TWO REMAIN

An opera by Jake Heggie with libretto by Gene Scheer

fortyfive downstairs July 25 (preview), 27, and 28

PROGRAM:

Act 1: Krystyna

1. “Hello Professor”

2. “Soldiers”

3. “The Sun and the Skylark”

4. “In the Cards”

5. “Miss Ziutka”

6. “What happened in Auschwitz?”

7. “Krystyna”

Act 2: Gad

Prelude: Do You Remember?

1. The Voice

2. Golden Years

3. A Hundred Thousand Stars

4. The Story of Joe

5. Silence

6. Der Singende Wald (The Singing Forest)

7. Remember

Finale–Farewell, Auschwitz

CAST

Krystyna: Lara Troyer

Krysia: Melissa Davis

Mariola: Uma Dobia

Zosia: Linda Barcan

Edka: Karen Van Spall

Kapo Wala: Maria Woolford

Gad: Eric van Baars

Manfred: Bailey Montgomerie

Ensemble: Kate Pengelly (Krystyna Zywulska cover), Sarah Amos (Krysia cover), Victoria Knight (Mariola cover), Maria Woolford (Zosia cover), Stephanie Macindoe (Edka Cover), Ruben Fitton (Gad Beck cover), Alex Owens (Manfred Cover), Taco Kuiper, Darcy Towe

(Ensemble members are Australian Young Artists)

ORCHESTRA

Conductor: John Simmons

Flute: Kim Tan

Clarinet: Cameron Smith 

Violin: Marianne Rothschild 

Cello: Charlotte Jacke 

Bass: Hamish Gullick 

Piano: Coady Green 

PRODUCTION TEAM

Stage Director: Cynthia Skelley Wohlschlager

Lighting Design: Kris Chainey

Scenic Design: Eloise Kent

Fight Choreography: Lyndall Grant

Costume Design: Melissa Davis

Costume/ Wardrobe Assistant: Dan Knight

Sound Design: Noah Chrapot

Stage Manager: Finlay Pedler

CAST BIOS

Lara Troyer: Krystyna Zywulska

Described as singing with an engaging, robust tone (clevelandclassical.com), Lara Troyer’s recent performances include A Night at the Opera with the Battle Creek Symphony in Battle Creek, Michigan and Nunsense at Porthouse Theatre. She made her Porthouse Theatre debut in the summer of 2023 where she performed in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and The Prom. As a frequent soprano soloist in the United States, she has performed with the Master Singers Chorale, Akron Baroque, Singer’s Companye, Kent/Blossom Music Festival, Summit Choral Society, Kent State Chorus and Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Ohio, and the New Sigmund Romberg Orchestra. She has also made solo appearances with the Akron Symphony, Canton Symphony Orchestra, Battle Creek Symphony, Heights Chamber Orchestra, Chagrin Falls Studio Orchestra, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Symphony Orchestra, Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra, Lansing Lyric Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, and Bay View Music Festival. Lara completed her Bachelor and Master of music degrees in the United States. She completed a DMA at Michigan State University. She is currently on the voice faculty at Kent State University in the United States.   

Melissa Davis: Krysia

Soprano, Melissa Davis is a frequent performer of operatic, musical theatre and art song repertoire. She has performed throughout the United States as well as in Australia, Asia and Europe. Her devotion to the genre of art song has led to extensive research and performance of American art song repertoire. She premiered Sebastian Birch’s Three Songs from “Orpheus & Echo,” which were dedicated to her. She premiered a new work by acclaimed composer Jake Heggie titled Could it be Madness–This? in 2022. Recent recordings include Glass Ceilings: Song Cycles of Jake Heggie, which is a collaboration with her husband, pianist Jerry Wong (2021) and Could it be Madness–This? Heggie’s song settings of Emily Dickinson (2023). Both albums are on the MSR label. As Artistic Director of Nightingale Opera Theatre in the United States, she works to provide creative and accessible opera to Northeast Ohio audiences. Melissa completed Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in performance in the United States and she also holds A Master of Arts in Vocal Pedagogy. She is currently a PhD candidate in performance at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music where she is also a member of the vocal staff. She maintains her position as Artistic Director of Nightingale Opera Theatre.

