Blaque Showgirls (2016) Program

11 NOV – 4 DEC

BLAQUE SHOWGIRLS

Season 2016

11 NOV – 4 DEC MERLYN THEATRE

Breaking the rules is what [Nakkiah] Lui likes best.

— The Guardian

By / Nakkiah Lui Direction / Sarah Giles Cast / Emi Canavan, Elaine Crombie, Bessie Holland & Guy Simon Dramaturg / Declan Greene Contributing Dramaturg / Louise Gough Set & Costume Design / Eugyeene Teh Lighting Design / Paul Jackson Composition & Sound Design / Jed Palmer Movement Director / Ben Graetz Assistant Movement Director / Sermsah Bin Saad Stage Manager / Lisa Osborn Assistant Stage Manager / Matilda Woodroofe Proudly supported by ——> PG 2

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE WRITER

Can you tell us a little more about Blaque Showgirls and the spelling of the title?

In this world, Blaque Showgirls are like Beyonce meets Kim Kardashian meets Gina Gershon from the original film Showgirls. The spelling of Blaque comes from references to femininity, to queerness, and it was my way to be a little bit subversive and to just have some fun. The title really does what the play does, which is take the mickey a bit. There’s also a really good girl group from the 90s called Blaque.

a performance. Or it can go the opposite way, where gender is a commodity and sex is performed. And I thought that would be really interesting if I could place that into present day racial politics, where it’s acknowledged that race is performed and it can be seen that culture is a commodity. And looking at Showgirls, because essentially it’s an extravagant, sexploitation-dance film, I found it was a really interesting vehicle to actually look at whiteness and the narrative of whiteness in contemporary Australia.

You’re taking the 1995 film Showgirls as a point of inspiration, can you talk about why you were inspired specifically by that film?

The production centres around the main character of Ginny, can you tell us a bit more about her journey as a character?

I love the film Showgirls. I think it’s an unacknowledged masterpiece. And the reason why I chose to adapt it was that I was at a point in my career where I as being told ‘You should adapt a classic, you should do an adaptation,’ and I’d had meetings with various theatre companies and they were all looking to the work of these dead white men.

As a young black woman, I took a little bit of grievance with that. Why do I have to use the work of a dead white guy to somehow legitimise myself?

So Ginny is a young woman who grew up in the small town of Chitole.

She never had the opportunity of meeting her mother, and all she knows is that her mother was a Blaque Showgirl, but nobody in her town accepts her for being black. So she decides to travel to Brisvegas to find out more about her mother, and to inevitably become a Blaque Showgirl.

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And what I really like about Showgirls is that it works on two premises. That sex is a commodity and that gender is

This story is in a lot of ways about discovering your identity, and the complications that exist around the fluidity of identity when we don’t deconstruct race. We see race as this inherent thing. I think it’s a really

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Nakkiah Lui on Blaque Showgirls

Season 2016

interesting topic within Australia where Aboriginal identity has been so influenced by colonisation and the tragedy and trauma of that: the way that skin colour and blood quotas where used to justify abuse and massacres and genocide.

I wrote this show around the height of the Racheal Dolezal scandal, who was a white woman who identified as African American, and tapped into this idea of identity politics versus objectivity surrounding the suppression of race. So I think we’re at this really interesting time in our discourse on how we identify, and what it means to identify as something.

The production looks at various layers of Australiana, cultural appropriation and cultural tourism, can you talk about some of those layers that we’ll see onstage?

In writing this work, I wanted to create a play that was entirely disingenuous.

As a young Aboriginal woman, a lot of the criticism that I receive from outside my community is questioning authenticity. This idea of what’s an authentic Aboriginal and what’s not an authentic Aboriginal. What’s authentic culture and what’s not authentic culture. I think authenticity becomes this tool to police aboriginal identity.

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So for this show I wanted to create a play that didn’t come from any type of authentic standpoint. There’s a lot of riffing on the cultural appropriation of Aboriginal culture, for example

references to the Rainbow Serpent, and I don’t know how many times I’ve seen that term co-opted by hippy-dippy white people. Like ‘The Rainbow Serpent Trance Festival’... trance is lame...

