She is the very epitome of a Lifetime Honorary Member, which the company has indeed since bestowed upon her. Since 1968, she has diligently performed the roles of Actor, Director, Choreographer, Costume Co-ordinator, Secretary, Treasurer, Committee Member, Publicity & Liaison Officer, and is currently the company’s Production Manager.

So far for The Met, Leonie has directed 17 musicals, acted in 19, costume designed and co-ordinated 22, and choreographed & set designed 6. She is an impressive force of nature! She has encouraged and mentored many up-and-coming performers and crew over the years, many of whom have progressed to professional levels. People such as Linda Collis, Philip Lowe, Sue Bell, Sam & Greg Hull, Greg Hart & Heidi Abbey, to name a few.

Despite having a husband, children and grandchildren, Leonie has been, and still is, dedicated and passionate, whose strong and valued commitment to the Company has ensured that The Met has entertained audiences with a variety of successful productions for many years. And Leonie is always kind, encouraging, nurturing and grateful to whomever joins the company in any genre, welcoming them with a smile! She has always supported and promoted the various other local Adelaide Theatre Companies, by regularly attending their productions and assisting in any way she could, as and when needed, in true community style.

In the last 56 years, she has helped steer The Met through many socially turbulent times, the financial effects of the Global Financial Crises of the late 80’s & the early 2000’s, & the Covid epidemic, and on into the 21st century, where a growing number of younger performers are discovering the joy of presenting live theatre. Without the committed efforts of people like Leonie, companies such as The Met might just no longer exist. We should be extremely grateful for her service to local theatre.

To be specific to 2023, Deadset's production of War Letters had a cast of 16 young people, and it was the first community theatre experience for 13 of them. Each played a role of equal size and were instilled with confidence and a passion for performance under Deadset's mentoring. This casting resulted in what was a high-quality and striking production, evidenced by the highly positive reviews, and anomination tonight for the DramatiCAL award, and many of the cast are keen to continue their involvement in theatre.

In the same year, Deadset also produced Girl Shut Your Mouth, which included a 16 year old actor also performing her first theatre role in what was a very intense and confronting production, for which she also received highly positive comments in reviews.

Finally, at the end of 2023, Deadset cast their 2024 production of Nothing But The Servo, in which Alyssa D'Onofrio (a cast member of War Letters, further proving how Deadset encourages and fosters young peoples' continued involvement in theatre) will be taking on her directorial debut in collaboration with Zoe, and two actors, aged 15 and 18, will be taking on their first roles.

Zoe and Tilly have an excellent eye for seeing potential in these young actors and have always been able to work with them and help shape them into excellent performers. They are investing in the future of Adelaide theatre and ensuring that there will always be passionate people to create wonderful things for our stages. All of these qualities epitomize exactly the spirit of this award.