ABOUT US
About Milke
MILKE is an award-winning independent producing company developing, producing and touring comedy, theatre and cabaret from fringe debut to the world’s biggest stages.
Established in 2008, MILKE has taken independent work from Australia to some of the world’s leading stages, including the Sydney Opera House, London’s Soho Theatre and West End, the Venice Biennale, and soon to be in Off-Broadway in New York.
It’s been a pretty exciting few years. Our productions have received the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Most Outstanding Show and Directors’ Choice Award, Best Comedy at both Adelaide Fringe and Perth Fringe World, Best International Act at the New Zealand Comedy Festival, and a 2026 Adelaide Fringe Best Cabaret nomination.
No two projects are the same. Some begin as a conversation or a rough idea. Others come to us after finding their first audience, when it’s time to think bigger. Wherever they’re starting, we work alongside artists to shape the strategy, build the opportunities, and take the work as far as it can go
Oh, and in case you were wondering – it’s pronounced “milky,” but spelled with an E.
About Laura Milke Garner
CEO & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Laura Milke Garner is an award-winning producer with over 29 years’ experience developing, producing, and touring live performance across comedy, theatre, and cabaret both nationally and internationally.
Laura still gets a kick out of finding the right show and proving it can go further than anyone expected. She produces across comedy, theatre and cabaret, and works with names everyone knows and artists nobody’s heard of yet and gives them the same thing: hands-on attention, gut instinct, and the eye to spot what a show could become, long before it gets there.
She started MILKE in 2008, though she’d been producing long before that. Since then, she’s creatively developed and produced work for the Sydney Opera House, Brisbane Powerhouse, Melbourne Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Festival, Darwin Festival, Brisbane Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, RISING Festival, The Arts Centre, Melbourne Fringe Festival, La Mama, Soho Theatre London, Adelaide Fringe Festival and Network Ten and, most recently, productions on the West End and soon to be in Off-Broadway New York. (Deep breaths.) It’s been a busy 18 years.
For the past six years, she’s programmed Malthouse Comedy as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, curating a program in a yearly must-see line-up that’s included Hannah Gadsby, Garry Starr, Daniel Kitson, Aunty Donna, Ed Byrne, Reuben Kaye and Rose Matafeo.
The work she’s produced has picked up notable wins and nominations too at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, New Zealand Comedy Festival, Perth Fringe World, Adelaide Fringe Festival, the Green Room Awards, Melbourne Fringe’s Directors’ Choice Award, the Sydney Theatre Awards, and the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia Awards.
She’s also spent over a decade making sure producing knowledge gets passed on. She’s the founder of The Producer Lab, a monthly workshop series for producers, which includes the MILKE Producer Mentoring Program (MPMP) a 12-month paid opportunity that’s put over $50,000 directly into producers’ pockets. For the past 12 years, she’s also run the MILKE Emerging Producer Award at both Melbourne Fringe and Adelaide Fringe, supporting the next generation of producers
Known to run on caffeine, loves a good spreadsheet, and is outnumbered at home as a mum of three.
The Producer Lab
Shaping the next generation fo Producers. Alongside producing, MILKE is committed to developing the producers of tomorrow.
The company established The Producer Lab, a hands-on program that gives emerging and established producers practical skills and insider knowledge to navigate the complexities of the performing arts industry.
The year-round MILKE Producer Mentoring Program works with aspiring producers, offering guidance, career pathways, and real-world insight into producing, touring, and scaling live performance.
MILKE also runs the Emerging Producer Awards at Melbourne Fringe and Adelaide Fringe Festivals, celebrating new talent and providing opportunities for emerging producers to gain visibility, build networks, and kickstart their careers.
Through these initiatives, MILKE ensures that knowledge, expertise, and professional pathways are shared, supporting the next generation of producers to turn ambition into action and ideas into impactful live work.
