Staff

Luke is the Artistic Director & CEO of Canberra Youth Theatre. He is a graduate of NIDA (Directing) and Theatre Nepean (Acting), and the Artistic Director of Stories Like These. Previous roles include Theatre Manager of New Theatre, Artistic Director of The Spare Room, and a Resident Studio Artist at Griffin Theatre Company.

Directing credits include: Two Twenty Somethings Decide Never To Be Stressed About Anything Ever Again Ever, Little Girls Alone in the Woods, Normal, Possibility, Collapse (Canberra Youth Theatre), In Real Life (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), Blink, MinusOneSister, Fireface, The Last Five Years, The Carnivores (Stories Like These), Play House (NIDA), The Pillowman, Waiting For Godot, Don Juan in Soho, Art is a Weapon, After The End, Blasted (New Theatre), 100 Reasons For War, Love and Information, Spring Awakening, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s Women, Shoot / Get Treasure / Repeat (AFTT), Lysistrata, The Burial At Thebes, Pool (No Water), 4.48 Psychosis, Eyes To The Floor (Sydney Theatre School), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mr Marmalade (CQUniversity), Macbeth, Cyberbile, Embers (AIM Dramatic Arts) and Two Weeks With The Queen (Mountains Youth Theatre). Tour Director: The Witches (Griffin Theatre Company). Assistant Director: Eight Gigabytes of Hardcore Pornography (Griffin Theatre Company/ Perth Theatre Company), Story of the Red Mountains (NIDA), The Boys (Griffin Theatre Company / Sydney Festival), Steel Magnolias (Blackbird Productions / Australian Tour), Assassins and The Crucible (New Theatre).

Luke regularly directs and lectures at various drama schools. He was a member of Directors Lab: Melbourne (Theatre Works / Melbourne Festival) and Playwriting Australia’s Dramaturgy Program and Directors Studio. His production of The Last Five Years was nominated for Best Production of a Musical at the Sydney Theatre Awards.

www.lukerogers.com.au

Helen Wojtas joined the Canberra Youth Theatre team in January 2020. She comes from a background of hotel administration, and is a professional costumier, graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Arts in 2015.

Helen spent her childhood immersed in the youth arts scene in Canberra, as a member of Canberra Youth Music (formerly the Canberra Youth Orchestra Society, now Music for Canberra) between 1993 and 2010. She found her experience within the Canberra Youth arts scene invaluable, and understands the importance of providing the next generation of Young Artists with the experiences within the arts.

Helen continues to be involved in the Canberra arts scene, as a member of a circus training school, and a violist within the National Capital Orchestra, and as a costumier. Helen is passionate about youth arts, and brings her unique skill set of administration and experience in the theatre industry to Canberra Youth Theatre.

Bonnie Curtis is a multi-faceted artist, driven by a curious imagination and a desire to discover. Born and bred in Sydney, Bonnie trained at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts (B.Dance Performance) before moving to Europe to further her artistic development.

During her career, Bonnie has worked as an independent artist, producer, director, choreographer and performer in film, installation and live performance. She is the founder and Artistic Director of the Australian dance company Bonnie Curtis Projects.

Her creations and collaborations have been featured at ImPulsTanz, MuMoK (AT), Girona Film Festival (ES), Quadstock Music Festival (US), CinéWomen – Womenartconnect (EU), Asia International Youth Short Film Exhibition (CN), Lift-Off Festival (UK), NZ Fringe (NZ), Sydney World Film Festival, Melbourne Fringe, DirtyFeet’s The Choreographic Lab and The Flying Nun by Brand X (AU).

Bonnie teaches and lectures at dance and performance schools. Her current and past appointments include Te Auaha Institute of Creativity (NZ), Excelsia College, Evolve Performance Studios, APA Macarthur, STADS, and Academy of Music and Performing Arts where Bonnie is the Arts Management lecturer for their Bachelor of Dance program.

www.bonniecurtisprojects.com

Louise Davidson has spent most of her 30 years in Canberra in a variety of management roles in the not for profit and public sectors including 22 years as the Business Manager for two major secondary colleges, Finance Manager for a not for profit organisation working with disadvantaged youth and as the Building and Security Services Director for the Australian National Library.

At the Australian National Library, Louise was part of a collegiate group of managers from the major national cultural institutions aimed at enhancing the overall cultural experience for Canberrans and visitors to the National Capital.

Louise had management responsibility for the wide range of cultural events conducted by the National Library, ensuring the performance and display areas were safe and fit for purpose.

A significant achievement during Louise’s time at the National Library was Louise’s management of the architectural design and construction of the internationally regarded Treasures and Exhibition Gallery.

As Business Manager of two secondary colleges, Louise had Project Manager responsibility for the architectural design, procurement and construction of major projects totalling over $60m.  Included in these projects was the construction of performing arts facilities at each of the colleges.  These facilities were designed for teaching and public performances across the full range of the performing arts. This experience has left Louise well qualified to ensure that performance spaces meet the needs of the artists as well as providing a comfortable, safe and high quality audience environment.

Louise has enjoyed working with young people through her career.  She obtains immense personal satisfaction from the contributions that she has made to the development of our future leaders in a wide variety of fields.

With a passion for storytelling, youth advocacy and the local Canberra arts community, Thea is ecstatic to combine all three through her role of Administration & Marketing Coordinator at Canberra Youth Theatre.

Thea has been heavily involved in youth advocacy and community sector on a local and national level since the age of 13, winning the Gough Whitlam Prize in 2014 and becoming a founding member of The Youth Coalition of the ACT’s Youth Media team the following year. Throughout her advocacy career she has facilitated many workshops and events to engage and empower young people such as the Youth Week Festival, the ‘I’ve been thinking about you Canberra’ 2016 election forum and TedXYouth@Canberra. In 2016 she won the ‘Young Canberran of the Year Media & Arts Award’ for her work on the ‘Education Equity’ campaign, as well as being the Youth Homelessness ambassador two years consecutively. 

As an actress, Thea has been immersed in the performing arts industry for the last four years. Training and working in both Canberra and Sydney, she has won five performance awards and received over 10 nominations — most recently being awarded ‘Most Memorable Performance’ by ArtsACT at the 2022 Lights Canberra Action Enlighten Festival. 

Currently studying Arts Administration and Auslan, Thea is very grateful to be at Canberra Youth Theatre where she can grow as a young creative whilst simultaneously supporting other young creatives.

Position currently recruiting.

See Work For Us page for details and to apply.