Lisa Smith

Founder & Co-Artistic Director

LISA SMITH Gold Coast Lisa Smith is a theatre maker, director, actor and writer who has worked over the last 22 years in London, Melbourne, Townsville and on the Gold Coast; where she founded White Rabbit Theatre in 2012. Lisa is passionate about collaboration and creating new work for theatre; thus far with WRT she has developed new works including ‘The Grand’ by Victoria Carless (Director/Producer), which was subsequently published by PlayLab Australia, ‘Slide Night’ by Victoria Carless (Director/Actor) presented as part of Bleach* Festival, ‘Pocketful of Pebbles by Victoria Carless, Lisa Smith and Tammy Weller (Director/Co-writer) presented at HOTA Home of the Arts, and ‘Love Means Nothing in Tennis’ Various Playwrights (Director of Collection/Writer ‘More of a Jan’) presented at Dust Temple. Lisa was selected as part of the GENERATE program to create a new immersive puppetry work ‘Agnes & Earl’ for the 2018 Commonwealth Games cultural program, Festival 2018, and directed ‘The Woman in Black’ by Stephen Mallattrat at HOTA Home of the Arts for their Youth Theatre initiative. She was an Artist in Residence at Bleach* Festival in 2022 where she created a solo theatre work exploring her experience of grief and loss called ‘A Heart Stops Beating’. Lisa was director of ‘Ready or Not’ by Ainslee Palmer, that premiered at HOTA in 2024 and toured regional QLD later that year as part of JUTE Theatre’s DARTS Initiative. Lisa was selected as an Art Keeper a HOTA Home of the Arts in their 2024 cohort; there she developed a new work for theatre, ‘Awake’, with collaborator Vicky Falconer (Co-Artistic Director Hayes Theatre Sydney, Greenroom Winner for Musical Direction ‘My Brilliant Career’ MTC) with support from program provocateur, Wesley Enoch that will be premiering in 2026. Lisa is also the playwright and director of the new WRT work for young audiences, FISH! that was commissioned by HOTA Home of the Arts and will premiere in 2027.