Bianca Butler Reynolds
Actor
Bianca Butler Reynolds is an award-winning playwright, actor and theatre maker. She holds a PhD in Playwriting and Jungian Psychology from QUT, and is Co-Artistic Director of Minola Theatre. She has trained with NIDA, Dead Puppet Society, Playlab Theatre, La Boite, QTC and Groundlings Improv.
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Bianca Butler Reynolds is a Meanjin-based playwright, actor and theatre-maker. She holds a PhD in Playwriting and Jungian Psychology from QUT, and has two published plays (Love you hate you drive you wild, 2019; Eventide, 2020). Bianca is a founding partner and Co-Artistic Director of Minola Theatre, with production credits including Love you hate you drive you wild, Begotten, Highway of Lost Hearts, Pygmalion and Oh Crap Dammit. Her original drama The True Midnight Cry will have its debut season at PIP Theatre in August 2026, with Bianca appearing opposite acclaimed Jagera actor Colin W Smith.
Beyond her work with Minola Theatre, Bianca has also performed in productions with Brisbane Arts Theatre, HeartBeast Theatre, Foundry Theatre, Nash Theatre, Growl Theatre and Sunnybank Theatre Group. She has appeared in short films for Cheeky Moon Productions, Astrarium Films and UQ Allied Health. Bianca has received numerous commendations and awards for her writing and performance, including Best Original Book at the Stage Buzzies 2025 Awards, the 2021 ArTour Anywhere Festival Award, and an Anywhere Festival Critics’ Choice Commendation in 2019.
Bianca has trained with NIDA, La Boite, Queensland Theatre Company, Playlab Theatre, Dead Puppet Society, Impro ACT and the Arvon Foundation (UK). Bianca has been employed as a playwright-in-residence at Brisbane Arts Theatre, a performing artist for the Starlight Children’s Foundation, a drama and acting tutor for Perform Australia, and a sessional academic at QUT. She is delighted to make her debut appearance at Ad Astra in this production of Three Little Words.
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“Bianca Butler Reynolds brings a quiet emotional depth to Annie, steady with suppressed hurt but still fragile in the shade of her older and more financially successful partner Bonnie’s condescending words.”
Meredith Walker - Blue Curtains | Read More
“As Annie, Bianca Butler Reynolds is sweet-natured, passive, and quietly wounded in a way that sneaks up on you. Annie seems like the fun and softer presence in the group, but Reynolds allows us to see the little fractures underneath. She has a lovely lightness on stage, never overplaying when Annie is hurt, which makes it all the more impactful.”
Stage Buzz | Read More
Similarly, don’t be fooled by the cool, collected gliding swans of Nicola Jayne (NJ) Price’s Bonnie and her devoted partner Annie, played by Bianca Butler Reynolds. NJ and Bianca are expert at hinting at the constant paddling, the subtle dynamics just beneath the surface of their couple’s relationship.
Stage Whispers | Read More
Bianca Butler Reynolds, who had a delicate balancing act of divided loyalties to contend with as Annie, didn’t skip a beat, maintaining a steady, practiced hand (and voice) to the end.
Village Voice | Read More
‘Bianca Butler Reynolds’ performance as the mentally fragile, yet spirited Catharine Holly commanded the audience’s attention from the second she arrived on stage to the final intense moments of the play. Reynolds’ edgy physical tenseness at the beginning, like a butterfly trapped in a net, was in perfect contrast to the focused stillness displayed as the character finally manages to free herself of the story that binds her. It is in these scenes that Reynolds really excels as we witness Catharine’s inner turmoil as she struggles to come to terms with not only the horror of what she saw but her own failings, guilt and shame.’
Sandra Harman - Theatre Haus | Read Full Review
‘…This experienced actor rose to the occasion. [Reynolds] was soft, submissive, sweet and likeable in this complicated role. She perfectly balanced Laura’s fluctuating relationship with reality, as she battled with her fragility in the real-world and escaped into a world of fantasy when she gazed desperately at her glass animals.”
Ruby Sanders - Theatre Haus | Read Full Review
‘Bianca Butler Reynolds was magnetic, holding the audience’s rapt attention for over an hour, alone on stage except for a large red suitcase, and without a stumble or dropped line in that time. (…) She switched her body language and voice to embody each person (and occasional animal) she encountered, and frequently personified her canine companion – her final howls at the moon sent shivers down my spine.’
Elise Lawrence – Backstreet Brisbane | Read Full Review
‘I don’t know how Reynolds did it, playing five divergent characters with different accents in the course of 90 minutes, without once leaving the stage, but she did it and she did it with such ease that there is no doubt that these were the roles that she was born to play. This was the script that she was destined to write.’
