Creatives - The Placeholder

Ben MacEllen is a disabled playwright, author, and performer based in Bendigo on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. A gay, transgender man, Ben creates work that celebrates regional queer stories through humour, empathy, and inclusion.

His writing spans memoir, theatre, and solo performance, including A Cut Closer to Whole (Trans Script Press, 2019); the one-act plays The Last Song (2020), The Quiet Carriage (2022), and Sunday Fishing (2023) — which won People’s Choice for Best Script at TENx10 Bendigo Theatre Company — and his acclaimed one-person show Transmansplaining, which toured regional Victoria and Naarm between 2019 and 2023. His play Same Mountain, Different Day was selected for a reading at the New Works Festival at the Old Fitz Theatre in 2024.

A graduate of Midsumma Pathways, a nationwide mentorship and career development program for Deaf, disabled, and neurodiverse LGBTIQA+ artists, Ben is mentored by award-winning playwright Kate Mulvany OAM. His new ensemble drama The Placeholder will premiere with Midsumma Festival at fortyfivedownstairs from 27 January to 8 February 2026.

Kitan Petkovski (he/him) is a multi-award-winning theatre director. His practice is embedded in cross-form and queer dramaturgies. Recent directing credits include Thirty-Six, The Hall, The Inheritance and The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven (fortyfivedownstairs), SUGAR (National and International Tour), Things I Know to be True, In The Club and Burgerz (Theatre Works). He is the co-founder and creative director of Bullet Heart Club and served as a panel member on the Theatre Companies Green Room Association 2023-2025. Kitan holds an MFA in directing from the VCA. 

Meredith Rogers (Ph D) has been making, writing about and teaching theatre and performance in conventional and unconventional performance spaces for several decades. She played Clytemnestra in James McCaughey’s Orestes Trilogy at the Pram Factory, joined The Mill Community Theatre Company as actor-manager in 1979 and co-founded the feminist theatre company, Home Cooking Theatre Co, producing and/or performing in Running Up a Dress for the first International Arts Festival in Melbourne and Edna for The Garden, in the Fitzroy Gardens. More recently she made and performed Marvellous (La Mama) with Hester Joyce and Maude Davey (2021), and with Davina Wright and the award-winning Gold Satino queer performance collective, This is Grayson (2018 & 2021, Seduction (2019) and Ruthless (2023). She lectured in Theatre and Performance at La Trobe University for 24 years. Her book The Mill: Experiments in Theatre and Community was published in 2016 by Australian Scholarly Publishing.

Photo: by Helen Skuse

Michelle Perera (She/Her) is a Green Room Award nominated Sri Lankan-Australian Actor, Broadcaster, Voice Artist and Arts Advocate with a Specialised Degree in English / English Literature and has been involved in theatre for over 30 years.

Michelle’s most recent stage credits include Rodeo Ruth/Policeman (Rumbleskin, Dirty Pennies Theatre Co), Olivia (St Kilda Tales, Victorian Theatre Co), Mahla/Toni (Werewolf, Arts Centre), Ruby (In the Club, Theatreworks), Calpurnia/Clitus (Julius Caesar, Melbourne Shakespeare Co) and Sharleen (This is Living, Malthouse).

Michelle has also had roles in the short films End Pointe (St Kilda Film Festival) and Call me Puritan (Flickerfest), as well as the TV series Fake (Paramount+).

Rebecca Bower is an acclaimed Australian actress celebrated for her compelling and versatile performances across stage and screen. She is best known for her role as Jane in ABC’s Spooky Files (Seasons 1 & 2) and her standout performance in the feature film The Five Provocations.

Most recently, Rebecca performed to much acclaim in a third season of The Platypus — a two-hander, multi-genre theatre work that captivated audiences at the Brisbane Festival. She also stars in the soon-to-be-released feature Afterlight and leads the upcoming Australian–Estonian co-production Permission to Leave.

A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, Rebecca has toured nationally with Bell Shakespeare and performed on many of Australia’s most respected independent stages, including Theatreworks, La Mama, and Red Stitch. With a background in movement, yoga, and voicework, she brings a rare combination of physical precision and emotional depth to every role.

Brigid Gallacher is an actor, director, musician and dramaturg. Her theatre credits as an actor include Milk (Fortyfive Downstairs) for which she won a Greenroom award for outstanding performance, Looking for Alibrandi (Brink), Things I Know To Be True (Theatre Works), Vampire Lesbians of Sodom (Little Ones Theatre), In The Club (Bullet Heart Club), Lamb (Red Stitch/Critical Stages), Merciless Gods (Little Ones Theatre/Griffin Theatre), Prehistoric (Elbow Room/Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Dracula (Little Ones Theatre), Timeshare (Malthouse Theatre), Dangerous Liaisons (Little Ones Theatre) and Circle Mirror Transformation (MTC).

