About Us

The company was formed in 2000 by Artistic Director, Greg King, and since the inaugural production of Ben Elton’s Popcorn, KickstArt has been entertaining ever-increasing audiences, while providing essential project-based employment for talented Durban actors.

In 2003, Greg was joined by Steven Stead as Executive Director, and together they have worked to develop the company’s output and status. They successfully ran the intimate Kwasuka Theatre for three years, and have moved on to collaborations with larger theatres such as the KZN Playhouse, Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, and the Liberty Theatre on the Square in Johannesburg.

Greg King: Artistic Director

An Honours graduate of UNP, Greg has been working in Durban since 1994, in all aspects of theatre. His professional career began in the final year of NAPAC’s Loft Theatre Company, followed by three years in the Playhouse Puppet Company, and as a co-founder of Creative Madness, a theatre company which created many successful children’s shows. In 2000 Greg formed KickstArt, producing and directing Ben Elton’s Popcorn. Subsequent KickstArt productions designed and directed by him include The Importance of being Earnest , Keely & Du (FNB Vita 2002 for Best Production), Private Lives, Steel Magnolias, The Memory of Water, Proof, Table Manners, Run to Ground, Crimes of the Heart, Art and the award winning Mystery of Irma Vep.

As a designer, Greg has worked on countless productions, ranging from intimate drama and dance to opera and large scale musicals. Among them are Greig Coetzee’s Seeing Red, Educating Rita, Joseph and the Amazing Techniclour Dreamcoat, Nunsense, and The Sound of Music. Productions created with Steven Stead for KickstArt include Laughing Wild, Dangerous Liaisons, Dracula, Winnie the Pooh, The Road to Mecca, The Jungle Book, Oleanna, Shirley Valentine and the pantomimes: Snow White, Aladdin, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Recent productions for other managements include Valley Song (CTO), Rigoletto (Opera Africa), Bravo and My Fair Lady (Playhouse Co.).

Since 2000, Greg has won the Durban Theatre Award for Best Set Design every year for eight years running. He also has won Durban Theatre Awards for his direction of Proof (2004), Popcorn (2006), and The Mystery of Irma Vep (2007).

Steven Stead: Executive Director

Steven graduated from Natal University in 1991 with a BA Hons in Drama. His stage career in South Africa and the UK has been extensive, involving work as performer and director in more than eighty productions, ranging from classical drama and opera to musical theatre. He spent 8 years living in London, where he specialised in opera direction, joining the staff of the English National Opera in 1998 as a staff director where he directed several well-received revivals. His freelance directing work has included The Black Monk (Sirius Ensemble at the Bloomsbury Theatre), The Marriage of Figaro (ENO), Caterina Cornaro (QEH), Rinaldo (Bloomsbury Theatre), Amahl (Camerata Opera) and Weill Bodies (Athens). He was Associate Director of the Olivier Award winning West End musical, Our House, and has directed Alcina in Bilbao and Oviedo, Spain.

Since moving back to South Africa in 2004 to join KickstArt as Executive Director, he has directed Laughing Wild, Dracula, Dangerous Liaisons, Boston Marriage, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Popcorn, The Jungle Book, The Road to Mecca, Winnie-the-Pooh, Aladdin, Oleanna and Shirley Valentine for the company. He won the 2005 Durban Theatre Award for Best Drama Director for Boston Marriage, and 2005, 2006 and 2007 Durban Theatre Awards for Best Director of Children’s Theatre (for  Cinderella, Winnie-the-Pooh, and The Jungle Book respectively)  In addition he has directed a highly acclaimed production of My Fair Lady (Playhouse Co, winner Durban Theatre and Fools Award Best Director of a Musical and Best Musical 2007), Valley Song (Cape Town Opera), La Traviata and Rigoletto (Opera Africa), Bravo! (Playhouse Co.), and DOF and The Golfer (Macbob Prods).

Steven has also excelled as an actor, having won the Cape Vita Award for Best Supporting Actor 1993 for his performance as Ariel in The Tempest at Maynardville, the Durban Vita Award 2000 for Best Actor for playing Hamlet at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, and the Durban Theatre Award for Best Actor 2007 for his multiple roles in KickstArt’s The Mystery of Irma Vep.