STAGES with Peter Eyers

This is STAGES companion episode to our conversation with Entertainment Entrepreneur - Kevin Jacobsen. In part 1, we learned of Kevin’s early days as a musician - forming and guiding bands that included the KJ Quintet and Col Joy and the Joy Boys. A triumphant career in music, that saw national acclaim for the band and many chart topping hits. In part 2 Kevin takes us on a journey through some of...

Born in Sydney in 1937, Kevin Jacobsen began his working life in a chartered accountant’s practice. An adept piano player, he devoted all his spare moments to music. In 1957, he and his brother Colin, joined with John Bogle, Lawrie Erwin and Dave Bridge to form the KJ Quintet. After some success changed their name to Col Joye and the Joy Boys, adding younger brother Keith. Almost immediately they...

Christine Dunstan was awarded an OAM in the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours for Services to the Performing Arts as a Producer and as a Mentor. In 2016 Christine Dunstan was the recipient of the Sydney Theatre Critics ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’. Christine has spent 50 + years working continuously in the Australian theatre industry and is one of Australia's most experienced independent theatre produ...

Mariette Rups-Donnelly has transferred her extensive experience on stages around Australia to guide the corporate world in effective communication and establishing a firm rapport with their audience. Essentials, she knows only too well; garnered from extensive forays into musical theatre, plays and cabaret. A graduate in languages from Sydney University, Mariette was intended for a career in the d...

Claire de Lune is the alter ego of Restaurateur and Chef, Marc Kuzma. Claire has been a mainstay in Sydney’s Gay life for several decades while Marc has been a celebrated mainstay of our food scene. Claire de Lune gained fast notoriety after her 17 cooking segments on Channel 9 “The Midday Show” with Kerrie Anne. She then did her Drag apprenticeship by working in most of Sydney Gay and Lesbian ven...

Tony Sattler possesses a comic brain that has served audiences a vast helping of laughter, via a healthy diet of sketch and situation comedy on Australian television. Through classic programs such as The Naked Vicar Show and Kingswood Country he has created a legacy of television that has not only caused mirth but has left an indelible cultural mark. It is this impact that lead the Sound & Film Ar...

Carlotta is an Australian cabaret performer and television celebrity. She began her career as an original member of the long-running Les Girls cabaret show, performed entirely by heavily costumed males, which started in 1963 in the purpose built Les Girls building which stood on a prominent corner in the heart of Sydney's Kings Cross, New South Wales. The building was owned by Sydney identity Abe...

Adam Mada has been entertaining audiences and creating custom magic and Illusion shows internationally for more than 20 years. As a leading magician, entertainer and Magic / Illusions consultant Adam Mada has his audiences spellbound with spectacular stage shows and cutting edge magic performances with an affectionate nod to the golden era of magic. He was the Magic and Illusions coach to the Aust...

Tobin Saunders is a freelance performer, writer, choreographer, dancer, actor, DJ and events Co-ordinator/producer. Combining elements of contemporary dance, expressive movement, popular culture, social comment and satire, Tobin’s work could be described as - Pastiche! Over the past 30 years he has been involved in theatre works, production and performance at Mardi Gras, in fashion parades, f...

As a teen I religiously tuned into a weekly program broadcast nationally on ABC radio. This program, was the ‘go to’ source for everyone to learn the latest theatre news. This treasure trove program was called ‘The Showman’ and was hosted by a celebrated announcer called John West. Demonstrating an enormous appreciation for the theatre and the arts, West was able to combine his profession and pass...

The role of the Intimacy Coordinator is to support a screen or stage production by providing a safe, professional environment and clear structure and process for the choreography of intimate content. In the same way a stunt coordinator is engaged to realise a scene with physical risk, the Intimacy Coordinator is engaged to realise a creative, repeatable, and safe intimate scene. They are someone w...

Elaine Hudson is an actor/director/producer/teacher. She trained at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) and has worked in theatre, film and television. Directing credits include  Endgame  (Lookout Theatre);  The Lady from Dubuque  (Downstairs Belvoir);  Poles Apart  (Stables Theatre);  The Death of Peter Pan; After the Fal l (Associate Direct...

