# Log Boy: Adelaide playwright Anthony Nocera's debut full-length play premieres at AC Arts

**Featured** — On Your Markus  
**Event:** Log Boy  
**Tickets:** https://statetheatrecompany.com.au/shows/log-boy/  
**Published:** 14 August 2026  
**Author:** Markus Hamence  
**Source:** https://onyourmarkus.au/log-boy/

Adelaide playwright Anthony Nocera's debut full-length play Log Boy premieres at Adelaide College of the Arts as part of State Theatre Company South Australia's SPARK program from October 1-10. The horror comedy stars Paul Capsis, Elena Carapetis, Anthony Nicola, Chris Asimos and Paul Reichstein under director Riley Spadaro, exploring grief and loss as two generations of gay men clash on the eve of a friend's funeral.

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Highly theatrical, emotionally raw and wickedly funny, emerging Adelaide writer Anthony Nocera’s debut full length play *Log Boy* premieres at AC Arts in October with a renowned Adelaide cast including the inimitable Paul Capsis.

Presented as part of State Theatre Company South Australia’s SPARK program, the horror comedy that sees two generations of gay men clash on the eve of a friend’s funeral also stars Elena Carapetis (*Treasure & Dirt*), Anthony Nicola (*The Normal Heart*), Chris Asimos (*A View from the Bridge*) and Paul Reichstein (*Clock for No Time*), under the esteemed direction of Riley Spadaro (*La Cage Aux Folles*).

The dark comedy is inspired by the hilarious and deeply scandalous weekly conversations shared by Nocera’s late fiancé Jamie Anderson and his long-time best friend Justin, which ultimately informed the story about two men grappling with the ghosts of AIDS, loss and grief. 

“When I sat with both of them, I was in stitches,” Nocera says. “They were the funniest, smartest and most entertaining people I’d ever met. But their conversations were always inevitably tinged with loss and the experiences they shared living through the height of the AIDS crisis. There was a haunting quality to that time. I realised that my experience of that time was theoretical - experienced through the lens of horror movies and murderous leather daddies from William Friedkin’s *Cruising*. So, I started writing a big, scary play that saw three gay men haunted by a spectre of a murderous Leather Daddy.”

When Jamie unexpectedly passed away in 2022, Anthony experienced this grief-first hand, transforming *Log Boy* into a much more personal work that enabled him to process his grief, while also keeping the memory of Jamie alive.

“Grief is a slippery thing. A scary thing. When you lose someone, you live among ghosts. I wrote *Log Boy* after work every night, often with Jamie sleeping next to me. Writing it and having his words woven through the script felt like I was able to hold onto him in a small way. Working on *Log Boy *in the months immediately after he passed were the first time that I *really* laughed, which is the best way to navigate trick emotional terrain, I think.”

In development since 2021, *Log Boy* had its first public reading in 2025 as part of State Theatre Company South Australia’s Great Australian Bites initiative. The script has also been shortlisted for the Jill Blewett Playwright’s Award and longlisted for the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award. It is the second production from State Theatre Company South Australia’s inaugural SPARK program, designed to support independent South Australian theatre-makers and bridge the gap between independent and mainstage practice.

Nocera, who balances writing with a career in arts marketing and publicity, started his career at State Theatre Company South Australia in 2018 and notes the importance of the SPARK program for the development of new South Australian voices.

“It’s such a huge honour to be returning to State as an artist and very surreal. And to be given the license to really pop off and lean into the more ridiculous aspects of the work is something we’re pumped about. It’s going to be vicious and fun and totally killer.”

*Log Boy*’s creative team includes Set and Costume Designer Meg Wilson, Lighting Designer Chris Petridis and Composer Jason Sweeney.

State Theatre Company South Australia Artistic Director Petra Kalive says Nocera, who recently won the Midsumma Festival Queer Playwriting Award and has several new plays in development, is one of Australian theatre’s most exciting new voices.

“*Log Boy* is raw, raucous, outrageous and tender. It’s exciting writing that plays with genre in delightful and surprising ways - an unforgettable work that made me laugh and wince and left me a little bit haunted. Anthony Nocera is an SA playwright to watch.” 

Log Boy is presented by Smiling Bear for State Theatre Company South Australia’s SPARK program, Adelaide College of the Arts Main Theatre, Oct 1-10, [Log Boy - State Theatre Company](https://statetheatrecompany.com.au/shows/log-boy/)

![Two figures in dark clothing pose against a deep red background, one seated in front with a beard and the other standing behind.](https://media.onyourmarkus.au/admin/2026/08/865a5884-4666-408d-830b-4b761a525abe.jpg)