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La Boite Theatre artistic director Courtney Stewart has resigned after four years, the company has announced.
Stewart departs in June having overseen La Boite during its centenary year in 2025 and securing long-term federal funding for the company amid turbulence in the Queensland arts sector.
“I developed my love and passion for new work at La Boite as an actor back in 2017 and it has been the most meaningful work of my life to lead the company into its second century,” Stewart said.
“I treasure every artist, every collaborator and every audience member I’ve met and worked with during my time.”
Stewart was the only woman of colour to lead a major non-Indigenous theatre company in Australia when she began her tenure in 2022.
Under her leadership, the company secured entry into the National Performing Arts Partnership Framework, a stable eight-year investment program from Creative Australia.
Shows she directed or co-directed included Macbeth, Closer, and the company’s first international co-production, Congratulations, Get Rich!
La Boite chair Adam Brunes said Stewart had “expanded what La Boite can be and used her leadership in service of a more inclusive and generous industry”.
He said current general manager Ian Prowse had been appointed interim CEO.
“The appointment of La Boite’s next artistic director is one of the most important decisions we will make for the company’s future and requires careful consideration about the kind of artistic leadership that will shape the next 100 years,” Brunes said.
He said La Boite’s 2027 season would be curated by an artistic advisory panel consisting of former La Boite artistic director/CEO David Berthold, former Queensland Theatre executive director Sue Donnelly, and distinguished actor and theatremaker Aunty Roxanne McDonald.
Considered Australia’s oldest continuously running theatre company, La Boite began life as the Brisbane Repertory Theatre Society in 1925.
For many years based in Hale Street, Petrie Terrace, it now stages its productions at the Roundhouse Theatre at QUT in Kelvin Grove.
The company’s latest production, First Nations horror-comedy Eat Slay Zombie, runs until May 30.
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Nick Dent is a Culture Reporter at Brisbane Times, covering arts and things to do in the city.Connect via email.From our partners
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