I don’t know if that’s just personal taste.

There’s also the Emu Dance, which I remember getting taught by a white teacher in primary school, and being a little black kid arguing with them. Things like boomerangs that get sold down by the ferries at Circular Quay in Sydney, by non-Aboriginal people. Boomerangs that don’t even freaking fly.

So I’ve tried to riff on this idea of Aboriginal authenticity, where for Aboriginal people, our culture is held as this authentic thing, and I think this comes down to the idea of the ‘noble savage’. The idea that Aboriginal people were savages and therefore colonisation of us is this thing that’s justified.

You see that only within native cultures or cultures that have been colonised.

It something really interesting that I’ve been trying to play with.

Can you tell us a bit about why you think it’s important to see Indigenous stories and stories by women of colour onstage?

Ultimately at the end of the day, a society is our stories; people understand each other through stories. And change doesn’t come from the mind, quite often change comes from the heart. It’s not someone’s great argument that makes someone change, it’s actually empathy, seeing somebody else and understanding

And for me as an Aboriginal woman I want to be able to create a space with my work that challenges the status quo, that is doing and saying something different from that classic canon.

I want to erase the lines in the sand.

And you want your work to do that so that other people can explore and create new things. What do we have at the end of the day? What gets passed down through generations? It’s stories.

Whether it’s oral stories, theatre, TV, or vines or tweets or whatever, a story is a story, and it’s empathy and it’s person to person. If our stories are so limited to certain people, then what is the point of that?

And in a lot of cases that’s the heteronormative and upholding of the gender binary. I wanted to do that with Blaque Showgirls, to create a piece of work that was a black piece that just undercut whiteness, which is our status quo and our dominant power.

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their story. And so for me, for theatre to be relevant, it needs to reflect the rest of society.

Also it’s a play I describe as being like bell hooks meets South Park. I love South Park, I love satire and I wanted to be able to create a work in which I could have actors take the piss as much as Matt Stone and Trey Parker do, and to play with that. It’s a big idea but we’ve got an amazing team on board to make it happen.

Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in the play?

In this play, we’re operating on an idea that race is a performance, race is constructed. What we wanted to explore in the play is: do you double down gender lines or do you double down racial lines?

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A huge chunk of Blaque Showgirls is influenced by queer theatre. I love looking at companies like Sisters Grimm, The Rabble, even back to John Waters, who was one of my favourite filmmakers as a kid. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I loved him anyway. Queer art has this amazing way of totally undercutting the status quo and questioning what holds the centre.

CAST & CREATIVE BIOS Season 2016 ——> PG 4

Nakkiah Lui Writer

Sarah Giles Director

Emi Canavan Molly

Nakkiah is a writer/actor and Gamillario/Torres Strait Islander woman. She is a co-writer/star of Black Comedy on ABC and is a monthly columnist for the Australian Women’s Weekly Online. She has been an artist in residence at Griffin Theatre Company (2013) and was playwright in residence at Belvoir from 2012-2014. In 2012, Nakkiah was the first recipient of The Dreaming Award from The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Arts Board of the Australia Council.

The same year, Nakkiah was also the inaugural recipient of the Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright award. In 2014, Nakkiah was the recipient of the Malcolm Robertson Prize and a Green Room Award for Best Independent Production.

Nakkiah’s previous works include; This Heaven (Playwright, Belvoir 2013 and Finborough Theatre 2015), I Should Have Told You Before We Made Love (That I’m Black) (Playwright, You Are Here Festival 2012), Stho Sthexy (Playwright, MKA Melbourne 2013), Blackie Blackie Brown: The Traditional Owners of Death’ (Playwright, Bondi Feast, Tamarama Rock Surfers 2013). The Sovereign Wife (Dramaturg, Melbourne Theatre Company 2013). Black Comedy (Writer/Actor/ Associate Producer ABC, 2014), Blak Cabaret (Playwright, Sydney Festival/Malthouse Theatre Company 2015), Kill the Messenger (Actor/Playwright, Belvoir 2015).

