Najee Tannous (he/him)
Concept Creator, Co-Creator, & Performer
Najée Tannous is a Lebanese-French interdisciplinary artist, performance practitioner, movement-based artist, actor, dramaturg and arts educator working on the lands of the Dharug tribe. His work spans across installation, immersive performance and technology innovation, contemporary dance and physical theatre. His creative practice is informed by Middle Eastern culture and history, creating innovative works of change and social advocacy. In 2017, he was nominated for the prestigious Australian Choreographic Awards for his dance work [MODE] and the recipient of the Pineapple Labs International Artist Residency (2017) where he developed original performance work Untitled.exe (2017) and Not for Sale (2017). Recently, he was awarded the 2019 and 2020 Resident Artist at the PYT Fairfield and selected as a participating artist for Performance Space’s Queer Nu Works (2021).

Antony Makhlouf (he/him)
Co-Creator & Performer
Antony Makhlouf is a multidisciplinary creative working as a television presenter, actor and visual artist. He is best known for his television role on Get Arty teaching art techniques airing on Channel 7 in Australia and on Discovery Kids in New Zealand and Southeast Asia. His performance theatre credits include work staged in Sydney and Adelaide, such as Lady Tabouli (National Theatre of Parramatta), Amphibian (Windmill Theatre Company), Omar and Dawn (King’s Cross Theatre) and the 2019 development of Lady Tabouli (Griffin Theatre Company’s BATCH Festival). His intricate illustrative artworks and socially charged photographic pieces have been exhibited extensively in Sydney, Melbourne, and Beirut. Antony graduated with a Masters of Design and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from UNSW Art & Design and has studied performance at Screenwise, ACTT, The Actor’s Centre Australia and The Actors Hub. Antony is merging his love of visual arts and theatre with his involvement in The Things I Could Never Tell Steven under the Creative Futures Program.

Hayden Tonazzi (they/he)
Co-Director & Co-Creator
Hayden is a director and creative producer working across various forms of live performance and new writing. A graduate of the NIDA MFA Directing program, they have a creative practice that visualizes dramaturgy through design and performance in pursuit of imagery that prioritizes an audience’s understanding of character and story. As Director, their theatre credits include Tell Me Before The Sun Explodes by Jacob Parker for the Kings Cross Theatre, the Australian Premiere of Significant Other by Joshua Harmon for The New Theatre; This Genuine Moment by Jacob Parker for La Mama & The Old 505. Their musical theatre directing credits include Miracle City by Nick Enright for NIDA, Carrie: The Musical for The Depot Theatre, Parade for The Seymour Centre, and The Hatpin for The King Street Theatre. Later this year, Hayden will be directing the World Premiere of Shack by George Kemp for ATYP at the brand-new Rebel Wilson Theatre.

May Yousif (she/her)
Co-Director & Co Creator
May grew up in Western Sydney, after migrating to Australia in 1994 from war-torn Iraq. May has worked on many Australian productions including SBS Drama ‘On the Ropes’, SONY’S Peter Rabbit 2, CHANNEL 9’s Doctor Doctor, WHITEFALKS’, AACTA award winning film Babyteeth, ABC’s Rake and ABC’s Hardball. May worked on George Miller’s ‘Three thousand years of longing’ assisting the film’s leading man Idris Elba. May most recently went on to co-direct Idris Elba’s music video for ‘Biggest’ coming out in 2022. Her producing and directorial debut was ‘Friendzoned Island’ – a comedy short film which earned her the award for ‘Best Feel-Good Film’ and a ‘Best Romantic Comedy’ nomination at Sydney Indie Film Festival in 2019. May wrote, directed and co-produced ‘The Audition Bus’, a 30-minute comedy TV pilot helmed by an all-female creative team. May’s writing garnered the attention of LOTL – a popular Magazine aimed at inspiring women in the LGBTQ community.

