Stefo Nantsou Stefo Nantsou i(A67379 works by)
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Actor, writer, director, composer and musician, Stefo Nantsou has worked with a number of Australian theatre companies, including Freewheels Theatre, Sidetrack Theatre and The Torch Project, and has also specialised in producing theatre for young people. In 1987 a collaboration between Nantsou, Silvio Ofria, Adam Hatzimanolis and Sidetrack Theatre, resulted in Kin (q.v.), a musical play which explores cultural differences, and more particularly identity among the displaced.

In 1988 Nantsou founded Zeal Theatre (q.v.) in Newcastle, and over the next eight years established a strong presence in the Hunter Valley region, touring school productions and presenting public seasons in and around Newcastle. Zeal Theatre has toured productions throughout much of Australia and produced shows at some of the country's major children's festivals. It has also staged productions in more than twenty countries, while also running workshops with students and youth arts companies. In 1996 Nantsou relocated Zeal Theatre to Melbourne. The company's first production after moving to the Victorian capital was The Stones. Based on a true event in which two boys killed a motorist after throwing rocks from a freeway overpass, it has since become Zeal's most successful show. Up to 2006 it had been performed over 900 times in Australia, Europe, Asia and North America. The play has also been translated into Dutch, Welsh, Hungarian, Danish and German.

Although only one of his plays has been officially published, by 2006 Nantsou had written or co-written over 35 works and directed more than 65. As an actor he has also performed in well over 80 productions. To date Nantsou's Zeal Theatre had received five Newcastle CONDA Awards (1989-2005), a New South Wales Frater Award (1997), a Best New Work Award for TheatreHaus (2002), a 2002 Dutch Theater Award, the Critics Choice Prize in Budapest (2003) and the International ASSITEJ Honorary President's Award for outstanding services to theatre for young people in Montreal (2005).

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

The Loaded Dog 2010 single work drama children's humour
2010 nominated Sydney Theatre Awards Best Production for Children
The Forwards 2004 single work drama young adult
— Appears in: The Forwards [and] The Apology 2009; (p. 9-52)

Devised by Stefo Nantsou through a series of creative workshops with students from Victorian regional high schools, The Forwards combines comedy, drama and percussive energy as a means of exploring football culture, alcohol abuse, reckless behaviour in small rural communities and the role parents play in shaping the attitudes of their children.

The story concerns the Pintoon Parrots football team, which makes it to the Grand Final for the first time in the small town's history. Up against arch rivals the Gilpendry Goannas, the team knows that the game will be a hard-fought battle, and that their hopes rest on the forward trio, Hoges, Tractor and Gary Rabbit. However, as the big game approaches a rumour spreads throughout the town and subsequently brings the three 'friends for life' into major conflict. Fuelled with anger, jealousy and alcohol, violence explodes both on and off the field resulting in a shocking climax.

2017 winner Matilda Awards Best Independent Production

(2017 Brisbane Powerhouse production)

Last amended 15 Mar 2007 17:06:10
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