Luke Icarus Simon

Since making his professional stage debut in 1980, Luke Icarus Simon has led parallel lives as actor, director, playwright, poet, and educator. Luke is an Honours graduate in Australian Literature (Drama) from the University of Sydney and also holds two postgraduate university qualifications. His thesis on playwright Michael Gow was published by Currency Press in 1991 and is still available in many libraries across Australia today. He trained with some of Australia’s best acting and voice teachers (Gale Edwards, Bill Pepper, Kevin Jackson, and the late Nick Enright) and is a veteran of many SUDS productions including live improvised theatre. He has worked in theatre, television and film and is the author of two non-fiction books as well as an e-novel. He has also had published more than 40 poems and short stories in literary journals and anthologies in Australia, USA, Greece, and Canada as well as numerous literary criticism articles in academic journals on theatre and writing. In Australia, Luke is best known for his plays, Urban Tales of Utter Devotion (Griffin Development-Week, Stables Theatre), Fish Wednesday (Belvoir Street Theatre) and Sir  (Stables Theatre). Luke’s controversial new play is, Aegean. The play’s theme is surviving childhood sexual abuse. 

Luke’s screenplay credits include three teleplays for SBS Television and a final-year film for the Australian Film, Television & Radio School as well as other student films. Most recently he has written, directed and starred in the 35mm short film My Stamp Collection which was broadcast on ABC TV in 2009.The film was also Highly Commended (Runner-Up) at the 2007 Victorian Cancer Council Arts Awards and toured Melbourne and regional cities throughout July-December 2007.

Luke divides his time between Sydney and Adelaide.