Footloose, University of Melbourne Music Theatre Association (UMMTA), 2022
Footloose is about a Chicago teenager, Ren McCormack, who moves to the small town of Bomont, where dancing and rock music have been banned following a tragic car accident. Ren, along with the rebellious Reverend's daughter Ariel and his friend Willard, challenges the town council and the reverend to lift the ban. The musical uses a mix of 1980s pop anthems and new songs to tell a story of teenage rebellion, cultural shock, and a community's struggle to heal.

UMMTA's production shifted the time frame to the late 1990s and celebrated diversity on every level, from culture to disability to neurodiversity to the LGBTQIA+ community.

Producers: Lexi Greenberg and Tom Liszukiewicz
Director: Teresa Giansiracusa
Assistant director: Tom O'Sullivan
Musical director: Louis Ajani
Assistant musical director: Julian Smith-Gard
Vocal director: Bella Wiemers
Choreographer: Jaimee White
Assistant choreographers: Ella Clarke and Carmen Yih
Costume designer: Karen Spencer
Assistant costume designer: Joshua Bartsch
Hair and makeup designer: Rachel Snape
Set designer: Bridie Turner
Assistant set designer: Sam Osborn Rassaby
Lighting designer: Natalya Shield
Assistant lighting designer: Taishah Simcox
Sound designer: Robert Sargent
Assistant sound designer: Daniel Gigliotti
Stage manager: Loretta Costa
Assistant stage manager: Matilda O'Riley
Equity office: Maddi Sullivan
Publicity manager: Olivia White
Assistant publicity manager: Maya Lucy
Photographer: Francis Cao

As You Like It, Waterdale, 2022
As You Like It is a Shakespearean comedy set in the French court and the nearby Forest of Arden, and follows the story of Rosalind, the daughter of a Duke, who is banished to a forest, where she disguises herself as a man. There, she chances upon the recently exiled Orlando, her love interest, and tests his love while he does not recognise her.
Waterdale's version was a modern update, tentatively set in 1960s Australia but with as much flexibility as Shakespeare himself allowed, and had a 3 piece band on stage playing newly composed music.

Director: Daniel Cooper
Composer: Shelley Dunlop
Costume Designer and Co-ordinator: Karen Spencer
Photographer: Kris Wardhana

A Chorus Line, Theatrical Inc, 2024
A Chorus Line is a musical about a group of Broadway dancers auditioning for a new show. The director, Zach, forces the dancers to reveal their personal life stories and the events that shaped them through song and dance, exploring themes of sacrifice, ambition, and the hardships of show business.

Executive producer: Andrew Gyopar
Director: Tahra Cannon
Musical director: Gabriel Taburet
Choreographer: Louise Panagiotidis
Production manager: Marie Landy
Costume design and co-ordination: Karen Spencer
Set design: Abbey Stanway
Sound design and operation: Rob Hornbuckle
Lighting design: Max Woods
Stage manager: Chloe Goldsmith
Photographer: Nicole Cleary

The Three Little Pigs, AG Theatre, 2024/2025
A musical adaptation of the popular children's story, this vibrant, energetic performance was nominated for a Green Room award for Choreography.

Executive producer: Andrew Gyopar
Director: Tahra Cannon
Choreographer: Louise Panagiotidis
Production manager: Marie Landy
Costume design and construction: Karen Spencer
Set design: Abbey Stanway
Sound design and operation: Noah Chrapot
Lighting design: Max Woods
Stage manager: Ella Campbell
Photographer: Nicole Cleary

The Estuary, 2025
A curated, responsive performance to the veil by students from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and the Victorian College of the Arts. The Estuary is an immersive experience that explores cycles of transformation and return It is a space where the boundaries between performer and exhibition dissolve, and audiences are invited to listen, move, and breathe within a shared moment of renewal.

Costume Designers: Karen Spencer and Reuben James
Curated and performed by: Reuben James, Flick Ethell, Yanning Ho, Brynn Jacka, Kate Katheklakis, Kathryn Lanigan-King, Enle (Ryan) Li, Zilin Lu, Tirion Luff-White, Tash McBain, Annabel Nelson, Gianni Posadas-Sen, Georgina Palmer, Aliandra Nasrun, Henry Nguyen, Karen Spencer, Katherine Stacey, Francesco Rachetti, Anisha Ravishankar, Qian (Nicole) Xie, Xiaole Zhan, Yoyo Zhou, Minna Zhu and Bryn Renard
Performance Curation Subject Coordinators: Joseph Lallo and Anna Cordingley
Photographer: Darren Gill

Capricious Delight, 2025
Devised by Karen Spencer and inspired by Hannah Gartside’s enchanting fable Frances the Moth, Capricious Delight is a fleeting moment of magic. Featured dancers transform into playful, glittering creatures who delight in a whimsical frolic before disappearing behind the veil.

This work was presented at Buxton Contemporary Art as part of The Estuary, a performance curated and performed by students from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and the Victorian College of the Arts in response to the veil.

Costume Design: Karen Spencer
Performers: Kitana Price and Randeep Jayaweera
Performance Curation Subject Coordinators: Joseph Lallo and Anna Cordingley

Eurydice
Costume design for Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice

Eurydice is attracted to interesting things. She wants more out of life. Maybe she finds it in death, where she has a transformative moment and ultimately discovers where she wants to be. Costumes reflect this with a grounding in reality in the overworld, but become fantastical, playful, whimsical, colourful and animalistic in the underworld, in contrast to the monochrome set.

Orpheus
Costume design for Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice

Eurydice is attracted to interesting things. She wants more out of life. Maybe she finds it in death, where she has a transformative moment and ultimately discovers where she wants to be. Costumes reflect this with a grounding in reality in the overworld, but become fantastical, playful, whimsical, colourful and animalistic in the underworld, in contrast to the monochrome set.

The Stones
Costume design for Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice

Eurydice is attracted to interesting things. She wants more out of life. Maybe she finds it in death, where she has a transformative moment and ultimately discovers where she wants to be. Costumes reflect this with a grounding in reality in the overworld, but become fantastical, playful, whimsical, colourful and animalistic in the underworld, in contrast to the monochrome set.

Lord of the Underworld
Costume design for Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice

Eurydice is attracted to interesting things. She wants more out of life. Maybe she finds it in death, where she has a transformative moment and ultimately discovers where she wants to be. Costumes reflect this with a grounding in reality in the overworld, but become fantastical, playful, whimsical, colourful and animalistic in the underworld, in contrast to the monochrome set.

Set design concept for Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice
Eurydice is an exploration of memory and relationships. This supermarket set design celebrates the everyday banality of modern life and the connections that grow in that space, especially between parents and children. The abstracted supermarket, bereft of colour, has a sense of endlessness and repetition that is further exaggerated by the continuity of the overworld and underworld existing in the same void. Additionally, the choice to have Orpheus create a world for Eurydice that is heavily steeped in gender roles and expectations highlights Ruhl’s enthusiasm to give Eurydice autonomy.