Meet the Team

CEO

Mia Boonen is an educator, theatre maker, writer and performer with a degree in theatre from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). She began as a student at Dramawerkz in 2007 and under the guidance of Dramawerkz’s founder, Lisa Collins, she trained in Drama and Speech with Trinity College, London before taking over the organisation in 2019. As a director, their credits include numerous regional tours of works, programming in Melbourne Fringe and Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and over a dozen works created by and for young people. As a performer, Mia’s recent credits include Peacemongers by The People (Darebin Arts Speakeasy), B**CH by Water Closet Co (VCA) and performance roles in domestic violence training videos for youth workers and educators. Mia’s work has also taken them into the mental health sector, working with young people across the state to consult on reform initiatives led by the 2021 Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, as well as in acute settings, and completing a Graduate Diploma of Counselling (Monash University) in 2025. In 2023, Mia was named Young Citizen of the Year for Hobson’s Bay.

DIRECTOR OF MUSIC

Christopher Rothwell is a Dramawerkz alumnus with a Grade 8 certificate in Acting with Trinity College, London. He has a double degree in Music and Education at Monash University and outside of Dramawerkz, works as a schoolteacher. With over a decade of performance experience, including regional tours and sold-out concerts, Chris combines his immense musical ability as a singer and pianist with his experience as an actor and love of British panel shows to provide well-rounded and exciting lesson plans for our students.

DIRECTOR OF DESIGN

Scarlett Rose is a Dramawerkz alumnus who has gone on to work in Marketing, Design and Photography. They have experience both onstage as well as behind the scenes, acting as our in-house photographer and content creator so that the world can see how awesome our shows and classes are. Scarlett combines her skills as a designer with a wealth of knowledge about live performance to help bring young people’s ideas to life in exciting, innovative ways.
Scarlett is also a freelance social media manager, photographer and designer, local to the Western Suburbs.