Crew

Emily K Brown
Director, Wardrobe Co-ordinator

Emily K Brown is thrilled to be directing this production of Solarise. Originally from Chicago, Emily moved to Wellington in 2019 and has since found an amazing theatre community.
When she isn’t at rehearsal, Emily can be found playing D&D, listening to true crime podcasts and freelancing as a photographer for shows throughout Pōneke. Recent productions include 35mm: A Musical Exhibition (Director, Wellington Footlights), Breadcrumbs (Director, Stagecraft), and Suddenly Last Summer (Director, Wellington Repertory Theatre).

Emily wants to thank the amazing cast, band, and crew for all the work that has gone into this production as well as her family back home for their support.

Michael Stebbings
Musical Director

Michael is excited to be helping bring another original musical to Te Whanganui-a-Tara. 

Born and bred in the UK, Michael emigrated to Aotearoa in 2012, and helped set up Footlights two years later. He has been involved in almost every show since, either onstage, in the band or behind the scenes. Highlights in the past decade have included Rent (Tom Collins), A New Brain (Roger), Legally Blonde (MD), Chess (MD) and Silver Linings (Co-MD).

Michael enjoys the challenge working on an original show provides. He has MDed, Co-MDed and mentored on several such projects, including M’Lady (Red Scare), Four Nights at the Green Barrow Pub (Red Scare) and This Is Fine (Theatre of Love).

When not making music onstage or in the classroom, Michael enjoys rolling dice, crocheting monstrous creatures and cycling around the coast.

Stephen Clothier
Assistant Musical Director

Stephen is a pianist, composer, and librarian residing in Te Whanganui-ā-Tara. As a composer, he has had works performed or recorded by groups including the NZSO, APO, NZSQ, Stroma, virtuoso violinists Barbara Lüneburg (Austria) and Mark Menzies (NZ), and the AKTO Ensemble (Greece). He is the assistant conductor of Orpheus Choir Wellington and performs regularly as a singer, pianist or conductor in the classical music scene. 

In musical theatre, he has worked on a huge range of productions since moving to Wellington in 2011, including Guys and Dolls (MD), Ordinary Days (MD), Legally Blonde: The Musical (AMD), and many more, including original shows.

One day he hopes to teach his slightly neurotic cat how to read Sappho in the original ancient Greek. She shows little interest in this endeavour.

Celia Macdonald
Choreographer

Celia Macdonald is a trained dancer in multiple styles, including ballet, tap, jazz, musical theatre, hip hop, and more!

She is a graduate from the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art (NASDA) in Christchurch. While studying, she competed & won the “Most Likely to have a Professional Career Special Award” at the 2019 New Zealand Dance Awards.

She has also performed in dance heavy musicals such as 42nd Street, Urinetown, Holiday Inn, and Kinky Boots.

Taking inspiration from musicals such as Come From Away, Sister Act, and Dear Evan Hansen, Celia created the simple yet effective choreo for Solarise.

Phoebe Caldeiro
Production & Stage Manager

Phoebe Caldeiro is an emerging theatre maker in Pōneke. Her main areas of work are in music composition and performance and this will be her Stage Management debut. Wow, doesn’t she look cool in stage blacks? Hot Damn.

She is a co-director of Squash Co. Arts Collective and a founder of Comedy Gold. Notable credits include: Sandwich Artist - Development Season (NZ Fringe 2024, nominated for Momentous Music and the Parkinson Development Award), Two Girls One Gun (World Buskers Fest 2025), Boys and Girls at the School Silent Disco (BATS 2024), Dr Drama Makes A Musical (BATS and Q Theatre, 2023).

Phoebe has a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Theatre and Bachelor of Music, majoring in Instrumental and Vocal Composition, and specialising in Film Scoring, which is a lot of words to say please hire her for your next project. She has two pieces of paper that she’s still paying off and desperately needs the money. 

Ruby Kemp
Composer, Lyricist, Lighting Design & Producer

Ruby (she/her) is a lifelong storyteller, having written fiction and songs since her teenage years. With over a decade of experience performing in, designing for, and supporting theatre productions, she is now bringing her first original show to Whanganui-ā-Tara. 

Wellington Footlights fans may recognise her from the earlier days of the society, performing in shows such as RENT and Heathers, as director for Spamalot, and various charity revue performances.

