TIDDAS

Anita Heiss

Dr Anita Heiss AM is a proud member of the Wiradyuri Nation of central New South Wales, and is an internationally published, award-winning author of 25 books; non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women’s fiction and children’s novels.
Tiddas is her first play with Belvoir St (co-produced with La Boite and the Sydney Festival). It had it’s world premier at La Boite in 2023, in partnership with QPAC and the Brisbane Festival.

The play is an adaption of Anita’s best-selling novel of the same name, released through Simon & Schuster in 2014.

Her novel, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray about the Great Flood of Gundagai, won the 2022 NSW Premier’s Indigenous Writer’s Prize and was shortlisted for the 2022 HNSA ARA Prize and the ABIA Awards. Anita’s first children’s picture book was Bidhi Galing (Big Rain) about the Great Flood of Gundagai.

In 2023, Anita established the First Nations imprint Bundyi through Simon & Schuster, Australia, and released Red Dust Running (an Audible Original).

In 2024, Anita will release the historical novel Dirrayawadha: to rise up, about the Wiradyuri wars.

Nadine McDonald-Dowd

Nadine McDonald-Dowd (Yuwi) was the Artistic Director of Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts Company 2003 – 2013, Senior Producer with Major Brisbane Festivals in 2010, was the Manager of the Kuril Dhagun, State Library of Queensland, Creative Producer for the Commonwealth Games Arts and Cultural Festival 2018 and Executive Producer with QPAC delivering First Nations programming from 2018 – 2021. Having currently finished working with the Sunshine Coast Council as First Nations Creative Development Officer, Nadine is now focused on building stronger futures in the arts for First Nations people, our ways.

Roxanne McDonald

Descended from the Mandandanji, Wangan & Darambul tribes of Central Queensland. Roxanne has worked with leading Australian theatre companies for over 30 years. Stage, film and television credits include: Company B-Paramatta Girls, The Man from Mukinupin, Windmill Baby and Winyanboga Yurringa. LaBoite-The Taming of the Shrew, Oogeroo Bloodline to Country, Lysa & the Freeborn Dames, From Darkness, Away & Tiddas. Queensland Theatre-Our Town, Mother Courage & her children, Head Full of Love, The Tragedy of King Richard II, The Skin of our Teeth, The Sunshine Club. Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts Company-The Cherry Pickers, Yarnin’ Up, Whispers of this Wik Woman, Bitin’ Back, Seems Like Yesterday & Luck of the Draw. Co-directed Face to Face & Don’t ask what the bird look like. Awards-Lifetime Achievement Award Actors Benevolent Fund, Matilda Award Special Commendation.

Louise Brehmer

Louise is an award winning actor with a career spanning more than 25 years. Her numerous theatre credits include: Queensland Theatre- “The Holidays”, “The Longest Minute”, “Australia Day”, “Private Fears in Public Places”, “Cooking with Elvis”, “Romeo & Juliet”, “Good Grief”, “The Fledglings”, “The Lost Property Rules”. La Boite Theatre- “Summer Wonderland”, “Crèche and Burn”, “The Bitterling”. Real TV Project- “Tall Man”, “Children of the Black Skirt”. Brisbane Shakespeare Festival – “The Tempest” (Prospera), “Julius Caesar” (Mark Antony). QLD Shakespeare Ensemble- “Richard III” (Queen Elizabeth), “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Puck). Now Look Here- “The Seagull”. DeBase Productions- “Popping Lead Balloons”. Elbow Room- “After All This”, to name a few. On television, Louise has appeared in “Harrow”, “Hoges” & “Mabo”. Awards- Matilda Awards for Best Supporting Actor: “Therese Racquin” (Madame Racquin for Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre), “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Puck for QSE). Matilda Awards nomination “The Miracle Worker” (as Helen Keller for Crossbow Productions) Louise is a QUT graduate and has trained with Shakespeare and Company (USA). She is an experienced Teaching Artist, Voiceover Artist and Clown Doctor for The Humour Foundation.

Lara Croydon

Lara Croydon is a proud Gudjala Kabulba woman with family ties to Kuku Yalanji, born on the lands of the Gubbi Gubbi people. She is a theatre and circus performer based in Brisbane. She was part of Australia’s first all First Nations circus show Chasing Smoke from 2018-2020 and this is her mainstage theatrical debut. 

