A flurry of text messages had been flying around. “Did you hear some playwrights have decided to hold their own night on Monday? Are you going?” “Are you going to the playwright’s thing?” “How do I RSVP?” In the past few weeks, I had been casually thumbing through newspapers at cafes when waiting for my coffee, to see if and when and how the topic of the absence of a play shortlist for the 2010 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards had been noted. Not really… one article from Bryce Hallet:
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/playwrights-snubbed-by-award-judges-20100516-v6aa.html and this one from Marc McEvoy http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/playlist-for-judges-in-search-of-a-premier-shortlist-20100412-s413.html
No response from Kristina…
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“Don’t throw the past away
You might need it some rainy day
Dreams can come true again
When everything old is new again!”

In 1981, in Australia, there was a three day conference for Women in the arts to discuss issues facing women in the creative arts. Nearly 30 years later, there was a day dedicated to the issues raised last year “Where are the Women?” for a variety of practitioners (directors primarilly) and those working in the Major Performing Arts Organisations to talk about strategies to enable a better representation of female practitioners in key creative roles in mainstage productions. Representation came from far and wide- and like that of the Philip Parson’s lecture/panel discussion last year, featured some of Australia’s most formidable female talent. Read more

Image by Tim Andrew

Ah Zombies. I must admit- have a soft spot for Zombies- In fact, I kind of admire them: They know what they want and they won’t let being dead get in their way of acheiving it. I, just like Zombies, have an insatiable appetite for brains… the difference being, I seek them out for conversational purposes- zombies are more inclined to see them as a snack. Read more

When the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards were announced last month, there was one thing that no one expected… there was no shortlist for the Play Awards category.

Was no play worth even nomination? Surely this was a clerical error- had the envelope bearer had lost the nomination envelope in a taxi on the way to the announcement? Had there been a cut and paste error on the website?

Nope. No clerical error. A major philosophical one though- a major political one.

Instead $30K has been offered up, not as an award celebrating excellence- but has been transposed into a grant “to support professional development opportunities for new playwrights in 2011.”

No clerical error. But a major political error.

Development? Development? Sorry… What? No shortlist, but a grant for Development? Read more

Big hART is a company I had heard alot about- primarilly through Mr Waites but also through the delightful Christopher Saunders (one of the Big hART producers) I had met on one of my various foyer adventures. So no surprise when I heard that their recent show Nyuntu Ngali was having a brief run in Sydney, I thought I would darken the doorway of Wharf 2 at the STC to check it out. Read more

I am fortunate to be one of the writers contributing to The Colour Blind Project which is in June. Ten pieces and a range of independent directors will be converging in June to launch the first of many projects by Josipa Draisma and Stephanie Son. For details on how to audition, please see below. Read more

I always think that attending the opening night of a new production company is like attending a wedding- there is so much to celebrate- and usually alot of food- and it is an honour to be included on the guest list as those who were there to witness the start of something grand. The commitment these artists have to enquiry and into their practice- and to each other- and to making work- and to providing the audience with a catalyst for thought and reaction is, of course something I am a huge believer in. On this occasion the new company is “A Bit On the Side Productions”- the brainchild of two emerging artists- Felicity Nicol and Carolyn Eccles. Read more

It was opening night of Stories from the 428 when James Waites pressed a signed copy of his hot-off-the-press platform paper into my hand. I had seen chapters develop over the previous 5 months- heard of the interviews as they were taking place- and watching/listening as the story was unfolding. He pressed it into my hand, like a nervous teenage boy gives a love letter to the one he loves- nonchalantly, yet with the type of urgent tenderness that says “I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams…” and he said, don’t read it in bits. Sit down over easter with some chocolate and read it in one go…
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A post-event note on Stockholm- which I did manage to see- I scraped-in and sat in some dodgy seats in the last week of the production- I was largely curious to see what the fuss was about- why it had disappointed so many- why some complained of it being over-produced… why some complained of a glib script… why some complained that the actors were satisfactory as actors but not as dancers- and if any of this matters in the larger scheme of the story.

This is not a review- if you want a review- check out the SMH- or the STC website… this is my response, a personal response to Stockholm, not a review. Read more

I love new work.

I love spotting talent.

Like a botanist naming the trees he walks by. Like a child pointing at a train and saying “train”. I spot talent and point at it and say “talent.” Then by naming it… by pointing it out, I am compelled to share it. I love sharing talent. It’s thrilling.

I love finding talent. I unashamedly and publicly call it “treasure hunting”… (I have also been called the new work “truffle pig”- nosing out the good stuff from the earth… I love it.) I love when a new script lands in my inbox- with a note from a writer (usually littered with disclaimers and a few “don’t worry if you are too busy” lines…) it is a thrill- I just don’t know what I am going to find- the next Vanessa Bates? The Next Joanna Murray-Smith? The next Andrew Bovell? The next Caleb Lewis? It’s exciting and an honour to receive a script. I love being warmed by a story in play form, and the heat of my laptop and a cup of tea (I have been indulging in alot of Rooibos of late- too much some could say)… the three warm makers in which I delight. Read more