MIKE BOOTH

Director • Writer • Actor • Teacher

Mike Booth is a Sydney-based director, writer, actor and acting teacher with more than 25 years’ experience directing actors for stage and screen.

Known for his emotionally truthful, dynamic and actor-driven work, Mike specialises in performances that feel immediate, spontaneous and deeply human. His directing style combines rigorous structural analysis with a raw, energetic rehearsal process that prioritises behaviour, rhythm, and live connection between actors.

Mike trained internationally at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York, and the Impulse Company in London, and has also undertaken masterclasses with Larry Moss and Miranda Harcourt.

As a theatre director, his work includes Mauritius, Crimes of the Heart, Sunday on the Rocks, Stupid Fucking Bird, Spike Heels, The Zoo Story, Our Country’s Good, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and multiple productions of his original work Thirty-Three. His productions have been staged at venues including the Old Fitzroy Theatre, Belvoir Street, Darlinghurst Theatre, TAP Gallery, and Desire Books & Records in Manly.

Alongside his theatre work, Mike has written and directed feature films including Thirty-Three and Mr Pillow, as well as numerous short films and music videos. His short film The Hitch, co-directed with Damon Herriman, screened internationally.

Sarah Ballantyne is a Sydney-based actor and a graduate of WAAPA’s Diploma of Acting.  During her time at WAAPA, she performed as Richard III in King Richard III and Mother in The Mother. Sarah’s credits include Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Celia in As You Like It, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Shakespearience Australia) and Rosalie in The Children's Hour at The Old Fitz (directed by Kim Hardwick).

She has recently completed a residency at KXT Bakehouse for her first play “please, hold.”

Brea Macey is a multi-disciplinary artist that graduated from ACA (2023). Recently directed the twice sold-out season of Traffic Light Party (Jezebel Productions) that won Best of the Fest for Sydney Fringe (2025) that was then picked up for another sold-out success at KXT (2026). Nominated Best Actor (KXT Awards 2025) for her critically-acclaimed titular role in Ophelia Thinks Harder (dir. Alex Kendall Robson). Her self-directed, one-woman play, A Thing of Hope, swept the 2024 Short+Sweet Sydney Festival winning six awards including Best Actor, while the nationally-toured cabaret, Noel and Gertie, Down and Dirty (dir. Jonathan Mill) earned the Adelaide Fringe Critics Circle Award (2024). Additional screen credits include the Cannes-screened feature film, From All Sides (dir. Bina Bhattacharya), NCIS: Sydney Season 3 (dir. Catherine Millar), Peking Duk Music Videos The Paradise Films (dir. Omen Trevor), Locked (dir. Thea OConor), and Not the End of the World (dir. Michael Power). Other theatre credits include As You Like It (dir Alex Kendall Robson), Omen (dir. Anna Kamaralli), Penpals (dir. Sarah Campbell) and The House of Bernarda Alba (dir. Kim Hardwick) and directed Gruesome Playground Injuries earlier this year in April. Brea has also produced, directed and performed in multiple cabarets in venues such as Two80 Cabaret, Claire's Kitchen at le Salon, and The Old Fitz. She co-owns production company, Harvey Family Co., that ran one of Sydneys best comedy clubs across 2024-25, Harvey Comedy. Breas next acting credit will be An Intervention (dir. Mike Booth) at TAP Gallery in June.