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Artwork for Is God Is
Artwork for Is God Is
Artwork for Is God Is
Artwork for Is God Is
Is God Is

19 Jun — 15 Jul 2023

Southbank Theatre, The Sumner

An award-winning, explosive and darkly comic story about family, loyalty and seeking justice.

Approx. 1 hour 35 minutes with no interval

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This is rated 5 out of 5 stars

‘Exhilarating, devastatingly funny and a rollicking good time.’

The Age
This is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

‘A breath of fresh air in Australian theatre.’

Limelight
This is rated 4 out of 5 stars

‘A captivating tale of retribution with exceptional performances.’

Time Out

ABOUT THE SHOW

How far would you go for revenge?

Twin sisters Racine and Anaia bear the scars of their deadbeat dad’s long-ago brutal attack – an act of ruthlessness that left their mother dead. Or so the twins believe ... until they receive a letter, beckoning them to their mama’s bedside. Now that she is actually dying, she has but one task for her daughters: make your daddy dead.

This explosive play is a modern myth about twin sisters on a mission for vengeance, inspired by Spaghetti Westerns, hip-hop and Afropunk. Bold, brash and darkly comic, Is God Is is co-directed by Zindzi Okenyo and Shari Sebbens, whose previous directorial collaboration seven methods of killing kylie jenner sold out seasons around the country.

The breakout hit from US playwright Aleshea Harris, Is God Is has won two distinguished playwriting awards: an American Playwriting Foundation’s Relentless Award, honouring works in pursuit of truth in theatre, and an Obie Award – off-Broadway's highest honour.


Co-producer

STC POS

 

 

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair Accessible

  • Hearing Assistance

  • Audio Described

  • Tactile Tour

  • Auslan Interpreted

  • Open Captioning

Performance Type Performance Date(s)
Audio Described
by Vision Australia 		Saturday 8 July at 2pm
Tuesday 11 July at 6.30pm
Tactile Tour
by Vision Australia 		Saturday 8 July, 2pm (Tactile tour commences at 1pm)
Auslan Interpreted
by Auslan Stage Left 		Monday 10 July at 6.30pm
Open Captioning
via screen 		Saturday 15 July at 2pm
Artwork for Henrietta Enyonam Amevor

Henrietta Enyonam Amevor

Anaia

Henrietta Enyonam Amevor is a Sydney-based Ghanaian actor who works across both stage and screen. For Sydney Theatre Company Henrietta starred as Chantel Ocean in Hubris & Humiliation, directed by Dean Bryant, and was the understudy for the role of Benetha in A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Wesley Enoch. Henrietta’s professional stage debut was in Outhouse Theatre’s The Rolling Stone, directed by Adam Cook. Henrietta’s other theatre credits include Bomtom's The House at Boundary Road Liverpool, for director Jessica Arthur, and the role of Suzanne in Claudel, directed by Christabel Sved for Tinderbox Productions. Henrietta was also part of the community engagement team for Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s seven methods of killing kylie jenner, directed by Shari Sebbens and Zindzi Okenyo. On screen Henrietta plays the recurring role of Talia in the Stan Original Series Bump.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Clare Chihambakwe

Clare Chihambakwe

Angie

Clare Chihambakwe is delighted to be returning to work with Melbourne Theatre Company. She first worked with the Company to understudy and perform the role of Aseni in The Heartbreak Choir. Clare was an original cast member of the acclaimed Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Michael Cassel Group). Other stage credits include the role of Gary Coleman in Avenue Q (Arts Asia Pacific); the national tour of Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Live Theatre Productions); Eurobeat (Glynn Nicholas Group); Dirty Dancing including a New Zealand tour (Jacobsen Entertainment); Sweet Charity and 42nd Street (The Production Company). Clare also trained and worked in New York, US, appearing as Agnes in Goldilocks (ODTC). Television credits include Utopia (Season 5), Love Me (Season 2), Mustangs, Barracuda, Packed to the Rafters and Home and Away, in the ongoing role of Grace. Film credits include Late Night with the Devil, Better Man, Goddess, Happy Feet Two and the blockbuster Knowing.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Kevin Copeland

