Tracy Ellis talks to Zeal Theatre’s founder and co-artistic director, Stefo Nantsou.

Since it was established in Newcastle in 1989, Zeal Theatre has produced over 40 shows – more than half of which have been for a teen-age audience. Their current show, Burnt, is the company’s 41st production.

Zeal Theatre is now housed within the Sydney Theatre Company (STC), but they are always on the move. In the mid nineties they relocated to Melbourne where they worked successfully for ten years, and for the last seven years have been based in Sydney, but their work takes them from the metropolis to the suburbs, to regional centres and to the world.

“We don’t have a home as such,” says Nantsou. “We’re a touring theatre company which makes shows primarily for young people that are hopefully entertaining and applicable to adults as well.”

“We make the shows we want to make,” he says, ”but we specialise in that secondary
school/tertiary area.”

"Twenty years ago, when we started, I thought: the only way we’re going to survive, really, is if people want our work.”

STC Education produces two shows each year and buys in three or four. Zeal was initially a buy-in. Their show The Stones, about two boys who kick rocks off a freeway overpass and kill somebody, was presented as part of the STC…