NIDA’s 2026 Spring Season presents four landmark works helmed by acclaimed female directors Rachael Maza AM, Zindzi Okenyo, Margaret Thanos and Claudia Osborne and celebrate imagination, innovation and the next generation of creative talent.
NIDA’s annual production seasons offer audiences a first look at the performers and behind the scenes specialists poised to enter the entertainment industry. Professionally directed, this is a cornerstone of NIDA’s training program, serving as the major creative projects for graduating students while showcasing the skill and artistry developed throughout their studies.
Rachael Maza AM, the trailblazing First Nations director who led ILBIJERRI Theatre Company for 18 years, reimagines Michael Gow’s beloved classic Away. In its 40th anniversary year, Maza brings a First Nations lens to Australia’s most-produced play for the very first time. “For Indigenous peoples, Country is not simply a place, but a living relationship of responsibility, continuity and belonging. That understanding sits at the heart of this play. As three families set off on their summer holidays, Away reveals something deeper about who we are, where we belong and our enduring connection to Country,” said Maza.
NIDA alum and beloved children’s entertainer, director and musician, Zindzi Okenyo (Acting, 2006) brings forensic precision to the Australian premiere of The Doctor, Robert Icke’s a gripping moral thriller that exposes unconscious bias with razor-sharp wit. “The beauty of this piece is the humanity that sits stifled underneath and that for a clearer, brighter future we all need to be able to seek humanity in every day, remaining open to the possibility that ‘us’ may in fact be closer to ‘them’ than we could ever imagine”, said Okenyo.
With debuts at Sydney Theatre Company and Belvoir, celebrated young director Margaret Thanos leads Elinor Cook’s provocative Image of an Unknown Young Woman, a penetrating exploration of empathy, activism and asking what we owe strangers in an age when a single image can ignite a revolution.
Fresh from staging Opera Australia’s 2026 Hansel and Gretel, NIDA alum Claudia Osborne (Directing, 2019) collaborates with performers and musicians from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music to bring Ravel and Colette’s enchanting opera L’enfant et les sortilèges to life, in a magical tale where childhood rebellion transforms an entire world.
2026 Spring Season tickets are on sale now. View full Season line-up here.
Header image L-R: Kai Johnson (Acting), Director Claudia Osborne, Bella Muslado (Technical Theatre and Stage Management), Choreographer Cassidy McDermott-Smith, Ellie Triplett (Acting), Director Margaret Thanos, Jonathon Hartley (Set Construction Technologies), Director Zindzi Okenyo, Joey Love-McKenzie (Design for Performance).