Gia Ophelia takes audience on a one-woman rollercoaster show exploring sexism, ageism, and the arts.

Posted on 26 June, 2026

After taking home Winner of the Emerging Artist Award and a finalist for Best in Theatre at Sydney Fringe in Festival 2025, JB Theatre Co is thrilled to be partnering with Canberra Youth Theatre to bring Grace Wilson’s exacting one-woman show to Canberra, for a limited one-week run at the Canberra Theatre Centre in July.

Struggling with the uncertainty of her future and a stalled acting career, Gia wants to play Ophelia one last time. But when a disastrous acting residency sends this dream spiralling out of control, she has to reckon with herself, and her identity as a woman and an artist.

Heartbreaking and darkly comic, Gia Ophelia invites audiences on a remarkable trek from the highs of acting school to the lows of womanhood and authenticity. This award-winning solo work is an emotional rollercoaster that explores sexism, ageism, the arts and growing up as a woman through tight quips, high energy and devastating reflection.

Gia is growing up, aging out, and ready to take on Ophelia one last time. This time, she’s going to get it right. She has to.

Directed by Canberra born director, and recent NIDA graduate Jo Bradley (Ensemble Theatre’s Snowflake) in her Canberra debut, and bringing together a stellar team of ACT and Sydney creatives after an acclaimed season at KXT on Broadway, Gia Ophelia is a darkly comic one-woman satire starring Annie Stafford, skewering sexism and ageism in the arts. This remount also marks the Canberra debut of playwright Grace Wilson.

Jo Bradley, Director and Producer of JB Theatre Co, says as someone born in Canerra “I can’t wait to return home for my first show here”.

“As a woman in my twenties working in the arts, I am excited by contemporary writing which explores the way prospective motherhood and career ambitions collide. I feel lucky to be working with two women (Grace and Annie) whose considerable talents have been put towards telling this story.”

Gia Ophelia premiered at Sydney Fringe Festival in 2025, and has since sold out two entire seasons to rave reviews, with critics proclaiming “Gia Ophelia is a resounding, rebounding palpable hit.” This show is a fast-paced 75 minute, one-woman ride through womanhood, the arts, and the deeply human and universal experience of chasing your dreams as an artist while the world keeps them just out of reach. Gia Ophelia is ready to let Canberra audiences in on this brand new showcase of Australian writing, in all its ugly, challenging, and ultimately liberating glory.

Emering playwright Grace Wilson says “I’ve always found the obsessed artist trope fascinating, especially through the lens of women. To commit to craft usually begins from a place of love, artistry and can descend as the worldview closes. In times of loss of identity, a search for authenticity, people turn back to their art to give them a sense of purpose when everything else seems murky.

“Gia Ophelia has left its mark on the Sydney indie scene because we, frankly, put what theatre doesn’t want you to see on stage…It is that human experience of having the door slammed on your dreams. Of wanting to be in lights but the barriers are just too high. It’s something that everyone can connect to on some level, something everyone can walk away with and mull on. There is no bow on top, sweep it under the carpet ending because that is not what making art is about. That’s not what Ophelia’s story is about. It’s ugly, it’s hard, it’s crushing. It’s liberating, it’s wholesome, it’s everything you could ever want to be.”

Canberra Youth Theatre Artistic Director and CEO Luke says CYT was thrilled to help bring the work to Canberra.

“Championing independent artists by providing the mentorship and practical support they need to present their own work on their own terms is central to how we create professional pathways for the next generation of theatre makers. This collaboration connects our own emerging Canberra artists with interstate peers who are already out there making bold, independent work, and that exchange is exactly how new work gets made, careers get built, and the ACT theatre sector grows stronger.”

This performance is also supported by Canberra Theatre Centre, as part of a commitment to nurturing the emerging artists of the ACT.