DIRECTOR

‘You slopped them hawgs yet boy?’ is the memorable line uttered by me in my first (and only) onstage appearance. I was 17 and completing a youth workshop production at the Adelaide Repertory in the wonderful Arts Theatre.

I soon learned that I had minimal talent nor did I enjoy acting but I loved everything associated with getting a play on to the stage. 

I spent every spare minute of the next 10 years working at The Rep and my love for theatre grew. Over the years backstage I developed skills in every role associated with a production from props through to Stage Manager (SM). As SM you are in control and this responsibility for the production was my favourite backstage role.

In 1979 I worked with a very quiet lighting tech - a year later we married. We shared a passion for theatre and spent the next 45 years working with St Jude’s Players. Rob was the resident lighting director and we worked on almost every production.

My love of backstage developed into the joy of working with directors and understanding how to interpret a script to connect with an audience.

I started directing in 1982 and, working with a team of people to bring my vision for a play to reality, is an absolute pleasure. 

In addition to theatre we have 2 children, both of whom spent some time working both on and off stage in their childhood.  They both love theatre and so do their children.  I adore my grandchildren, I love live music and dancing and I’m on the Board of the Get Home Safe Foundation. We are trying to save lives on the road – check us out online.

PERFORMER

A veteran and iconoclastic Adelaide director, actor, designer, producer and occasional playwright. A Fringe Award winner and former Artistic Director of the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild. He has worked in the theatre since 1971. He directed the production of “California Suite” which opened Holden Street Theatres in January, 2003. He co-directed the opera “Hansel And Gretel” with Dame Joan Hammond, pantomimed Captain Hook in the ballet of “Peter Pan”, played Herod in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at Her Majesty’s Theatre and The Narrator in “The Rocky Horror Show” at the Adelaide Festival Theatre. He taught drama at a university in Istanbul, Turkey where he also directed plays including, a favourite, “The Glass Menagerie” and Clem Gorman’s Gallipoli play “A Manual Of Trench Warfare”. Other favourite shows he’s directed include “A Little Night Music”, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, “Kiss Of The Spider Woman” and “Amadeus”. As an actor his favourite roles are Elwood P. Dowd in “Harvey” which will be revived at Holden Street in November this year, Gerald Popkiss in “Rookery Nook”, the Emperor in “Amadeus” and playing opposite Martha Lott in “California Suite” (directed by Geoff Crowhurst). Recently, as the Resident Director at Holden Street Theatres he has directed the award-winning “Looped” and “‘night, Mother” and “A Cheery Soul”, “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" plus “Hamlet In Fifteen Minutes”, “Romeo And Juliet In Fifteen Minutes” and “The Christian Brothers". Goers was a celebrated ABC Radio broadcaster for twenty years and as a frequent entertainer has appeared more than one thousand times throughout Australia including the Theatre Royal in Hobart. He has performed ten solo shows for the Holden Street Theatres Fringe and is the author of two memoirs, “Maddening Self-Indulgent Crap” and “In The Air Of An Afternoon Almost Past”, published by Wakefield Press.  Goers is in the Walk Of Fame at the Festival Centre, is a Distinguished Alumni of Flinders University and in 2013 was honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to community, broadcasting and the arts.

PERFOMER

Christopher Cordeaux has film and radio experience and has featured as Hamlet in “Hamlet In Fifteen Minutes” and Romeo in “Romeo And Juliet In Fifteen Minutes”, “Cowardy Cowardy Custard” and “A Cheery Soul” all at Holden Street Theatres. Recently he appeared in eight roles including a posse, a policeman, a Woolworths deliverer and a legless Hungarian soldier in “Neighbourhood Watch” at St Jude’s Players. He’s very keen.

PERFOMER

Antoinette Cirocco has been passionate about acting since the age of five, building experience across stage, screen, and radio. She has performed in both comedic and dramatic roles, with training in singing, dance, and fight choreography adding to her versatility as a performer. Stage credits include an ensemble role in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", while on screen she has played the lead in the horror short film "Saving Grace" and is currently filming as a lead supporting role in "Conan: His Weight in Gold". Antoinette has also contributed her voice to radio projects and continues to explore a wide range of characters. Drawing on her Greek and Italian heritage, she brings depth, identity, and adaptability to every performance. This is her debut in a main stage production.

PERFOMER

(alternating as E.F. Lofgren)

Has played a prolific, uniquely diverse and popular range of roles for Adelaide companies. These include Stanley Kowalski in “A Streetcar Named Desire”, title roles in “The Elephant Man”, “The Dresser”, the Woody Allen role in “Play It Again Sam”, Tom in “The Glass Menagerie”, Teach in “American Buffalo” and three characters with 67 costume changes (including Harpo Marx) in the Gershwin musical “Lady Be Good”. He has also appeared in “The Matchmaker”, “Rookery Nook”, “Home”, “Playboy Of The Western World”, “Furtive Love”, “The Fantasticks” and revue. He played Mr Goldstone in “Gypsy” and two roles in “California Suite” which opened Holden Street Theatres in January 2003.A favourite role was Amos in “Chicago”. Recently he appeared in the award winning Holden Street Theatres’ production of “Looped” and in “A Cheery Soul” and as Gertrude in “Hamlet In Fifteen Minutes”, the Nurse in “Romeo And Juliet In Fifteen Minutes”and the one-man play “The Christian Brothers". He appeared in the movie “Fire In The Stone” and was dubbed for American audiences and in a best-forgotten TV series with Graeme Bond. He is father of two, grandfather of three and an old scholar of Christian Brothers College, Adelaide. At CBC, he auditioned for a play for the Catholic Schools’ One-Act Play Competition at Willard Hall. He didn’t get in so he did his own production of another play and won.

