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Ah… writers… some of my favourite people. And playwrights – my favourite – whom I refer to as “sociable hermits.” Playwrighting is one of the most difficult writerly forms because it is so collaborative. more…
Tag Archive for 'Van Badham'
This was a year for me to sit back, enjoy some fallow time… A time to see shows, think about things, bake muffins, tend my garden, and support the new writing world in a different way. After a wonderful year of mulitple and many productions and a hot phone and much demand – I decided that 2011 would be a very different year.
No Brand Spanking New this year… an instead I am in the director’s chair for New Theatre’s Women, Power and Culture season directing two new works by Alana Valentine and Vanessa Bates. more…
Yesterday, amid the heat of Sydney’s summer, the Sydney wharfs were buzzing with people. Lachlan Philpott (fabulous and celebrated writer and leader of ATYP’s Fresh Ink program) addressed a throng of young actors on the eve of their opening night of Tell it Like it Isn’t… ATYP classes were being picked up by supportive parents. Sydney Dance Cafe was hosting the usual lithe bodies and one on one conversations. The water. The heat. I was setting up Playwriting Australia’s banner with the lovely General Manager Elizabeth in preparation of the launch of the 2011 Play Festival season. My phone was buzzing with texts from friends and colleagues wanting to tee-up coffee dates and industry chats… more…
There has been a simmering discussion amongst AWOL (Australian Women Playwrights On Line) about the presence (or lack of presence) of female writers included in the mainstage theatre seasons. Currently in Main stage seasons women are grossly unrepresented – and it’s not because there aren’t any women writing plays. There are. When curating the multi-playwright seasons I have produced in the last 4 years, I have not struggled to find quality female playwrights, and not just any female playwrights – excellent playwrights.
In late 2009, the Philip Parson’s Award hosted a panel discussion “Where are the women?” to which 200-ish female theatre workers turned up to prove exactly where the women are (Just in case Belvoir couldn’t see them, as their 2010 suggested) – they were filling the theatre. that day I sat with Suzie Miller and Vanessa Bates. When confronted with the argument that women aren’t being programmed because scripts and directors are assessed on merit not gender – Miller told of her experience which was having a play of hers knocked back for an Independent Season at Belvoir, only to have the very same play receive awards and productions overseas. Rachel Healy turned to Neil Armfield and said, “Well, Neil, it looks like we stuffed up.” And I think everyone in that audience agrees: there has been some major stuff-ups when it comes to theatre companies being committed to equal opportunity employment. So much so Melbourne Theatre Company have since implemented an EEO policy. more…
At the opening of Brand Spanking New (Week 2), Ned Manning (one of the writers for Week 1 of Spankers and 7 On-er) mentioned a group in Melbourne he thought I should check out once Spankers was put to rest…and that group is MKA Richmond. www.wix.com/mkamkamka/mkarichmond
A week earlier Ari Lander had told me that he couldn’t come to week 2 of Spankers as he was heading to Melbourne for MKA Richmond and he quizzed me on what I knew about it – and did I know Tobias Manderson-Galvin. “Sort of, i replied – “We are facebook friends… I’ve read his work and have chatted over email – but not really, not in the “invite him-over-for-dinner” kind of know”).
And then a couple of hours ago I received an email from Van Badham (as per below) alerting me to what was happening in Melbourne. more…
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I’ve known Van Badham for a few years- first encountering her name in a newspaper article in 2006 about Australian Plays and then commissioning her in 2008 for the inaugural Brand Spanking New at New Theatre where she delivered a horrifyingly beautiful crass masterpiece directed by current VCA directing student Mark Pritchard. She has launched and promoted more artists from Wollongong than is possible to mention and she is a playwright with unparalleled distinction and energy… and one who’s movements in the world and in theatre I lovingly track through the medium of Facebook. more…
Where are the women?
Booking their tickets to the 2009 Philip Parsons Memorial Lecture.
Perhaps we should all wear white- as to show up against the black seats of the theatre incase there is any misconception that we are invisible.
We are visible.
We have vision.
more…
Short Form Theatre – What is it good for?
It’s not a secret. There is an abundance of short form theatre proliferating on Sydney stages. And it’s not just in the independent and amateur sector – with two of Sydney’s main stage companies turning to short form theatre to fill their season – Sydney Theatre Company’s Money Shots (6, 15 minute plays about money) and Belvoir’s The Kiss four short plays bundled together from Australia and beyond to examine The Kiss. more…