LOSE TO WIN

Mandela Mathia

Mandela was born in South Sudan and spent the majority of his childhood years in the north of the country and in Egypt, due to the civil war in Sudan. He arrived in Australia in 2008.

Since graduating from NIDA he has appeared in Sami in Paradise, The Cherry Orchard (Belvoir); The Rolling Stone (Outhouse Theatre Company); Prize Fighter (National Tour with La Boite); Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Nights (Sport for Jove); Macbeth (Sport for Jove) and played Hamlet in Sydney Foreign Actors Association in the production of HEMLET.

Mandela has shown interest in not only performing on stage, but also playwriting. He co-wrote a short film with emerging successful filmmakers out in the industry, which he has starred in some of these films such as I Am Emmanuel and Kill off. Mandela has starred in All These Creatures short film that won a prestigious awards the “Palme door “ at Cannes Film Festival and the 2018 AACTA Award. With the film All These Creatures’ success, Mandela have been nominated for best leading role of Mel in the Reel-good Film Festival early in 2019. In 2022, Mandela made his debut on Australian TV on the show The Twelve starring along side some of Australian most acclaim actor Sam Neil.

Mandela was nominated for best supporting role in 2018 for the play The Rolling Stone. By the following year, he was nominated for best leading role of Mel in the Reel-good Film Festival early in 2019 for All These Creatures short film

Recently starring in vertical drama, Going Home (2025), Mandela continues to work across stage and screen, bringing his own stories to life while contributing to bold, innovative and diverse storytelling in the Australian arts industry. Mandela has co-written and starred in a feature film Boss Cat which will be in Australian cinemas late this year (2026).

Jessica Arthur

Jess Arthur is one of the most prolific main-stage theatre directors. Her productions include The Wolves for Old Fitz and subsequent 2019 Belvoir season. Jess was Resident Director at Sydney Theatre Company 2018 – 2022, directing productions Chalkface, The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall, Wonnangatta, Banging Denmark, Mosquitos and Home I’m Darling.

Jessica also worked as Assistant Director on The Harp In The South Part I and Part II, Dinner, Chimerica and Endgame for Sydney Theatre Company, as well as Miss Julie for the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Her most recent production was the world premiere of The Dictionary of Lost Words for State Theatre Company South Australia and Sydney Theatre Company, which had a sell-out season in 2023 and a return season in Melbourne 2024.

Mandela Mathia

Mandela was born in South Sudan and spent the majority of his childhood years in the north of the country and in Egypt, due to the civil war in Sudan. He arrived in Australia in 2008.

Since graduating from NIDA he has appeared in Sami in Paradise, The Cherry Orchard (Belvoir); The Rolling Stone (Outhouse Theatre Company); Prize Fighter (National Tour with La Boite); Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Nights (Sport for Jove); Macbeth (Sport for Jove) and played Hamlet in Sydney Foreign Actors Association in the production of HEMLET.

Mandela has shown interest in not only performing on stage, but also playwriting. He co-wrote a short film with emerging successful filmmakers out in the industry, which he has starred in some of these films such as I Am Emmanuel and Kill off. Mandela has starred in All These Creatures short film that won a prestigious awards the “Palme door “ at Cannes Film Festival and the 2018 AACTA Award. With the film All These Creatures’ success, Mandela have been nominated for best leading role of Mel in the Reel-good Film Festival early in 2019. In 2022, Mandela made his debut on Australian TV on the show The Twelve starring along side some of Australian most acclaim actor Sam Neil.

Mandela was nominated for best supporting role in 2018 for the play The Rolling Stone. By the following year, he was nominated for best leading role of Mel in the Reel-good Film Festival early in 2019 for All These Creatures short film

Recently starring in vertical drama, Going Home (2025), Mandela continues to work across stage and screen, bringing his own stories to life while contributing to bold, innovative and diverse storytelling in the Australian arts industry. Mandela has co-written and starred in a feature film Boss Cat which will be in Australian cinemas late this year (2026).

Malin Sylla

I start playing music from a young age as member of ballet Matam a local cansel ensemble made of boys and girls with mix drums and dance groups also I was part of Guinea’s junior percussion ensemble a group of 7 boys with drums and dance choreography combine together with the 2 bands we travel to border country for festival like Mali,Senegal,Sierra Leon,the Gambia and on in 2000 I was base in London England where I play several festival as Glastonbury in summer set the Royal festival hall the London Hilton hotel the commonwealth game at Old Trafford in Manchester also in London I worked as parte of the drum cafe london branch interactive team building trough African drumming and dancing for corporate events for business across the UK 

2002 I move to Australia in Sydney where I have being also involved in several festivals as Sydney Festival, the Womade in Adelaide, The African festival at Kathy freeman park several function inter state Australia Day celebration at the Parliament House in Canberra I have also travel for festival as Sehoul drum festival in Corea, Singapore art drum festival, Thaïwan’s Thaidon Music festival, Indonesia,Malaysia,New zealand, Philippine, Thailand,India,China, Malaysia I have also release a single in collaboration with a friend that is in youtub with tittle Home Land  Malin Sylla now just finish recording my very first Album with 13 tittle that will son be available on all platforms and for distribution some time this years. in a sorte CV this a hi-light of my music journey  

Keerthi Subramanyam

Keerthi (she/her) is a set and costume designer, living and working on the lands of the Gadigal and Gamaragal people of the Eora Nation. Keerthi is a National Institute of Dramatic Art, BFA (Design for Performance, 2019) graduate, and a member of the Australian Production design Guild.

