PYT Fairfield is thrilled to announce our upcoming International Exchange with Massive Theatre Company, Aotearoa!

In March 2025, we’ll welcome three exceptional young artists and a facilitator from Auckland to Western Sydney for an immersive POWERHOUSE experience, packed with creativity, connection, and collaborative theatre-making. Then, in July 2025, our own cohort will travel to Aotearoa to dive into the MASSIVE experience, continuing to build on the shared insights from the first exchange.

This exchange will strengthen the bond between Western Sydney and Auckland, opening new horizons for our emerging artists.

We can’t wait to welcome Harmony, Manu, Ebony and Denyce to our shores!

Read more about Massive Theatre Company visit their website here.

FROM PYT FAIRFIELD COMPANY 2024:

Neda Taha
Director-in-Residence
Neda Taha is an interdisciplinary artist from Western Sydney, whose journey began with street hip-hop as a member of the award-winning dance crew, ‘The Pioneers’. Her dynamic performances have graced prestigious stages like the Sydney Opera House and at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai. Neda’s talents as an actor and deviser are highlighted with credits in the Helpmann-nominated dance theatre show ‘Playlist’ and short film ‘The Whispering Glass’, which premiered to a sold-out crowd at the Sydney Opera House. She also gained recognition as the principal dancer in BLKB3RY’s viral music video ‘Ha’ele Ki Pilitania’, which has garnered over 3 million views on YouTube. She also had her directorial debut in 2023 with the hugely successful, sold-out season of ‘Tuân’s Party‘ and in 2024 premiered her new dance theatre work ‘Pioneers‘ (dir. Eliam Royalness) as part of the City of Sydney’s Art and About program in 2024.

Neda is also a dedicated member of PYT Fairfield, where she has made significant contributions as a Director, Actor, Co-Writer, and Senior Tutor for their after-school drama program, ‘Junior Ensemble’. Her commitment to nurturing young talent, coupled with her impactful work across various artistic disciplines, continues to define her as a vital force in the Australian arts community.

Kobra Sayyadi
Writer-in-Residence
Kobra Sayyadi is an emerging writer, dramaturg and interdisciplinary artist who lives on Dharawal country in South West Sydney. She is interested in working across different mediums including poetry, theatre, film and audio to tell stories that probe, excite and elevate. She has a Bachelor of Arts, with a major in English literature and minor in anthropology and has recently been selected for ATYP’s Cultivate Emerging Dramaturg program and National Theatre of Parramatta’s Page to Stage program. She is a member of PYT’ 2024 Company program and was the Co-Head Writer and Assistant Director of ‘Tuân’s Party‘ (dir Neda Taha), a nominal Australian play devised by young Western Sydney artists as part of the 2023 PYT Company program. Kobra’s latest project is co-writing and producing a new children’s work with the 2024 PYT Company program, to premiere in November 2024.

Kobra is also Co-Writer and Assistant Director of the play adaptation of novel ‘Detention‘ with celebrated Dramaturg and Actor Callan Purcell, for Monkey Baa Theatre. In 2022 Kobra completed a residency at the Bankstown Arts Centre and published her first feature essay ‘Unveiling through Art‘ on Turkish-Australian contemporary artist Cigdem Aydemir for the Sydney Review of Books literary magazine. She is also Co-Producer of a short film written by Western Sydney filmmaker Faraaz Rahman. Kobra is also a Blog Producer and Executive Member of the Community Environmental Monitoring (CEM) blog, a group dedicated to grassroots community activism concerning air pollution in Australia.

Daniel Mehareb
Performer-in-Residence
Daniel is a writer and performer of Egyptian heritage from South West Sydney. He uses poetry and comedy to tell stories of his community for his community. He has previously been a state finalist for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s ‘RAW Comedy Competition‘ and came second with his team in the 2024 ‘Bankstown Poetry Grand Slam‘. He has performed and featured as a poet in poetry slams around Sydney such as the ‘Bankstown Poetry Slam‘, ‘Bread and Butter Poetry Slam‘ and ‘Westside Poetry Slam‘ as well as having performed stand up comedy since 2018. He is also currently part of National Theatre of Parramatta’s Page to Stage program. Having studied International Relations and Middle Eastern studies at the Australian National University, he aspires to use storytelling as a tool to weave decolonial political and cultural awareness in his art.

In 2024, Daniel was one of the lead actors in a four-person Ensemble for PYT’s ‘Sitcom‘ (dir Yvan Karezi), and is part of the 2024 PYT Company as a lead actor. He is currently working on writing and performing a one man show ‘Big Nose Big Dreams‘ for the 2024 Sydney Fringe Festival.

