SCENES FROM THE CLIMATE ERA

David Finnigan

David Finnigan is a playwright and game designer from Ngunnawal country. He works with climate and earth scientists to create theatre and games about complex systems and planetary transformation.

His six-part performance series about climate change, You’re Safe, has been presented at the Barbican London, the Sydney Opera House, ArtScience Singapore and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

David’s 2017 play Kill Climate Deniers was awarded the Griffin Playwrights Award and produced in 10 cities worldwide. In 2021, he received Melbourne’s Green Room Award for Best Writing for Are You Ready To Take The Law Into Your Own Hands, his collaboration with Manila-based theatre company Sipat Lawin. His ecological rom-com 44 Sex Acts In One Week was presented at the Sydney Festival in 2022 by Club House Productions.

David is a Churchill Fellow, an Asialink Fellow and a consultant on disaster risk with the World Bank

Carissa Licciardello

Carissa Licciardello is a Resident Director at Belvoir. She was previously an Artistic Associate for the company and its inaugural Andrew Cameron Fellow. She graduated from NIDA’s Directing course in 2017.

Her credits include: for Belvoir – as Director/Co-Adaptor, A Room of One’s Own; as Associate Director, Fangirls 2019; as Assistant Director, Counting & Cracking; Ghosts. For Sydney Theatre Company, as Assistant Director, Rules for Living. For 25A Downstairs Belvoir: Extinction of the Learned Response; The Maids.

Carissa is also a recipient of the 2020 Glorias Fellowship.

Violette Ayad

Belvoir: POV, Son of Byblos (25a Belvoir). Other theatre: Sydney Theatre Company: Oil. Ensemble Theatre: Nearer the Gods. Black Swan Theatre Company: Oil. Hive Collective: Elektra/Orestes. Monkey Baa: Where the Streets had a Name. Bell Shakespeare Company: The Players. KXT: Mercury Poisoning, Coram Boy. Old Fitz. Film: Hero, Seads of God, Breaking Plates, Nekrotronic. Television: Prosper. Awards: Fringe World Emerging Artist Award (My Father’s World) 2014.

Nic English

Theatre credits include, for Outhouse Theatre Co: Consent; for Adelaide Festival: Aleppo. A Portrait of Absence; for State Theatre Company South Australia: End of the Rainbow, Neighbourhood Watch, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), The Glass Menagerie, Holding the Man, The Misanthrope.

Television credits include: Ten Pound Poms, Home & Away, Wellmania, Joe vs. Carole, The Tailings, Reckoning, Rosehaven.

Meg Hyeronimus

Meg is a Sydney based actor and a graduate of the Academy of Film, Theatre and Television. She also studied at the Stella Adler Academy of Acting, Hollywood. Her recent theatre credits include SHITTY (Essential Workers) at Belvoir’s 25a, Cherry Smoke (CrissCross Productions), Mortel (MERAK), The Dazzle (Corvus Arts Theatre), Undetermined Title (KXT), PLAYPEN (Dollhouse Collective), Tamora in Titus Andronicus (AFTT Alumni), Roxie Hart in Chicago (CTGi), Arthur and Marilyn (Dinosaurus Productions), Doing (Puddle or Pond), Of Mice and Men (Stella Adler), A Light in Dark Places (Stella Adler Lab Theatre). Meg was the recipient of ‘Best Actress’ at the 2017 Short and Sweet Festival for her role as Marilyn Monroe in Jasper Lee-Lindsay’s Arthur and Marilyn, which saw her performing on stages in Sydney and Los Angeles and won her a full scholarship to study at the Stella Adler Academy of Acting, Hollywood.

Abbie-lee Lewis

Abbie-lee Lewis is a Kalkadoon actress who trained on the Aboriginal Theatre and Acting courses at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Perth.

Her credits include David Finnigan’s Scenes from the Climate Era, for Belvoir St Theatre, Seanna Van Helten’s Fallen, directed by Penny Harpham, for Sport for Jove; Our Town, directed by Clare Watson, for the Black Swan State Theatre Company of Western Australia; a national tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (as Hermia) for Bell Shakespeare; and Angus Cerini’s The Bleeding Tree, directed by Ian Michael at the Blue Room Theatre, Perth.

