Exposure Live
The Team
Lisa Apostolides
Co-Founder
Lisa Apostolides
Founder/Director of Byron Youth Theatre
Lisa has been a passionate and dedicated facilitator of drama, theatre and education for over thirty years.
Trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Lisa has delivered a range of programs including teaching B.Ed. Hons Drama and Theatre degree students, Drama in Education teachers, Theatre in Education practitioners, GCSE, A Level and HSC drama students in UK, Hungary and Australia.
While living in the Solomon Islands she was engaged as a lecturer in the Education Department training secondary school teachers.
Lisa has also worked as an actor, director and producer in both theatre and film and regularly performs and delivers workshops at festivals.
Lisa established Byron Youth Theatre (BYT) in 2010 and has since engaged over sixty young people in devising original productions on a range of youth issues. She has also provided employment to over thirty young people in production roles. BYT’s work has been formerly recognised in the NSW Legislative Parliament three times and in 2020 they were awarded the Media and The Arts Mental Health Association of NSW award.
BYT now has three levels with an age range of 8 – 26 years.
Lisa lives in Northern NSW with her husband and business partner, daughter and little dog!!
Nigel Haslam
Co-Founder
Nigel Haslam
Founder/Director Motioncircus Pty Ltd.
Nigel has worked in broadcast media for nearly thirty years, from feature film animation to television commercial post-production.
In 2009 he founded Motioncircus Pty Ltd. in Byron Bay a boutique post-production house providing visual effects for many clients and participating in several award-winning productions.
In 2016, after ten years of extended traveling for work, Nigel decided to quit VFX and refocus Motioncircus Pty Ltd. on live-action production, in order to spend more time with his family.
Nigel has been filming Byron Youth Theatre’s performances since its inception.. More recently he’s been directing and supervising SAE Media Institute students to add more production value and more cameras to the filming.
Stay Connected
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The Byron Youth Theatre (BYT) gave a stunning performance at the Youth Health Conference, held at Surfers Paradise 7-9th November 2018. An audience of over 200 health professionals from around Australia were held in thrall as this talented group of young people portrayed - through choreographed drama and dance - an entire gamut of issues related to adolescent sexual and reproductive health. With authenticity, subtle humour and no holds barred, they made a thought-provoking contribution to a professional event that will be long remembered.
Clinical Professor David Bennett AO Senior Staff Specialist in Adolescent Medicine, Sydney Children's Hospital Network Member, Child and Family Advisory Council, NSW Health
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Our task is to educate their (our students) whole being so they can face the future. We may not see the future, but they will and our job is to help them make something of it.
Sir Ken Robinson
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Entertaining and compelling! A must-see for anyone wanting to create a better future for our young people.
Me, Myself and Mind is a powerful performance from Byron Youth Theatre that graphically portrays the mental health challenges young people face in navigating the journey of adolescence in a world beset by the crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
It is a timely and significant performance given that Professor Patrick McGorry, Australia’s leading youth Psychiatrist has just described the deepening mental health crisis arising from COVID-19, especially among young people, as the “shadow pandemic”. Mental health problems affect more than 1 in 4 young people. A 2020 national survey conducted by Headspace found that a third of young Australians reported high or very high levels of distress.
Through a series of riveting and engaging scenes, the young actors graphically portray the doubts, emotional uncertainty and confusion that beset young people in terms of their developing identity, relationships, body image and sexuality. It underscores the sense of loneliness, alienation and despair that so many young people experience which is unfortunately linked to the disturbing fact that suicide is the leading cause of death among Australians aged 15–24 years (Australian Institute of Health & Welfare).
It is also a stinging rebuke of our health and social systems which all too often fail to adequately recognize and respond to young peoples’ needs.
Ultimately though, the performance provides a message of hope and inspiration as the actors poignantly convey the importance of connection, understanding, empathy and emotional support as pathways to wellbeing.
Peter Chown. Psychologist.
Consultant, NSW Centre for the Advancement of Adolescent Health
Specialist Trainer, Headspace
Ambassador, Uplifting Australia
Peter Chown. Psychologist.