School Uniform (Walks into a Bar) by Lulu Raczka (Kings Cross Theatre), and The Carousel by Pippa Ellams (Shopfront Arts Co-op, Downstairs Belvoir, Merrigong X, Kings Cross Theatre). As assistant director: Black Brass by Mararo Wangai (Belvoir), Stop Girl by Sally Sara (Belvoir), My Brilliant Career by Kendall Feaver (Belvoir), Packer and Sons by Tommy Murphy (Belvoir), and Love by Patricia Cornelius (Darlinghurst Theatre Company).

Hannah was the 2020-2022 Andrew Cameron Fellow at Belvoir and the 2019 recipient of the ATYP Rose Byrne Leadership Scholarship.

Danielle Cormack

Danielle is an award winning actress both in Australia and New Zealand. She has had an extensive career across film, theatre and television for the past 35yrs. After working mostly in film and theatre in New Zealand, she came to prominence in Australia with her powerhouse performance in the leading role of ‘Kate Leigh’, in the acclaimed TV series Underbelly: Razor, and went on to play the iconic role of Bea smith in prison drama Wentworth for which she has received numerous prestigious awards. Other notable projects include Rake, The Secrets she Keeps, Secret City and Fresh Eggs for which she received the Most outstanding Lead Actress award at the NZ film and TV Awards. Recent theatre work includes Who’s Afraid for 25a which she co-produced, Hedda for QTC, The Misanthrope for Bell Shakespeare, Boys will be Boys STC. She directed Every Brilliant Thing for Silo theatre that had a national tour in 2021 and is co-owner and co-producer of Four One One Productions in Australia. She loves eating freshly grown produce but doesn’t like it when people serve food unconfidently.

Maude Davey

Maude Davey trained as an actor at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) and has worked as an actor, director, and writer for more than twenty-five years, with her primary focus being the creation of new work. She won a Green Room Award for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role for her work in Melancholia by Declan Greene, (Malthouse Theatre, 2018). She has been nominated for a Helpmann Award for the same performance. In 2019 she appeared in Anthem for Arts Centre Melbourne at the Melbourne, Sydney and Perth Festivals In 2022 she was seen in MTC’s The Heartbreak Choir and most recently in Malthouse’s K-Box.

She has worked extensively in variety, as member of Finucane & Smith’s Glory Box/Burlesque Hour ensemble and directed the acclaimed Gender Euphoria, presented by Melbourne Festival 2019. Television appearances include Sisters, Offspring, Tangle, Summer Heights High, Five Bedrooms,The Newsreader, and films include My Year Without Sex, Noise and Ride Like A Girl. She has also been the Artistic Director of two small theatre companies (Vitalstatistix Theatre Company in Adelaide and Melbourne Workers Theatre). Her directing credits include Clare Barron’s Dance Nation for Red Stitch Actor’s Theatre; KillJoy with the laserbeanz and Fish for the Rollercoaster Ensemble. She received Masters in Writing for Performance from VCA in 2016.

Emma Diaz

Emma Diaz is an actor and producer based in Sydney. A graduate of WAAPA Acting, her theatre credits include Never Closer (Belvoir 25A), The Crucible (Sport for Jove), Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare), Nautilus (Monkey Baa Theatre Company), and Hitler’s Daughter (Monkey Baa Theatre Company).

Emma’s notable TV/film credits include After the Verdict (Nine Network), Bump (Stan), Pieces of Her (Netflix), Diary of an Uber Driver (ABC) and Friends and Strangers, which was selected in the British Film Institute’s Top 50 Films of 2021 and is streaming globally on MUBI and AppleTV. Notable short film credits include Smoko Porno and Water – for which she was nominated ‘Best Performance by an Actress’ at the WA Screen Awards.

Emma is also production management graduate of AFTRS, and as a producer has worked with Belvoir St Theatre, Projector Films, Goalpost Pictures, Acuity Films and Co-curious. In 2017 Emma created Aya Productions and has presented independent work at ATYP, Belvoir 25A, Kings X Theatre and the Old Fitz Theatre. Emma is represented by Linsten Management.

Jasper Lee-Lindsay

Jasper studied acting at the Academy of Film, Theatre and Television.

His stage credits include Moon Rabbit Rising (Little Eggs Collective/25A), Follow Me Home (ATYP), and The Monologue Collective (KXT). Screen credits include Too Many Ethnics (In-Between Productions), Percentages (Diversity Arts Australia), and Legend of the Five (Benjamin Jon Creative Media).

Jasper is also a playwright whose work has been developed and produced by ATYP, as well as an independent theatre producer, having produced plays such as Chewing Gum Dreams (Green Door Theatre Company) and Yellow Face (Dinosaurus Productions).