FROM MASSIVE THEATRE COMPANY:

Harmony Hogarth
Teaching Artist, Actor, Assistant Director, Music and Sound Designer
Harmony joined Massive in 2018 as part of Massive Nui Ensemble. Since then, she has performed in 2020’s emerging artist show Babble was assistant director on 2021’s Te Whare Kapua, performed again in 2022 emerging artists show What We’re Made Of, directed by Wesley Dowdell & Carla Martell, and was assistant director on 2023’s Heart Go… BOOM! Harmony’s interest in music and sounds has also seen her create the soundscapes (sounds and music design) for three Massive productions, Heart Go… BOOM! In 2023, and I LOVE YOU G and Te Ao Hou in

She is also a regular teaching artist in Massive’s development workshop programme for rangatahi (young people).

Ebony Andrew (Ngāti Maniapoto)
Teaching Artist, Actor, Director
Ebony has been a member of Massive Company since 2014, when she took part in her first Massive workshop. She joined Massive Nui Ensemble in 2015 and trained with them for five years. Ebony has performed in two emerging artist shows – the 2017’s Chance to Ignite, and Sightings in 2018. Ebony was assistant director for 2020’s emerging artist show Babble, and went on to co-direct Massive’s emerging artist production, Heart Go…BOOM! in 2023. She holds a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Auckland and in March, 2023 performed her professional opera debut in The Unruly Tourists (NZ Opera) in, which saw her touted as the “new star” of opera in Aotearoa.

Manunui Rainey (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāi Tūhoe)
Actor, Trainee Teaching Artist
Manunui graduated from Unitec School of Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree in Performing and Screen Arts in 2023, the same year he attended a Massive Theatre Company Foundations Workshop for the first time. This led to him becoming a member of Massive Nui Ensemble for all of 2023 and 2024, and then being a part of the cast of Te Ao Hou, Massive’s emerging artist production for 2024. Manu has also taken part in The Director’s Lab for 2024 and is currently training to be a teaching artist for the workshop programme.

LEAD FACILITATORS (MASSIVE THEATRE COMPANY):

Denyce Su’a (Samoan)
Actor, Writer, Director, Teaching Artist
An educator, creative practitioner and ‘maker of things’, Denyce has been a member of Massive Theatre Company since 2012. She has trained as an actor, director and teaching artist with the company. She performed in The Wholehearted (2016-2017) and The Island, which toured to the National Theatre of Scotland Youth Exchange Programme in 2016. She loves collaborative spaces where ideas can be let loose, and magic can be found. Theatre’s the perfect space for all that goodness to happen. Denyce will be joining the Massive / PYT exchange as a facilitator.

Samantha Scott NZM
Artistic Director
Sam is the founder of Massive Company, and has directed for the company over that time, spanning over 32 years. Aside from directing, she delivers workshops to young people, emerging artists and teachers, and trains teaching artists and directors within the company. 

LEAD FACILITATORS (PYT FAIRFIELD):

Bina Bhattacharya
Creative Producer, Youth + Emerging
Bina Bhattacharya is an AWGIE-nominated feature film writer and award-winning filmmaker from Campbelltown in Sydney’s southwest. Her debut feature film as writer and director, “From All Sides”, starring Max Brown, Monique Kalmar and featuring Rebekah Elmaloglou, was selected for Queer Screen’s prestigious “Goes to Cannes” showcase at Marché du film and is scheduled for release in 2025 with Screen Inc. Bina was one of eight writers for the anthology film ‘Here Out West’ which was the opening night film of the Sydney Film Festival 2021. She directed the music video for ARIA-nominated Punjabi-Australian singer Parvyn’s single ‘What You See’, which was featured in Rolling Stone India. Bina works as a Creative Producer – Youth and Emerging at PYT Fairfield – Western Sydney’s leading professional theatre company with a focus on youth where she uses her skills as a writer, dramaturg and director to shape new theatre works with multicultural young people from Western Sydney. She runs a production company, Gemme de la Femme Pictures, with her husband, creating narrative and factual content that reflects modern, diverse Australia. Bina is also a prolific public speaker, panellist and moderator, having appeared on Weekend Sunrise, the ABC and live events across Sydney. She also works regularly as a script doctor and editor for screen projects in development.

Jacqueline Hornjik
Director
Jacqueline Hornjik is a Producer, Director, and Arts Leader with a passion for theatre-making and community engagement. She champions young and emerging artists, particularly those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and Western Sydney. With over 20 years of experience in the arts, Jacqueline’s journey includes founding the Liverpool Performing Arts Ensemble in 2007, producing and curating theatre at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, and serving as Deputy Chair of Access Arts Australia. Her other roles include Creative Producer at Critical Stages, Marketing Manager at Monkey Baa Theatre Company, Producer for Children, Families, and Creative Learning at the Sydney Opera House, and currently, Director at PYT Fairfield. Jacqueline is also co-founder and co-director of consultative play-based company Toy Diplomacy, developed during Covid as a way to help break barriers to play.

Jacqueline holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Performance Studies from the University of Sydney, along with a Master of Marketing and a Master of Business Administration. Her contributions to curating and producing performing and visual arts programs for young audiences have garnered her numerous awards, including nominations for the Western Sydney Women and Women of the West Awards and the winner of the iMAGine and Vivid Ideas Awards.