Kevin Copeland

Man

Is God Is will be Kevin Copeland’s Melbourne Theatre Company debut. Previous stage productions include Boys in The Band (New Theatre) and Six Degrees of Seperation (Zenith Theatre). Kevin’s career has predominantly been on screen in television and film, appearing in feature films Muriel’s Wedding, Welcome to Woop Woop, Gabriel, Infini, The Osiris Child and most recently a major Hollywood film yet to be released. His television appearances include Power Rangers – Beast Morphers (2 seasons), Heartbreak High, Water Rats, Farscape, On the Beach (AFI Winner and Golden Globe nominated), Rake and The Lost World. Kevin trained at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Theatre, Film and Television after winning a scholarship to attend.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Masego Pitso

Masego Pitso

Racine

This is Masego Pitso’s debut with Melbourne Theatre Company. Previous stage credits include Chewing Gum Dreams (Red Line Productions) and M. Rock (Australian Theatre for Young People). She recently participated in Riverside Theatres’ Creative Futures Program as Assistant Director on Choir Boy (Australian premiere). In 2022 she received a Sydney Theatre Award for the Best Newcomer Award for her outstanding performance in Chewing Gum Dreams. Masego has just completed her Bachelor of Arts majoring in Theatre Studies and Sociology at the University of Notre Dame.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Cessalee Stovall

Cessalee Stovall

She

Cessalee Stovall is grateful to be making her Melbourne Theatre Company debut. Originally from Indiana, US, she is a graduate of Florida State University, School of Theatre, and is the Founding Director of Stage A Change. Cessalee is an Intimacy Director and Coordinator, Cultural Consultant, Equity and Inclusion Specialist for performing and visual arts organisations, and was a 2022 Betty Amsden Fellow and a Westpac Social Change Fellow. Recent credits include Emilia 2 in Emilia (Essential Theatre) and Kalimba in The Book of Mormon (Australia and US national tours). She has been seen in the feature films The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee, and upcoming films Ricky Stanicky and Sleeping Dogs. TV credits include Clickbait, La Brea, Surviving Summer, and multiple commercials in Australia, US and the UK. Most favourite roles are Mama to Alula and wife to Scott. Thanks for supporting the arts – it wouldn't be as fun without you.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Darius Williams

Darius Williams

Scotch

This is Darius Williams’s Melbourne Theatre Company debut. Darius’s theatre credits include Fences (Sydney Theatre Company); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sport For Jove); M.Rock, Intersection, The Voices Project (Australian Theatre for Young People); I and You (Theatre 180); A Wonderful Life (Perth Theatre Trust) and Leda and the Swan (Q Theatre). Darius’s screen work includes the Amazon Prime Series Deadloch, television series Home and Away, and feature films The Secret Kingdom, Transfusion, My Pet Dinosaur and Dinosaur Island. Darius graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2020 and was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Shakespeare Award for Best Actor in his final year.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Patrick Williams

Patrick Williams

Chuck Hall

This is Patrick Williams’s debut with Melbourne Theatre Company. Previous stage credits include Strangers in the Night (Malthouse Theatre); The Sunset Limited (Ensemble Theatre); The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (fortyfivedownstairs) and Prayer Machine (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre). Musical theatre highlights include Bad Boy Johnny (BBJ Productions); The Buddy Holly Story (Everyday Productions); Hair (E,H&W Productions/Auckland Theatre Company); Oh! What a Night (J Nicholls Productions); An Officer and a Gentleman (Gordon Frost Organisation) and The Bodyguard (J Frost & Co). Patrick has performed with INXS, Hunters & Collectors, The Models, Tina Arena, Renee Geyer, Kate Ceberano and Stephen Cummings. Screen credits include The Kettering Incident (Foxtel), Wanted (Seven), Rosehaven, Fires, Laid, The Librarians (ABC), True Story with Hamish & Andy (Nine), My Life is Murder, Five Bedrooms, Riptide (Ten), Deadloch (Amazon) and the upcoming Foe (See-Saw Films) and Woody Woodpecker II (NBCU Films).