Linda Barcan: Zosia

Mezzo-soprano, Linda Barcan’s affinity for 20th and 21st century opera, oratorio and chamber music has seen her collaborate with contemporary opera and classical music companies in several Australian premieres: Christina’s World (Sydney Chamber Opera), Abelard and Heloise (Opera Hunter), Pecan Summer (Short Black Opera), The Emperor of Atlantis (Lost & Found Opera), love fails (Australian Contemporary Opera Company), Two Remain (Nightingale Opera) and Eumeralla (Short Black Opera). Linda is known as an advocate for contemporary art song, interpreting song works by Australian female composers including Deborah Cheetham Fraillon (Woven Song), Linda Kouvaras (Art and Life) and Katy Abbott (The Domestic Sublime; We’ll Meet Again). Recent recordings include Women of Note: A Century of Australian Composers Volume 2 (ABC Classics), Gardener of Time: Barry Conyngham at 75 (Move Records), and Linda Kouvaras: Instrumental music, chamber works and songs Volume One (Toccata Classics). She holds a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours from the University of Newcastle, a Graduate Diploma in theatre voice pedagogy from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), and a Masters of singing voice pedagogy from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Linda is currently Lecturer in Music (Voice) at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, the University of Melbourne.

Karen Van Spall: Edka

Karen Van Spall has sung regularly as a guest artist of Opera Australia, soloist for Victorian Opera and various orchestras. She has also performed several roles for Opera Australia’s national touring company. As a frequent performer of operatic repertoire, she created the role of "Therese Rein" (Rain) and played Offred’s Mother in the Australian premiere of The Handmaid’s Tale. She wrote and performed in “Wagner in Paris” for Opera Australia’s “Melbourne Ring Festival.” Karen is a regular performer at the Melbourne Recital Centre having given recitals with Melbourne Art Song Collective and creating exciting new text driven shows for The Parlour. She is also a frequent performer of orchestral concert repertoire including Alto solos in much of the major classical repertoire. She graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with a Bachelor of Arts (Music) and Bachelor of Music Performance (Hons) after which she lived and worked in London. She performed for ARYA Opera Company under the direction of Olusola Oyeleye and was a creative workshop participant for London’s Opera Factory. Karen enjoys creating engaging musical experiences for audiences as a singer, writer or producer and occasionally all three. In 2015 she formed “The Parlour” as a vehicle to explore the potential of Art Song as a theatrical, agile and evolving genre.

Uma Dobia: Mariola

Uma is a passionate and versatile performer who grew up singing musical theatre and operetta on many Blue Mountains stages. In 2022 Uma performed the role of Tytania in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as the roles of Fairy 2 (Fairy Queen, 2022), Amy (Little Women, 2021) and Amore/Valetto (L’incoronazione di Poppea, 2021). Uma also performed in Victorian Opera’s 2022 production of The Selfish Giant. She made her professional opera debut as Bessie/Helen II in The Spare Room workshops with Monstrous Theatre (2023 and 2024). Uma currently a Resident Emerging Artist with the Australian Contemporary Opera Company. Uma sang the role of Anna Gomez in ACOCo’s production Endure, an adapted version of Menotti’s The Consul, and Milly in the school’s production of Figatroll. Uma’s original, critically acclaimed cabarets, (in)tolerant and Popera: Sex, Death & Politics (a Little Train Creative production) are currently touring. She holds both a Bachelor of Music (Performance: Classical Voice) and a Master of Music (Opera Performance) from The University of Melbourne.