The opportunity to view ‘live’ theatrical performance from the comfort of home is an experience to which many of us have given indulgent thought. Competing with the ordeal of travel, parking and audience, especially in the time of Covid, is never an attractive proposition. However, we do so, because nothing can replace the visceral engagement of witnessing a company of performers and creatives con...

Tahu Matheson has worked for Opera Australia since 2007. He became Head of Music for the company in 2017. He studied piano with Kalle Randalu in Germany, and with Oleg Stepanov and Natasha Vlassenko at the Queensland Conservatorium, where he completed his Master of Music. He is a frequent accompanist for international artists including Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Anthony Dean Griffey, Yvonne Kenny and Emma...

Sal Sharah is an actor and singer who studied at the Actors Conservatory under the tutelage of Brian Syron and Henry Bannister. He trained in singing with Dot Mendoza and Dance with Keith Bain. Sal’s Theatre credits include the role of Sahir in Jump for Jordan (Griffin), Miss Julie (STC), Les Enfants du Paradis (Belvoir), The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (STC), Hakawati  (National Theat...

Amelia Cormack is a New York based singer, actor, musician, voice over artist and songwriter.  She is currently Fate 1 in Hadestown on Broadway .  Originally from Australia, she has credits in theatre, film, television, voice over, and cabaret in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and US. She was an original Diva in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - The Musical, and performed the role in Aust...

Sal Sharah is an actor and singer who studied at the Actors Conservatory under the tutelage of Brian Syron and Henry Bannister. He trained in singing with Dot Mendoza and Dance with Keith Bain. Sal’s Theatre credits include the role of Sahir in Jump for Jordan (Griffin), Miss Julie (STC), Les Enfants du Paradis (Belvoir), The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (STC), Hakawati  (National Theat...

Mandy Bishop is a graduate of the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Known and revered for her deft impersonation of Australia’s first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard; Mandy is also an actor, comedian, musician and writer of considerable accomplishment. Commencing her career with the celebrated A cappella group Bite My Chilli, Mandy toured Australia performing concert and corpor...

Lisa Maza is a singer, actor, writer and film-maker. It is no surprise that she has accomplished such vast artistic endeavour, growing up surrounded by theatre-makers; her father being the legendary trailblazer, Robert Maza. Lisa made her stage debut at the age of eight, playing a little boy called ‘Pumpkinhead’ in Robert Merritt’s The Cakeman . It was the first all Aboriginal/Torres Strait Island...

Julia Moody has a Graduate Diploma in Voice Studies from NIDA (Sydney), a BA from Curtin University (Perth), is a fully accredited Associate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework (New York), and did her actor training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (UK).  She has performed as an actor in Theatre, Film, TV, and Radio with companies across Australia. Julia has been voice and accent coach on o...

Deborah Galanos is an Australian actress of Greek heritage and a National Institute of Dramatic Art acting degree graduate. Before NIDA, Galanos attended Sydney University and UNSW studying Arts & Law. She has appeared in many theatre, television and film roles and is best known for her role as Dr Meredith George in ABC’s Children’s Hospital. However, since 1990, most of her work has been...

Leith Taylor is an experienced theatre practitioner having worked across a range of fields as an actor, director, producer, writer and drama educator. As an actor Leith worked extensively over two decades in film, television and radio as well as appearing in more than sixty theatre productions nationally and internationally. In Perth she is well remembered for her numerous appearances in leading r...

Tyran Parke is a Director-Actor-Teacher whose work has garnered much admiration and triumph. As an actor, he has played roles professionally in musicals, contemporary plays, television and Shakespeare. As a teacher, he has worked for the National Institute of Performing Arts, (NIDA), The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) but it is at...

Strykermeyer is a drag performer of unique powers and enormous skill. His work has enamoured audiences around the world. His ability to conjure a crowd is harnessed with immense theatricality; drawn from the combination of idiosyncratic invention in performance; and the greasepaints that contribute to the creation of an arresting and hypnotic aesthetic. Migrating to Australia as a boy from the UK,...

Jacob Steen has commenced a very exciting time in a performer’s career. He is making his professional debut in the musical Mary Poppins ; now touring around Australia, presented by Disney, Cameron Mackintosh and Michael Cassel. An exciting and joyous time indeed, but one that presents its share of challenge, discovery and discipline. Jacob is keen to share his experience thus far and provide insig...