STARRING
MAXWELL SIMON
CREATIVES
DREW DOWNING
WRITER
Drew is an entertainer, vocalist and creative. A renowned arts educator, Drew has delivered music programs in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. Acknowledged for his commitment to diversity and inclusion, he remains one of Melbourne’s most popular voice teachers for teens. Drew is Founding Director of Arts in Schools.
Drew was invited to be the ambassador for Melbourne Cabaret Festival (2019) and served as Musical Director for Melbourne Pride Chorus (2015 - 2021).
Writing credits: Beautiful Things (2017 Workshop Season, StageArt), Rebel (2013 Midsumma, 2014 MCF and 2019), A Super Brady Cabaret (2016 Premiere, StageArt), Children’s Book Week (2012-2013 Australian Tours), SBS, ABC, Disney Cruises. Stage/tours: God Only Knows: The Songs of Brian Wilson, Drew’s Drive-Inn, Let it Be: The Songs of Lennon & McCartney, Ultimate 90s Playlist. Festivals: Midsumma, Fringe, Mardi Gras and ACL.
CLARY RIVEN
DIRECTOR
Clary Riven (she/her) is a director from Caracas, Venezuela. Clary is a graduate of Monash University Bachelor of Performing Arts degree, where she trained to become a theatre maker.
Her recent credits include: Director of ‘Calminaré’ (2025), Associate Director of ‘Dial M For Murder’ (2025), ‘In the Heights’ at the Sydney Opera House, Resident Director of ‘&Juliet’ with Michael Cassel Group (2023-2024), Director of ‘Rebel: A New Musical’ (2019), Autonomous Inventions’s ‘Protein’ (2021-2022), ‘Drew Downing’s Ultimate 90’s Playlist’ (2019), ‘God Only Knows: Songs of Brian Wilson’ (2018 – 2019), ‘Tinder Tales: A New Musical’ (2018), ‘Beautiful Things: A new musical Workshop’ (2018),.
Clary has performed the role of Assistant Director on productions such as Stageart’s ‘Memphis’ (2017), ‘Bare’ (2018) under Dean Drieberg, and Watch This’ ‘Into The Woods’ (2022).
ALEX MARTELLO
MUSICAL DIRECTOR
Alex is an accomplished bass player, arranger, and musical director. He has recently performed bass on the national tours of Footloose and Hair, and his arranging and orchestrating work has been featured by the Australian Pops Orchestra.
An in-demand bass player and arranger, Alex performs across a wide range of contemporary, jazz, and orchestral settings, with his charts commissioned and performed internationally.
Alex is very excited not only to have orchestrated Rebel, but also to be making his theatre musical directing debut.
BETTY AUHL
SET & COSTUME
Betty is a Naarm/Melbourne based theatre–maker, working across costume and set designs for theatre, musical theatre and cabaret projects. She treasures the gift of storytelling and loves finding new ways of supporting narratives through dramaturgically charged design.
Betty was the set & costume designer of the premiere production of REBEL: A New Musical in 2019. Her theatre design work includes award-winning production Little Squirt (Autonomous Inventions), Dial M for Murder (Smoke & Mirrors), The Machine Stops (Theatre Works), An Organized Odyssey (Wielding Theatre), When The Rain Stops Falling (Iron Lung Theatre), MOTH (Theatreworks), Protein (Autonomous Inventions), Polygraph (Optic Nerve), Ugleigh (Crowded Together), and Flesh Disease (R.K Collaborations).
Betty has also recently returned to the stage in a hybrid live performance style of DJ mixing with burlesque dance, under the stage name Betty Bump.
JOCELYN LAMBOURNE
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Jocelyn (she/they) is a Filipina-Australian performing artist from Melbourne. She is a recent graduate of JMC Academy’s Bachelor of Creative Arts (Music Theatre), studying to become a performer well-versed across stage and screen.
During her time there, she performed in The Witches of Eastwick as Jane Smart, Into the Woods as The Witch, and Urinetown as Hope Cladwell.
She has a passion for pursuing meaningful storytelling and is excited to be a part of the creative team for REBEL.
SEAMUS ALLAN
PROD. STAGE MANAGER
Seamus is a Producer, Stage Manager, and Director based in Naarm/Melbourne, currently working as the Producer for Melbourne Shakespeare Company, and the Associate Producer for Fever103 Theatre.
Recent technical credits include Producer & Production Manager for Othello, As You Like It, & The Teddy Bear’s Picnic (MSC), RUMBLESKIN (Dirty Pennies Theatre Project) and FIND Festival (MUST), Stage Manager for The Witches of Eastwick (Chapel Off Chapel), Spring Awakening, & Mother Courage And Her Children (Arts Centre Melbourne), Caminaré: The Echo of My Steps (Gasworks), Twelfth Night (MSC) and Shakespeare in Love (MUST), Associate Producer for the last train to madeline (Fever103 Theatre) and Kill Climate Deniers (MUST), and Marketing Coordinator for The Tempest, Wacky Wombat, and Julius Caesar (MSC).
Recent creative credits include Director for Stupid F**king Bird (MUST), and Pickering in PYGMALION (Melbourne Fringe).