Oliver Ayres (he/him) is a multi-award winning disabled trans theatremaker and actor who graduated with a BFA Theatre from VCA.

In 2023 he debuted his piece ‘I’m Ready To Talk Now’ at Melbourne Fringe to a sold-out season and a nomination for ‘Best Experimental Work’. In 2024, the show was further developed with funding from FUSE Festival and won ‘Best Experimental’ with a nomination for ‘Best Work by an Emerging Artist’. In 2025, the show toured to the Traverse Theatre in Scotland, selling out its entire run of over 160 shows three weeks before opening.

He was the inaugural 2024 recipient of Theatre Network Australia and Melbourne Fringe’s ‘Change Maker’ award for showing outstanding leadership or innovation in equity, justice, inclusion and care, making the performing arts a better place to be.

In 2024 he was also the inaugural recipient of the Creative Access Mentorship with Brand X, as part of a Performing Arts Residency in Sydney to develop new work ‘No Seasons’. ‘No Seasons’ premiered in 2025 and won the ‘Access and Inclusion’ award, as well as another nomination for ‘Best Experimental Work'.

He was a 2024 finalist for ‘Creative Excellence’ in the Trans Visibility Awards from TGV.

Alessandra Merlo is a versatile Australian performer, often moving between musical theatre and screen acting. A graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts Musical Theatre BFA, she has performed in 'Big Fish' (The Hayes Theatre Co), 'Titanic the Musical in Concert', starring Anthony Warlow (The Marrollo Project) and 'Midnight', a brand new Australian Musical starring Shane Jacobson and Lucy Durack and currently performing in the ongoing comedy Australia wide, 'The Italian Divorce' by Frank Lotito.

Screen credits include ‘La Brea’ (NBC ), ‘Safe Home’ (SBS), ‘Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries’ (Acorn TV/Seven Network), ‘Neighbours’ (Fremantle Media). She has also featured in the short film ‘Blvck Gold’, which was selected for St Kilda Film Festival 2022 and Flickerfest 2023, among other International Festival Selections. 'Run, Baby’, selected for 2025 St Kilda Film Festival as well as Associate Producing and co-starring in the short film, ‘A Good Boy’ which was selected for the 34th Flickerfest Programme, as well as winning Best Cinematography.

Tim Bonser is a Naarm/Melbourne based lighting designer for live performance, whose work has been seen across Australia and internationally. Recent lighting design credits include REUBEN KAYE - ENGORGED at the Melbourne Recital Centre, DJUNA for Bullet Heart Club, GUYS & DOLLS for Antipodes Theatre Co (Green Room nomination), IT’S A SECRET! for Club House Productions, the new Australian musical ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER for Perryman Theatre Company, COMMON DISSONANCE for Na Djinang Circus, CONSTELLATIONS for Artefact Theatre Co, HALF TIME for the Hayes Theatre Co and GENESIS for the West Australian Ballet.

Collaborating with many artists in the independent theatre sector, Tim has designed at venues including fortyfivedownstairs, Chapel off Chapel, Theatre Works and La Mama. He has designed for universities including the Victorian College of the Arts, the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, the Federation University Arts Academy (Ballarat) and JMC Academy.

Tim got his training at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Performing Arts Majoring in Live Production and Design - Lighting (2018). During his studies, he completed a secondment with Paul Jackson on the Production Company's LAZARUS.

Working as the head of lighting at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Tim lights shows for hundreds of local and international artists each year, spanning all genres of music.

Ian is a Melbourne (Naarm) based artist specialising in music composition and sound design for theatre, dance, circus, film and radio. He has performed around Australia and internationally, including New York, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Wellington, Calgary and Vancouver. He has worked with numerous companies, including Melbourne Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, State Theatre Company of South Australia, New Working Group, Back to Back Theatre, Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, Dee and Cornelius, Windmill Theatre Co, Barking Gecko, Lab Kelpie, La Mama, Leigh Warren and Dancers, Patch Theatre Company, Restless Dance Theatre, Vitalstatistix, Circus Monoxide, NICA, Arts Centre Melbourne, Radiophrenia, Wave Farm, Ten Days on the Island, the Australian Festival for Young People, Underbelly Arts Festival, FOLA, Big West Festival, Darwin Festival, Museum Victoria, the Australian Museum and ABC Radio.

He has been nominated for three Green Room Awards for his designs for Jurassica (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre in 2016), Looking Glass (New Working Group in 2018) and Wittenoom (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre in 2023)