From Little Things...

This is not a promotional post. I'm not writing this because it's good for Upstage (though, let's be honest, it is). I'm writing this because I am so freaking proud of this kid I could burst, and I needed somewhere to put it.

Milla started with us when she was about seven. Some of you will recognise her from our website, the photo of her in the sparkly hat, giggling away with the other kids as if she'd already been doing this for years. Some kids take a term or two to find their feet. Milla just arrived like that, all in.

I seem to recall Milla having her ‘stage’ debut as a very cute baby duck in Charlotte’s Web at a production we did in Blacket Barn at Tocal Homestead. Later, she blew me away in an audition to play Mary in The Secret Garden. She was clearly thoroughly prepared, and showed a poise and maturity beyond her years, which she was going to need! The production was outdoors, live, promenade style, moving the audience through an actual garden as the story unfolded. Beautiful in theory…

Then an East Coast low rolled in and decided to test us properly. The flooding across the whole area got so bad that we had to cancel some performances outright; it simply wasn't safe for anyone to drive. For the shows that did go ahead, the garden itself was a swamp, and we were rewriting blocking on the spot, moving scenes around the mud as we went. I'd update the cast mid-show, "this bit can't happen there anymore," and Milla would look at me and ask, "where do you want me to be?" No fuss, no drama, just a twelve-year-old solving the problem in front of her and getting on with the job. I remember standing there in the rain, thinking, "This one's going to be alright."

She kept building from there. By the time we did our sell-out run of The 39 Steps at Tulloch, one of the proudest seasons in Upstage's history, Milla was doing double duty, acting and crew. That whole cast moved and bumped the set in and out every single night because the venue was a working winery by day and needed to revert to a cellar door each morning. It wasn’t a small ask of any of the cast, moving set after a performance in 35-plus-degree heat, but Milla was playing 3 roles, with as many different costumes, wigs and accents. She just did it, night after night, without complaint - well, not to me, anyway!

Somewhere in the years between, Milla started stepping into stage management too, helping problem-solve behind the scenes on some of our shows for younger performers, Stevie Louise at MRAG and Naked Bunyip Dancing at Nillo Infants School among them. Watching her go from the kid who needed guidance to the one other kids could rely on has been one of the real joys of this job.

Then she picked up a camera instead of just standing in front of one. She wrote and directed a short film called Small Flowers, and when it came time to cast it, she came back to us. She asked us to help her find her two young actors, and instead of a quiet, closed audition, she ran a full workshop in the Upstage studio for a whole group of local kids. I hadn’t seen her teach before, but was humbled by her quiet inclusivity and ability to read the students. By the end of the audition, every single one of them walked out feeling like they'd won something, even though there were only two roles. Milla has that ability to make you feel like you have been chosen, and for that reason, you want to do your very best.

What's happened with Small Flowers since has been a genuine delight: Official Selection at Indie Short Fest LA. A nomination for Best Student Female Director. An Honourable Mention for Best Acting Duo. The Outstanding Achievement Award for Children's Short. And now, a Semifinalist placing at the Cannes Indie Shorts Awards 2026.

Cannes!

I also can't write this without mentioning her family, because Milla's story is really their story too. Half our props over the years have come out of her dad's shed or the family's vintage shop. They're always the first on site to help us set up, the last to leave when we're packing down, and the first to buy tickets and fill seats. That's the kind of community Upstage is built on, and the Kime family has been part of its foundation for as long as I can remember.

This is exactly why Upstage exists. Not to produce famous people, though if that happens, wonderful. We exist so that children with big ideas have somewhere safe to grow them, term after term, year after year, until one day they’re telling their own stories, on their own terms, and the world sits up and takes notice. From little things, big things really do grow.

We're hoping to bring Small Flowers home for a screening night here at Upstage, so watch this space. In the meantime, if you ever wonder what all those years of finding your feet in a drama studio in Maitland can turn into, well. Now you know.

Congratulations, Milla. We could not be prouder.