Her television credits include Black Comedy for ABC.

In recent years she has also worked as an assistant director, collaborating with Peter Evans on Hamlet for Bell Shakespeare and with Jena Prince on Charlie Pilgrim for the Australian Theatre for Young People. Last year she made her directing debut with Bruce Pascoe’s Cutter and Coot for Moogahlin Performing Arts and has since directed Jane Montgomery Griffiths’ an ox stand on my tongue, for Belvoir’s 25A and Hannah Belanszky’s Saplings for ATYP which won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Production for Young People..

Based in: Kalkatungu Country, Australia

Brittany Santariga

Born and raised in North Queensland, Brittany’s screen credits include Critical Incident (Stan), Latecomers (SBS), Fighting Season (Foxtel) & Home and Away (Channel 7).

Brittany’s theatre credits include Romeo & Juliet and King Lear (Bell Shakespeare), Orphans and Othello (Theatre iNQ), How to Defend Yourself (Outhouse Theatre Company), Glitter Punch, For the Time Being (Stacks On Theatre).

In 2024, Latecomers received an AACTA award for Best Online Drama or Comedy.

Upon graduating from WAAPA, Brittany received the LAGRAL/Jackman Furness Foundation for Performing Arts: Chris Edmund Scholarship.

Nick Schlieper

Nick Schlieper has designed for all of the major performing arts companies in Australia, and works regularly in Europe and the USA. He is one of Australia’s most highly awarded designers having received seven Sydney Critics Awards (two for set design and 5 for lighting design), six Melbourne Green Room Awards, the inaugural 2013 Australian Production Designers Guild Best Lighting Design Award, as well as 5 Helpmann Awards for best lighting and a 2016 Nomination for Best Lighting and Best Set (with Simon Phillips) for North by Northwest.

Recent productions for Belvoir include Opening Night, Packer & Sons, Ghosts, Twelfth Night and set and lightingfor Once In Royal David’s City.

His many productions for Sydney Theatre Co include The Tempest, Strange Case of Jekyll & Hyde, Playing Beatie Bow (which recently re-opened the Wharf), Dorian Gray, Wonnangatta,The  Harp In The South, Chimerica, Macbeth,  St Joan, The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, The War of the Roses, The Season At Sarsaparilla, The Maids and Gross und Klein, as well as set and lightingfor Endgame, Face To Face and Baal. For Melbourne Theatre Co, his work includes As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Richard III, Hamlet, The Tempest and The Visit, as well as set and lighting for North By Northwest (with Simon Phillips), Photograph 51 and Death and The Maiden.

His international work includesproductions of Lear and Medeé for the Salzburg Festival, Billy Budd and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Hamburg State Opera; The Devils of Loudun at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich; The Hostage for the Royal Shakespeare Company; The Government Inspector for Theatr Clwyd; Waiting for Godot at The Barbican, London;   Armut, Reichtum, and The Ginger Man for Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg; Kasimir und Karoline and Lea’s Hochzeit in Vienna; U.F.A. Revue in Berlin and the Kennedy Centre Washington; Michael Kramer and Ein Florentinerhut in Berlin; Michael Bogdanov’s productions of Macbeth and Peer Gynt for the State Theatre of Bavaria; Uncle Vanya and Private Confessions (both directed by Liv Ullman for The National Theatre of Norway)  Aristokraten in Stuttgart; Away and Summer of the Seventeenth Doll at the Summerfare Festival in New York and Hedda Gabler, Streetcar Named Desire, Uncle Vanya and The Maids, allwith Cate Blanchett, also in New York. His lighting designs for The Present and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert have been seen on Broadway and Gross und Klein also travelled to Paris, London and Vienna.

He has lit many productions for Opera Australia and was lighting and associate set designer for the first Australian production of The Ring Cycle in Adelaide.