Keerthi’s work as a set and costume designer includes Belvoir and MTC’s The Wrong Gods, Belvoir’s Nayika A Dancing Girl and Lose to Win, Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, Murder for Two at Hayes Theatre, Chewing Gum Dreams at the Old Fitz, Chop Chef at Riverside Theatres, and her work as a costume designer includes Belvoir’s At What Cost and Never Closer.

Keerthi has been an associate designer on a wide range of theatre shows including Belvoir’s The Jungle and the Sea, Wayside Bride, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Boomkak Panto, Cursed!, Sydney Theatre Company’s Grand Horizons, and Hayes Theatre Co’s Young Frankenstein.

Keerthi’s film credits include working as a design assistant on Operation Buffalo, as production & costume designer on various short films and music videos and as an art director on SBS’s mini series Appetite.

Brendon Boney

Belvoir St Theatre: At What Cost?, Winyanboga YurringaOther Theatre: As Composer & Sound Design: The Visitors (Sydney Theatre Company), Fences (Sydney Theatre Company), A Raisin in the Sun (Sydney Theatre Company), Riverside’s NToP: Choir Boy, Bangarra Dance Theatre: Dance Clan, Dubboo (Assistant), Illbijerri Theatre: Black Ties, Ensemble Theatre: A Letter For Molly, Hothouse Theatre: Unprecedented As Associate Composer/Sound Design: The Tempest, The Seven Stages of Grieving, Other Theatre: As Actor/Performer: Bangarra Dance Theatre: Wudjang: Not the Past, Baleen Moondjan: Adelaide Festival (Stephen Page) Film: As Lead Character Singing Voice: Bran New Dae (2009) TV: As Composer/ Musical Contributor: Gods of Wheat Street (ABC1), Offspring (Network 10), Winners & Losers (Seven Network), Underbelly Chopper (The Nine Network) Radio/Music: As Recording Artist/Writer Played on triple j, fbi radio, ABC radio, community radio nationwide, 150 000+ streams across platforms Spotify & Apple Music Music: As Performer: Bluesfest Byron Bay, Woodford Folk Festival, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Fringe festival, Brisbane Festival, Friendship Festival (Seoul, Sth Korea), The Aussie BBQ (UK) Awards: APRA Professional Development Award.

Kate Baldwin

Kate Baldwin is a disabled, Japanese-Australian lighting designer, who lives and works on the lands of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation.

Since graduating from NIDA in 2019, some of her credits as Lighting Designer include: Forgetting Tim Minchin (25A); Girl Band (National Theatre of Parramatta and New Ghosts Theatre Company); Lose to Win (Red Line Productions); The Great Australian Play (Red Line Productions and Montague Basement); Nothing (National Theatre of Parramatta), Tom at the Farm (KXT); Albion (New Ghosts Theatre Company, Secret House & Seymour Centre); Top Coat (Sydney Theatre Company); The Box Show (Critical Stages Touring & Junkyard Beats); Guards at the Taj (National Theatre of Parramatta); Chewing Gum Dreams (Green Door Theatre Company and Red Line Productions); seven methods of killing kylie jenner (Darlinghurst Theatre Company and Green Door Theatre Company); and House at Boundary Road, Liverpool (Bontom).

She completed a residency at Sydney Theatre Company as Design Associate (Lighting) in 2021 and 2022. She was also a part of Ka-llective, which had residencies with PACT and CPAC in 2021 and 2022.

Mehhma Malhi

Mehhma Malhi is an up-and-coming director. She has experience in philosophy, bioethics, and journalism and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Politics from New York University and a Master of Science in Bioethics from Columbia University.  

At NIDA she held the Animal Logic Entertainment scholarship. Her directorial work includes Ephemera By Anchuli Felicia King ‘23, Poof! By Lynn Nottage (Actors Centre Australia and NIDA ‘23), Dragonfly – Peach Fur Music Video (Triple J ‘24),  ALL BOYS by Xavier Hazard (KXT Storytellers Festival), The Mountain Remembers by Daley Rangi (Lysicrates Prize ‘24), Kufa the Hero by James Elazzi (Martin Lysicrates ‘24), ALL BOYS (KXT -Full Season ‘24), Amber by Nikita Waldron (Old Fitz ‘25), Fitz Happens by Melanie Tait, Mary Rachel Brown, Louis Nowra, Kate Mulvany, and Nicholas Brown (Old Fitz ‘25) and she acted as assistant director for Jessica Arthur in Kindness by Matthew Whittet.  

