In the last 10 years, Moira Blumenthal Productions has established itself as Australia’s premier Jewish theatre company, with a consistent record of annual plays about Jewish life that are both commercially and critically acclaimed.
Founded by Moira Blumenthal, whose reputation as a producer and director spans many years and three continents, the company is committed to working with Australia’s best actors and designers to bring the wider community incredible Jewish plays that are both entertaining and illuminating.
Past productions include From Door To Door, The Chosen, My Name is Asher Lev, Coming to See Aunt Sophie, You Will Not Play Wagner, The Man in the Attic and The God of Isaac.
Moira Blumenthal Productions is proud to have partnered with Shalom in co-producing Jewish theatre in Sydney for the past seven years. Shalom also assisted in pre-production work of Rosenbaum’s Rescue which is scheduled for 2021. We are grateful for their support.
Our Team
MOIRA BLUMENTHAL
Founding Producer/Director
Moira has directed and produced mainstream theatre internationally since 1988. Moira established and managed The Rosebank Theater in Johannesburg. When emigrating to Sydney in 1996 she worked as a Production Consultant a the Seymour Centre for 8 years where she conceived and produced The Best of Independent Theatre program for four season.
She directed and co-produced with Shalom The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev, based on the novels by Chaim Potok; Coming to See Aunt Sophie by Arthur Feinsod and You will not Play Wagner by Victor Gordon. Timothy Daly’s The Man in the Attic was produced in 2018.
Other directing and producing credits include Falsettos, Oleanna, Ghetto, Into the Woods, Collected Stories, Amadeus, Skin Tight, Sweet Phoebe, Leaning Towards Infinity, Earl, The Shoehorn Sonata, It’s a Dad’s Thing,
Mooi Street Moves, Pieter Dirk Uys’ Elections and Erections at the Sydney Opera House, Love,Loss and What I Wore, Bombshells, Address Unknown, A Woman in Black, and From Door to Door.
Moira has a Master of Arts in Cultural and Creative Practice from the University of Western Sydney.
MICHAEL SHUR
Producer
Born in South Africa, Michael and wife Isabel have lived in Australia since 1980.
After establishing a printing and office supply company, Michael and Isabel have supported numerous Communal activities locally, regionally and internationally.
He was most active as President of the NSW Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce.
Michael has been guiding at the Sydney Jewish Museum and through this network, began his association with Moira Blumenthal Productions, supporting plays ever since through Shalom.
ALEXIS FISHMAN
Producer
Primarily an actor and singer, Alexis is a graduate WAAPA. She was nominated for a Helpmann Award for her performance as 'Young Dusty' in Dusty, The Original Pop Diva, her first show after graduation. Alexis then went on to star in some of Australia’s biggest musicals including Shout! and the award winning Sydney premiere of Kiss of The Spiderwoman. Other credits include Urinetown, Closer, Troupers for the Sydney Theatre Company, The God Of Isaac for Moira Blumenthal Productions as well as plays at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and Monkey Baa Theatre Company.
Alexis moved to to New York City in 2008 and performed extensively in cabaret and off-Broadway theatre. She is the creator of six solo cabaret shows including the award winning Club Gelbe Stern which debuted in Australia at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and in the US at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Other shows have been performed across Australia at the Adelaide and Melbourne Cabaret Festivals, Shir Madness Jewish Music Festival, The Reginald Theatre, The Sound Lounge, Chapel Off Chapel, Sydney Jewish Museum, Ginger’s at the Oxford Hotel and Claire’s Kitchen. In New York, Alexis’ shows have been seen at 54 Below, Pangea, Laurie Beechman Theatre and City Winery as well as various venues in New Jersey, Ohio and Florida. Recent highlights include performing one of her newer shows, Amy Winehouse: Resurrected alongside Amy’s father, Mitch Winehouse in New York City in May 2019.
Alexis splits her time between Sydney and New York and is proud to be part of the producing team at MBP.
TALIA MEYEROWITZ-KATZ
Producer
Talia is a creative producer who defines her practice as form-breaking and artist-led. She is extremely passionate about accessibility and diversity in the arts, audience development, and the producer’s role in empowering artists to make risky, innovative work; particularly in the realm of immersive theatre. She is currently producing online events, podcasts, and other digital content.
Talia has a Bachelors of Media and Communications from Sydney University (2016) and completed her Masters in Creative Producing at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London in 2018. She wrote her final thesis on the role participatory theatre has in empowering audiences through collaborative storytelling.
As well as completing her Masters in London, Talia also worked on the West End at Kenny Wax Family Entertainment, at arts education charity Shakespeare Schools Foundation, and on developing new British musicals with Mercury Musical Developments/Musical Theatre Network.
Talia was Associate Producer for award-winning indie theatre company Company of Rogues in 2019-2020. Her other producing credits include The Ugly Show (2019), Social Media Su***de in London and Edinburgh Fringe (2018), Art Heist for Jetpack Theatre Collective (2017), Musical of Thrones at Adelaide Fringe (2017) and at Sydney Fringe (2016), How. Dare. for Jetpack Theatre Collective (2016), Small Trumpet comedy at Sydney University, and Science Revues at Sydney University.
TIM MCGARRY
Resident Dramaturg
Passionate about interrogating, developing and devising new Australian work, Tim trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and works as a writer, director, dramaturge and a devising theatre maker. He is currently a commissioned writer for The Art House Wyong and Riverside Theatres, Parramatta to write a new play based on Colleen McCullough’s award-winning novel Tim. In 2019 Tim was commissioned by Queensland Theatre to create a theatre script based on Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe with the production premiering at the 2021 Brisbane Festival. Tim’s been commissioned by the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) to write and direct a new work based on Margaret Wild’s There’s a Sea in My Bedroom, the Sydney Opera House to write and directed Music for the Dreaming and Sounds like Australia. He devised a new work for the SSO with Simon Tedeschi Who Needs A Conductor Anyway.
Between 2005-2017 Tim was a Creative Director and Producer at Monkey Baa Theatre Company, one of Australia’s largest touring companies for young audiences, where he co-wrote and produced nearly 20 new Australian works. Tim directed multi award winning The Peasant Prince – The True Story of Mao’s Last Dancer. He also enjoys a successful career as an actor, mostly recently performed in White Box’s The Campaign, Moira Blumenthal’s The God Of Isaac and Sport for Jove’s Cyrano De Bergerac.