PERFOMER

Ron was a “stalwart” of the Troupe ensemble from 1978 to 1984, performing in more than 30 plays. Later he was active in the community and multicultural arts, and was the director of the Multicultural Arts Trust of SA until 1995. His most celebrated role was as Vukhov in a 3-hour one man epic, Judgment in 1980. Since then, he has worked with Adelaide Rep on Cemetery Club and The Loves of Cass McGuire and the Metropolitan Theatre in The Investigation. Apart from roles in Margie Fischer’s Getting your Man and numerous Purim Spiels (plays) at Beit Shalom Synagogue, he has been “resting” for about 20 years, when not lecturing in Journalism at UniSA. He Has been recently seen in  Red Phoenix’s  for The Suicide (2023), Actually Acting’s Our Place (February 2024) and as the Mr Lickiss in Holden Street Theatre’s A Cheery Soul.  (November 2024). 

PERFORMER

Amanda is Adelaide’s most popular lady butcher and entertains over, through, with and around meat at Beach Meat’s at Glenelg - Adelaide’s best butcher shop. She has played Calamity Jane at the Arts Theatre and a funny nun in “Nunsense”. She enjoys eating rabbit but not Harvey.

PERFOMER

Rebecca Kemp is a stage actor with a diverse portfolio of roles across the city’s leading theatre companies. Her resume includes Laura in The Watsons (UATG) Regan in King Lear (UATG), Mrs. Wadhurst in Cowardy Cowardy Custard (Holden Street Theatres), and Margot Channing in All About Eve (St Judes). She has also portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience (Therry Theatre), Arkadina in The Seagull and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (Independent Theatre), and Lady Elizabeth Pembroke in The Madness of King George (Adelaide Rep). Her roles extend to Lizzie in Seventeen (UATG), Mrs. Allonby in A Woman of No Importance (Adelaide Rep), Sybil Birling in An Inspector Calls (Therry Theatre), and Miss Blake in Blue Stockings (Red Phoenix,).  Now, she’s ticking off a dream role, Veta-Louise Simmons in Harvey and couldn’t be more thrilled to finally share the stage with Peter Goers. 

PERFORMER

(Alternating as E.F. Lofgren)

Robin“Smacka” Schmelzkopf is a favourite Adelaide performer. He has appeared in many plays and musicals over many decades. He performed in the first production at Holden Street Theatres, “California Suite” and has played Tevye in “Fiddler On The Roof”, Psuedolus in “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum”, Fredrick in “A Little Night Music” (twice). King Arthur in “Camelot” (twice) and five productions of “Guys And Dolls”. He has also  He is also a popular cabaret entertainer.

PERFORMER

After a 20-year hiatus from the stage, Dora reignited her passion for performance in 2021, undertaking adult acting classes. Committed to refining her craft, she went on to complete an Undergraduate Certificate in Acting at the prestigious Flinders University Drama Centre.

Since her return, Dora has brought dynamic characters to life in numerous community theatre productions, performing with respected companies such as Blackwood Players, the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild Student Society, and Galleon Theatre Group. Notably, she portrayed Jess in Galleon’s Of Good Stock, a production nominated for the 2024 Theatre Association of SA (TASA) ‘Dramati-CAL’ Best Production award.

In 2024, her talent was formally recognised when she received the TASA ‘Outstanding Performer’ award for her captivating title role in Sylvia with Stirling Players. Dora’s versatility shines through her vocal work. Her recent performance in Wrong Turn at Lungfish, also directed by Rosie Aust, showcased her flair for a New York Italian dialect.

Dora couldn’t be more excited to debut with Holden Street Theatres and join forces with an amazing team to bring Harvey hopping onto the stage.

Leighton has performed for numerous Adelaide companies including youth companies, Red Phoenix, Independent Theatre, Blue Sky Theatre and for Holden Street Theatres. He has recently retired as an abseiling window cleaner.

PERFORMER

Julia is an highly experienced, evergreen Adelaide singer and actor. She has graced many stages for many companies for more than fifty years for companies including the Theatre Guild, Metropolitan Music Theatre Company, Q Theatre, John Edmund Theatre and the Therry Society. She has been a board member of the latter for over 30 years.

PERFORMER

Has extensive experience as actor, director and administrator. He was a co-founder of the Adelaide Fringe as it developed in the 1970s, co-founder of SA Creative Workshops which produced plays at The Space, Adelaide Festival Centre and was also chairman of the seminal Adelaide Theatre Group at the Sheridan Theatre.  Brian performed with Rob Cusenza in “Creeps”, “Streetcar” and “American Buffalo” and “The Fantasticks” all directed by Goers and he directed Goers and Cusenza in two Fringe revues. Of late, he was assistant director on the Holden Street Theatres productions of “Looped”, “‘night, Mother”, “A Cheery Soul”, “The Christian Brothers"and “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" and appeared in “Cowardy Cowardy Custard” and as Claudius in “Hamlet In Fifteen Minutes” and both Capulet and Montague. In “Romeo And Juliet In 15 Minutes" Brian featured in the remake of both the movie and mini-series, “Robbery Under Arms”.

LIGHTING DESIGNER

STAGE MANAGER