Bailey Montgomerie: Manfred Lewin

Bailey Montgomerie is an emerging performer, musical and artistic director, and a fierce advocate for the development of local Australian creative arts and artists. In his creative practice, Bailey prioritises the commissioning, development, and performance of new and innovative works. As co-director of Divisi Chamber Singers, he regularly commissions new creative works from emerging and under-represented composers, especially those from the LGBTQ+ community. He brings this passion into other contracts as a freelance conductor. Bailey is also a practiced chamber musician and choral singer, having appeared with the Consort of Melbourne, Polyphonic Voices, Astra Chamber Choir, and, of course, with his own ensemble, Divisi. On the operatic stage, Bailey has performed with some of Melbourne’s premier opera companies.

Eric van Baars: Gad Beck

Eric van Baars is a theatre artist whose work encompasses performance, direction, choreography and teaching, Eric served as the Director of the School of Theatre and Dance at Kent State University in the United States from 2014-2022. As an Associate Professor he taught all aspects of theatrical performance for over twenty years. A recent Florida transplant, Eric acted in the critically acclaimed production of A Soldier’s Play for Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. He is a long-standing company member with Ohio’s Porthouse Theatre company where he has been involved in over 30 productions including Oliver (Fagin), Damn Yankees (Applegate), The Odd Couple (Felix), The Foreigner (Charlie), The Music Man (Harold Hill), Anything Goes (Lord Evelyn), Sweet Charity (Oscar), Jesus Christ Superstar (Herod), and most recently, The Prom ( Barry). Other theatre performance credits include roles with Radio City Music Hall, Walnut Street Theatre, GEVA, Theatre Virginia, St. Louis Rep, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Cherry County Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse as well as the international tours of Hair and 42nd Street. He holds an MFA in Acting from Kent State and is a long-standing member of Actors Equity Association and the Society of Directors and Choreographers in the United States.

Maria Woolford : Kapo Wala (Zosia Cover)

Hailing from sunny Brisbane, Maria is currently in her 2nd year of a Masters of Music (Opera Performance) at the University of Melbourne. Maria completed a Bachelor of Music (2021) and a Graduate Certificate of Music (2022) at the University of Queensland. In 2019, Maria undertook a semester exchange to the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and performed with McGill Opera in die Zauberflöte. During her studies, Maria has performed title roles in Little Women (2018), das Rheingold (2018), Norma (2021), Baby Doe (2021), Suor Angelica (2022), Victorian Opera’s production of the Grumpiest Boy in the World (2023), die Zauberflöte (2023), and the Medium (2024). Maria performed as a young artist in the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program in 2022 and also recently debuted professionally with Lyster Opera in their production of Martha in the principal role of Nancy (2024). Maria is excited to be performing as a young artist with the Nightingale Opera Company in their production of Two Remain. 

Stephanie Macindoe (Ensemble, Edka Cover)

Is a mezzo-soprano based in Melbourne, she completed a  Graduate Diploma of Music in 2022. Stephanie completed a Bachelor of Arts with Music and Marketing Majors in 2022 at the University of Sydney. She is also obtained a Software Engineering Certification through UTS and the Institute of Data. As part of the Masters of Opera Program in 2024, Stephanie sang Mrs Nolan in the Medium and was a chorus member of Victorian Opera's Parrwang Lifts the Sky. Stephanie is an experienced ensemble singer, having performed with Gondwana Choirs for since the age of 6 and singing with the Choir of Trinity College, Melbourne as a Choral Scholar in 2018. Stephanie was an Apprentice with the Song Company in 2022, singing in their programs,  “Ein Deutsches Requiem”, “Tremors of Earth”, and “Tallis, Hope and Crown”. She also performed for the University of Melbourne as a chorus member in the Magic Flute (2023) and  Dialoges des Carmélites (2018).