Francesco Pelli (he/him)
Co-Creator
Francesco Pelli is making his creative debut in ‘Pickled’. With his experiences in multi-disciplinary workshops, in chasmic explorations of drama and performance, illuminated further by his role as Stanley Webber in a production of ‘The Birthday Party’ (Harold Pinter), his involvement within the discipline of theatre began well before this very moment. A ferocious passion for dramaturgy and poetry, combined with a ripened knowledge on the writings of Samuel Beckett, Bertolt Brecht, Jerzy Grotowski, and Konstantin Stanislavski, he is grateful to help bring this beautiful story to the stage. Frankie is a young emerging artist.

Martin del Amo (he/him)
Choreographer
Martin del Amo is a Sydney-based choreographer and dancer with more than 25 years of professional experience. He started out as a solo artist, acclaimed for his full-length solos fusing idiosyncratic movement and intimate storytelling. Over the last decade, Martin has also built a strong reputation as a creator of group works and solos for others. Programmed by all major presenters in NSW, including Sydney Opera House, Sydney Festival and Carriageworks, his work has toured nationally in Australia and internationally to the UK, Japan and Brazil. Martin regularly teaches for a wide range of arts organisations and companies, and has extensively worked as mentor, dramaturg, movement consultant and dance writer. His contributions to the Australian arts sector have been recognised with the prestigious Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship (2015) and the Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance (2018).

George Kemp (he/him)    
Dramaturg
George is a writer based on Gadigal land in Sydney. He is a graduate of Charles Sturt University and has a Masters from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London. George won the Australian Theatre for Young People Foundation Commission Award 2020 for his play SHACK (published by Playlab). Since the premiere production in 2022, SHACK has enjoyed continued success, being performed continuously around the country and internationally. SHACK will be included on the new 2026 NSW Drama Curriculum and is in the early stages of development for television.

George was commissioned to adapt THE NUTCRACKER for Australian Chamber Orchestra in 2022 The production enjoyed an extended sold-out season in 2023. George was Dramaturg on the stage adaptation of DRUMROLL PLEASE, IT’S STEVIE LOUISE (Playlab) based on the bestselling YA novel by Tanya Hennessy George’s 2014 play AS HAMLET LIKES IT has just been published by Playlab.George was selected to be part of The Faber Academy 2023/2024, during which he completed his debut novel SOFT SERVE.

Alissar Chidiac (she/her)
Cultural Dramaturg
Alissar Chidiac is a creative producer and community cultural worker, dedicated to collaborating through cultural action for over 40 years. She has deep experience facilitating arts programs in Greater Western Sydney on the Lands of the Dharug and Dharawal People. Late 1970s starting out with women’s street theatre and early 1980s with Pipi Storm community arts, then over years deepening practice working with different communities, artists and artforms. 

Since 1991 Alissar’s focus has been on Arab Australian cultures, through contemporary cultural production, cultural heritage and performance work. In the 1990s, an artist/facilitator with Death Defying Theatre (now Utp) and a member of the Multicultural Theatre Alliance. She was a founding member of TAQA Theatre and SAFA, creating Arab Australian contemporary performance works throughout the decade. She worked at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, initiating the ‘wattan project’ and producing innovative projects through Arab community partnerships  (1998-2004).  Alissar co-founded Arab Theatre Studio in 2014, a contemporary arts collective producing Arab-centred critical conversations and performance work and continues as one of the Creative Producers. In 2016 ATS produced a significant Pecha Kucha event, ‘Coffee, Tea and 25 Cigarettes’, marking 25 years of Arab Australian contemporary performance making. She received a two year Fellowship in 2005 from the Australia Council for the Arts (now Creative Australia), and in 2010 the Ros Bower Award, which honours a lifetime contribution to community arts and cultural development.

Hussein Kahil (he/him)
Cultural Dramaturg
Hussein Kahil is an international lead vocalist who has performed extensively across the Middle East, Europe and Canada. Hussein belongs to a musical family and grew up in Nabatieh in South Lebanon. Hussein was trained by Walid Goulmiye, Head of the Conservatory of Music in Lebanon from a young age. Hussein arrived in Australia in 2018 and has become one of the leading vocalists for Ensemble Dandana performing with Sydney Symphony, MCA, Firstdraft, University of Sydney, The Granville Centre, Parramatta Pride Picnic, Arts & Cultural Exchange, Arab Theatre Studio and Club Arak. He is also a soloist and choir member with the Spirit of the Orient Choir. Hussein recently curated Salat fundraising events for Gaza along with Mustafa Altayar, Rania Shalhoub and other talented artists and creatives.

Chrysoulla Markoulli (she/her)
Composer & Sound Designer
Chrysoulla Markoulli is an award-winning composer and sound designer based in Sydney, with a passion for telling stories through music and sound. She has been creating with theatre and screen makers since 2016, with clients such as ARACOURT, Belvoir, Griffin, ATYP and Rogue Projects. Her work has been recognised through multiple nominations and awards including the Sydney Theatre Awards, Broadway World Australia Sydney Awards, ScoreLive Competition and Glories of the Score Competition. Highlight credits include: If/When (2024); Pickled (2024); The Turn of the Screw (2023); Pearly Gates (2022); Tell Me Before the Sun Explodes (2022); Tom at the Farm (2022); Will & Grace (2021); Hot Mess (2021); Mary (2021); Jali (2021); CNUT (2020) and YEN (2018).

Soham Apte (he/him)
Set Designer
Soham Apte (he/him) is a multi-disciplinary artist and designer creating work on unceded Gadigal land. He is a graduate of NIDA, where he studied Design for Performance (BFA, 2022). He is passionate about designing for films, music videos, and theatre. In 2023, Soham had the pleasure of designing for ‘Mr. Bailey’s Minder’ by Debra Oswald at Ensemble Theatre, dir: Damien Ryan, as well as ‘Consent’ by Nina Raine at Seymour Centre, dir: Craig Baldwin. ‘Consent’ was recently nominated for Best Independent Production, Best Set Design (Indie), and Best Costume Design (Indie) at the 2023 Sydney Theatre Awards.Soham has been working professionally designing for theatre and film since 2022, and is excited for what’s to come.

Elyse Drenth (she/they)
Production Manager/Lighting Designer
Elyse Drenth is an accomplished Lighting Designer and Technician based in  Western Sydney. With 15 years experience working as a technician they have worked across a broad range of events in Theatre, Live Music and Corporate Events. Elyse has gained extensive experience and technical knowledge working on concerts and large productions across Sydney. They have  provided technical services in Corporate Events as an in-house Technician at the Four Seasons Hotel, providing technical experience to weddings, conferences and large scale corporate events. Elyse then moved into Theatre as a Technician at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre where she was the Production and Technical Manager for their first in-house production Tough Beauty. Most recently, Elyse has worked as the Production and Technical Manager for PYT Fairfield and as a freelance Lighting designer/ Technician for various Theatre productions including Sydney World Pride’s premiere showing of  PYT’s Pioneers, Art and About, Tuan’s Party and the premiere tour of PYT’s The Hen House.

Anthony El-Helou  (he/him)    
Marketing & Content Creator
Anthony is an accomplished legal, marketing, and media professional, currently serving as the Marketing and Product Manager for the on-demand portfolio at the College of Law. He graduated from Western Sydney University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Communications (Media Arts Production) and a Bachelor of Laws. Before his current role, Anthony was the Executive Producer at BenchTV, overseeing all aspects of media pre- and post-production. Known for his enthusiasm and commitment to excellence, Anthony excels in content creation for social media, B2B, and B2C platforms. He develops go-to-market strategies, leads cross-functional teams, and drives lead-generation efforts. Anthony has a deep passion for the arts, documentary media, and theatre, which he skillfully integrates into his digital marketing and campaigns. His skills in stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, project management, content creation, and marketing have made him a valuable asset in the legal, marketing, and educational sectors.

Cindy Cavero (she/her)
Stage Manager