We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work, create and gather. We pay our respects to all First Nations people, their Elders past and present, and their enduring connections to Country, knowledge and stories.
Welcome
The spark of an idea for The Placeholder grew from sitting in the audience of a black box theatre in Bendigo in the autumn of 2021, being struck by the wealth of local middle-aged female actors. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, I thought, to see an Australian-set Steel Magnolias, which would give each actor a meaty role. That idea sat with me, and over the next 12 months the thoughts gently bubbled away in my imagination, percolating and brewing, until I found a champion for my vision.
Kate Mulvany OAM was my mentor for Midsumma Pathways, a mentorship program for emerging, queer, disabled artists. In September 2022, during our very first meeting via Zoom, I described my early concept for The Placeholder: six women living in regional Victoria meet each month to remember their recently passed friend Barb, when one shares they are transitioning. I explained that the play would explore how a close-knit group of friends, colleagues, and chosen family would navigate their friend’s transition.
To have that conversation with someone of Kate’s experience at such an early stage of the work was both affirming and galvanising. Kate’s reaction to my idea — she had tingles — and she urged me to write it, adding she would be there to “sweep the path” and walk alongside me from page to stage. With the wisdom and generosity of one of Australia’s great contemporary playwrights, and the backing of Midsumma Festival, my idea moved from writing the first act, grant and budget writing, numerous drafts, through two development periods, finding cast and creatives, and rehearsals, to where we are now — the world premiere of The Placeholder.
After a process of more than three years, it’s a privilege to invite audiences to come and share this new Australian trans and queer story. While elements of my own journey are present — particularly the influence of women who have shared and supported me — The Placeholder is a work of fiction, shaped by many lived experiences of being trans.
The creative team who have embraced this play, and shaped it into what you’ll be experiencing tonight, are incredible. The actors, director, designers, stage manager, and crew have carried the work from page to stage, making The Placeholder a beautiful, collaborative work.
Enjoy!
Ben MacEllen
Playwright and Producer
About the play
The Placeholder follows Nic, a trans man, and a group of women whose lives are bound together by shared history, care, and loss in a regional town. Over two years, as Nic transitions, long-established roles are unsettled, loyalties are tested, and assumptions about identity, feminism, and belonging are quietly but firmly challenged. The play resists simple positions, sitting instead in the messier space where love, discomfort, humour, and grief coexist — and where staying connected can be both an act of generosity and a genuine struggle.
Director’s Note
This production of The Placeholder is, for me, a quiet and monumental achievement. New plays are always an act of faith, but new trans plays carry an added weight: the urgency to be seen, and the responsibility to be heard on their own terms. Ben MacEllen’s writing meets that challenge with honesty, humour, and profound care, offering a story that refuses to simplify identity or experience. It invites us to sit with discomfort, tenderness, and the courage it takes to simply exist.
This work has been made possible through committed mentorship and meaningful investment from Midsumma Festival. Their belief in this play, and in the necessity of nurturing trans voices at every stage of development, has been transformative. It is a reminder that representation does not happen by accident; it happens when institutions choose to listen, support, and trust artists to lead.
I am endlessly grateful for the strength, generosity, and fearlessness of this cast and creative team. They have approached this material with deep respect and rigorous curiosity, building a room where trust and collaboration could flourish.
We tell and champion stories like The Placeholder because they expand the world and because everyone deserves to see themselves reflected with dignity, complexity, and joy.
Kitan Petkovski
Director
Content Notes
The Placeholder includes discussion and depiction of:
- Gender transition and trans identity
- Grief related to illness and death
- Cancer (including breast cancer)
- Conflict within close personal relationships
- Moments of emotional distress and raised voices
- Coarse language
The play does not include graphic depictions of violence. Some themes may resonate strongly for individual audience members.
Duration: approximately 2 hours 30 minutes, including interval.
Accessibility
The Placeholder is presented in an intimate performance space with flexible seating.
Audience members are welcome to enter or exit the auditorium as needed during the performance.
See our Access Guide for more information. Please note, this is a live document and will be updated as needed.
Auslan Interpreted Performance: Auslan (Australian Sign Language) interpretation will be provided at the Thursday 6 February performance. Access Notes for Blind and Low Vision Audiences
For venue-specific access information, including seating and facilities, please visit the fortyfivedownstairs website.