Sarah Louise Amos (Ensemble, Krysia Cover)

Is currently studying a Master of Music (Opera Performance) at the University of Melbourne and is the recipient of scholarships with the Melbourne Bach Choir, The Scots’ Church, St Patrick’s Cathedral, and Opera Scholars Australia.  Sarah has performed in multiple youth productions with Victorian Opera and was selected as a chorister in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Melbourne. Recent performance credits include Parrwang Lifts the Sky (Victorian Opera, Chorus) Barber’s A Hand of Bridge (Geraldine- Melbourne Conservatorium of Music), The Old Maid and the Thief (Miss Pinkerton- cover – Melbourne Conservatorium of Music), Il Mago di Oz (Victorian Opera, Chorus), The Yeomen of the Guard (Elsie Maynard/Chorus), The Pirates of Penzance (Mabel/Chorus) and The Gondoliers (Casilda/Chorus) with GSOV.  Sarah is a regular singer with the Australian Chamber Choir and is a current dancer with the Courtly Arts Performers of Victoria.

Ruben Fitton (Ensemble, Gad Cover)

Is a first-year student at The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music studying a Bachelor of Music Performance (Classical Voice). From an early age, he was involved in concerts such as Queensland Performing Arts Centre ‘Best of British Queensland Pops Orchestra’ where he was a soloist and in the chorus of Opera Australia’s ‘Marriage of Figaro’. Being able to work alongside industry professionals later in community productions such as 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' and 'We Will Rock You' at the Empire Theatre in Toowoomba further ignited his passion for the performing arts. Ruben has performed in many choral settings, most notably with the Gondwana National Choral School in Sydney and has been invited to tour internationally with the NCS in 2025. As an interstate student from Queensland, Ruben has taken opportunities in Melbourne being a member of the Victorian Opera Youth Chorus Ensemble (VOYCE) and now being part of ‘Two Remain’. Ruben was awarded a High Distinction for Grade 8 AMEB Classical Voice examination and is a recipient of The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music Webster Nolan Fund Scholarship, The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music Entrance Grant, Queens College Jack and Elaine Clarke Music Scholarship and Queens College Chorister Scholarship. Ruben is excited to be working alongside the amazing cast of ‘Two Remain’!

Kate Pengelly (Ensemble, Krystyna Cover)

Is a Melbourne based soprano, studying her BMus at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music under the tuition of Linda Barcan. Following her experience as a chorister, Kate has enjoyed a range of performance opportunities. In 2023 she performed Dido in VOYCE's Dido and Aeneas. In 2024, Kate is covering Krystyna Zywulska in Nightingale Opera's production of Two Remain. Other performances include Victorian Opera's Emerging Artists productions Il Mago di Oz (2022) and Melbourne, Cheremushki (2023), as well as covering Zweiter Knabe in the University of Melbourne's Die Zauberflöte (2023). This year, Kate was honoured to win first place in the Ringwood Eisteddfod's Aria competition. Outside of opera, Kate has a passion for Lieder and Art Song repertoire. In 2019, Kate was a grateful recipient of the Goethe Institut's PASCH scholarship, after which she completed an intensive German course in Frankfurt. Last year, Kate performed in the finals of the National Liederfest and received first place for Lieder at the Ringwood Eisteddfod. Kate also had the privilege of working alongside Dr Graham Johnson as part of the MCM Art Song Festival. Kate is excited to be a member of Opera Scholars Australia in 2024 and continue developing her craft.

Darcy Towe (Ensemble)

Is a student at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music studying classical voice under the tuition of Suzanne Johston, previously under the tuition of Janet Dawson (2019 - 2022). Darcy began singing with the Australian Girls’ Choir during primary school and continued to be a leader in her final years of schooling. Within the Australian Girls’ Choir, she was able to tour internationally to the United States and Europe, performing at renowned locations such as Universal Studios in California and the Australian French Embassy in Paris. Darcy is an avid performer in the Melbourne musical theatre scene, performing most notably in CLOC Musical Theatre’s Chess (2023) and Williamstown Musical Theatre Company’s Into The Woods (2024). She will continue working with Williamstown to perform in Pippin in November (2024). Other previous shows include Waterdale Music Theatre’s Legally Blonde (2023) and the University of Melbourne Music Theatre Association in Footloose (2022). Darcy is thrilled to be taking steps to further her operatic career and is delighted to be a part of telling this important story.

