If anyone knows how hard it is to get a project up and running- it’s me.

And it’s not easy in a city like Sydney, which has limited venues to hire, (as many are curated spaces) and in an industry that so easily chews people up and spits them out, to inspire people into action.

I first met Josipa and Stephanie when they auditioned for Brand Spanking New 2009. I was interested in working with Josipa- but she was getting married the week of the performance so it didn’t work out and Stephanie’s audition was excellent, but I didn’t get the impression the pieces I had to offer her would be at all along the lines of ha she was hoping to do. She expressed her frustration at the Anglo-centric casting in Sydney. I concurred. I also quoted Lee Lewis’ Platform paper and Chris Mead’s platform paper- in support of her ideas. Nine months later The Colour Blind Project was born to showcase the talents of non-Anglo actors.

I submitted a piece to the festival as means of supporting them in their pursuit of equality… and have had the great fortune of working with long time colleague Danielle O’Keefe who has done a wonderful job directing Josipa Draisma, Vixen Noir and Silvana Lorenzo de Shute.

In my heart, I hope for a time when this festival doesn’t exist. When the thought of it is embarrassing, because we are more sophisticated- when people are cast because they are brilliant, not because they are black. When Our ethnic writers (and all Australian writers) are no longer relegated to dark and bizarre Fringe venues- but celebrated on main stages.

The Colour Blind Project Short Play Festival is the start of these two festival directors/creative producers figuring out what they want to see, what they want to say and how they want to say it. It is an experiment with non-Anglo casting and shows that there is a group of talented and dedicated artists working in the industry who are willing to donate their time, money and talent to an idea- and to change in our industry- which must be applauded.

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TICKET RUSH

The Colour Blind Short play festival is offering a **special ticket offer** for this Thursday’s performance. Buy tickets at the door on Thursday 8 July from 7:30pm and ask for the “Colour Blind Rush” offer, and we will sell you a discounted ticket at $15!!! That’s $10 off the normal adult price! Door sales are cash only and subject to availability.

For every other night this week, tickets are on sale now! To book visit http://www.trybooking.com/FOJ

https://www.australianstage.com.au/201007043662/reviews/sydney/the-colour-blind-project.html

Hope to see you at the show!

x Stephanie & Josipa
Festival Directors
THE COLOUR BLIND PROJECT | 30th June – 10th July 2010
Changing the face of Australian Theatre