Virag Dombay – Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane | Read Full Review
Upcoming Ad Astra Productions
Past Ad Astra Productions
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2025 – Love you hate you drive you wild (Theatre), Minola Theatre at PIP Theatre, Actor – Annika Gerstenberg
2025 – The True Midnight Cry (Theatre reading), Minola Theatre, Actor – Inez Monroe / Mila Trent
2024 – Pygmalion (Theatre), Minola Theatre, Actor – Eliza Doolittle
2024 – Mastermind Australia (TV), SBS, Contestant – Overall Season 6 Runner-up
2023 – Oh Crap Dammit (Theatre), Minola Theatre, Actor – Bee
2021 – Begotten (Theatre), Minola Theatre, Actor – Alice / Eileen / Clea / Hazel / Laoise
2021 – It’s A Cult! (Web series), Cheeky Moon Productions, Actor – Bianca
2020 – Selkie & Luna (DPS LAB) (Theatre), Minola Theatre with Dead Puppet Society, Actor – Storyteller
2020 – Suddenly Last Summer (Theatre), Growl Theatre, Actor – Catharine Holly
2019 – The Glass Menagerie (Theatre), Brisbane Arts Theatre, Actor – Laura Wingfield
2019 – Highway of Lost Hearts (Theatre), Minola Theatre, Actor – Mot
2019 – The New Edenshire Post (Short film), Astrarium Films, Actor – Journalist #2
2018 – Julius Caesar (Theatre), HeartBeast Theatre, Actor – Portia / Calpurnia
2018 – As You Like It (Theatre), New Farm Nash Theatre, Actor – Celia
2018 – Hamlet (Theatre), Growl Theatre, Actor – Gertrude
2018 – A Close Call (Film segment for theatre), Alexandria Page, Actor – Jill
2017 – Love you hate you drive you wild (Theatre), Minola Theatre, Actor – Molly Blaxland
2017 – Play It Again, Sam (Theatre), Growl Theatre, Actor – Linda Christie
2017 – Calendar Girls (Theatre), New Farm Nash Theatre, Actor – Brenda / Elaine
2016 – Home Free! (Theatre), Foundry Theatre, Actor – Joanna Brown
2016 – The Shadow of a Gunman (Theatre), Foundry Theatre, Actor – Minnie Powell
2016 – Rebecca (Theatre), New Farm Nash Theatre, Actor – Mrs De Winter
2015 – Dial M for Murder (Theatre), New Farm Nash Theatre, Actor – Sheila Wendice
2015 – Never the Sinner (Theatre), New Farm Nash Theatre, Actor – Reporter #2 / Germaine Reinhardt / Dr Hulbert
2015 – Relatively Speaking (Theatre), Sunnybank Theatre Group, Actor – Ginny Whittaker
2012 – The Mousetrap (Theatre), Sunnybank Theatre Group, Actor – Mollie Ralston
2012 – Suddenly at Home (Theatre), Sunnybank Theatre Group, Actor – Ruth Bechler
2010 – Case Study: Pregnancy (Educational short film), UQ Allied Health, Actor – Bianca
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2021 – MATES Theatre, Stanislavski Principles, Zoe Houghton
2020 – Dead Puppet Society, DPS Academy, Helen Stephens
2019-20 – Starlight Children’s Foundation, Captain Starlight Program, Alyssa Bowden
2016-19 – QUT, Doctor of Philosophy, Playwriting, David Megarrity / Craig Bolland
2019 – The Groundlings (US), Improvisation, Holly Mandel
2019 – Improv Theatre Sydney, 2Prov, Carlo Ritchie
2018 – La Boite, Acting Masterclass, Bryan Probets
2016 – La Boite, Acting Masterclass Series, Todd MacDonald / Helen Howard / Emily Burton / Ngoc Phan
2015 – QUT, Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours), Playwriting, Craig Bolland
2015 – Playlab Theatre, Alpha Processing, Ian Lawson / Saffron Benner
2015 – Playlab Theatre, Playwriting Masterclass Series, Stephen Sewell / Jane Bodie / Louise Gough
2014 – NIDA, Directing for the Stage, Sarah Giles
2013 – Impro ACT, Improvisation Level 1, Nick Byrne
2011 – Arvon Foundation (UK), Theatre Writing Intensive, Simon Stephens / Graham Whybrow
2010 – QTC, Youth Partners Residency, Damien Cassidy / Andrew Cory
2010 – QTC, Young Playwrights Program, Saffron Benner
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2025 – Stage Buzzies Awards, Winner, Best Original Book (Independent Production) for Love you hate you drive you wild
2025 – Stage Buzzies Awards, Runner-up, Best Comedic Play (Independent Production) for Love you hate you drive you wild
2024 – Mastermind Australia (SBS), Overall Runner-up, Season 6
2021 – Anywhere Festival Awards, Winner, ArTour Award for Begotten (Minola Theatre)
2019 – Anywhere Festival Awards, Highly Commended, Critics’ Choice for Highway of Lost Hearts (Minola Theatre)
2016-18 – Australian Postgraduate Award, Recipient, PhD Scholarship
2016 – Short + Sweet Theatre Festival Melbourne, Winner, Best Play for How Long Have You Been Waiting?
2015 – QUT, Winner, University Medal for Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours), Playwriting
2012 – Playwriting Australia, Shortlisted, National Play Festival for Comedy, Comedy
2010 – QTC, Winner, Young Playwrights Program for If It Wasn’t For You
2009 – QUT, Winner, Writing Prize (Undergraduate Division) for Angele Dei
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Freelance