Tsuru Program

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TSURU (鶴)

BY RYO HARADA AND SOPHIE KELLY

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A YOUNG INDUSTRY STUDIO PRODUCTION

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Tsuru, 2024. Photos by Georgia Brogan.

ATYP would like to acknowledge that we are a company that is based on the traditional lands and waters of the Gadigal people, delivering programs in the lands of our First Nations people across this country, rich with history of storytelling. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.

TSURU 鶴 International Playmaking Project

By Ryo Harada & Sophie Kelly

Writer Ryo Harada & Sophie Kelly

Season 25 - 26 October 2024

Director Ryo Harada & Sophie Kelly

The Rebel Theatre Eora Country Pier 2/3 Suite 2/13A Hickson Road Dawes Point NSW Duration 60 minutes (no interval) Age recommendation 8+ Production content Dim lighting, theatrical haze, loud sounds and music.

Composers Ryo Harada, Ryosuke Nakano & Ashley Walker, Yu Katsuyama Costume Designer Katie Fitchett Lighting Designer Will Scougall Stage Managers Olivia Kelly & Rowan Benz Producers Hayden Tonazzi & Kate Murphy Cover Design Melanie Raveendran

Cast Abel Bond Sophie May Trix Bowditch Lalita Leung Billy Nicolaou Ava Palfreyman Alexandra Szewcow Ewan BuchananConstable Jeffrey Dimi Zachary Crane Edith Youdell Isabelle Razavi Arabella Howell Alyssa Wallwork

Young Industry Studio ATYP’s Young Industry Studio programs are designed for experienced young creatives who want to take their skills to the next level. Learning from industry professionals, the ATYP Young Industry Studio brings the arts industry and young people together to grow and develop the creative leaders of the future.

Participants of the ATYP Young Industry Studio program learn skills and techniques that enhance not only their performance and theatre-making ability, but provide valuable connections with the arts industry and their peers. Across a range of disciplines, these programs provide practical training in a challenging, creative and collaborative ensemble environment.

The International Playmaking Project The International Playmaking Project is part of ATYP’s Workshops program, Young Industry Studio, that sees experienced 10-13 year olds work with industry experts to take their performance skills to the next level. Participants have had the opportunity to work with ATYP’s International Artist-In-Residence, Ryo Harada, and renowned Australian director, Sophie Kelly to explore cross-cultural storytelling and devise a new work to be performed on The Rebel stage!

Tsuru, 2024. Photos by Georgia Brogan.

Note from Ryo Harada Creating art is a journey.

First and foremost, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to ATYP for this incredible opportunity. It has been an absolute honour to work alongside the brilliant director and theatremaker, Sophie, throughout this process.

This journey began unexpectedly. In just two weeks, I wrote over 15 synopses. From there, Sophie and I narrowed them down to 10, and together with the young actors, we devised 7 unique pieces through a highly collaborative process.

With this international project, my goal was not to simply introduce Japan through Japanese themes. Instead, I wanted to create something completely new—something that neither I nor the young Australian performers had ever experienced before. It’s like dropping a single drop of color into water and watching a new hue emerge. Rather than forcing our individual colors, we let them blend naturally, creating something fresh and unexpected.

Thanks to the immense talent and passion of this incredible young cast, I am confident that we’ve embarked on a truly remarkable journey together. This work has a slightly different flavor from previous ATYP productions, and I sincerely hope you enjoy it.

Bon voyage!

About Ryo Harada Ryo Harada is a playwright and director with a profound dedication to exploring cross-cultural narratives and nonverbal communication in the performing arts. A graduate of San Francisco State University with a major in Drama, Ryo has developed a unique approach that fuses Japanese influences with global theatre practices.

He is the founder of C.C.C.THEATRE, a community-based children’s theatre group, and Platanus, a professional theatre company dedicated to young audiences. Over the years, Ryo has participated in numerous international projects, representing Japan in an Asia collaboration project directed by Fraser Corfield, the Artistic Director of ATYP, in 2017. In 2019, he contributed to a collaborative production between Germany, Brazil, and Japan, which was performed in both Germany and Brazil. Ryo was also selected for the prestigious Next Generation Program at Assitej in Poland and Norway, highlighting his ability to foster global dialogue through theatre.