Isabel Hudson

An award-winning set and costume designer, in 2022, Isabel won the APDG Award for Best Set Design for American Psycho.  She also won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Set Design of an Independent Production two years in a row – for the musicals American Psycho and Cry-Baby at Hayes Theatre Co which toured to Sydney Opera House.  Other designs for the stage include: Winyanboga Yurringa, Every Brilliant Thing (Belvoir); Jess & Joe Forever, Tuesday (Belvoir 25A); Hubris And Humiliation (Sydney Theatre Company); Darkness (NewTheatricals); The Mousetrap costume design and associate set design (Crossroads Productions); Ghosting The Party (Griffin); Torch The Place set (Melbourne Theatre Company); Farnace (Pinchgut Opera); Mr Burns (NIDA); Young Frankenstein, American Psycho and Cry-Baby set, Razorhurst, The View Upstairs (Hayes Theatre Company); Let The Right One In, The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice (Darlinghurst Theatre Company); Maureen: Harbinger Of Death (Sydney Festival/Rising/Darwin Festival).  Isabel is the associate set designer for Moulin Rouge Australia and Korea. She was awarded the Kristian Fredrickson Scholarship and the Thelma Louise Award.  Isabel holds a Bachelor of Design from NIDA and a Bachelor of Arts (Screen and Sound) from the University of New South Wales.

Alyx Dennison

Alyx Dennison is a singer, composer and sound designer living and working on Gadigal Land. She is a fierce advocate for equality in education and the arts, with a particular interest in work which illuminates (and works to dissolve) systems of class, power and hierarchy.

She cut her teeth on experimental pop duo kyü, who toured extensively and released two critically acclaimed albums (Popfrenzy/Inertia) before disbanding in 2012. She continued her study of classical and experimental vocal traditions abroad as well as some studies in Interactive Composition at the VCA before joining Nick Wales’ ensemble for Shaun Parker Company’s Am I (as vocalist and multi-instrumentalist) which toured internationally. In 2015, she released and toured her self-titled solo LP (Popfrenzy/Caroline) which was lauded as an evolution from her previous work. 

She has performed at Meredith Music Festival, Mona Foma, Carriageworks, The State Theatre and played with acts such as LAMB (UK), Sarah Blasko, Juana Molina (Argentina), Xiu Xiu (US) and Deradoorian of The Dirty Projectors (US).

Alyx’s composition and sound design credits for stage include; Grey Rhino by Charmene Yap and Cass Mortimer Eipper for Sydney Festival/Carriageworks 2022, Limbic by Cass Mortimer Eipper for Australasian Dance Collective 2022; The Mother Project a multi-disciplinary work directed by Clemence Williams 2022; for Agatha Gothe-Snape; The Outcome is Certain 2020 and Wet Matter 2020 (lead by Evelyn Morris) for MUMA, Double Beat by Sara Black for Form Dance Projects 2019-2022; for Griffin Theatre Company: Splinter by Hilary Bell and directed by Lee Lewis 2019 and Superheroes by Mark Rogers and directed by Shari Sebbens 2020 (associate to Dave Bergman); for Karul Projects: Mi:wi by Taree Sansbury for Next Wave Festival 2018, WOLLUMBIN / / WARNING 2017 and CO_EX_EN by Thomas E.S. Kelly for Dance Massive 2019, Story Club Solo by Zoe Norton-Lodge for Sydney Opera House 2017. Film credits include; Nataptedi by Yolanda Lowatta for Art_Apart 2022; Liminal for Australasian Dance Collective 2020 and ID for Transit Dance Company 2020 – both choreographed and directed by Cass Mortimer Eipper; a series of short films born of Liverpool Girls’ Highschool’s Refugee Art Project, and Outbreak Generation by Brooke Goldfinch which premiered at Sydney Film Festival in 2017.

She has performed in works by internationally renowned artists such as Agatha Gothe-Snape, Oliver Beer (UK), Patricia Piccinini, Lauren Brincat; and has performed alongside legendary new music vocalist Joan La Barbara (NY), and has appeared in works presented at The Art Gallery of NSW, The Bienale of Sydney, Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art, National Gallery of Australia, MONA and Opéra National de Paris.  She has cultivated a practice that enables her love (and compulsion for) experimentation, connection and collaboration, and is honoured to be joining the Belvoir family for Rep Season.

Amelia Lever-Davidson

Amelia is an award-winning lighting designer whose practice encompasses theatre, dance, live art, television, and events. Theatre design credits include: My Brilliant Career, Every Brilliant Thing (Belvoir St Theatre); They Divided The Sky (25A Belvoir); Girls & Boys, Slap.Bang.Kiss., Admissions, Torch the Place, The Violent Outburst That Drew Me To You (Melbourne Theatre Company); KBox, Because the Night, Australian Realness, Trustees, Turbine, META (Malthouse Theatre); Julius Caesar (Sydney Theatre Company); Leviathan (Circa); Myself in That Moment, System_Error, Diaspora (Chamber Made); Next Move 11 (Chunky Move); Moral Panic, Contest, Niche, Conviction, Dream Home (Darebin Arts); Hand to God (Vass Productions); A Simple Act of Kindness, Desert, 6:29pm, Jurassica, Foxfinder (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre); Looking Glass, Triumph (fortyfivedownstairs); and MKA Double Feature (Melbourne Theatre Company NEON Festival). Amelia won Green Room Awards for her work on Diaspora, Contest, Looking Glass, and for her 2015 body of work.  Amelia is a graduate of The Victorian College of the Arts, The Western Australian Academy of the Performing Arts and RMIT.

