Our People
The Matilda Awards is comprised of two committees: the Executive Committee, and the Judging Panel.
Executive Committee
CHAIR
JAN IRVINE joined the Matilda Awards Executive Committee in 2019. Jan is a highly experienced Freelance Arts Manager. With over 30 years working in the arts in various management positions including Anthony Steel and Associates, Meryl Tankard Co, Sydney Festival, British Council, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Arts NSW, QUT and Arts Qld. Jan has a commitment to improving the working environment for artists.
TREASURER
SHARONDELL GRENNAN has worked in business management and leadership for more than 25 years. Sharondell brings to the Matilda Awards financial management experience in the private, public and non-profit sectors, with a focus on developing policies and procedures to improve performance and productivity.
SECRETARY
Anna Loren is a writer, actor, theatre-maker, and teaching artist. She holds an MA in Ensemble Theatre and sits on the board of Women in Film & Television (WIFT) Australia as Deputy Chair, where she is dedicated to working towards a more equitable screen industry.
Anna was a finalist in the 2020-2021 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award for her play, COMFORT, and received Playwriting Australia’s Erin Thomas Playwright Fund, for her play, 22. Her short monologue, BURNING SEASON was commissioned as part of the Come to Where I am anthology with Critical Stages Touring and Paines Plough. Loren’s screenplay, SUGARCANE was supported by La Boite Theatre and Screen Queensland through the 2022 Stage to Screen initiative and was selected for the AFTRS Talent Camp.
Anna is Director of the 2022 West End Film Festival and teaches on the acting program at JMC Academy. In the past, Anna has also taught for The Actors Workshop, NIDA Open and Speak Up Studio in Brisbane, as well as the Rose Bruford Youth Theatre in London, where she directed numerous productions.
GENERAL MEMBER
PAUL ADAMS was a Matilda Awards judge for three years before relinquishing that role to take up a position on the Executive Committee. He has worked as the Producer for the Matilda Awards event since 2013 taking on the role of Executive Producer from Rosemary Walker on her retirement from the Matilda Awards Judging Panel.
A Director, Producer and an award winning actor, Paul manages his independent company Small Crown Productions while also working as a freelance artist.
He has produced work in the Brisbane Powerhouse Theatre, Visy Theatre; Gardens Point Theatre; Brisbane City Council Parks in Sandgate, Roma Street Parkland and the Gasworks; Geoffrey Rush Drama Studio; Cremorne Theatre QPAC and the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts.
He brings over twenty five years experience working in leadership and management positions across a range of industries including the arts, events, retail and training sectors.
GENERAL MEMBER
Matt Young is a US-born, regional Queensland-based LGBTQIA+ actor / director / choreographer who splits his time between Brisbane and Blackall.
A graduate of New York University in 1994, he toured the world in Broadway productions including A Chorus Line, On the Town and West Side Story before joining the original Australian tour of The Producers. He is an acting coach through Tukuna Acting Club, and regularly teaches for The Factory Acting Studio and Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Mackay. As a performer he has appeared in two Matilda Award nominated musicals, Yank! (2019) and Goodby Miss Monroe (2014).
Judging Panel
LEAD JUDGE
SUE RIDER was an inaugural Matilda Award winner in 1988. She is a director, writer, actor, dramaturg, producer and former theatre reviewer. She has worked on over 180 stage productions and writing commissions across Australia and New Zealand in theatre, music theatre, opera, and theatre for young people. As Artistic Director of La Boite Theatre (1993 – 2000), Sue established a strong focus on inclusiveness, Queensland theatre professionals and Australian work. She has been regularly involved in First Nations theatre since 1984 and is highly experienced in new work development. Sue has served on grant committees, was Chair of Backbone Youth Arts (2008 – 2017) and regularly mentors emerging professionals through UQ and GU Conservatorium. Sue is the recipient of 19 industry awards, including five Matilda Awards, three NZ Listener Awards, a Helpmann nomination, the Playlab Award and Alan Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a proud member of MEAA and AWG.
SUSAN HETHERINGTON is a journalist and journalism educator who has a passion for the performing arts and arts reporting. She reviewed theatre for ABC Radio Brisbane with Spencer Howson for a decade and more recently with Fairfax. She is a theatre reviewer for Brisbane Spectrum with Damien Lee. In addition, she is a three-time Logie Awards judge and last year was a judge for the Beenleigh One Act Theatre Festival. She is the co-owner and reviewer of the Brisbane-based theatre review and creatives interview podcast RideHomeReview. Each year she sees more than 100 theatrical productions at all the major venues as well as frequently attending community and student theatre.
KATRINA HASTHORPE is a drama teacher and theatre practitioner who has been working in Queensland and London for 13 years.
