LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI

Vidya Rajan

Vidya Rajan is an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist based in Naarm and Boorloo. Her work takes the form of scriptwriting for television and theatre, contemporary performance making and comedy. A former writer in residence at the Malthouse, she has been the recipient of the Living Now commission, the Malcolm Robertson commission, Screen Australia’s developing the developer program, Wheeler Centre’s Hot Desk Fellowship and the Melbourne Festival Director’s Lab program. 

Recent work for screen, stage and online include Looking for Alibrandi (Malthouse/Belvoir), Year Of (Stan), Deadloch (Amazon),  Diversity Panel (MAV),The Feed (SBS), At Home Alone Together (ABC Comedy),  Nemeses: The Sitcom (Wheeler Centre), Cancellation Adventure (Liminal), Small & Cute Oh No (The Blue Room Theatre), The Lizard is Present (Jewel Box Grant, Melbourne Fringe),  Playlist (Red Stitch), Sleepover Gurlz (Melbourne Fringe), Asian Ghost-ery Store (Griffin). 

Melina Marchetta

Stephen Nicolazzo

Stephen is a Melbourne based theatre maker, director and co-founder of queer theatre company, Little Ones Theatre. Recent Credits include: Loaded (Malthouse Theatre), Considerable Sexual License (Joel Bray Dance), Merciless Gods (Arts Centre Melbourne, Griffin Theatre Company), and Abigail’s Party (Melbourne Theatre Company). Stephen has also directed Ash Flanders’ End Of. (Griffin Theatre Company, Darebin Arts Speakeasy), Judith Lucy and Denise Scott’s Still Here (Token Entertainment), The Happy Prince (Griffin Theatre Company, La Mama), The Moors (Red Stitch Actors Theatre), and Daddy (Joel Bray Dance, Arts House, Arts Centre Melbourne, Brisbane Festival, Perth Festival, Darwin Festival, Liveworks). He is a Green Room Award winner for Best Director (The Happy Prince), his productions have received 12 Green Room Award wins and a Sydney Theatre Award. Stephen was also the recipient of the Besen Family Artist Program role in 2009 and was a member of the 2019 Lincoln Centre Theatre’s Directors Lab.

John Marc Desengano

John Marc Desengano graduated from The University of Ballarat, Arts Academy in 2008 and has worked consistently as an actor since. He discovered a passion for young people which led him to achieving his Masters in Primary teaching from the University of Melbourne, and work for leading Youth Theatre companies such as St. Martin’s and Polyglot Theatre. John Marc’s work with young people has now seen him become the Co-Artistic Director of Western Edge, a company he adores and has worked with for several years. John Marc’s stage credits include; The Yellow Wave, The Bachelor S17 E05, Survival, Enlightenment, A Midnight Visit, and many more. He also performed in The Dead Twin, written by Chi Vu, at the Georgetown Festival in Malaysia. His television credits include; Rush, Back in Very Small Business, Playing for Keeps, Lie With Me, and others. John Marc is a proud company member of Impro Melbourne and Soothplayers: Completely Improvised Shakespeare.

Ashley Lyons

Ashley graduated from the Queensland University of Technology. Theatre credits include The Removalists (Rocksurfers Theatre), The White Guard, The Removalists (Sydney Theatre Company) Measure For Measure, Scorched, and The Little Cherry Orchard (Company B), Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train (B-Sharp) as well as its revival in 2008 for Queensland’s Festival of the Dreaming. Also for B-Sharp, Ashley appeared in Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming. He has appeared in Terrorism (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), Cigarettes and Chocolates (Seesaw Theatre), Cancelling King Lear, Ninja (Cake Productions), Little Malcolm and his struggle against the Eunuchs (Old Fitzroy), Third World Blues (La Boite Theatre), Dealers Choice (The Old Fitzroy/Albedo), Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra (Bell Shakespeare), and Glory of Living (Pact Theatre). Ashley’s feature film credits include Nice Package, Fatal Honeymoon, Strangers Lovers Killers, The Underdog’s Tale, The Marine, Mask 2, Burke and Wills, and Feeling Sexy. His Television credits include Home and Away and South Pacific.

Chanella Macri

Chanella is an actor, writer, theatre-maker and educator who grew up on Dharug Country. Graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2017 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Practice, the Patricia Kennedy Award and as Valedictorian of the University of Melbourne VCA and MCM.

Theatre credits include; Looking for Alibrandi (dir. Stephen Nicolazzo), The View From Up Here (dir. Julian Dibley-Hall), Let Bleeding Girls Lie (dir. Olivia Satchell), House (dir. Luke Kerridge), Australian Realness (dir. Janice Muller), Whale (dir. Katrina Cornwell), Truly Madly Britney (dir. Hannah Fallowfield), Moral Panic (dir. Bridget Balodis), Suddenly Last Summer (dir. Stephen Nicolazzo), Crazy Brave (dir. Melanie Beddie).

