Beth Paterson

Writer I Actor/Performer I Singer

Beth Paterson with glasses smiling at the camera, wearing a navy blue turtleneck and pearl earrings.

Image by Sarah Walker

Beth (she/her) is a queer, Jewish theatre-maker and classical singer living and working in Naarm/Melbourne.

Her work explores identity, memory, and intergenerational storytelling through autobiographical and verbatim theatre.

Following the critically acclaimed premiere of her debut play NIUSIA at Melbourne Fringe 2023—recipient of the Regional Arts Victoria Market Ready Award—Beth has quickly emerged as a powerful new voice in Australian theatre. In 2025, NIUSIA toured the Adelaide Fringe Festival, where it was nominated for four awards and received the Cultural Diversity Award. It will next tour the Edinburgh Fringe and over 10 regional Victorian venues as part of the 2025 VCE Drama Playlist.

Beth holds degrees in Performing Arts and Music from Monash University and has trained in clowning and Fitzmaurice Voicework with Dr. Budi Miller, Fabio Motta, and Julia Moody—practices that deeply inform her embodied performance style. As a playwright, she was selected for La Mama’s 2024 Pathways Program, presenting an excerpt of her newest work Egg Talk—an autobiographical exploration of genetic heritage and identity. The work will be further developed in the UK with internationally renowned theatre-maker Bryony Kimmings.

As a classical singer, Beth has performed roles with BK Opera and The Savoy, and brings music, clown, and improvisation to her work with the Starlight Foundation as Captain Starlight, bringing joy to children in hospitals.

In addition to her artistic work, Beth is a qualified mental health care worker and is currently completing a Master of Counselling at Victoria University. Her clinical background informs a trauma-informed, emotionally resonant approach to storytelling and performance.

Beth’s creative practice is rooted in personal storytelling and cultural exploration. Through performance, research, and collaboration, she seeks to push the boundaries of autobiographical theatre and foster dialogue across generations and communities.

For upcoming performances, please see here.

NIUSIA

CURRENT PROJECT

How do you honour the legacy of a woman you hardly knew?...and didn’t really like?

Niusia was a Holocaust survivor. Charming, savvy, and–if you ask her granddaughter, Beth–a pretty mean lady. She is ready to learn who Niusia was, but soon discovers there is no straightforward story.

Reading, interviewing, and weaving memories and handed-down stories, Beth sets out to understand her nana’s complex legacy. She gives voice to the cruel thoughts you should not have about your holocaust-surviving nana, stumbles upon her own Jewishness (something she used only to evade school church services), and ultimately confronts how deeply embedded these horrific memories are in her family line. She asks: “I have somehow always known these stories. When did I learn these stories, and how?”

Journey with Beth as she is shown the tenderness she missed out on, learns to laugh at the unlaughable, and wades through the complexity of trauma-laden memories, love, and familial relationships.

Written by Beth Paterson
Co-created and directed by Kat Yates
presented by ary presentation

Image by Ece Mustafoff

Beth Paterson holding up a book while sitting among cardboard boxes, in a setting that appears like a theater or stage. She is wearing a white shirt and blue vest, with some books and other items visible in the background, performing NIUSIA
“Paterson is Brilliant”
— Stage Whispers

Image by Mayah Salter

Beth Paterson performing on stage with books scattered and boxes around, arms raised, decorated table in the background, performing NIUSIA
Beth Paterson sitting at a table with books and papers, surrounded by boxes on a dimly lit stage, performing NIUSIA
“It’s rare to find a piece of theatre that blends entertainment, emotion and education as effectively ...Paterson was born to tell it. She lights up the stage, sings like an angel, and her unflinching honesty about her emotions, history and story weaves through the theatre like a spring breeze, reminding us that to simply survive is to hope”
— The Lisk, UK

Image by Mayah Salter

“an emotionally resonant account of intergenerational trauma, heritage and matriarchal power, with a strong emotional core and a powerful message of motherly love.”
— SeeDoEat

Image by Mayah Salter

Awards, Recognitions,
& Residencies