In London she wrote and directed for KDC Theatre and created 3 community-funded original works, Pub Quiz Champion (2011), Visited (2012), and The Walls are Watching (2014) with the company. She played the role of Sonya in Cutting Edge: An Interactive Fairy Tale (2011) Tiresias in The Last Hour of Antigone (2012), both premiere productions directed by Sarah Provencal. Katrina was a Donmar Warehouse Local School's Partner from 2013-2015 and a member of the Old Vic School's Club from 2011- 2015. Katrina is currently the Drama Queensland Vice President for Professional Development and a senior drama teacher in central Brisbane. She is passionate about Arts advocacy and education.
Alexandra Ellen Ellen is a Brisbane/Meanjin based theatre maker and visual artist. She takes a multidisciplinary approach to her artistic practice which crosses form.
Alex believes that as artists we are story tellers and is very passionate about disabled stories being told by authentic voices. This underpins all her art and advocacy work.
Alexandra Ellen is the Artistic Associate at indelabilityarts and has been a member of the professional ensemble since 2017. She has been involved in Love Me; and performs in the award-winning show, Wilbur the Optical Whale. In September 2023 her disability-led show, Betsy and I premiered at Undercover Artist Festival to a sold out audience. Alexandra was part of La Boite’s 2020 ASSEMBLY cohort and was the 2020 Access Arts Achievement Award recipient.
DR BERNADETTE MEENACH is a graduate of NIDA (Voice), QUT (Actor Training) and USQ (Biographical Performance). She has been a proud member of MEAA since her first professional acting gig with the QLD Arts Council in 1990. Over her thirty-year career she has been an actor, a founding member of an artist run initiative, the chair of a regional youth theatre, a director, a writer, a singer, and a voice coach. Bernadette has toured extensively throughout QLD, NSW, VIC and SA as an actor with homegrown companies including Imaginary Theatre, Canute Productions and New Moon. She has dedicated many years to mentoring young actors and filmmakers through her work in training programs at NIDA Open, QTC Youth and Education, QUT, SAE Institute, JCU and USQ.
CINNAMON SMITH is a Brisbane-based arts marketer and photographer. Their passion is to capture, experience and promote the talent of local creatives. In 2016, they graduated from QUT with a BFA (drama major and film minor) and a graduate certificate in marketing. Since then, they have worked in a professional marketing capacity with a number of local arts organisations including: Playlab Theatre, Belloo Creative, House Conspiracy and Queensland Theatre.
Mikayla Hosking is an emerging director, stage manager, writer, and creative. Hailing from Far North Queensland, but now based in Brisbane Queensland, Mikayla has worked with state and independent theatre companies including Queensland Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, Ad Astra, Brisbane Immersive, and HOTA over the last five years.
Mikayla has directed four mainstage productions of their own - Rabbit Hole (Ad Astra, 2022), Cluedo! The New Suspects (Brisbane Immersive, 2022), Zigzag Street (Ad Astra, 2021), Kelly (Ad Astra, 2019). These productions received Matilda Award and other smaller organisational award nominations. After Rabbit Hole, Mikayla was named one of Brisbane’s “directors to watch” for 2022, and just received a Matilda Nomination for “Best Director” for their work on this project.
Now one of the resident SM’s at Brisbane Powerhouse, Mikayla’s highly effective multidisciplinary skills have also earned them the opportunity to manage events, performances, and festivals at The Tivoli, Princess Theatre, Roma Street Parklands, QPAC, Night Quarter and the Ron Hurley Theatre.
When not in the director’s chair or attached to a headset, Mik can be found coaching at Bravehearts Boxing gym, teaching drama with Shake and Stir Theatre Company, working as a roving artist and face painter, or spending time with their adorable little nephew.
Adam Wood is an experienced project and event manager and community worker, with a passion for live performance, capacity development and storytelling. He has more than 10 years experience in developing, producing and running events for diverse clients both in Australia and internationally, including conferences and training programs in the university and community sectors and live performances events, particularly in the circus and cabaret fields.
Adam currently works as an International Project Coordinator for The University of Queensland. He is also the senior editor at Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane (NEHIB), an independent media platform showcasing reviews, opinion pieces, info articles, policy critiques and more, whose team is one of the most diverse groups of writers and artists in the country. NEHIB's primary focus is art in Meanjin / Brisbane and Queensland, with a strong preference for independent, underground, alternative and experimental works. As well as this, Adam is a producer for Moment of Inertia Productions, most recently producing their show, 'Sometimes I Say Your Name Out Loud', and the opening night event for CircFest Meanjin 2022 for Cluster Arts, and an established cabaret and circus performer in Meanjin, most recently performing as a part of the ensemble of the 2022 season of Dwell, produced by Madeline Grant.
Craig Wilkinson APDG is an award-winning Live Performance Video Designer and the Creative Director of optikal bloc. His video design work has toured extensively across Australia and internationally.