Solarise highlights meaningful aspects of Ruby’s own lived experience, showcasing the amazingly vast coolness of space, proudly queer relationships, and the complex variety of human relationships and problem solving.

Scott Maxim
projection design

Scott is a multi-disciplinary production designer and technician. 

A graduate from Victoria University of Wellington, Scott has gone on to work on a number of local award winning musicals such as Into the Woods (2023), LIZZIE The Musical (2024) and Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (2024).

Victoria Norgrove
Sound Design & Operation, Lighting Operation

Victoria Norgrove (She/They) is a passionate sound designer and operator for the Wellington Theatre community. She debuted in 2023 with Naturally Curious and has been jumping in to help productions shine brightly ever since. These productions include Two Girls One Gun in 2024 and Sing Me The Sweetest Songs for Fringe Theatre Festival 2025. 

Deb McGuire
Props

Deb McGuire (she/her) has been a theatre practitioner for over 30 years.  First as a performer, then moving into sound design and operation, Deb most recently worked as the Operations Manager (and prior to that, Technical Manager) of Circa Theatre, and enjoys working as a production manager, stage manager, technical operator, and designer (lights, sound, props ...) on productions.  She has many seasons of Fringe Festivals, Dance Your Socks Off! Festivals, Comedy Festivals, and Festivals of the Arts under her belt, and has toured all of New Zealand and even parts of overseas.  In the 2014 Chapman Tripp awards, Deb received the Critics Wildcard Award for Technical Operation and Extraordinary Support Beyond the Call of Duty and in 2023 won a Wellington Theatre Award for her Big Mentor Energy.  She has taught the rudiments of lighting and running shows to many students of Queen Margaret and St Oran’s Colleges, and has two teenage ratbags children with her partner, John.

Anne-Lisa Noordover
Set Construction / Co-Set Designer 

Anne-Lisa Noordover is a freelance Scenic and Spatial Designer, specializing in theatre, with additional experience in television, installations, and residential/ commercial spaces. She also has substantial experience working as a costume, mask and puppet maker. She is also completing a degree in Architecture, specializing in Sustainable Architecture, and is excited for what the future holds there.

Anne-Lisa has been working within the Wellington Arts community for over 7 years now, and cherishes the magic that is made within this city. What Anne-Lisa loves about her work is the chance to build worlds within unassuming places, that leave lasting impressions and incredible experiences for those who enter. Transporting someone is something Design and the elements within it have an incredible ability to do. Especially comparing how we view and interact with spaces within everyday Architecture, to spaces within theatre and Film. Her appreciation of what the latter offers in the way of creating magic, introspection, dreaming, storytelling, and escapism is something to be cherished and celebrated. Last but not least what she loves about her work is the people, and the process of building a world and vision together. Without incredible minds coming together, these works wouldn’t happen.

Aimee Sullivan
Publicity & Intimacy Co-ordinator

Aimée (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary designer who has been supporting businesses and charities in social media management, content creation and marketing for three years. She has worked extensively across the arts, as well as in the sexual wellness industry. She currently resides in Te Whanganui a Tara.

Alex Rabina
Poster Design, Photography

Alex Rabina has been involved with Footlights since 2017’s Spamalot, all the way through to Thank You, Ten last year. You’ll find him knee-deep in the Wellington musical theatre community, performing in the ensemble for We Will Rock You (Capital Theatre Trust), as Hanschen in Spring Awakening (WITCH Music Theatre), Jason in Bare: A Pop Opera (Stagecraft Theatre), Hot Blades Harry in Urinetown (Stagecraft) and Mr Bungee in A New Brain (Footlights).

When not on stage with Footlights, Alex has contributed through the camera and computer, with publicity and dress rehearsal photography, poster designs, and marketing campaigns for Chess, Soho Cinders, Thank You, Ten and others. 

Margaret Hill
Front of House Manager

A double graduate in Musical Theatre and Commercial Dance from WPAC (now Te Auaha), Margaret has been a member of Footlights since almost the very beginning and has been involved with all but one show since, either in the cast, or backstage. Solarise will be her 16th appearance on stage with Footlights, her 11th show managing Front of House, and her 4th show doing both.