Cast
Patricia Quinlan
Meredith Rogers (she/her)
Meredith Rogers (Ph D) has been making, writing about and teaching theatre and performance in conventional and unconventional performance spaces for several decades. She played Clytemnestra in James McCaughey’s Orestes Trilogy at the Pram Factory joined The Mill Community theatre Company as actor-manager in 1979 and co-founded the feminist theatre company, Home Cooking Theatre Co producing and/or performing in Running Up a Dress for the first International Arts Festival in Melbourne and Edna for the Garden, in the Fitzroy Gardens. More recently she made and performed Marvellous (La Mama) with Hester Joyce and Maude Davey (2021), and with Davina Wright and the award-winning Gold Satino queer performance collective, This is Grayson (2018 & 2021, Seduction (2019) and Ruthless (2023). She lectured in Theatre and Performance at La Trobe University for 24 years.Her book The Mill: Experiments in Theatre and Community was published in 2016 by Australian Scholarly Publishing
Helen Sutherland
Michelle Perera (she/her)
Michelle Perera is a Green Room Award nominated Sri Lankan-Australian Actor, Broadcaster, Voice Artist and Arts Advocate with a Specialised Degree in English / English Literature and has been involved in theatre for over 30 years.
Michelle’s most recent stage credits include Rodeo Ruth/Policeman (Rumbleskin, Dirty Pennies Theatre Co), Olivia (St Kilda Tales, Victorian Theatre Co), Mahla/Toni (Werewolf, Arts Centre), Ruby (In the Club, Theatreworks), Calpurnia/Clitus (Julius Caesar, Melbourne Shakespeare Co) and Sharleen (This is Living, Malthouse).
Michelle has also had roles in the short films End Pointe (St Kilda Film Festival) and Call me Puritan (Flickerfest), as well as the TV series Fake (Paramount+).
Keira Russell
Rebecca Bower (she/they)
Rebecca Bower is an acclaimed Australian actress celebrated for her compelling and versatile performances across stage and screen. She is best known for her role as Jane in ABC’s Spooky Files (Seasons 1 & 2) and her standout performance in the feature film The Five Provocations.
Most recently, Rebecca performed to much acclaim in a third season of The Platypus — a two-hander, multi-genre theatre work that captivated audiences at the Brisbane Festival. She also stars in the soon-to-be-released feature Afterlight and leads the upcoming Australian–Estonian co-production Permission to Leave.
A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, Rebecca has toured nationally with Bell Shakespeare and performed on many of Australia’s most respected independent stages, including Theatreworks, La Mama, and Red Stitch. With a background in movement, yoga, and voicework, she brings a rare combination of physical precision and emotional depth to every role.
Joanna Horvath
Brigid Gallacher (she/her)
Brigid Gallacher is an actor, director, musician and dramaturg. Her theatre credits as an actor include Milk (Fortyfive Downstairs) for which she won a Greenroom award for outstanding performance, Looking for Alibrandi (Brink), Things I Know To Be True (Theatre Works), Vampire Lesbians of Sodom (Little Ones Theatre), In The Club (Bullet Heart Club), Lamb (Red Stitch/Critical Stages), Merciless Gods (Little Ones Theatre/Griffin Theatre), Prehistoric (Elbow Room/Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Dracula (Little Ones Theatre), Timeshare (Malthouse Theatre), Dangerous Liaisons (Little Ones Theatre) and Circle Mirror Transformation (MTC).
Nic Larson
Oliver Ayres (he/him)
Oliver Ayres is a multi-award winning disabled trans theatremaker and actor who graduated with a BFA Theatre from VCA.
In 2023 he debuted his piece ‘I’m Ready To Talk Now’ at Melbourne Fringe to a sold-out season and a nomination for ‘Best Experimental Work’. In 2024, the show was further developed with funding from FUSE Festival and won ‘Best Experimental’ with a nomination for ‘Best Work by an Emerging Artist’. In 2025, the show toured to the Traverse Theatre in Scotland, selling out its entire run of over 160 shows three weeks before opening.
He was the inaugural 2024 recipient of Theatre Network Australia and Melbourne Fringe’s ‘Change Maker’ award for showing outstanding leadership or innovation in equity, justice, inclusion and care, making the performing arts a better place to be.
In 2024 he was also the inaugural recipient of the Creative Access Mentorship with Brand X, as part of a Performing Arts Residency in Sydney to develop my new work ‘No Seasons’. ‘No Seasons’ premiered in 2025 and won the ‘Access and Inclusion’ award, as well as another nomination for ‘Best Experimental Work’.
He was a 2024 finalist for ‘Creative Excellence’ in the Trans Visibility Awards from TGV.
Jess Schneider
Alessandra Merlo (she/her)
Alessandra Merlo is a versatile Australian performer, often moving between musical theatre and screen acting. A graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts Musical Theatre BFA, she has performed in ‘Big Fish’ (The Hayes Theatre Co), ‘Titanic the Musical in Concert’, starring Anthony Warlow (The Marrollo Project) and ‘Midnight’, a brand new Australian Musical starring Shane Jacobson and Lucy Durack and currently performing in the ongoing comedy Australia wide, ‘The Italian Divorce’ by Frank Lotito.