As a video producer, he has created video marketing campaigns for companies such as Sydney Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre, shake & stir theatre co, La Boite Theatre and Brisbane Festival.
Craig is a proud and accredited member of the Australian Production Design Guild, is a seasonal lecturer in Live Performance Video Design at the Queensland University of Technology and in 2022 was a recipient of a Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor’s Creative Fellowship.
Indiah Morris (she/her) is a Meanjin-based multi-disciplinary theatre-maker, performer, director and designer. She is the Artistic Director of Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre and founder of promising independent theatre company The Drawer Productions. In recent years, she has made an impact on the independent theatre scene directing the multi-award winning production SHELTER: The Immersive Experience. Her performance and producing work continued to bring in acclaim with Hello Stranger, an immersive production in partnership with Alzheimer’s Queensland that won the Queensland Theatre Emerging Theatre award and People’s Choice at the Anywhere Theatre Festival.
Indiah holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Queensland University of Technology and has studied within Brisbane theatre companies; from Incubator with PlayLab, Assembly with La Boite Theatre Company and Zen Zen Zo’s Creative Entrepreneur Internship. All after learning from a multitude of Brisbane performance ensembles in the early stages of her career. She is an award-winning playwright, taking home Queensland Theatre’s Young Playwrights Award in 2018.
Thea Raveneau is a proud Gunggari, Lardil, and Kullilli woman from Gaibal Country in Toowoomba, currently living, working, and storytelling on Jagera and Turrbal Country in Magan-djin/Brisbane. Thea completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) at Queensland University of Technology in 2023. Thea made her film debut starring in A Savage Christmas (2023) and her theatre debut understudying for Rosie in Darlinghurst Theatre’s production of Overflow (2024), written by Travis Alabanza and Directed by Dino Dimitriadis.
Thea was elected to join the Queensland Performer’s Committee with the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) in 2024, joined the MELT Open Reference Group (MORG) at the Magan-djin/Brisbane Powerhouse in 2023, and recently began volunteering for the 350 Magan-djin branch of the international 350 climate justice organisation.
Thea places huge value on honesty, passion, love, humour, forgiveness, growth, and compassion. She is a hard worker, a team player, and a very spiritual person, striving to maintain a safe space for those around her. Thea thrives working on projects that connect people on mental, emotional, physical and spiritual levels.
Frances Foo is a costume designer, performer and acting tutor. She started working in costume design for Brisbane Arts Theatre in 2010 and now works as a freelance costume designer. She recently costumed Anna Yen’s ‘Slowboat’ and Therese Collie’s White China’ for Playlab.
Frances is an Australian born Chinese with Malaysian heritage. She is a founding member of Asian acting troupe ‘The Moon Ensemble’ who create theatrical performances for Brisbane City Councils’ cultural festivals. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge and culture with the community.
Frances has completed an Advanced Diploma in Fashion, Adv Diploma in Acting, and a Bachelor of Education. As an acting tutor, Frances has taught a Certificate IV in Acting for Dramaworks and Perform Australia, as well as acting workshops for Brisbane Arts Theatre. She currently works for Warner Bros. Movieworld as a Costumier and seasonal performer.
Winnie Mzembe is a Brisbane actor, who began theatre training at 11 years of age, with the Australian Acting Academy.
Winnie has performed at The Ron Hurley Theatre and in partnership with Backbone Youth Arts for the sold out theatre production of “Dominoes and Rum” as well as plays at Home of The Arts theatre space, and Brisbane Arts Theatre.
In 2018 Winnie was handpicked to perform at the inaugural Diversity Showcase in Sydney which garnered huge praise from industry professionals. Amongst a number of film and television appearances you can catch Winnie in Netflix’s Irreverent, ABC’s All My Friends Are Racist and In Our Blood.
Winnie is passionate about the theatre and has always had a deep love and appreciation for the arts. Her mission is to teach individuals how the mind and body are connected to develop an external and internal foundation. When not on stage, or on set, Winnie can be found writing screenplays and developing stories of her own.
Shane Pike is a writer/director, award winning producer and Senior Lecturer in drama at the Queensland University of Technology.
An authority in digital performance and augmented reality experiences, Shane is considered an expert in theatre direction, acting methodologies and ethnodramatic performance making. His works are regularly produced across Australia and the world, on stages as far-flung as South Korea and Brazil. Of Asian-Australian heritage, his works often explore Australian identity and are available for purchase from Playlab.
Shane has operated his own independent theatre company, as well as completed commissioned projects funded by local, state and federal funding bodies, demonstrating more than 0.5 million in arts project funding for works spanning contemporary and commercial performance, dance theatre, community-devised and, of course, musical theatre.
A long-time champion for diversity on the Australian stage, he believes in the power of theatre and the importance of recognition for the exceptional work our artists do.