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Grant Young

Grant Young

Riley

Grant Young (he/him) is an Australian-American artist hailing from Denver, Colorado, US. His passion for acting and performing was ignited during his involvement in high school theatre in Australia. Grant’s recent acting credits include playing Youth in Passing Strange (Antipodes Theatre Company); Sully in Wanda and Sully and Dylan in season 2 of Single Out. He is a multi-disciplinary artist, having studied and trained in acting, filmmaking and music, earning degrees from Swinburne University of Technology and completing short courses at VCA and NIDA. Grant is proudly represented by Ian White Management. He is thrilled to take on the role of Riley in Is God Is and can't wait for audiences to experience the show.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Aleshea Harris

Aleshea Harris

Writer

Aleshea Harris’s play Is God Is (directed by Taibi Magar at Soho Rep and Ola Ince at the Royal Court) won the 2016 Relentless Award, an OBIE Award for playwriting in 2017, the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award in 2019 and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. What to Send Up When It Goes Down, a play-pageant-ritual response to anti-blackness, had its critically-acclaimed New York City premiere in 2018 (directed by Whitney White and produced by The Movement Theatre Company), was featured in the April 2019 issue of American Theatre Magazine and received a rare special commendation from the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. The play was subsequently remounted at Woolly Mammoth, A.R.T., BAM and Playwrights Horizons. Her newest play, On Sugarland (directed by Whitney White) premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in the spring of 2022. Her awards include the Windham-Campbell Literary Prize, Mimi Steinberg Playwriting Award, Hermitage Greenfield Prize, Horton Foote Playwriting Award and Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Harris is a two-time MacDowell Fellow and has enjoyed residencies at the Hermitage Artist Retreat, Hedgebrook and Djerassi.

Current as of June 2023.

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Zindzi Okenyo

Co-director

Trained at NIDA, Zindzi Okenyo has performed for Melbourne Theatre Company in An Ideal Husband and Disgraced and is currently an Artistic Associate with the Company. She has performed extensively for most of Australia’s major theatre companies and was a member of Cate Blanchett’s Residents Company at Sydney Theatre Company for three years. Zindzi Assistant Directed Death Of A Salesman and Associate Directed Raisin in the Sun (Sydney Theatre Company); Co-Directed seven methods of killing kylie jenner (Darlinghurst Theatre/Greendoor), Co-Directed Choir Boy (National Theatre of Parramatta) and Directed Orange Thrower (Griffin Theatre). A much-loved presenter on Playschool since 2012, Zindzi’s television roles include Totally Completely Fine and Wolf Like Me (Stan), Fisk, Wakefield, The Code, Hiding, Janet King, Harrow and Get Krack!n (ABC) as well as Wonderland and Sisters (Network 10). Feature films include Little Monsters and The Very Excellent Mr Dundee. Zindzi also performs her own Rap/RnB music as OKENYO.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Shari Sebbens

Shari Sebbens

Co-director

Shari Sebbens is making her Melbourne Theatre Company debut with Is God Is. Shari has previously directed Fences, City of Gold and The 7 Stages of Grieving (Sydney Theatre Company); seven methods of killing kylie jenner (Darlinghurst Theatre Company) and Superheroes (Griffin Theatre Company). Shari’s stage credits include City of Gold, The Bleeding Tree and A Hoax (Griffin Theatre Company); Black is the New White and The Battle of Waterloo (Sydney Theatre Company); An Octoroon (Queensland Theatre); Radiance and Back at the Dojo (Belvoir Theatre). Shari’s screen credits include The Heights (Matchbox Pictures/ABC), Top End Wedding (Goalpost Pictures), Australia Day (Hoodlum Entertainment), Little J & Big Cuz (NITV/SBS), Teenage Kicks (Azure Productions), 8MMM Aboriginal Radio (Brindle Films/ABC), The Gods of Wheat Street (Magpie Pictures/ABC), The Darkside (Ronin Films), Redfern Now (Blackfella Films/ABC) and The Sapphires (Goalpost Pictures). Shari won the 2019 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role for City of Gold and the 2013 Logie Award for Outstanding Newcomer for Redfern Now. Shari is Resident Director with Sydney Theatre Company.

Current as of June 2023.