Nick’swork in Music Theatre includes Priscilla Queen of the Desert, The Musical in Australia, on Broadway, the West End, Toronto, Sao Paolo and throughout Europe; Love Never Dies in Hamburg, Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne and a US national tour for The Really Useful Company.

His designs for Bangarra Dance Theatre includes their acclaimed productions of Bennelong, Patyegarang and Bush.

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. 

Ella Butler

Ella is a Sydney-based Production and Costume Designer for theatre, film and live performance. Informed by her beginnings in theatre, Ella’s work has evolved through contrived spaces, searching for the extraordinary found in the everyday.

Ella’s work as Costume Designer at Belvoir includes August: Osage County, Tell Me I’m Here, The Weekend and Scenes From the Climate Era. Her costumes examine character with an urban melancholy. Currently, her work can be seen in the national tour of RENT; The Musical, directed by Shaun Rennie coming to Opera Australia in 2025. Productions where Ella has worked as both Set and Costume Designer include Dubbo Championship Wrestling (The Hayes), LOVE (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), First Love Is The Revolution and Wherever She Wanders (Griffin Theatre Company).

In film, Ella worked as the Costume and Production Designer for CATSinAM, The Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Nurses and Midwives, for In Our Own Right; recounting Black Australian Nurses’ and Midwives Stories. In commercial as Production Designer, her clients include Google, Woolworths, Officeworks and James Squire. Ella is a graduate from the National Institute of Dramatic Art with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Design for Performance).

David Bergman

David is a video, music and sound designer for theatre, dance, opera, installation, and film.

Theatre credits include: composer and sound designer for Scenes from the Climate Era, sound designer for Into the Woods, video designer for Blue, co-sound designer for Packer and Sons (Belvoir); video designer for Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray, sound designer for Playing Beatie Bow, video and sound designer for A Cheery Soul and The Wharf Revue from 2009-2018 and video designer for Muriel’s Wedding: The Musical, The Hanging, The Effect, and The Long Way Home (Sydney Theatre Company); video and sound designer for The Gospel According to Paul (STCSA/Soft Tread); sound designer for The Lovers (Bell Shakespeare); video designer for Sandsong, Knowledge Ground and Spirited (Bangarra Dance Theatre); video designer for Breaking Glass (Sydney Chamber Opera); composer and sound designer for Superheroes, composer, video and sound designer for First Love is the Revolution and sound designer for Green Park (Griffin Theatre Company); sound designer for RENT (Sydney Opera House), sound designer for Dubbo Championship Wrestling, The Rise and Disguise Of Elizabeth R., Catch Me If You Can, and sound and video designer for Merrily We Roll Along (Hayes Theatre Co); video designer for Possum Magic and The Peasant Prince, and sound designer for Josephine Wants to Dance (Monkey Baa Theatre Company); composition, sound and video designer for Museum of Modern Love and Made To Measure (Seymour Centre); and sound designer for Spring Awakening (ATYP). 

David is a National Institute of Dramatic Art graduate and teaches at NIDA.  

Elle Evangelista

Elle Evangelista loves dancing. Her BELVOIR choreography credits include Big Girls Don’t Cry, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Holding the Man, The Master and Margarita, The Cherry Orchard, The Boomkak Panto, The Rep Season and Furious Mattress (25a). Her other theatre choreography credits include Twelfth Night (Bell Shakespeare), A Very Expensive Poison (NIDA) and How To Catch A Star (Australian Chamber Orchestra).

As a dancer she has worked for Force Majeure, KAGE Physical Theatre, Opera Australia and she has been awarded residencies to create new work by Ausdance NSW, DirtyFeet, Critical Path, March Dance, Brand X and Supercell Festival of Contemporary Dance. From 2019 – 2021, Elle was an Artist Representative on the Board of Critical Path and in 2022 a Belvoir Artistic Associate.

Elle has a Bachelor of Arts in English from UWA and a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from WAAPA. She was raised on Boorloo/Perth by her Filipino and Burmese family and currently lives on Garigal Land in Sydney with her partner and their young son.

