Rod has worked extensively as a professional theatre and television performer, writer and director.
He toured nationally in musicals such as, Robert and Elizabeth, The Boyfriend, Dames at Sea until joining The Melbourne Theatre Company for two years where he performed in repertory culminating in the National tour of The Cherry Orchard with Googie Withers which was also recorded for ABCTV.
As a director he has worked on numerous plays, musicals and operas throughout Australia. He was a founding member of the Victorian State Opera directing various works including his acclaimed production of The Coronation of Poppea with Marilyn Richardson which helped establish the company as a major force in Australian opera. He created original works for Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre and What’s a Girl to Do toured nationally and to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2010 he wrote and directed the national touring production Girls from Oz and, more recently, Claire Dawson’s Blitz and A Woman on the Edge as well as the TCT Award winning, On Our Selection.
For 23 years Rod was also the owner and senior consultant of an international consulting company that delivered large scale change programs for companies such as Telstra, the Victorian State Government, BHP, Merck, Rio Tinto, Arthur Andersen and many others. This extensive theatre and business experience led him to a number of Tasmanian Board appointments in recent years but today he has settled into almost complete retirement, only retaining his interest in the Australian Music Festival because of his abiding love for the art form.