For the past 11 years, the Greek Community of Melbourne’s (GCM) Creative Drama & Arts program has brought Greek theatre to Melbourne stages. Catering to children and adults, the group has fostered an environment of growth and dedication, creating a space where Greek culture is celebrated through the art of theatre.
This year Creative Drama & Arts celebrates the ten-year anniversary of their adult group, marked by their sold-out performance Girls in Crisis earlier this year.
Currently the largest Greek theatre group in Melbourne, Creative Drama & Arts was founded in 2014 by production coordinator Katerina Poutachidou. Katerina migrated to Melbourne in 2007 and considers herself “lucky” to have “turned [her] hobby into a profession.” With a background in Drama Education in Brno, Czech Republic, she shared her extensive theatre experience with Melbourne’s Greek community.
The group began with a focus on student theatre in 2014 before expanding to include an adult division in 2015. Through her work with the GCM schools, Katerina noticed the students’ interest in theatre and then created a space for them to explore drama outside of the classroom.
“As a theater teacher… I saw how much the students ‘came alive’ through theater, even though they had no theater experience. I saw their confidence to speak Greek even though it was their second language,” Katerina told The Greek Herald.
Two children’s groups were formed: one for students learning Greek as a second language, and another for recent Greek migrants.
Some of the first children’s productions directed by Katerina include Hans Christian Anderson’s The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Horseman (Aristophanes), Hansel and Gretal (Elena Akrita), and The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry). Notable members of Creative Drama & Arts performances are Stathis Grapsas, Eleni Boukouvala, and Jeremy Artis.
Creative Drama & Arts also offers workshops to assist their members with developing performance skills and to explore different theatre styles, such as Commedia dell’Arte mask-making workshops with artist Christos Akrodalitis.
While the children’s theatre department laid the group’s foundation, adult performances also captured the heart of Melbourne’s Greek community. The adult division came from a want to recreate how theatre is practiced in Greece and to establish relationships in a theatre setting.
Recent adult productions include Alone (Greek and world literature excerpts), Twenty-Two (refugees testimonies from the destruction of Smyrna), Girls in the Shadow (exploration of the female experience in different eras), and Makrigiannis (a solo performance based on Makrigiannis’ memoirs).
Artis has directed and performed in these theatre productions over the past five years and told The Greek Herald that he’s “proud of what we’ve accomplished in the last five years… [and is] proud seeing the group growing and evolving.”
The ten-year anniversary production Girls in Crisis, was a unique blend of existing plays Jeremy had combined. Katerina explained, “The choice of the play was not intentional due to the anniversary, but arose naturally, as the group included nine women and one man, which created an ideal dynamic to explore the female experience with humor, tension and theatrical complexity.”
Moving forward, Katerina and Jeremy see the group continuing to evolve. Katerina said their “goal is to constantly… enhance the theatre experience for the participants and the audience.” Jeremy added that future productions might incorporate more English to reflect their diverse audience, considering how they could “incorporate both languages without subtitles and everyone understanding the whole play.”
Presenting theatre in a language other than English in Australia can be difficult when connecting with wider audiences. While it might be easier to perform plays in English with Greek themes, Creative Drama & Arts values the nuance the Greek language brings to the stage.
Jeremy highlighted theatre’s ability to transform how people view Greek language: “I think Greek language over here is… close to extinction. I think it’s vital to have any form of performing arts, books, or music… in Greek, especially theatre and comedies.”
He emphasised that Greek comedy helps people think that “there isn’t a distance between me and this language,” and can perhaps be drawn to the performance and culture.
Since 2014 Creative Drama & Arts has staged 17 productions combining classical and contemporary theatre.
Katerina reflected, “Greek theatre is not just an art form – it is a living bridge that connects us to our language, culture and roots. Through Creative, we give children and adults the opportunity to experience their language, to speak it with passion and to feel it on stage.”
Creative Drama & Arts’ decade-long journey is a testament to their dedication and friendships and how they have successfully united performers of all ages to celebrate Greek language and theatre.
Creative Drama & Arts’ next production, “170 Square Meters (Moonwalk)” by Giorgis Tsouris – directed by Jeremy Artis and presented in collaboration with the Greek Australian Film Society (GAFS) – will run from 7 to 9 November 2025 at Studio 2, The National Theatre Melbourne, St Kilda. Book online here.