Alex Owens (Ensemble, Manfred Cover)

Is an emerging baritone, consort singer, arranger and composer based in Naarm (Melbourne) passionate about art song and contemporary works. As a soloist, Alex has featured in performances with Victorian Opera, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the University of Melbourne, Cordelia’s Potted Operas and Kew Philharmonic Choirs, and has been a featured soloist in the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic’s Schubert Mass (2024), Australian Chamber Choir’s Faure Requiem (2022) and Polyphonic Voices’ St John Passion (2023). With a shared passion for art song, Alex and pianist Liy Begg have curated and performed recitals across Melbourne and regional Victoria. Dedicated to consort performance, Alex is a founding member of Divisi Chamber Singers, and performs with ensembles including the Consort of Melbourne, Astra Chamber Music Society and Polyphonic Voices. Alex is an Emerging Artist with The Song Company in 2024, featured as a Young Songmaker with Songmakers Australia (2021-22), was Elyane Laussade’s Rising Star in her 2022 concert series. They completed a Bachelor of Music (2020) and Honours (2022) degrees at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music with Dr Stephen Grant, and currently study with Roger Howell.

Victoria Knight (Ensemble, Mariola Cover)

Victoria Knight is a Melbourne-based soprano with over a decade of professional recording and performance experience. Her skills extend to songwriting, composing, and live performance. As the founder, songwriter, and composer for the band Victoria K, Victoria is passionate about creating new music and entertaining audiences with her live performances. She has collaborated extensively with musicians worldwide to craft a sound that blends her classical training with contemporary influences. Knight’s talent has been showcased in numerous solo shows and projects across the country, earning her international recognition for her work. She is currently honing her classical voice skills at the Melbourne Conservatorium. This training complements her extensive background and prepares her for new challenges in the operatic realm. In a significant milestone, Knight is set to make her opera debut in Jake Heggie's 'Two Remain' with the Nightingale Performing Arts Australia. This debut marks a new chapter in her career, demonstrating her dedication to exploring the full spectrum of her vocal abilities.

Taco Kuiper (Ensemble)

Is a double bassist, musical comedian, and draglesque performer from Naarm. He graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Diploma of Music, studying double bass under Rob Nairn and regularly performing with the Melbourne University Symphony Orchestra. He has previously produced and performed three solo double bass cabaret productions for Comedy and Fringe Festivals, and also co-devised productions of Business Boyz, a physical comedy parody of corporate men and Foreign Woman, a cabaret comedy about the life of his grandmother. This year Taco is touring with Tash York as a double bassist and vocalist. Taco has trained extensively as a dancer and performs drag and burlesque regularly around Naarm. Two Remain marks Taco’s opera debut and he is thrilled to be joining the talented cast for this production. 

PRODUCTION BIOS

Cynthia Skelley-Wohlschlager (Stage Director)

Is internationally known as an operatic stage and music director, voice pedagogue, and mezzo-soprano. A passion for social justice and education has led to a commitment championing contemporary and lesser-known operatic works. Wohlschlager's scholarship on the works of Jake Heggie was established whilst music directing and portraying Mrs. De Rocher in Dead Man Walking. The pursuit deepened with a lecture recital of Heggie's Three Decembers alongside a presentation on LQBTQIA and 21st Century Themes and the research "Shared Dramatic Pacing in Jake Heggie's Three Decembers," available on ProQuest. As the Director of Young Artist Programs and Associate Artistic Director for Nightingale Opera Theatre, Wohlschlager directed Heggie's If I Were You in Summer 2022. The program involved a residency working in masterclass, conversations, and lessons with the composer, as well as a call for scores for emerging opera composers. The selected new works were workshopped, directed, and presented in a staged showcase. Directing credits include over 35 titles with production highlights including Dove's Pinocchio, Todd's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Adamo's Little Women, Moore's Gallantry, Bridger Heruth's A Certain Madness, as well as large selections of the canon including titles such as Die Fledermaus, Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, La Finta Giardiniera, Menotti's The Medium and Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Ayer's Beneath Suspicion, not to mention many of the comedies of Gilbert and Sullivan. As a performer, Wohlschlager has been described as applying commanding intensity to every line (Cleveland.com), with the ability to act and sing powerfully as well as act with sly humor (Cleveland Classical). Awards include the O.D. Taliaferro Opera Award, the Max Berman Award for Outstanding Vocal Performance and the Dewey and Mary Gilley Award for Distinguished Opera, Tuesday Musical Competition, and Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society. Wohlschlager's dedication to children having early exposure to opera has led to school tours as a performer with Cleveland Opera as well as both directing and performing shows through Akron Children's Concert Society. Summer 2024 features include a production of Pauline Viardot's Cendrillon and as well as a continuation of research on dramatic pacing and motivic development whilst directing Heggie's Two Remain at 45downstairs in Melbourne, Australia. The production of Two Remain, comprised of a collaboration between Australian and American creatives will travel to Beachwood, Ohio in September 2024. www.cynthiaskelleywohlschlager.com

