MinterEllison Future Directors Initiative

Supporting our commitment to fostering the professional development of Australia’s next directors.

The MinterEllison Future Directors Initiative creates career pathways for aspiring theatre directors, contributing to both Melbourne Theatre Company's ongoing investment in local artists and to the sustainability of the arts sector.

Providing paid placements for assistant directors to work alongside senior theatre directors on a Melbourne Theatre Company production, the Initiative provides an invaluable opportunity for participants to learn about the process of developing productions for large-scale companies and will encourage fresh, new voices and perspectives to the stories we tell in the future.

Each assistant director will gain practical experience, hone skills and develop relationships that will support taking the next steps in their careers.

Learn more about past participants here.

Major Partner

Jamila Main

The Glass Menagerie

Lilah Benetti

Retrograde

Laura Mckenzie

Losing Face

Tait De Lorenzo

Eliza

Jamila Main

The Glass Menagerie

Jamila Main is an actor, playwright, and director telling stories for the stage, screen, and livestream. Jamila is known for their plays Pillow Talk (Warehouse Residency Arts House); Benched (Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Midsumma Festival, Carclew); Butterfly Kicks (RUMPUS Theatre); How Long Can This Last? (Adhocracy Vitalstatistix); and How to Eat Rabbit (La Mama Theatre, The Mill). On screen, Jamila has performed in SHADOW and Agincourt (Back to Back Theatre). In 2020 Jamila was a Carclew Fellow and an artist-in-residence at Carclew in 2021. Across 2020-21 Jamila was a participant in the Midsumma Pathways Program where they were mentored by Kate Mulvany. In 2025 Jamila graduated from the Masters of Theatre (Writing) at the Victorian College of the Arts. Jamila holds an Advanced Diploma of Arts (Acting) from the Adelaide College of the Arts and a Bachelor of Arts in the Enhanced Program for High Achievers from Flinders University.

Lilah Benetti

Retrograde

Lilah Benetti (they/them) is a Naarm-based director and writer whose practice centres intersectional storytelling, political memory, and embodied performance. Grounded in a deeply actor-centred process, their work approaches performance as fluid and porous across screen and stage, with close attention to sound, presence, rhythm, and the histories a body carries into a room. Benetti is an internationally award-recognised artist. Recent honours include Best Screenwriting for Under One Condition at the Queer Screen Pitch Off, supported by Screen Australia’s Gender Matters (2025). In 2025–26, The Night Moses Died, written and directed by Benetti, received the inaugural Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund in partnership with Pride Foundation Australia, with a premiere scheduled later this year. Their work has been presented internationally across the UK, USA, Africa, Europe and so-called Australia, including presentations at Tate Britain, IFC Center New York, Dakar Biennale, and Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Laura Mckenzie

Losing Face

Laura McKenzie (she/her) is a writer, director, producer and dancer, a white-Australian woman with Scottish ancestry, living and working in Naarm. Her theatre credits as writer and director include Lizard People (Melbourne Fringe); Social Dance (TheatreWorks) and The More I Know (Meat Market). She wrote, directed and produced short film Divine Intervention (Melbourne Women in Film Festival) and is a former member of the Melbourne University Law Revue sketch comedy group. Laura is also a dancer within Naarm’s Street Dance community. Laura is delighted to be making her debut with Melbourne Theatre Company as part of the 2026 MinterEllison Future Directors Initiative.

Tait De Lorenzo

Eliza

Tait de Lorenzo is a director specialising in new and multidisciplinary performance. A graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art’s MFA Directing course, she has developed and presented work with companies including Belvoir, Griffin Theatre Company, Sydney Chamber Opera, NIDA, PACT Centre for Emerging Artists, Brand X and The Old 505. Alongside her stage work, Tait has directed narrative and commercial work for screen; with her debut documentary Untucked winning Best Documentary at the SMPTE Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2015. She has also directed and curated live event programs for organisations including Kaldor Public Art Projects, the Art Gallery of NSW, RIZER and the For Film’s Sake Festival. As an Associate Director, she has worked with some of Australia's leading directors at Sydney Theatre Company, the Michael Cassel Group, Sydney Chamber Opera, Opera Australia, Queensland Theatre Company and NIDA. Most recently, Tait was the international Associate Director of Kip Williams’ Olivier and Tony Award-winning production The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Tait is the recipient of several fellowships and residencies, including the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, NIDA’s Freddie J. Gibson Fellowship, Griffin Theatre Company’s Incubator Fellowship, a Resident Curatorship at PACT Centre for Emerging Artists and the Belvoir Shut Down Residency. In 2026, Tait will direct Joseph Charlton's Anna X at Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre.