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1. THE
SCAM
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Rob Dilley, Ian Dunn, Meg Dunn, Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn.
Zeal Theatre's 1st production premiered in February 1989. Dealing
with State Government cuts to schools funding and the ramifications on schools,
students and families, "THE SCAM" was performed over 50 times throughout
Hunter Valley high schools and a public season at the New Lambton Community
Centre.
2.SHATTERED
PAIRS
Devised and performed by
Rob Dilley, Ian Dunn, Meg Dunn, Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn
Created with the assistance of Parents Without
Partners, the Zeal ensemble premiered "SHATTERED PAIRS" as
part of a double-bill with "THE SCAM" at New
Lambton Community Centre in April, 1989. The show also
toured Hunter Valley high schools throughout 1989.
3.WORKFORCE
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
1989 Cast: Rob Dilley, Ian Dunn, Meg Dunn,
Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn
(Paul Makeham also performed in the original
season)
1990/'91 Cast: Alan Gannaway, Karen Lantry,
Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn
Zeal's performance style was further developed with
this ambitious epic portrayal of the Australian workforce
which played public seasons at the Newcastle Workers Club
as well as touring Hunter Valley high schools between 1989
and 1991. Stefo Nantsou was awarded a CONDA (City of Newcastle
Drama Award) for best director in 1989.
4.SPLIT
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Rob Dilley, Ian Dunn, Meg Dunn,
Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn
Premiering at the T.P.I. House in September 1989, "SPLIT" was
a semi-autobiographical account of three generations of
southern European immigrants and their cultural, political
and familial journey's from homeland village to suburban
Australia.
5.LUCY'S
PROMISE
By Meg Dunn
1989 Cast: Rob Dilley, Meg Dunn, Vicki
Long, Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn
1990 Cast: Meg Dunn, Alan Gannaway, Karen
Lantry, Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn
Commissioned as part of the Women in Education
Conference in Sydney in October, 1989, "LUCY'S PROMISE" also
toured Hunter Valley high schools as part of their vocational
and career training programs between 1989 and 1990.
6.GHOST
PLANET
Devised and performed by Rob Dilley, Meg Dunn,
Alan Gannaway, Karen Lantry, Stefo Nantsou & Kerry
O'Hearn (with Ian Dunn co-devisor)
Premiering as Zeal Theatre's
first primary school venture in 1989 and later as a public
season at Newcastle's Fort Scratchley Maritime & Military
Museum in January 1990 "GHOST PLANET" was an interplanetary
cartoon of big business exploitation and astral traveling.
Stefo Nantsou was awarded his second CONDA for best director
in 1990.
7.WILD
IDEAS
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Meg Dunn, Alan Gannaway, Steve Kelly,
Karen Lantry, Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn (with special
guest Rob Dilley in the second season)
This high school play focused
on the history of scientific thought and discovery and took
the audience on a wild ride from the creation of the wheel
to Oppenheimer's creation of the atomic bomb.
8.THE
FIRST MOVE
Devised and performed by Alan Gannaway,
Steve Kelly, Karen Lantry, Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn
Due to the success of "SHATTERED
PAIRS" in 1989, Zeal created this 1990 play as a thematic
sequel dealing with young people having to cope with parents
embarking on new relationships after divorce and separation.
Once again created with the assistance of Parents Without Partners.
9.LOST
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn
Premiering in April 1990, Zeal's 2nd primary school
venture was a comic farce of a father losing himself in a
huge shopping mall after his young daughter wonders off into
toyshop heaven.
10. LIMEBURNERS
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Meg Dunn, Alan Gannaway, Celia Ireland,
Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn
In 1991, Zeal returned to Fort Scratchley for
a public season of this historical comedy/drama about Newcastle's
first 100 years of white settlement, from convict laborers
to First World War volunteers.
11.HIT
HARD
Devised and performed by Alan Gannaway, Stefo
Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn
Created in 1991 with the assistance of students
from West Wallsend High School, this powerful production
about teenage violence, sexual harassment and suicide
solidified the Zeal ‘house-style' which would become
a benchmark for many future high schools/adult productions. "HIT
HARD" was the first Zeal show to tour widely around
New South Wales gaining the company a higher profile
outside Sydney and the Hunter Valley.
12.EMPEROR'S
NEW CLOTHES
Devised and performed by Meg Dunn, Alan Gannaway,
Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn
This ambitious 1991 reworking of the classic tale
was an outdoors primary and high school production using
masks, puppets, huge colourful costumes, a naked fat suit,
elaborate sets and props and a stage on top of the Zeal van.
The production was reworked for a public season at Newcastle's
Fort Scratchley in January 1994 & performed by Louise
Chapman, Rob Dilley, Jan Hunt, Karen Lantry & Stefo Nantsou.
13. DEBTS
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Rod Ansell, Meg Dunn, Alan Gannaway, Stefo Nantsou, Kerry O'Hearn & Kate
Sweeny. (also Rob Dilley in 1992 remounted production)
Music by Alan Gannaway
This epic cartoon musical set on a monopoly board
about the rise and fall of 80s corporate business identities
(and the politicians who supported them) premiered at the
Newcastle Community Arts Centre in October 1991. Due to the
overwhelming critical and artistic success, "DEBTS" was
remounted for a short season at the Civic Playhouse and a
two week season at the Tandanya Centre for the Adelaide Fringe
Festival in 1992. Meg Dunn was awarded a best actress CONDA
in 1991 for her role as Dice. The play was also
produced by Griffith University Drama students and directed
by Stefo Nantsou in 2004.
14.QUEST
FOR GRENDEL
Devised and performed by Rod Ansell, Rob Dilley,
Meg Dunn & Kerry O'Hearn
Co-devised with Alan Gannaway and Stefo Nantsou
In January 1992, Zeal returned to Fort Scratchley
for their 3rd School holiday family show, based on the ancient
Norse tale.
15. JOYRIDE
Written, devised and performed by Louise Chapman,
Rob Dilley & Stefo Nantsou
Researched with streetkids, Woromi Detention Centre
inmates, social workers and NSW police officers and rehearsed
at the Newcastle Police Citizens Youth Club, "JOYRIDE" premiered
in April 1992 and subsequently opened numerous national touring
opportunities for Zeal…over 600 performances throughout
Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia between
'92-'96, as well as two tours of New Zealand. In 1996, with
assistance from the NSW Arts Ministry, a concert version of
the play was produced which played a stadium season around
the Hunter Valley. Produced as a CD by Dean Parker in 1993,
over 200 copies have been sold.
16.THE
CIRCUS OF DR. MOREAU
By Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Louise Chapman, Rob Dilley, Meg Dunn,
Stefo Nantsou & Kerry O'Hearn
Directed by Kingston Anderson
A comic twisting of HG Welles' classic tale premiered
as Zeal's 5th school holiday production at Fort Scratchley,
co-produced with the Hunter Valley Theatre Company and directed
by Kingston Anderson.
17.THE
MAYHEM ZONE
Devised and performed by Louise Chapman,
Rob Dilley, Meg Dunn, Jan Hunt & Karen Lantry
This Commedia dell'arte romp for high schools premiered
in June 1993. Utilizing traditional Commedia mask/movement
techniques in a contemporary narrative setting, "THE
MAYHEM ZONE" began Zeal's interest in the use of masks
and the emergence of mask-making specialist Karen Lantry.
18.ENERGY
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Louise Chapman, Rob Dilley, Meg Dunn & Stefo
Nantsou
Commissioned by the Workers Cultural Action Committee
in Newcastle with an Australia Council Literature Board grant
for writer Stefo Nantsou, "ENERGY" was created
by interviews and research with workers and unionists of
the C.F.M.E.U. and Greenpeace activists. The play premiered
at the Newcastle Rugby League Club in May 1994 and was also
performed in Wellington, New Zealand.
19.GOSSIPS
FROM HELL
Devised and performed by Meg Dunn, Jan Hunt
and Karen Lantry.
Co-devised and directed by Stefo Nantsou
What began as an outdoor performance art piece for
MayFest in Newcastle in 1994 became a hugely successful high
schools touring play about malicious gossip. "GOSSIPS
FROM HELL" was performed over 150 times throughout N.S.W. & Victoria
as well as a public season at St. Stephens Church in Sydney.
20.THE
HUNCHBACK
By Victor Hugo, Adapted & directed
by Stefo Nantsou
1995 Cast: Carl Caulfield, Louise Chapman,
Rob Dilley, Meg Dunn, Karen Lantry & Stefo Nantsou. (Publicity & production
by Dean Parker)
1996 Cast: Louise Chapman, Rob Dilley,
Meg Dunn, Adam Hatzimanolis, Karen Lantry, Stefo Nantsou & Dean
Parker.
Costumes by Trish Flanagan. Masks by
Karen Lantry.
This lavish gothic drama was staged as a public
season at Newcastle's Christ Church Cathedral and Taree
Christ Church Cathedral in 1994 and played to capacity
audiences. In 1995 the production was reworked and remounted,
and played a season at Christ Church Cathedral, South
Yarra, Melbourne.
21.THE
VICTIMS
Written and performed by Stefo Nantsou
Commissioned by the NSW Law Society in November 1994, "THE
VICTIMS" is Zeal's first one-man show, performed by Zeal
director Stefo Nantsou. The play was researched and developed
with men who have had experience with the Family Law Courts
of New South Wales.
22.THE
BUTCHER BOAT RACE
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Rob Dilley, Meg Dunn, Ella Lantry,
Karen Lantry, Lily Nantsou, Stefo Nantsou & Tim Richards
Costumes by Trish Flanagan
Zeal's final Fort Scratchley family show was a
rollicking yarn based on true accounts of Newcastle's 19th
century port history. A season was also performed at Tanilba
House in Tanilba Bay, Port Stephens.
23. JULIUS
CAESAR
By William Shakespeare and Adapted by Stefo
Nantsou
Cast: Rob Dilley, Adam Hatzimanolis, Stefo Nantsou & Bill
Rough
Zeal's only Shakespeare retells Caesar's story in the battleground of the Super
League War of 1995. It was performed as a public season at Newcastle's Mission
Theatre.
24.TATAU:
RITES OF PASSAGE
Devised and performed by Anton Carter,
Rob Dilley, Meg Dunn, Erolia Ifopo, Oscar Kightley, Karen
Lantry, Shimpal Lelisi, Mishelle Muagututi'a, Stefo Nantsou & Joy
Vaele
Tattooist: Su'a Paulo Suluape III
Tattooist assistants: Moe Siaosi & Laga
Suluape
Body Canvas (Auckland): Vic Tamati Body
Canvas (Sydney): Fa'amoana Ioane
Directed by Stefo Nantsou
In 1995 Zeal was invited to New Zealand to co-produce
a new work with Christchurch-based Samoan theatre company
PACIFIC UNDERGROUND. Based on the ancient tradition of
the tatau (tattoo) and following the stories of post-war
Polynesian migration to New Zealand, "TATAU:RITES
OF PASSAGE" played a sold-out season at the Aotea
Centre in Auckland in March, 1996. The production was
remounted (with assistance from the Australia Council
Theatre Fund) for a season at the Bondi Pavilion in Sydney
in November '96 as part of the Pacific Wave Festival.
25.THE
STONES
Written and performed by Tom Lycos & Stefo
Nantsou
Queensland Cast: Sam Foster and Adam Drake
In April 1996, Zeal relocated to Melbourne where
Zeal founder Stefo Nantsou teamed with fellow ex-Sidetrack
Theatre member Tom Lycos to produce Zeal's biggest national
and international success. Based on a true story of two
boys killing a motorist after throwing rocks from a freeway
overpass, "THE STONES" premiered in June 1996
and has since been performed over 970 times throughout
Australia, Europe, North America and Asia, including
seasons at the Royal National Theatre, London, The Duke
on 42nd St, New York, The Esplanade, Singapore, Comedie
Theater, Zagreb & Sydney's Wharf Theatre. "THE
STONES" has also been translated and performed in
over 20 countries, Stefo & Tom having directed the
play in Canada, Holland, Wales, Germany, Denmark & Hungary, & two
oz versions for Barking Gecko Theatre in Perth and for
the Queensland Arts Council. "THE STONES" has
received a NSW Frater Award ('98), a Victorian Arts Council
Award ('99), a DeutchTheater award for Best New Work
('02), and the Critics Choice Award in Budapest, Hungary
('04).
26.TRIPPERS
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Meg Dunn, Hugh Gordon, Jan Hunt & Karen
Lantry
Commissioned by The Push, a youth music organization
in Melbourne, "TRIPPERS" was a rock musical about
starting a band in a remote country town. The show toured
high schools for Regional Arts Victoria in 1997.
27.EN
GARDE
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Meg Dunn, Izabella Nantsou, Lily Nantsou & Stefo
Nantsou
This gypsy tale for all ages contrasted contemporary
family upheavals with true accounts of war-torn refugees.
Part of Zeal's primary repertoire between '97-'00.
28.A
SECRET PLACE
(FIXIN BART & MAGGIE)
Written and directed by Tom Lycos & Stefo
Nantsou
Cast: Peta Brady, Tom Lycos & Stefo
Nantsou
1999 Cast: Meg Dunn, David Pidd & Aaron
Ward
After researching for over a year with drug users,
dealers and welfare workers, Zeal premiered "FIXIN
BART & MAGGIE" in April 1998 as a high schools
touring show. Since then the play has been performed over
200 times throughout Victorian schools and universities
and most recently a season at the Wharf Theatre for the
Sydney Theatre Company where the name of the play was changed
to "A SECRET PLACE".
29.MOUSE
Written and directed by Tom Lycos & Stefo
Nantsou
2000 cast: Meg Dunn, Kyong Nam Lin, Tom Lycos,
Genevieve Morris, Mark Peglar & Stefo Nantsou
2001 Cast: Peta Brady, Francis Greenslade,
Jules Hutchins, Kyong Nam Lin, Tom Lycos & Stefo Nantsou
2002-'03 Cast: Jigzie Campbell, Kaarin Fairfax,
Tom Lycos & Stefo Nantsou
2004 Cast: Jigzie Campbell, Jane & Guy
Hooper & Tom Lycos
Zeal were commissioned by the Victorian Arts Centre
ArtEd program to create a new work which premiered at the Fairfax
Studio in July 2000. "MOUSE" was then invited to
play a season at the 2001 Come Out Festival in Adelaide. In
2002-03 the play toured Victorian high schools and in 2004
was co-produced with Hothouse Theatre for a public season in
Albury.