Chanella wrote Atlantis for Malthouse Theatre’s Suitcase Series in 2022 and is a member of the Red Stitch Actors’ Ensemble, the New Working Group and is Co-Artistic Director of Western Edge.

Lucia Mastrantone

Lucia has a successful career in theatre, physical theatre, film, TV and as a voice artist.  Select theatre credits include Sydney Theatre Company: The Harp in the South, Talk, Marriage Blanc, Romeo & Juliet. Belvoir: The Cherry Orchard, Atlantis, Twelfth Night, The Book of Everything, Scorched, Macbeth. Hayes Theatre: Young Frankenstein. Griffin: Window, Cricket Bat, Dead Cat Bounce, Kill Climate Deniers, Ladies Day. Darlinghurst Theatre: The Hypochondriac. Bell Shakespeare: The Duchess of Malfi. STCSA: The Merchant of Venice, VERONA. MTC: The Venetian Twins. Physical theatre: Shaun Parker Dancers: Blue Love. Legs on the Wall: Under The Influence (Edinburgh, Europe Tour). Urban Theatre: The Longest Night. TV: The Secrets She Keeps S2, The Letdown S1, Home and Away, Pacific Heat, Rake S3, Tangle. Film: Look Both Ways, Dog, Stealth, Spank, Blackrock. Director: Movement and Co-Director for The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe Belvoir and Opera House. Awards: Humanitarian Of The Year Award, Oscars Critics Best Actress, Queen’s Trust.

Hannah Monson

Hannah Monson is an Australian actor who is a graduate of the University of Ballarat. Selected theatre credits include Lady Example, Lashes and Oriel. Her most recent television credits include Halifax: Retribution for Nine Network, as well as her regular appearance in the role of Kristie in seasons one, two and three of Glitch. Other credits include Winners and Losers and The Leftovers. Hannah also received a Logie nomination for Most Outstanding Newcomer and an AACTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Drama for Glitch.

Jennifer Vuletic

Jennifer appeared most recently as Queen Gertrude in Malthouse’s Because The Night. Other stage credits include the Malthouse/STC co-productions of The Histrioic and Women Of Troy, Arbus& West (MTC), and Mamma Mia. Awards include the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle Award for the Baroness in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and a Green Room Award for Merciless Gods (Little Ones Theatre/Griffin Theatre). Recent television appearances include Mandy the Mullet in Wentworth and Enid Holdstock in Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries. A multiple award winning audio narrator Jennifer is best known for the internationally awarded Once My Mother.

Kate Davis

Kate is a multi-disciplinary artist working as a director, set designer, costume designer, visual artist and florist. She is the Co-Artistic director and Co-CEO of THE RABBLE. Malthouse credits include My Dearworthy Darling (THE RABBLE), In the Bleak Midwinter (THE RABBLE), Deathly, Death, Dead (THE RABBLE), and Frankenstein (THE RABBLE). THE RABBLE was the Company in Residence at Malthouse in 2014. She has also designed for numerous companies including Melbourne Theatre Company, Belvoir St, Chunky Move, Back to Back Theatre, Fraught Outfit, Joel Bray, Sydney Theatre Company, Terrapin Puppet Theatre, Dance House, Ghost Pictures and Performance Space.

Katie Sfetkidis

Katie Sfetkidis is a lighting designer and contemporary artist based in Naarm (Melbourne). She has worked extensively in theatre, dance and experimental performance for almost 15 years in Australia and abroad. Credits include: Kill the Messenger (Belvoir Theatre); Chase, S.S. Metaphor, Loaded – Audio Experience, Meme Girls, Calpurnia Descending (Malthouse Theatre); Touching the Void, Come Rain or Come Shine, Abigail’s Party, Happy Ending (Melbourne Theatre Company); Spamalot (One Eyed Man Productions) and Oh Mensch!, Exil (Sydney Chamber Opera) Merciless Gods, The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose, Dangerous Liaisons, Psycho Beach Party (Little Ones Theatre); Easy Riders, Exit Strategies, The Director, A Singular Phenomenon (Aphids). ). Katie is the recipient of one Green Room Award and numerous nominations. She is currently deputy co-chair of the Theatre Companies Panel.