Currently, Ryo is serving as an International Artist in Residence at ATYP. His work continues to push the boundaries of storytelling, incorporating movement, visual imagery, and a deep respect for the nuances of cultural exchange.

Note from Sophie Kelly Tsuru started as a collection of ten stories with roots in Japanese history and culture. But Ryo and I weren’t interested in re-telling Japanese stories. Nor did we want to tell stories where we placed young Australian actors into a Japanese world. Instead, we wanted to see if there was a way we could explore the moments in the stories which felt similar across both cultures as well as the moments where the cultures diverged. And so this is where we began.

Devising a piece of theatre with a group of young actors is a vastly different process to giving them a pre-written script. It requires patience, curiosity and committing to an idea that is not fully formed. It necessitates everyone taking a huge leap of faith. How do you begin making a show when you don’t even know what the show is about?!

The prospect can be terrifying! Our journey into the unknown started by looking at each individual story and asking the students whether the themes and ideas resonated with them? Could they connect with the idea? Or did it feel new/different to them? From there, we used a multitude of different approaches to flesh out the ideas in each story. Sometimes we improvised around an idea. Sometimes the students created a physical movement sequence.

Sometimes we asked the actors to write a monologue or short scene from the perspective of a character within the story.

These early rehearsal explorations provided the skeleton for the final curation of seven non-linear stories woven together. The stories cross theatrical genres - comedy, drama, non-naturalism, absurdism, magical realism and physical theatre. Some of these stories will feel familiar. Others will feel tantalisingly idiosyncratic. The overall effect, I hope, is a glimpse into the hearts and minds of young people that is both culturally distinct and yet deeply universal.

I want to give special thanks to my collaborator on this project, Ryo Harada. Working with Ryo has been an absolute joy. He is such an intuitive and skilled theatre-maker and his commitment to this project has been above and beyond.

Special thanks to…

All the team at ATYP who have guided and supported us. Special mention must go to Fraser, Hayden and Kate.

I also want to give special thanks to our costume designer Katie Fitchett, who created the extraordinary textured palette you see on stage with next to no budget.

I also want to give special thanks to Ash Walker who, along with Ryo, provided much of the sound design supporting this production.

We hope you enjoy the show!

About Sophie Kelly Sophie is a director and theatre-maker specialising in the creation of new work. Her directing credits include The Human Experience, Romeo and Juliet, Such Sweet Sorrow, Just Romeo and Juliet and Just Macbeth! (Bell Shakespeare); A Doll's House, Boxing Day BBQ, The One and Photograph 51 (Ensemble Theatre); Originate: Our House (Q Theatre); Intersection: Arrival, Wonderfly, (ATYP, Griffin Theatre); Rosaline (KXT).

In 2022, Sophie was a recipient of the Ensemble Theatre Sandra Bates Director’s Award and she was an Artist in Residence for the Sydney Opera House from 2020 - 2023. Sophie holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Acting) from VCA and a Bachelor of Law (LLB) from the University of Sydney.

Tsuru, 2024. Photos by Georgia Brogan.

Abel Bond

Alexandra Szewcow

Alyssa Wallwork

Edith Youdell

Ewan BuchananConstable

Jeffrey Dimi

Ava Palfreyman

Arabella Howell

Billy Nicolaou

Isabelle Razavi

Lalita Leung

Sophie May

CAST Trix Bowditch

Zachary Crane

Thanks & Acknowledgements A huge thank you goes out to our incredible young people for bringing their energy and brilliant ideas to the rehearsal space over the last few months. They have shown such professionalism and a real passion for the original work. It has been a joy to have them here, creating, building and performing!

Thank you to Ryo and Sophie for guiding our young artists and bringing their years of experience to this beautiful production. They have created a space for the students to explore and stretch themselves, thank you for your dedication to this production.

And thank you to all of the wonderful parents and caretakers for getting your young people to rehearsals, staying updated with schedules and supporting your curious creatives. We couldn’t do this without you!

— Kate Murphy, Workshops Manager

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