Laura Farrell

Laura Farrell (she/her) is a Voice and Dialect Coach living and working on Gadigal land. She holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Voice from NIDA; a Post Graduate Diploma in Voice from the Victorian College of the Arts; and a Bachelor of Music Theatre from the Victorian College of the Arts. A current lecturer for NIDA’s BFA, Laura has also taught on multiple Sydney actor training programs, including NIDA’s Diploma of Stage and Screen and Diploma of Music Theatre, Actors Pulse, Sydney Acting Studio, Actors Centre Australia and The University of Wollongong.

For Belvoir, Laura’s coaching credits include Into The Woods, directed by Eamon Flack (2023), Blue, directed by Deborah Brown (2023), The Jungle And The Sea, directed by Eamon Flack (2022), Tell Me I’m Here, directed by Leticia Caceres (2022), Fangirls, directed by Paige Rattray (2022) and Counting And Cracking, directed by Eamon Flack (2022).  

Other credits include Pear Shaped, directed by Miranda Middleton (Rogue Projects, 2023), F*** It Bucket, directed by Alyssa McClelland (LeftBank Productions UK, 2022),  Reluctant Sea Shanty for UNHCR, directed by Kyra Bartley (FINCH, 2022), Picnic At Hanging Rock, directed by Claudia Osbourne (NIDA, 2022), Paper Stars, directed by Miranda Middleton (Salty Theatre, 2021) and Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., directed by Heather Fairbairn (NIDA, Sydney 2021). 

Vaishnavi Suryaprakash

Vaishnavi is an actor, dramaturg and dancer. Born in India and raised in south-west Sydney, she graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting in 2017.

For Belvoir, Vaishnavi’s credits include Nayika: A Dancing Girl, Counting and Cracking (Sydney + UK Tour), Life of Galileo, and Sami in Paradise. Other theatre credits include Grand Horizons, White Pearl, and Julius Caesar for Sydney Theatre Company; What The Ocean Said for Sydney Opera House; Moby Dick for Sport for Jove; Pramkicker for Vox Theatre; and Blue Christmas at KXT for New Ghosts Theatre.

Vaishnavi’s screen credits include Wakefield (ABC), Pieces of Her (NETFLIX), The Secrets She Keeps (Lingo Pictures), and Appetite (SBS). Her short film credits include Pass the Parcel and Blake Prize winner Stories of Kannagi.

For her performance in Counting & Cracking, Vaishnavi received a Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role as “Young Radha”.

Vaishnavi also holds an Arts/Law degree from the University of Sydney, and received the Glorias Fellowship in 2022. She was a Literary Associate at Belvoir 2022-23, and a Literary Assistant at Royal Court Theatre, London in 2023. Vaishnavi resides in Sydney, Australia.

Madelaine Osborn

Madelaine is a theatremaker living and working on Gadigal and Wiradjuri land. In 2015 she graduated from Charles Sturt University’s B. Communication: Theatre/Media course with Distinction and was the 2015 recipient of the Blair Milan Memorial Scholarship. 

Madelaine’s Stage Management credits: For Belvoir: Assistant Stage Manager for Master and Margarita (dir. Eamon Flack 2023). For Force Majeure: Gardener’s Apprentice (dir. Danielle Micich, 2025 Development) and Power (dir. Danielle Micich, 2024 Biennale). For Ensemble Theatre: Assistant Stage Manager for The Queen’s Nanny by Melanie Tait (dir. Priscilla Jackman, 2024). For Griffin Theatre Company: Jailbaby by Suzie Miller (dir. Andrea James, 2023, 2024). Ghosting the Party by Melissa Bubnic (dir. Andrea James 2022), Is There Something Wrong with that Lady? by Debra Oswald (dir. Lee Lewis 2021). For Arts on Tour: Highway of Lost Hearts by Mary Anne Butler (dir. Adam Deusien 2024). For Performing Lines: Sunshine Super Girl (dir. Andrea James, National Tour 2022).