Screen credits include ‘La Brea’ (NBC ), ‘Safe Home’ (SBS), ‘Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries’ (Acorn TV/Seven Network), ‘Neighbours’ (Fremantle Media). She has also featured in the short film ‘Blvck Gold’, which was selected for St Kilda Film Festival 2022 and Flickerfest 2023, among other International Festival Selections. ‘Run, Baby’, selected for 2025 St Kilda Film Festival as well as Associate Producing and co-starring in the short film, ‘A Good Boy’ which was selected for the 34th Flickerfest Programme, as well as winning Best Cinematography.
Creative Team
Playwright
Ben MacEllen (he/him)
Ben MacEllen is a disabled playwright, author, and performer based in Bendigo on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. A gay, transgender man, Ben creates work that celebrates regional queer stories through humour, empathy, and inclusion.
His writing spans memoir, theatre, and solo performance, including A Cut Closer to Whole (Trans Script Press, 2019); the one-act plays The Last Song (2020), The Quiet Carriage (2022), and Sunday Fishing (2023) — which won People’s Choice for Best Script at TENx10 Bendigo Theatre Company — and his acclaimed one-person show Transmansplaining, which toured regional Victoria and Naarm between 2019 and 2023. His play Same Mountain, Different Day was selected for a reading at the New Works Festival at the Old Fitz Theatre in 2024.
A graduate of Midsumma Pathways, a nationwide mentorship and career development program for Deaf, disabled, and neurodiverse LGBTIQA+ artists, Ben is mentored by award-winning playwright Kate Mulvany OAM. His new ensemble drama The Placeholder will premiere with Midsumma Festival at fortyfivedownstairs from 27 January to 8 February 2026.
Director
Kitan Petkovski (he/him)
Kitan Petkovski is a multi-award-winning theatre director. His practice is embedded in cross-form and queer dramaturgies. Recent directing credits include Thirty-Six, The Hall, The Inheritance and The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven (fortyfivedownstairs), SUGAR (National and International Tour), Things I Know to be True, In The Club and Burgerz (Theatre Works). He is the co-founder and creative director of Bullet Heart Club and served as a panel member on the Theatre Companies Green Room Association 2023-2025. Kitan holds an MFA in directing from the VCA.
Producers
Midsumma Festival
Ben MacEllen
5 Foot Entertainment
Set & Costume Designer
Bethany J Fellows (they/them)
Lighting Designer
Tim Bonser (he/him)
Sound Designer
Ian Moorhead (he/him)
Stage Manager
Charlotte Fischer (she/her)
Producer
Chelsey Weisz (she/her)
Intimacy Consultant
Bayley Turner (she/her)
Directing Intern
Grace McLaughlin
Mentor to Playwright
Kate Mulvany OAM
Hero Image
Meaghan Harding
Graphic Design
Dale Harris
Rehearsal Photography
Teague Leigh
Production Photography
Darren Gill
Post-Show Q&A
Join the cast and creative team for a short post-show Q&A following the Tuesday 3 February performance.
Special Performances
Preview: Tuesday 28th January 2026
Opening Night: Thursday 29th January 2026
LGBTQIA+ Community Night: Saturday 31st January 2026
Post-Show Q&A with Karen Bryant: Tuesday 3rd February 2026
Auslan Interpreted Performance: Friday 6th February 2026
Closing Night: Sunday 8th February 2026
Dedication
This work is dedicated to Eileen, Jan, and Wendy, whose care and example shaped me in ways that endure, and whose influence lives quietly inside this work.
And to Vivien, whose absence is still felt, and whose presence remains.
Thanks
My thanks to Midsumma Festival, particularly Harriet, for belief, advocacy, and care; and to my partner Darren for patience, steadiness, and love.
I’m also grateful to Mark Wilson, Kate Sulan, Rachel Edward, Penny Harpham, Candy Bowers, Molly Holohan, Maude Davey, and Belinda McClory, whose insight, challenge, and generosity helped shape the work along the way. Thanks to Cameron Lukey and the staff at fortyfivedownstairs for hosting the season.
My heartfelt thanks to this incredible cast, for their trust, intelligence, courage, and the gentleness and care with which they have held these characters; and to the exceptional creative team, whose skill, care, and generosity have shaped the world of this production.
Thank you to Rodney, Dale, Deb, and Em, for their support and encouragement — for this work, and for all my creative endeavours.
I also want to acknowledge Ange Elson, Coralyn Duncan, Kristy Hagar, and Cheryl Szollosi (Ballarat), and Kerry Turpie, Maree Kennedy, Michelle Di Camillo, Kerry Lorenz, Sharon Dylan and Tara Glozier (Bendigo), whose support and shared history sit quietly inside this work.
A special thank you to Kate Mulvany, for her clarity, generosity, and belief in this work, and for walking alongside me with care and insight.
Ben
Acknowledgements
This project is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, and has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
The Placeholder © Ben MacEllen 2026. All rights reserved.