Dom Mercer

Dom Mercer (he/him) is a director and dramaturg, and currently the Head of New Work at Belvoir. Recent Belvoir dramaturgy credits include: Blue, At What Cost and Looking for Alibrandi and he has worked closely across Belvoir’s new work over the past few years. Recent directing credits include: A Practical Guide to Self Defence (National Theatre of Parramatta, Merrigong Theatre Company), Grounded (National Theatre of Parramatta), On The Face of Things (WAYTCO), Little Borders (Old 505 Theatre), The Block Universe: or so it goes (Old 505 Theatre), Hilt (Old 505 Theatre) Attempts on her Life (Dancehouse), Silent Theatre (Sydney Fringe), In The Blood (NIDA), Songs for a New World (NIDA) Thirst (NIDA). As assistant director: Sex with Strangers (STC), The Testament of Mary (STC), Straight White Men (MTC), Hollywood Ending (Griffin Theatre Company). 

As a dramaturg he has also worked with Griffin Theatre Company, Sydney Chamber Opera, Malthouse, NToP, Merrigong, The Joan, Little Room Theatre and Barking Gecko.

In his role at Belvoir, Dom also curates the 25A program in the Downstairs Theatre. 

Nigel Poulton

Nigel is an award-winning movement director, fight and intimacy coordinator, SAG-AFTRA/MEAA stunt performer and actor, with over 25 years of professional experience. Selected theatre credits include: for Belvoir St Theatre, The Master and Margarita, Miss Peony, Packer and Sons, Things I Know To Be True, Stop Girl, Blessed Union, At What Cost?, The Jungle and the Sea; for Sydney Theatre Company, Oil, On The Beach, Do Not Go Gentle, Fences; for Bell Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth; for Melbourne Theatre Company, Bernhardt/Hamlet; for Ensemble Theatre, Memory of Water, Mr Bailey’s Minder, Suddenly Last Summer. Nigel’s film and television work includes: Deadloch, Nautilus, Poker Face, Thor: Love and Thunder, Spiderhead, Ding Dong I’m Gay, Occupation 2, Pirates of the Caribbean V, Deadline Gallipoli, The Water Diviner, The Bourne Legacy, Vikingdom and Winter’s Tale.

In 2021, Nigel was awarded the status of Fight Master with the Society of American Fight Directors, as one of only two recipients outside the US with this accolade. He has also won a Green Room Award for outstanding contribution to the stage.

Luke McGettigan

Luke is Belvoir’s Resident Stage Manager. For Belvoir, he has stage managed The Jungle and the Sea, Tell Me I’m Here, Opening Night, The Boomkak Panto, Stop Girl, My Brilliant Career, A Room of One’s Own, Packer & Sons, Things I Know To Be True, Counting and Cracking, The Dance of Death, A Taste of Honey, Sami in Paradise, Barbara and the Camp Dogs, Ghosts, The Rover, Mark Colvin’s Kidney, Faith Healer, Twelfth Night or What You Will, The Great Fire, Mortido, Seventeen, Elektra/Orestes, Radiance, The Glass Menagerie, Brothers Wreck, Once in Royal David’s City, Miss Julie, Forget Me Not, Peter Pan (including New York tour), Private Lives, Death of a Salesman, Babyteeth, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Neighbourhood Watch, The Wild Duck (including UK and Europe tours), Namatjira (Belvoir/Big hART), Page 8, The End, That Face, The Promise, Scorched, Antigone, Keating!, The Little Cherry Orchard and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. His other credits include The Pig Iron People, The Give and Take, Bed, La Dispute (Sydney Theatre Company); Like a Fishbone (STC / Griffin); The Government Inspector, The Tempest, The Servant of Two Masters, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew (Bell Shakespeare); Paradise City, Through the Wire (Performing Lines); and Alive at Williamstown Pier (Griffin).

Mia Kanzaki

Mia Kanzaki is a Sydney based stage manager who is passionate about diverse stories and inclusive practices in the arts. She is a graduate of WAAPA’s Bachelor of Performing Arts (Stage Management). As Stage Manager, her credits include Tiddas (Belvoir) and The Face of Jizo (Red Line Productions). As Assistant Stage Manager, her credits include Blessed Union, the At What Cost? National Tour, The Weekend (Belvoir), and Summer of Harold (Ensemble Theatre).