30.SIDE
EFFECTS
Written & performed by Tom Lycos & Stefo
Nantsou
About the use and abuse of medication for young people
with A.D.D. & A.D.H.D., "SIDE EFFECTS" premiered
at the David Williamson Theatre in Melbourne in March 2002
and has since been performed in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London,
a touring season throughout Victoria, and a season at the Wharf
Theatre for the STC.
31. THE
FIFTH FLOOR
Written by Tom Lycos, Peta Brady & Stefo
Nantsou
Commissioned by Melbourne Workers Theatre
Not produced.
32. THE
FORWARDS
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Rob Dilley, Angela Frost and Dave
Houston
Queensland Cast: Sandy Greenwood, Adam
Drake and Sam Foster
Created through workshops with students from regional
high school around Victoria, "THE FORWARDS" deals
with football culture, alcohol abuse and reckless behavior
in small country communities. The play premiered in June
2004 and has toured extensively throughout Australia. The
play was translated in Hungarian for Kolibri Theatre's
production of "CSATAROK" in 2006. The play has
also been produced by the Queensland Arts Council
33.THE
APOLOGY
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Rob Dilley & Stefo Nantsou
Queensland Cast: Adam Drake & Sam Foster
Premiering at the Newcastle Showroom in February 2005,
this award-winning production brings together two Zeal founding
fathers in another powerful study of teenage violence and the
effects of long term bullying. The play is currently available
to tour secondary schools, universities, theatres and festivals,
and has since been remounted with a Queensland Cast which tours
with the QAC. The play was translated & produced in the
Danish production by Mariehoenen Theatre in 2006, also directed
by Stefo Nantsou.
34.GRONKS
Written and directed by Tom Lycos and Stefo
Nantsou
Cast: Rob Dilley, Karen Lantry, Lisa Maza,
Tom Lycos, Billy McPherson & Stefo Nantsou
Commissioned by the Sydney Theatre Company in 2005
and premiered in 2006. This powerful play deals with domestic
and community violence, loosely based on the MacQuarie Fields
and Redfern riots of 2004. The play has been performed at the
Wharf Theatre, Sydney and the Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne
and is currently touring NSW and Victorian schools.
35.THE
50-50 MEN
Written & performed by Stefo Nantsou
A sequel of the highly successful "THE VICTIMS" in
1994, this performance was commissioned for the Hunter
Region Family Law Conference in September 2006.
36.THE
BEST LITTLE TOWN IN THE WORLD
Written and directed by Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Angela Frost, Dave Houston & Jilli
Romanis
Commissioned by Regional Arts Victoria, this primary
school play is a comedy about a family's school holiday
trip to the country's heart (Uluru) and the adventures
they encounter along the way. The play premiered in May,
2007, and is currently available for touring in 2008 and
beyond.
37.AUSTRALIA
V SOUTH AFRICA
By Tom Lycos and Stefo Nantsou
Cast: Ellis Pearson, Bheki Mkhwane, Tom
Lycos & Stefo Nantsou
Commissioned by the Sydney Theatre Company, this
international collaboration with South African performing
duo Ellis and Bheki premiered at the Wharf Theatre in Sydney
in July 2007. It has been produced by Barking Gecko Theatre
in Perth for the 2008 Perth Festival, and has been selected
to perform at the ASSITEJ World Congress in Adelaide in
May 2008.
38. TABOO
Written and directed by Tom Lycos & Stefo
Nantsou
Cast: Sandy Greenwood, Tom Lycos, Stefo Nantsou & Lindy Sardelic
The 3rd commission by the
Sydney Theatre Company was work-shopped with students around
Sydney's outer West and deals with date rape, internet dating,
and the ripple effects of sexual assault. The play premiered
in December 2007 and will tour schools in 2008 as well as playing
seasons at the STC Wharf 2 Theatre and the Fairfax Studio at
the Victorian Arts Centre.
39.THE
PAPER BAG PRINCESS
Adapted & directed by Stefo Nantsou
Based on the book by Robert Munsch & Michael
Martchenko
Cast: Rob Dilley, Maree Freeman, Karen
Lantry, Stefo Nantsou, Jacqueline Gill & Noah Lantry
Produced and presented at Sydney's Powerhouse
Museum in January 2008, this production marked the return
to school-holiday family shows by the Zeals. To add to
the nostalgia, a full Novocastrian cast was assembled to
bring to life the popular children's book.
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