ALL BOYS (KXT – full season 2024) was nominated for best ensemble at the STA awards, and Mehhma won for best emerging director at the 2025 KXT awards. Dragonfly won Best Music Video in the Prague Music Awards, Best Director in the LA Music Awards, and was officially selected in the 2024 London Music Video Festival.

In between directing, Mehhma undertakes producing, note-taking, director’s attachments, and production roles for film and theatre companies across Sydney.

She is currently in development for two tv shows  with Screen Australia and is a director’s attach on a STAN documentary. Further she is Belvoir St Theatre’s Andrew Cameron Fellow. 

Mehhma is passionate about sharing everyday stories that often go unheard, inspiring empathy through the narratives she presents, and bringing ethical dilemmas to the forefront. Mehhma hopes her work will draw together all elements of community and excite audiences who otherwise would not engage with the theatre.

Véronique Benett

Véronique is a lighting and set designer, and costume designer.  In 2019, Véronique completed a Master of Fine Art (Design for Performance).  She also holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (Technical Theatre and Stage Management) from NIDA.

As a lighting designer, Véronique’s credits include: THE JUNGLE AND THE SEA, TELL ME I’M HERE, THE WOLVES (Belvoir); BANGING DENMARK (Sydney Theatre Company); THE GREAT DIVIDE (Ensemble Theatre);  SACRE (Circa); THE SMALLEST HOUR (Griffin Theatre); JOHN (Outhouse Theatre Co.); LUMEN MACHINE, PSYCHADELLIC FRENZY (Ensemble Offspring), ETERNAL LIGHT, PLEASURES OF VERSAILLES (Pinchgut Opera).

Véronique’s associate lighting designer credits include: SCENES FROM THE CLIMATE ERA designed by Nick Schlieper (Belvoir);  JULIA designed by Alexander Berlage (Sydney Theatre Company); CURSED! designed by Chloe Oglvie (Belvoir); HUMANS 2.0 designed by Paul Jackson (CIRCA); PRIMA FACIE designed by Trent Suidgeest (Griffin Theatre); CRY-BABY directed and designed by Alexander Berlage (Hayes Theatre Co).

​She has received four Sydney Theatre Award nominations: for Best Stage Design of an Independent Production for EXIT THE KING and ULSTER AMERICAN; Best Lighting Design of an Independent Production for HAPPY DAYS; and Best Lighting Design of an Independent Production for JOHN.

Véronique participated in Melbourne Theatre Company’s WOMEN IN THEATRE Programme in 2020. 

Joel Montgomery

Christopher Starnawski

Christopher Starnawski is a Sydney-based Stage Manager & Photographer.
Credits include, as Company Stage Manager: GATSBY At The Green Light (Caper & Crow &
Sydney Opera House); Much Ado About Nothing (Bar’d Work).

As Stage Manager: True West, The Queens Nanny Tour, The Heartbreak Choir, Colder Than
Here (Ensemble Theatre); An Ox Stand On My Tongue (Belvoir 25A); Amadeus (Red Line
Productions & Sydney Opera House); Losing It (Megan Bennetts); The Player Kings, Venus &
Adonis, Macbeth, Henry IV, Richard III, Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night (Sport For Jove); Chef
(2022 & 2023), Twelfth Night, The Cherry Orchard (Virginia Plain Productions); Chop Chef
(Blush Opera); The Turn Of The Screw (Tooth & Sinew); Pride & Prejudice (Dream Plane
Productions); The 7 Deadly Sins & Mahagonny Songspiel, Hand To God, Happy Days (Red
Line Productions); Symphonie Fantastique (Little Eggs Collective); Herringbone
(Squabbalogic).

As Assistant Stage Manager: Uncle Vanya, Ulster American, Midnight Murder At Hamlington
Hall (Ensemble Theatre); Scenes From The Climate Era & Tiny Beautiful Things (Belvoir St
Theatre); La Traviata (Opera Australia); The Lovers (Bell Shakespeare); Angels In America
(Apocalypse Theatre Company).

As Production Assistant: Jekyll & Hyde (Hayes Theatre).

Christopher also venue manages KXT on Broadway, and was the Production Administrator at
Belvoir St Theatre. He also works in film in both the camera and art department, with notable
features including Head Above Water; Kairos; Ritual; Staying The Night; I’m Here Too; 17
Minutes; Life After Man; Pseudomonas and Vector. Short films include Disarmed, Deep
Pockets Empty Hearts, An Eight Letter Word Starting With A, This Town Ain’t Big Enough For
The Both Of Us. Music videos for the bands In Hearts Wake, Amalia and Rayn.