Sean Dow

Born on Nyoongar Boodjah, Manjimup WA. Proud Gungandji – Birigubba man Sean Dow has performed in multiple professional productions nationally. Since graduating from the Aboriginal Performance course at WAAPA in 2003 and ACPA in 2015, Sean has performed for Yirra Yaakin Theatre, Deckchair Theatre, QLD Arts Council, ARTSLINK QLD, Queensland Music Festival, Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre, Jute Theatre and La Boite Theatre. His professional career credits include In The Nyitting Time (2007/2008), Muttacar Sorry Business(2007/2008), Talk It Up(2009), Karakouer! (2009/2010/2011) Deadly Eh? (2013/2015) Kaarla Kaatijin, (2018) Hoods (2017), My story Your story (2013/2015/2017) The Hall Committee (2019) Get Your Geek on (2021) Away (2021) Tiddas (2022) Birmba (2023) Capricorn (2023).

Jade Lomas-Ronan

A proud Gamilaraay and Torres Strait Islander woman, Jade graduated from The Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) in 2017 with an Advanced Diploma in Acting.

During her time at ACPA and since, Jade has performed in various theatre productions including The Sunshine Club (HIT Productions) The Trojan Women (ACPA), and All By Myself (Sandgate Theatre Company), creative developments like FROM DARKNESS (La Boite Theatre), and The Longest Minute (QLD Theatre), a PlayLab Mentorship (Emily Wells, Face To Face) Voice Overs including Money Woman (Steven Oliver), and Covid Safety (Federal Gov) and TV Commercials like Cross River Rail (Queensland Government).

Jade toured The Sapphires (HIT Productions) in 2019-2020 and returned to the role of ‘Gail’ in 2022. Jade was also selected to take part in Theatre Works’ First Stories Festival in 2022, a week-long program dedicated to workshopping her dream project with industry professionals Brittanie Shipway and Sermsah Bin Saad.

Roxanne McDonald

Descended from the Mandandanji, Wangan & Darambul tribes of Central Queensland. Roxanne has worked with leading Australian theatre companies for over 30 years. Stage, film and television credits include: Company B-Paramatta Girls, The Man from Mukinupin, Windmill Baby and Winyanboga Yurringa. LaBoite-The Taming of the Shrew, Oogeroo Bloodline to Country, Lysa & the Freeborn Dames, From Darkness, Away & Tiddas. Queensland Theatre-Our Town, Mother Courage & her children, Head Full of Love, The Tragedy of King Richard II, The Skin of our Teeth, The Sunshine Club. Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts Company-The Cherry Pickers, Yarnin’ Up, Whispers of this Wik Woman, Bitin’ Back, Seems Like Yesterday & Luck of the Draw. Co-directed Face to Face & Don’t ask what the bird look like. Awards-Lifetime Achievement Award Actors Benevolent Fund, Matilda Award Special Commendation.

Anna McMahon

Anna is an emerging artist, who is thrilled to be making her debut with Belvoir and Sydney Festival, with La Boite’s return season of TIDDAS, since first appearing as Veronica with La Boite and Brisbane Festival in 2022. Anna’s most recent works include: Theatre productions DEEP and SHALLOW with Suncoast Repertory Theatre (SRT); Short films BIN DAY, THE PASSENGER, IMPULSE, A NEW LENS, THE FINISH LINE, I CARE, PROJECTIONS, CROWAN and SEVEN TIMES; and TV Commercials for Toomey Family Law, CFMG Capital Finance, and Insurance Brokers. Anna’s recent awards include Best Supporting Actor for SRT’s DEEP in the South East Queensland Theatre Circuit 2023; Short Film BIN DAY awarded the Fun is Good Bill Murray Comedic Shorts Award, chosen by the Hollywood icon himself, as part of the prestigious Twin Cities Film Fest in Minnesota 2023; Selected finalist last year with her entry IMPULSE for World Monologue Film Festival, while also taking out Best Performer and Most Innovative Film for her WMFF entry PROJECTIONS in 2022; and Best Supporting Actress with JMC Academy for her role in CROWAN in 2021.

Perry Mooney

Perry Mooney is a Yuwi person (Mackay) with South Sea Islander (Solomon Islands) and Euro-Australian lineage. Mooney began their career as a model in 2013 and most recently walked in two Afterpay Australian Fashion Weeks (AAFW) in 2021 and 2022. Mooney recently starred as Vic in ABC’s Gold Diggers and has since wrapped shooting a lead role in Population 11 for Stan and Lionsgate. They made their on-stage debut in Queen’s City, earning a Matilda Award for Best Emerging Artist. Later this year, Mooney will star in Face to Face at QPAC. They have also just recieved the Casting Guild of Australia’s Rising Star Award among 11 other young up and coming actors.

