The second morning took me by surprise. A 9 o’clock scheduled start surprised me at about 8:34 as I was mid-breakfast and lazily checking the ATF schedule for Thursday. The plan was supposed to be – breakfast, then write up the official ATF 2011 welcome I missed writing electronically (it’s in the form of pen and paper in my bag) …then coffee and then a casual walk to the Powerhouse.

It wasn’t to be. Read more

Social media is a wonderful (and horrid) thing. It can publicly open wounds, share declarations of love, be a source of information. It can be a means of crowdsourcing solutions – and sometimes be a means of processing thinking – I thought I would share this recent discussion on my facebook about the support and definition of artists in Australia. I think this is really interesting… and I thought I’d share it, to see what you think… and to demonstrate the delight of a FB conversation. Read more

Salon 2 Women in Theatre Research: Conversation started by Gail Cork (Australian Script Centre), Elaine Lally (University of Technology Sydney) & Sarah Miller (University of Wollongong).

(Here we are in a small theatre… a ring of women and two men… where are the artistic directors? Busy at one of the other Salons? Or perhaps they think they’ll read the paper later?) Read more

Australian Theatre Network meet-and-greet: 14 Sept

(I gulped my sandwich and sat on the floor…) Read more

The Australian Theatre Forum 2011: Convictions and Connections finds itself in an interesting place. And I’m not necessarily talking about Brisbane which is currently overwhelmed by production and festival and artistic activity. For three days theatre makers, arts administrators, artists of independent and dependent status’ are mixing, talking listening, scheming, planning, reading, sharing. Read more

The Sydney Fringe is here – a time of wild experimentation – of DIY enthusiasm – of bizarre artistic occurrences and disoriented punters muttering “what did I just see?” It’s an opportunity for the grass roots, emerging and established alternative arts, independent arts and hybrid arts to throw themselves into venues, coax audiences to relinquish their cash and take a chance. Read more

OK. Let’s talk about new work.

There seems to be a bit of discussion around plays – new plays and old plays, adaptations, reinventions, notions of “Australian” work, “new Australian plays”, the issues of the development of plays, the question of new play production. Discussions about women playwrights and their representation in main stage theatre programs… there’s even discussions about classic plays – and the Australian canon… Read more

As it gets to the narrow end of the year, it’s not surprising that I seem to be dipping into moments of introspection and retrospection – as I gear up for production – namely Vanessa Bates’ The Night We Lost Jenny and Alana Valentine’s The Sex Act for the season of Women, Power and Culture – and Platonic a site specific work by Playwriting Collective 7-ON.

After a massive 2010, 2011 has been a time of finding balance and scale. Read more

After a sophisticated large scale, main stage dose of Lally Katz in the form of Neighbourhood Watch at Belvoir, Sydney audiences have an opportunity to view some of her earlier work, small-scale, intimate and full of possibility programmed as a part of the Griffin Independent season. Read more

The Sydney Fringe has arrived again – and tonight is the official opening night. Last year was an interesting experiment to see the what and how of wrangling a Fringe Festival in the inner west… fuelled by enthusiasm and lead by ex-ex-pat Kris Stewart the 2010 Fringe Festival was a difficult affair for many artists – limited resources, limited time and big ambitions meant that many felt burnt by the experience of being a first time producer. Read more