Marie-Jo Orbase is a Filipino/Australian producer, writer, actor and director. Dedicated to representing the complexities growing up as a woman of colour in Australia, she started her own production company, ZORA Productions, which emboldens and empowers overlooked and underrepresented voices. She was Assistant Producer at the National Theatre of Parramatta where she helped produce several successful productions, including the Australian premiere of Choir Boy, Orange Thrower, Nothing, and A Practical Guide to Self Defence. She has spent time in development rooms of new and experimental works with theatre companies including Whimsical Productions, Slanted Theatre, The National Theatre of Parramatta, The Joy Offensive and PYT Ensemble. She directed and co-wrote ‘People of Colour Revue 3022’, which had a sold-out season at the Seymour Centre and won the C&S Award for Best Revue. She is currently directing Whimsical Production’s staging of Next to Normal, which will play at ARA Darling Quarter Theatre in November and producing the Australian premiere of The Joy Offensive’s Fraser Babies.

Orbase’s theatre performances include Slanted Theatre’s production of Birthday Bash (2022) and Chain Play (2022) at Flight Path Theatre, PYT Fairfield’s production of Symphony 2021 (2022) at Fairfield Museum and Gallery, the Sydney University Dramatic Society’s production of It is Not Too Much (2021) at the Cellar Theatre, and the University of Sydney’s productions of The Period Piece (2021) and Bewitching (2020) at the Seymour Centre.