Our People


Our Patron


Dr Liz Jones, AO

DR LIZ JONES, AO has worked as a performance artist at La Mama with the ensemble led by Lloyd Jones continuously since 1973. She has also worked extensively with a number of directors and ensembles including Ariette Taylor, Suzanne Chaundy, Humphrey Bower, Mammad Aidani, David Pledger and NYID, Margaret Cameron and Aphids, Emma Valente and The Rabble, Samara Hersch and Bagryana Popov. In 2009 she commenced working on The Minutes of Evidence Project (Coranderrk) with writers Giordano Nani and Andrea James, and director Rachel Maza and Ilbijerri Indigenous Theatre Company as a performer. This toured until 2015. She commenced work in Albury (Hothouse Residency) with Alicia Talbot on her youth project Night Vision which culminated in a Bundanon Residency involving local Koori/Shoalhaven youth as part of the Siteworks Festival 2016. Since 2014 she has worked with Bagryana Popov in the ‘Uncle Vanya-in- Residence Project’  in regional Victoria which in 2018 included a residency and performance at Bundanon and participation in the 2019 Adelaide Festival. She performed in Sex and Death directed by Samara Hersch in the Festival of Live Art (2019) Darwin Festival (2020) and Adelaide Festival(2022) In 1995 Liz was awarded the 1994 Kenneth Myer Medallion for the Performing Arts. In 2000 she was awarded the Sidney  Myer “Facilitator’s” Award and in 2001 Liz  received the Green Room Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2002 she was placed on The Victorian Women’s Honour Roll and in 2008 received the Dorothy Crawford AWGIE for her contribution to playwriting. She received the 2018 Australia Council Award for Theatre and in 2019 was  presented with The Sue Natrass Award by Live Performance Australia. On March 31st 2023 Liz stood down as Artistic Director and CEO of La Mama.

INTRODUCING OUR PRESIDENT

Anton Berezin (he/him)

Anton Berezin is an Australian actor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. Berezin is best known for his roles in over 25 commercial musical theatre productions such as THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, EVITA, SWEENEY TODD, WICKED, THE PRODUCERS, CABARET, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and CATS. His film and Television work credits include NEWTON’S LAW, THE DIVORCE, JACK IRISH: BLACK TIDE and MISS FISHER’S MURDER MYSTERIES. He has been a prolific producer of Musical Theatre and Family Theatre through Life Like Touring, a production house he established in 1998 with his wife, actress and writer, Theresa Borg. Berezin is an Ashkenazi Jew, born in Leningrad in the former Soviet Union and arrived in Melbourne in 1976, at the age of 3, as a refugee. Berezin speaks fluent Russian and learned his ancestral language, Yiddish, as an adult.

Executive Committee


Dean Drieberg (he/him)

Vice President


Dean is Resident Director of HAMILTON Australia. In 2022, he directed the Australian Premiere of Stew and Heidi Rodewald’s PASSING STRANGE for Antipodes Theatre Company, for whom he directed a development of Michele Gould’s 107 and a reading of Harrison David Rivers’THIS BITTER EARTH. In 2020, Dean worked alongside Jarrod Draper to create his sold-out solo shows for Darlinghurst Theatre Company. Dean is Co-Artistic Director of Stephen Sondheim repertory company Watch This, alongside Melanie Hillman. In 2019, he co-directed SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE with Sonya Suares for Watch This, receiving two Green Room Award nominations for Best Direction and Best Multimedia Design. He directed and designed BARE THE MUSICAL and the Australian Premiere of MEMPHIS THE MUSICAL for StageArt at Chapel Off Chapel. Dean studied at WAAPA and VCA, and is an advocate for theatre that is inclusive of Indigenous, Bla(c)k and people of colour, artists with a disability and LGBTQIA+ artists.

Weng Yi Wong (she/her)

Secretary


Weng Yi works in commercial law by day, and divides the rest of her time between the performing arts industry and recreational equestrian sports. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Law from Monash University, and has additionally acquired an eclectic mix of qualifications, ranging from those in the equine industry and music industry, to intellectual property law. Weng Yi comes from a background in classical music, having spent many childhood hours involved in solo, orchestral and string ensemble performances. She has since pursued her passion for musical theatre in a professional capacity as Production Manager for the Be You Group's BROADWAY UNPLUGGED bi-monthly concert series, [TITLE OF SHOW], and their upcoming 2023 production LUCKY STIFF. As a former Editor and literature major, Weng Yi is also interested in storytelling through written mediums, particularly by and for our diverse community.

Emily Harvey (she/her)

Treasurer


Emily is an arts manager, theatre practitioner, and designer. Emily has worked as a design associate on GOLDEN SQUARE (RISING), ANTIGONE X (Theatre Works), TITUS (Bloomshed). She was part of the Australian touring team for PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL (PQAU, 2019) and worked on the costume realisation of MONICA BILL BARNES COMPANY GALLERY WORKOUT (NVG x The MET, 2018). She currently holds an executive position on VAMP, managing cultural and community enrichment events targeting audiences in regional Victoria, and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production) from the Victorian College of the Arts. Outside of her involvement in the arts, Emily maintains a professional career in insurance, loss adjusting, and risk management since 2010.

Life Members


1993 Blair Edgar OAM
(founding member)
1993 Steven Tandy
(founding member)
1994 Irene Mitchell (1905 - 1995)
1994 Lady Pamela Travers (1899 - 1996)
1995 Lady ‘Viola’ Tait AM (1911 - 2002)
1996 Pamela Ruskin (1920 - 2010)
1996 Anne Fraser
2000 Frank van Straten OAM
2001 Paul Hammond FRAD OAM (1922 - 2010)
2008 Geoffrey Milne (1945 - 2013)
2011 Mark Williams
2013 Martin Croft
2013 Will Conyers
2016 Chris Thompson
2017 Chris Boyd

Past Presidents


1983-1985 Steven Tandy
1985-1990 Prof. John Rickard
1990-1994 Hugo Leschen
1994-1999 Beverly Dunn
2000-2002 Rob Meldrum
2002-2005 Will Conyers
2005-2010 Dr Mark Williams
2010-2011 Richard Watts
2011-2012 Tim Stitz
2012-2015 Chris Thompson
2016-2020 Prof. Hilary Glow
2021-2022 Eugyeene Teh and Sapidah Kian