About Mixed Company

In 1993, Simone de Haas and Brad Ashwood had the fortune to meet and talk with Ray Cooney at his Playhouse Theatre in London.  His "Theatre of Comedy Company" proved to be an inspiration for "Mixed Company", which was formed with the intention of providing quality comedy theatre and showcasing some of Brisbane's talented comedy actors.

Mixed Company continue to enjoy both financial and artistic successes through the promotion of comedy entertainment in an atmosphere of creative excellence.

Mixed Company is a non-subsidised, independent, profit-share theatre company, based in Brisbane, Australia.

Who's Who

SIMONE DE HAAS - Producer/Director
Simone de Haas is one of Brisbane’s busiest and most in-demand directors, directing an average of two to three productions a year for the past fifteen years.  She has been involved in almost every aspect of theatre production and performance, as a singer, actor, choreographer, designer and director throughout South-East Queensland.  She has directed numerous productions - from children’s pantomimes to corporate entertainment, plays, music theatre and opera. 

Directorial credits include Whose Wife Is It Anyway?, Run For Your Wife, Dearly Departed, Rumors, It Runs in the Family, Nunsense II - The Second Coming, Communicating Doors, Laurel & Hardy, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, Funny Money, Sylvia, Ruthless! The Musical (Best Musical, 4MBS/Perform Award), Talking Heads, The Women, The Norman Conquests Trilogy (Best Drama, 4MBS/Perform Award), Don’t Dress for Dinner, Stepping Out, I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change, 84 Charing Cross Road and Comedy Tonight all for Mixed Company, the production company she operates with her husband, Brad Ashwood. 

Simone made her directing debut for Opera Queensland in 2003 when she co-created and directed Moonlight, Mozart and the Movies which toured Queensland with the Arts Council.  As guest professional director for the USQ Opera Studio Simone has directed operatic excerpts from Carmen, Orfeo and Don Giovanni; Mozart’s Magical Flute and The Land of Shush for the Children’s Opera Series as well as Godspell.

For Ignatians Musical Society, Simone has directed Les Misérables (2005 & 2009), West Side Story (2006), the critically acclaimed and hugely successful Brisbane Community Theatre Premiere season of CATS in February 2007 and Into the Woods in 2008.

For Mixed Company, Simone directed Talking Heads at the Cremorne Theatre, QPAC in 2008 as well as the hugely successful Five Women Wearing the Same Dress which won the ABC Bell Award for Best Independent Production 2008. In July 2009 she directed the Queensland Premiere of Angry Young Women in Low Rise Jeans with High Class Issues and in September 2010 directed the Queensland Premiere of Moonlight and Magnolias.

Simone currently trains actors in Voice, Monologue and facilitates The Artist's Way for FilmTV Studio International in Brisbane and Melbourne and is also the Sessional Lecturer in Acting for the Queensland Conservatorium B. Mus (Music Theatre) degree course.

BRAD ASHWOOD - Producer/Actor