ReAction Theatre was founded in 2011 by Artistic Director Louise Howlett. 

We create and co-create theatre from non-traditional materials for wide-ranging audiences. Our outputs vary—from multimedia to minimalist, from scripts to devised—but the process remains centred on key values: multi-vocal collaboration, the body and voice as connectors, the importance of questions over answers, and the embodied citizenship that comes from collective catharsis. 

We believe that theatre is so important that it needs to include all of us.

ReAction Theatre has successfully produced a number of new original works including a sell-out season of ‘TOBY’ by Abe Pogos at La Mama Theatre; ‘At the Water’s Edge…’ – a series of 7 short plays; a World Premier of ‘Heart Thy Neighbour’ by Camilla Maxwell and ‘Appropriate Kissing for All Occasions’ by David Finnigan which was praised for being ‘…utterly brilliant’ by the AU Review

Lately, our focus has been on developing the most ambitious and technically challenging piece to date, ‘Secret of the Raft’ - a bilingual French/English theatrical experience that combines projection mapping, installation, and live performance to bring to life the iconic French painting ‘The Raft of the Medusa.’

Industry recognition

• 2024 - Artistic Director, Louise Howlett, selected to present at the Prague Quadrennial Symposium in Prague.

• 2024 - Secret of the Raft selected for a pitch presentation at the Australian Performing Arts Exchange (APAX) conference.

• 2023 - Nominated for the French / Australian Excellence awards through Le Courrier Australien

• 2023 - Artistic Director, Louise Howlett, presents at Communicating the Arts conference, Singapore.

• 2023 - Recipient of Createch Digital Enterprise mentoring through REMIX and Creative Australia (Australia Council for the Arts)

• 2022 - Recipient of an Odyssée Residency through the Association des Centres culturels de rencontre (ACCR) and the French Ministry of Culture

• 2021 - Presenter at the Children, Youth, and Performance Conference held in partnership with York University and Young People’s Theatre, Toronto

• 2020 - Recipient of a City of Melbourne grant for TOBY

• 2020 - Recipient of Creative Victoria funding for SECRET OF THE RAFT

• 2017 - Recipient of MatchLab funding through Creative Partnerships Australia

• 2016 - SECRET OF THE RAFT - shortlisted for script development with Playwriting Australia (Australian Plays Transforms)

• 2016 - Recipient of an Arena Theatre Company Residency

ReAction Theatre creates work on the traditional land of the people of the Kulin Nation. We give our respect to the Elders of these traditional lands and to all First Nations people past, present, and emerging. ReAction Theatre acknowledges that this land was stolen and that sovereignty was never ceded.