Renee-Mulder.jpg

Renée Mulder

Set & Costume Designer

Renée Mulder is an award-winning set and costume designer. A selection of her recent work for theatre as designer include Home, I’m Darling, Arbus and West (Melbourne Theatre Company); Julia, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Grand Horizons, Banging Denmark, The Torrents, Black is the New White (Sydney Theatre Company); Family Values, First Casualty, Boy Swallows Universe, Return to the Dirt, Mouthpiece, Nearer the Gods, An Octoroon, Rice (Queensland Theatre); Superheroes, Prima Facie, The Bleeding Tree, The Boys (Griffin Theatre); As You Like It, Ruben Guthrie (La Boite) and Romeo and Juliet (Bell Shakespeare). Her work as costume designer include Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Harp in the South, St Joan, Top Girls, Chimerica, Endgame, Children of the Sun and Vere (Faith) (Sydney Theatre Company), and as set designer include Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness (Sydney Theatre Company). Renée was Design Director at Queensland Theatre 2020–2021, was a member of Queensland Theatre’s National Artistic Team from 2016–2017 and Resident Designer at Sydney Theatre Company from 2012–2014. She is a graduate of NIDA and Queensland College of Art. Renée has won two Sydney Theatre Awards, three Matilda Awards and one Green Room Award.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Jenny Hector

Jenny Hector

Lighting Designer

Jenny Hector’s work is witnessed across disciplines and is driven by strong collaborations and the spaces they find themselves in. Her lighting credits include The Dream Life of Butterflies (Melbourne Theatre Company); Please Stand (Lara Thoms and Samara Hersch, Zürcher Theater Spektakel); Class Act (Aphids); Rewards for the Tribe (Chunky Move and Restless Dance Theatre); The Seen and The Unseen (Kamila Andini and AsiaTOPA, Jakarta, Singapore and Melbourne); The Perception Experiment (Guts Dance, Festival De Mayo Guadalaraja) and The Howling Girls (Sydney Chamber Opera, Carriageworks, Tokyo Festival, Music Theater Now Rotterdam). Jenny received Green Room Awards for Best Lighting for Miracle (Balletlab) and Madeleine (Black Sequin Dress). Jenny realised both the lighting and set designs for Overture (Jo Lloyd); Blood on the Dance Floor (Jacob Boehme) and Imagined Touch (Jodee Mundy), which received Green Room Awards for Best Production. She is the recipient of the 2016 Green Room Award for Technical Achievement.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Joe Paradise Lui

Joe Paradise Lui

Composer & Sound Designer

Joe Paradise Lui has previously worked for Melbourne Theatre Company on Bernhardt/Hamlet. Joe is a submerging artist and undisputed winner of the 2013 Spirit of the Fringe award. He has won no awards since. Joe is a founding member of Renegade Productions. Within its aegis Joe creates experimental theatre and performance works. Joe’s most recent professional directing work was Unsung Heroes (Black Swan State Theatre Company) and most recent independent directing work was The Ugly and Salome Delta (The Blue Room Theatre). Joe is also a writer, and a sound and lighting designer. Recent sound design credits include Barracking for the Umpire (Black Swan State Theatre Company), and recent writing and lighting design credits include Enlightenment (Elbow Room).

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Amy Cater

Amy Cater

Intimacy Coordinator

Amy Cater is part of the first cohort of qualified Intimacy Coordinator practitioners, training and working since 2018 when the profession first arrived in Australia. Previous stage works include Jacky, Cyrano, Sunday, Bernhardt/Hamlet, Fun Home, As You Like It (Melbourne Theatre Company) and &Juliet (Michael Cassel Group). Selected screen credits include Love Me, The Newsreader, The Rooster, Bad Behaviour, The Clearing, Safe Home, Better Man, Sleeping Dogs, Human Error and Gold Diggers. Amy has 20 years’ experience working with sexuality, embodiment, consent and intimacy; specifically within the adult industry, client therapy and education spaces. Amy was a Director/Senior Photographer of ethical erotica for four years. She is a qualified Psychosomatic Therapist, Sexological Bodyworker and Somatic Sex Educator. Amy has a trained background in theatre, dance and the performing arts. Amy mentors and consults on sexuality and gender best practice. Her work in LGBTQIA+ advocacy and education is a key component of her cultural influence in the Intimacy Coordinator industry.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Lyndall Grant

Lyndall Grant

Fight Choreographer

Lyndall Grant is a fight director, movement director, actor and motion capture specialist. She trained in acting at London’s ArtsEd School of Acting before specialising in fight performance from 2007. She is an accredited teacher with the British Academy of Dramatic Combat and a Management Committee member of the Society of Australian Fight Directors. Lyndall is the founding director of Captivate Action, which trains actors in stage/screen combat and motion capture. She also teaches at the Victorian College of the Arts, 16th Street Actors Studio and National Theatre Drama School. Recent credits include Sunday, As You Like It, Berlin, The Lifespan of a Fact, The Architect, Cosi, Torch the Place, The Lady in the Van, Astroman (Melbourne Theatre Company); Beauty and the Beast (Disney Australia); Cruel Intentions the Musical (David Venn Enterprises); An American in Paris (GWB/Australian Ballet); Nosferatu, Looking for Alibrandi, Atlantis, The Return, Because the Night and Cloudstreet (Malthouse Theatre).