Zoe Rouse

Zoë is a freelance artist with an expansive practice and her work as an independent set and costume designer, maker and stylist has included theatre, film and photography. Based in Melbourne, Zoë is a VCA Production School alumni and an RMIT Textile Design and Development graduate.  A lover of plants, art and everything fashion, she is a thrifting enthusiast and an avid collector of cute things. Zoë has worked with some amazing theatre makers and companies, some of her most recent design credits include Hour of the Wolf (Malthouse Theatre), June (Fabricated Rooms), Tiddas (La Boite Theatre), The Return (Malthouse Theatre), Technique (Elbow Room), As You Like It (Essential Theatre), The Retreat (Western Edge Youth Arts), The Sky is Well Designed (Fabricated Rooms), Ground Control (Double Water Sign), The Seizure (The Hayloft Project), Motion of Light in Water (Elbow Room), normal.suburban.planetary.meltdown (Malthouse Theatre), We Get It (MTC, Elbow Room), Company by Stephen Sondheim (Watch This), Menagerie (MTC, The Daniel Schlusser Ensemble), Limbo (Strut and Fret), Grief and the Lullaby (Fabricated Rooms), Now More Than Ever (Elbow Room) and many more.

Grace Deacon

Grace is a production and costume designer working across stage, film and screen. Grace’s practice is based heavily on creative collaboration and exploration, with a love of developing new works. Grace’s recent design credits include:  AN OX STOOF ON MY TOUNGE (25A BELVOIR), NEVER CLOSER (25A BELVOIR), THE ITALIANS (25A BELVOIR), WHO’S AFRAID (25A BELVOIR), DESTRY, SHE SAID (25A BELVOIR), LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE), SENSER (THEATRE WORKS), T NOT TODAY (MELBOURNE COMEDY FESTIVAL). TV credits: MASKED SINGER AUSTRALIA (2021-23), GLADIATORS (2023) Grace has been awarded the Best Stage Design for an Independant production 2023, the William Fletcher Foundation Scholarship and Peter Ivan Scholarship for Excellence in Design.

Jason Glenwright

Jason Glenwright is an award-winning Lighting Designer with experience in lighting for theatre, musical theatre, opera, concerts, cabaret, circus, dance, broadcast and puppetry with more than 300 production credits to his name. Jason’s work has been seen both nationally and internationally including at New York’s Lincoln Centre, and London’s SOHO Theatre. Jason has had his work presented at many leading national companies including Sydney Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare, Griffin Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre, Opera Queensland, La Boite, Queensland Music Festival, shake & stir, Little Red and The Good Room to name a few. Recent highlights as Lighting Designer include TIDDAS and AN IDEAL HUSBAND (La Boite Theatre Company); TAMING OF THE SHREW (Queensland Theatre); A CHRISTMAS CAROL, THE TWITS, JANE EYRE, FANTASTIC MR FOX (SHAKE & STIR); SISTERS ARE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES, YOUR SONG (Little Red); FRIENDS THE MUSICAL PARODY (SK Entertainment); LET’S BE FRIENDS FUREVER, I’VE BEEN MEANING TO ASK YOU (The Good Room). Jason has won four Matilda Awards for Best Lighting Design as well as the Gold Matilda for outstanding contribution to the industry. Jason is currently the course coordinator of lighting at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).

Wil Hughes

Wil’s credits as a composer, songwriter and sound designer for theatre have ranged from contemporary ballet to musicals, and include Blue (Belvoir St); Tiddas, Single Asian Female, The Dead Devils of Cockle Creek, The Village, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Wind in the Willows (La Boite Theatre Company); Face to Face (Playlab); Lucie In The Sky, Arc, Still Life (Australasian Dance Collective); Propel (Expressions Dance Company); Mind Your Head, From Within, Sonder, B- Sides (Queensland Ballet); Kill Climate Deniers (That Production Company); Elizabeth I (Monsters Appear/Wonderland Festival); Rice, The Scene Project 2018 (Queensland Theatre); Day After Terrible Day, We Will Not Kiss/ Touch/Frighten You in the Dark, Caligula (The Danger Ensemble); The Theory of Everything (Brisbane Festival/Metro Arts); Dust Covered Butterfly (Metro Arts); and Sweet Meniscus (Anywhere Theatre Festival). Wil is also an internationally acclaimed composer for film, television and other media, awarded Composer of the Year in 2018 by the California Independent Film Festival and most recently winning Best Music for a Short Film at the 2022 Australian Screen Music Awards.

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.

Shona Erskine

Letetia Harris

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). 

India Lively

India (she/her) is excited to be back at Belvoir after completing a Stage Management placement on Into the Woods last year. She has just finished her final year at NIDA completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Technical Theatre and Stage Management. Some of her credits while studying include The Coronation of Poppea directed by David Berthold, and Perfect Stranger directed by Kate Champion. India’s placements while studying include Production Management for Disney’s Newsies (Runaway Entertainment) and Stage Management for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (TEG Dainty). Recently, she was also the Assistant Stage Manager for the Australian Premier of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (Darlinghurst Theatre Company).