John Simmons (Conductor)

Has appeared in numerous recitals in Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy and the U.S. His studies include a piano performance diploma from the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria, where he was a student of Paul Badura-Skoda. He was a pianist/coach for the Opera House in Graz, Austria for two seasons and a teaching assistant at the Hochschule in Graz. After returning to the U.S., he received a master's degree from the Peabody Conservatory in piano performance as a student of Yoheved Kaplinsky. Mr. Simmons has coached, taught and performed at AIMS in Graz, the Spoleto Festival USA, Lincoln Center Festival, Centro Studi Italiani, The Amalfi Coast Music Festival and the Shaker Mountain Festival. He was an associate coach at the Juilliard Opera Center for three years and was on the faculty at the CW Post campus of Long Island University for six years. Mr. Simmons has performed frequently at Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall and the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. He completed three concert tours of Europe featuring works of Pavel Haas and Viktor Ullmann and has performed with such artists/ensembles as Jonas Kaufmann, Christopher Maltman, John Aler, the London Symphony Chorus, the Westminster Choir, the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra. He was a guest professor of collaborative piano for the 2004-2005 school year at Rutgers University, and has been opera coach, assistant conductor and chorus master in the opera department at the Cleveland Institute of Music since 2005. Mr. Simmons has been music director, pianist and rehearsal coach for Nightingale Opera since 2013 and conducted the company’s performances of Donizetti’s Elixir of Love, Adamo’s Little Women, Menotti’s The Consul and Heggie’s If I Were You.

Eloise Kent (Scenic Design)

Eloise is a scenographer who designs sets for live performance, art installations, exhibitions and events. She holds a Master of Performance Design from the Victorian College of the Arts.Recent set design work includes ‘Recollection’ (fortyfivedownstairs, 2024), ‘The 39 Steps’ (Chapel Off Chapel, 2024), ‘Akaraka’ (The Substation, 2024), ‘Within These Walls’ (NICA, 2023), ‘THIS’ (Rising Festival, 2023), ‘I Am (Not) This Body’ (Arts House, 2023), ‘Variations or Exit Music’ (La Mama, 2022), ‘Eclipse’ (NICA, 2022), ‘The Darkening Sky’ (Theatre Works, 2022), and ‘What Every Girl Should Know’ (Brunswick Mechanics Institute, 2020). Designs for live art installations include ‘After the Flood’ (Sydney Opera House, 2022), ‘Nom Nom Nom’ (Testing Grounds, 2019), ‘Carnival Of Futures’ (Arts House, 2018) and ‘The Infirmary’ (Arts House, 2018). Eloise has interned with the Schaubühne theatre in Berlin, took part in the Besen Family Artist Program at the Malthouse Theatre, and was a contracted artist for White Night Melbourne. She recently received the APDG award for Emerging Designer for a Live Performance with her collaborator Angelica Rush.