Daniel Nixon

Daniel is a composer, sound designer and multi instrumentalist. He has performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, John Farnham, Yothu Yindi, Sebine Meyer, Mikko Frank and many others. He has written and recorded multiple albums and worked extensively as a session player, programmer and producer. He has scored and designed numerous films, plays and dance works, including work with Flashgun Films, Cascade Films, Little Ones Theatre, Red Stitch Actors Theatre, American Girl, Universal Television, Disney Pictures, Al Jazeera, The National Gallery Australia, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre, Malthouse Theatre, Chunky Move, Dirty Pretty Theatre, Griffin Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre, Madman Entertainment, NBCU, ABC, Netflix, Arts House, HBO, Films by Jove and many others. In 2020 he won the Greenroom award for Malthouse Theatre’s Production of Loaded.

Rosa Voto

Rosa Voto is an Italian born performing artist, vocalist, dancer, percussionist and educator living in Australia since 2003.
She is known as the founder and director of the Melbourne School of Tarantella, the first school in Australia dedicated to the teaching of Southern Italian traditional and ritualistic dances.
Rosa has developed unique dance and movement programs for primary and secondary schools, nursing homes and community groups. These programs fuse together the teaching of folk dances and street theatre (Commedia dell’Arte) with elements of dance and movement therapy, to help participants achieve physical, emotional and social integration.

Renato Vacirca

Matt Furlani

Matt Furlani is a Voice/Dialect coach and Actor, holding a Post Grad Diploma in Voice Studies and Bachelor of Dramatic Art (VCA).

Matt has worked as dialect coach on productions including Come Rain or Come Shine (Melbourne Theatre Company); Admissions (MTC); The Truth (MTC); Home, I’m Darling (MTC); Golden Shield (MTC); Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Red Stitch); Iphigenia in Splott (Red Stitch); The Cane (Red Stitch); Pomona (Red Stitch); Ulster American (Red Stitch); Burn This (16^th St);  Polygraph (OpticNerve)  

In 2016 he was a recipient of The Mike Walsh Fellowship, enabling him to travel to Scotland and work with renowned voice teacher – and author of Freeing the Natural Voice – Kristin Linklater.

He has taught Voice & Dialect at 16^th St and TAFTA since 2017.

Paulo Bongiovanni

Lucia Mastrantone

Lucia has a successful career in theatre, physical theatre, film, TV and as a voice artist.  Select theatre credits include Sydney Theatre Company: The Harp in the South, Talk, Marriage Blanc, Romeo & Juliet. Belvoir: The Cherry Orchard, Atlantis, Twelfth Night, The Book of Everything, Scorched, Macbeth. Hayes Theatre: Young Frankenstein. Griffin: Window, Cricket Bat, Dead Cat Bounce, Kill Climate Deniers, Ladies Day. Darlinghurst Theatre: The Hypochondriac. Bell Shakespeare: The Duchess of Malfi. STCSA: The Merchant of Venice, VERONA. MTC: The Venetian Twins. Physical theatre: Shaun Parker Dancers: Blue Love. Legs on the Wall: Under The Influence (Edinburgh, Europe Tour). Urban Theatre: The Longest Night. TV: The Secrets She Keeps S2, The Letdown S1, Home and Away, Pacific Heat, Rake S3, Tangle. Film: Look Both Ways, Dog, Stealth, Spank, Blackrock. Director: Movement and Co-Director for The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe Belvoir and Opera House. Awards: Humanitarian Of The Year Award, Oscars Critics Best Actress, Queen’s Trust.

Amelia Grindrod

A graduate of AFTT, Amelia has previously worked on Secret House’s The Seagull, Troilus & Cressida, Crime & Punishment, Joseph K and Charles & Larry, Redline Production’s King Of Pigs, Dead Fly Production’s The Scarecrow, Bard on the Beach’s 2019 season, New Ghosts’ Iphigenia in Splott and HUSH, Force Majeure’s The Last Season and Magic Mike Live Australia. Her music theatre credits include Muriel’s Wedding (Global Creatures), Come From Away (New Theatrical), Billy Elliot (LWAA) and School of Rock (GWB Entertainment).

Jessica Law

Performer turned stage manager and crew member, Jess Law began her career in choirs and performing in local musicals in Newcastle and her school. 

Once she discovered VET Entertainment in Year 11, she has since dived into the behind the stage action, including roles in stage crew in ASPIRE’s ‘Dark Matter’, and being the school’s audio engineer and AV operator. 

In 2020, she completed a Diploma in Screen and Media with AFTT, majoring in Live Production and stage management. She was the deputy stage manager for Yerma and assistant stage manager for Bobbin Up (both productions in Belvoir Theatre), while also doing basic lighting and sound for the institute’s singing recitals and small plays. Since then, she has been a volunteer in Sydney Festival, an assistant stage manager for the Sydney Lesbian and Gay Mardi Gras Parade, an usher for Foundations Theatres, an assistant event co-ordinator once again with Sydney Festival, a dresser on 9 To 5 the Musical and a lighting technician with Opera Australia Winter Season. She also just completed a season with Tinder Cindy at Sydney Fringe Festival.