The Team

Our professional facilitators, psychotherapists and ensemble of actors represent one of Australia’s most experienced teams working in performance and action methods-based communication and training workshops.

Our facilitators

Joy Stewart
Joy StewartFounder & Director
Joy Stewart is all about getting things done. Having experienced her share of endless talkfests and training manuals in a former corporate life, Joy asked herself the question… surely there’s a better way? There was, and Joy found it.

Working as a development manager may have sparked the idea, but it was Joy’s experience as an award-winning playwright and director, plus her newfound career as a psychotherapist which really lay the groundwork.

Her work with Interact Now merges the highly effective areas of forum theatre and immersive role play. It’s focused on empowering participants to build awareness of themselves, the default choices they make, and how they can take action for change.

Joy’s approach has contributed to the learning and development of countless professionals, from those in the health and corporate sectors, to elite sportspeople, tertiary educators, retail workers, students, and more. Outside her change-making work with Interact Now, Joy runs a private psychotherapy practice in Sydney and enjoys kayaking the inlets and islands of Sydney Harbour.

As you can see, Joy Stewart gets things done. Now, with Interact Now, you can too.

Trudi Boatwright
Trudi BoatwrightDirector, Producer & Facilitator
Trudi is a concoction of play and design. With a rich 20 year history in the arts, she is a theatre maker, actor, producer and director and specialises in working beyond the fourth wall through role play and immersive theatre.

Her innate curiosity for human behaviour led her towards facilitation and she now specialises in workshops that revolve around creative thinking and play. A certified trainer with the Institute for Experiential Learning, she revels in combining arts, the experiential learning cycle, the science of play and design thinking through her Masters of Design Futures.

When she is not pondering the complexity of humans, she loves swimming in the ocean and secretly believes she is a mermaid re-incarnate

Our Ensemble of Actors

Emma Delle-Vedove
Emma Delle-Vedove
Emma is a trained actor and voice coach who has been working professionally in children’s theatre for the past 16 years. In addition to this, she has appeared on both stage and screen in a variety of productions, and regularly works as a role play actor for both corporate and medical communication training organisations. When she’s not treading the boards or lighting up the screen, she is cleaner, chef, taxi driver, teacher, counsellor, policewoman, and everything else that comes with having 3 active young children!
Alex Packard
Alex Packard
In addition to his extensive stage credits, including performances for Sydney Festival, ATYP, NIDA and Monkey Baa, Alex played the lead role in Metroscreen and Azure Productions’ award-winning short film Oasis, airing on the ABC, and featured in the SBS short film Cherry Season. Alex co-produced The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged with Bindle Brothers and worked as production assistant for The Nether. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Acting for Screen and Stage) from Charles Sturt University. Alex fills his time (and his tiny apartment) practicing woodwork and restoring second-hand furniture.
Caroline Georg
Caroline Georg
Along with her acting, presenting and voiceover credits, Caroline has long been involved in corporate and educational role play for organisations in London, Los Angeles, and Sydney. Since ~pandemically~ returning to Sydney last year, she has enjoyed rediscovering the harbour city. During lockdown Caroline re-energised and found moments of joy with backyard workouts, totem tennis tournaments, skipping, lawn-dancing and hula-hooping.
Poppy Lynch
Poppy Lynch
Poppy Lynch is an actor and voiceover artist with a passion for music and movement. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Acting) from WAAPA in 2019. Poppy has worked with some of Australia’s best theatre directors, including Iain Sinclair, Rachel Chant, Richard Hilliar and Kate Champion. Her screen credits include Be Famous – an entrant in the Cannes Short Film Festival Corner, and Back to The Rafters on Amazon Prime. She has been dancing her whole life and is also a qualified yoga teacher. Poppy adores creating spaces for people to find ease and discover more about themselves.
Eli Gallagher
Eli Gallagher
Eli spent his youth making comedy shorts and James Bond movies in his backyard, dreaming of life beyond the Western Plains. He has appeared in numerous screen productions, including Forbidden Ground, Deadly Women, and Total Control. If he looks familiar, you might recognise him from various ads for Sprite, McDonalds, Sportsbet and DiDi. On stage, Eli has appeared in The Importance of Being Earnest, Alice in Wonderland and regional NSW tours of two new Australian plays. Eli loves playing the drums for Sydney-based band Pastuzo and collecting vinyl records… his favourite being a box set of The Beatles’ discography.
Donna Brooks
Donna Brooks
Donna has extensive role play experience in the education, corporate, medical, and therapeutic sectors. With a focus on professional development, Donna’s work explores effective, challenging, and empathetic communication in areas such as management, mediation, counselling, medicine, and client services. In addition to her performance background, Donna draws on her experience in arts and event management, and politics. Donna has a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and cultural studies and a Certificate IV in Business (Frontline Management). Donna is happiest when listening to music or an audiobook while being immersed in nature.
Rob Johnson
Rob Johnson
Rob is an actor and writer based in Sydney. Some of his recent credits include The Boomkak Panto (Belvoir), The Torrents (STC), Rosehaven (ABC), and Spamalot (One Eyed Man). For stage, he has written The Recidivists (Red Line Productions) and Fat On Purpose (Giant Dwarf), and his short fiction has been published by Overland, Aniko Press, Underground and Literatus. He is also a two-time NSW Theatresports Champion, and a founding member of Sydney improv troupe Bang Bang Rodeo. In his down-time he enjoys the three Rs: Reading, Running, and Writing.
Tamara Lee Bailey
Tamara Lee Bailey
Tamara is a multi-disciplinary Filipino-Australian artist. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in acting from Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) and, prior to this, studied literature and performance studies at the University of Sydney. Tamara has performed in a range of roles, from classic plays like Othello and The Cherry Orchard, to contemporary shows like Fucking A, Fefu and Her Friends, and The Great Australian Play by Kim Ho. Tamara is currently undertaking a director’s mentorship with Damien Ryan from Sport For Jove, and when she isn’t acting she likes to train in kickboxing – watch out!

Contact us today

Making change is just like walking. You’ve made the first step. Now it’s time to take the second.