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Kuda Mapeza

Kuda Mapeza

Assistant Director

As an interdisciplinary world builder, the limit does not exist for theatre maker, director, writer, actor, musician and cultural consultant Kuda Mapeza. She relocated to Naarm/Melbourne, where she has acted in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Michael Cassel Group); Emilia (Essential Theatre); Invisible Opera (Sophia Braus/RISING) and the sensory theatre show When the World Turns (Polyglot Theatre) along with commercial work. Through experiences as an actor, Kuda became increasingly intrigued by the mechanics behind creating a show, and empowering those who aid in its creation. With Let’s Take Over 2022 (Darebin Arts/Darebin Council) she created, dramaturged, devised and performed her original piece, YUKYUH. Kuda also works with Western Edge Youth Arts as a Support Artist/Assistant Director, with credits in shows Time’s Ticking (2022) and Distortion (2022). Kuda was a recipient of the John Bell Scholarship in 2017 (Bell Shakespeare).

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Effie Nkrumah

Effie Nkrumah

Community Engagement Lead

Effie Nkrumah, also formerly known as Benumah, is an energetic actor, interdisciplinary artist, writer, deep thinker and lover of food. She is the voice of Astra, the first Ghanaian, only Sub-Saharan African Agent and second Australian to voice in Valorant created by Riot Games (League of Legends). A published contributor in Maxine Beneba Clarke’s Growing up African in Australia anthology, Effie also holds a Master of Arts in Arts Politics from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. After 10 years abroad working with Ghana’s leading theatre company, Effie returned to Australia, joining the groundbreaking community engagement team for seven methods of killing kylie jenner. Her poetry and artistic practice rely on memory and the archive and are driven by the concept of challenging the single story of Africa in diaspora, creating work that is entertaining, aesthetically pleasing and discussion prompting. Her installation series See What I See has been performed in Sydney, New York and Accra. She is currently at Hogwarts as a swing in the Australian Cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Noah Da Costa

Noah Da Costa

Community Engagement Team Member

Noah Da Costa is a radio presenter, podcaster, interdisciplinary artist, poet and lover of music and culture. He is the co-founder of the podcast Bourne & Bred, a show dedicated to interviewing and unpacking the artistic culture of Melbourne and beyond. A conversationalist by nature, Noah is also a presenter and interviewer for the Hip-Hop Show on SYN Media as well as Music N’ More on 96.5 Inner FM. A multi-hyphenate creative, he is also a member of the Converse All Stars community through which he has also collaborated with creatives internationally, even interviewing Tyler, the Creator in 2022. Being a lover of words, he has also written and performed poetry and released music under Kofi C. He made his live poetry debut during one of the performance nights following seven methods of killing kylie jenner earlier this year. His poetry and multifaceted creative work stem largely from themes of conversation, culture, community, self-exploration and the pursuit of understanding another. He’s been featured on Sneakerfreaker, Complex AU with the Converse All Stars and Platypus’ PLAT CHATS as a host for Falls Festival.

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Lydia Tesema

Lydia Tesema

Community Engagement Team Member

Lydia Tesema is an Ethiopian-Australian Conversationalist, Creative, Youth Program Facilitator, Cultural Consultant, Community Leader and the founder of the creative media agency Below The Surface. Dedicated to carving out a unique and versatile career as a global presenter, interviewer and change maker, Lydia divides her time between community and her love for presenting, hosting, MCing, panel moderating and being a Converse All Star. Big energy, people-lover, deep thinker and feeler, Lydia is infinitely curious about the world around her and is dedicated to learning as much as she can through authentic connection, collaboration, conversation and creating in all of its forms. 

Current as of June 2023.

Artwork for Lisa Dallinger

Lisa Dallinger

Voice Coach

Artwork for Amani Dorn

Amani Dorn

Accent Coach

Artwork for Rachel Finley

Rachel Finley

Accent Coach

Learn more about Is God Is

Get Directions

The Sumner

140 Southbank Boulevard

Southbank, Victoria 3006