Kris Chainey (Lighting Design)

Kris Chainey is a Naarm based Lighting Designer. Notable credits include The Leenane Trilogy (2014) and Shrine (2017) for The Kin Collective, The Absence of Knowing: Four Men and Dog Play (2017) and Julius Caesar (2023) with Richard Murphet, Point8Six (2016/22) with Kirsten von Bibra, Cactus (2023) with Katie Cawthorne and Madeline Nunn, Low (2022) and The Whale (2024) with Jennifer Sarah Dean, the multiple award winning Bighouse Dreaming (2018-21) with Declan Furber Gillick, Mark Wilson and Susannah Day, Crocodiles (2023), Technique (2022), Prehistoric (2018) We Get It (2015-16), and The Motion of Light in Water (2014-15) for Elbow Room, as well as numerous projects for The National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) including Please Hold (2017), Onism (2021), Circonoclasm, Made To Measure (2022), Within These Walls and ON/OFF (2023). 

Lyndall Grant (Fight Choreographer and Movement Director)

Lyndall Grant is a fight director, movement director, actor and motion capture specialist. She trained in acting at London’s ArtsEd School of Acting and then specialised in fight performance and movement from 2007. Lyndall is an accredited teacher with the British Academy of Dramatic Combat and a member of the Society of Australian Fight Directors. In 2013 she founded Captivate Action, which trains actors in stage/screen combat and motion capture in Australia and the U.K.  Lyndall was recently a guest instructor at the Paddy Crean International Stage Combat Workshop in Canada, and teaches at the Victorian College of the Arts and 16th Street Actors Studio. Recent fight/movement credits include Rusalka (West Australian Opera); Sunset Boulevard, Groundhog Day The Musical, Death of A Salesman, An American in Paris, 2:22 A Ghost Story (GWB); The Picture of Dorian Gray (Michael Cassel Group); Beauty and the Beast (Disney Australia); Topdog-Underdog, The Almighty Sometimes, 37, My Sister Jill, A Very Jewish Christmas Carol, Is God Is, Sunday, As You Like It, Berlin, The Lifespan of a Fact, The Architect, Cosi, Torch the Place, The Lady in the Van, Astroman (Melbourne Theatre Company); Cruel Intentions the Musical (David Venn Enterprises); Nosferatu, Looking for Alibrandi, Atlantis, The Return, Because the Night and Cloudstreet (Malthouse Theatre); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? (Red Stitch). As a performer, Lyndall was Movement Captain, ensemble member, principal role cover and aerialist in Melbourne’s production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child from 2018-2022.

Finlay Pedler (Stage Management)

Is a graduate from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, with a Bachelor's Degree in Stage Management. Throughout their career, Finlay has worked with a variety of Australian theatre companies including West Australian Opera, Victorian Opera, THEATRE180, Melbourne Theatre Company, as well as The United Ukrainian Ballet, touring inter/nationally as Stage Manager and Caller for Swan Lake in 2022. Most recently, she worked on two National Tours with Bell Shakespeare for Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream as Assistant Stage Manager and Wardrobe Assistant. Finlay has a strong passion for creating thought-provoking theatre works, and presenting them to a wide range of audiences around Australia. 

Noah Chrapot (Sound Design)

Is an accomplished arts manager with a diverse skill set that spans audio engineering, stage management, and production management. Noah enjoys implementing technical and artistic elements to create experiences that audiences love. He has worked in a variety of roles, across the performing arts as well as corporate and major events as a stage manager, production manager and sound engineer. Noah has collaborated with companies such as Arts Centre Melbourne, Orchestra Victoria and Victorian Opera. His work on this production is on behalf of Stagepass.

Dan Knight (Costume/Wardrobe Assistant)

Has been costuming for over a decade, and works at Rose Chong Costumes in Fitzroy. He has previously collaborated with Melbourne Opera on The Marriage of Figaro, Lucia di Lammermoor and Maria Stuarda. He has also assisted on other stage and film projects, including The Portable Door, but predominantly spends his time putting people in silly outfits covered in glitter.