Nakkiah is also a broadcaster with ABC, having hosted the Radio National ‘Awaye’ program and ‘NAIDOC Evenings’ for ABC Local Radio, broadcast nationally.

Nakkiah is also a young leader in the Australian Aboriginal community and has contributed to The Guardian and Junkee. She has appeared on Q&A and The Drum on ABC.

Sarah Giles graduated from NIDA in 2008 with a Graduate Diploma in Dramatic Art specialising in Directing and has a Bachelor of Arts from The University of Melbourne with a double major in History and Italian. Works include: Straight White Men (MTC), The Popular Mechanicals (STCSA) Perplex, Mrs Warren’s Profession, Mariage Blanc (Sydney Theatre Company). Operas include O Mensch, Pas a Pas – Nulle Part and Into the Little Hill for the Sydney Chamber Opera. Sarah was the Affiliate Director in Residence at Griffin Theatre Company in 2009, the Richard Wherrett Fellow at Sydney Theatre Company in 2011 and was Co-Resident Director at Sydney Theatre Company in 2013. In 2011 Sarah won a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Direction of an Independent Production for her production of The Ugly One at Griffin Theatre.

Emi Canavan is a Japanese actress and has happily relocated her home to Melbourne since 2012.

She graduated with a BA in Theatre Arts (Performance Emphasis) from San Diego State University in California. Emi is thrilled to be joining the cast of Blaque Showgirls for her first production at Malthouse Theatre. Previously, she has performed in Avenue Q with Three’s A Crowd, Miss Saigon with Footlight Productions and The Waiting Room in San Diego amongst others. She has also appeared in many films, short films, TV programs and commercials across three countries and was nominated for the South Australia Screen Awards for her role in the moving short film Talk To Me. Emi also played an integral role in the J Award’s winning music video for Mine

by Life is Better Blonde. Emi’s passion for life oozes through her characters and enables her to be one of the most expressive international actors you won’t soon forget. Emi would like to thank her agent Emma Raciti, husband Phillip, family, friends and the talented cast and crew of Blaque Showgirls. Emi is a proud Equity member.

CAST & CREATIVE BIOS #blaqueshowgirls

Elaine Crombie Chandon Connors

Bessie Holland Ginny Jones

Elaine Crombie is an actor, singer, and song writer who thinks she can dance. Her performance credits include Country Song (Queensland Theatre Company), The New Black (The Follies Company), This Fella My Memory (Mooghalin Theatre Company) Bloodland (Bangarra Dance Theatre/Sydney Theatre Co.) and I Am Eora (Sydney Festival 2013).

She has appeared on Season Two of ABC’s Black Comedy, on 8MMM Aboriginal Radio and joins the cast of BBCs Top of The Lake Season Two. She released her first EP Another Version in 2014. Of her music Elaine says ‘I’m ready to jump in my car and drive around the country and sing. Sing for my people, sing for justice. I know how to sing, I know how to make people listen. Ever the artist.’

Bessie is a proud Koorie woman.

Her theatre credits include the award winning The Sovereign Wife (Sisters Grimm / MTC NEON), Summer Time in the Garden of Eden (Sisters Grimm / Griffin Theatre), The Lower Depths (Ariette Taylor/ 45 downstairs), Cosi (6 month national tour with HIT productions). Her screen credits include The Beautiful Lie (ABC) and Wentworth Seasons Two, Three and Four (Fremantle Media). Bessie is currently filming season five of Wentworth and is delighted to be playing the role of Ginny in her first Malthouse Theatre production.

Guy Simon Kyle MacLachlan / True Love Interest Guy hails from the Birripi people of Northern NSW and graduated from NIDA in 2010. Guy’s theatre engagements have included the title role in Jasper Jones (MTC & Belvoir), The Battle of Waterloo (Sydney Theatre Company), The Myth Project: TWIN (MTC NEON), Black Diggers (Queensland Theatre Company), This Fella, My Memory (Mooghalin Performing Arts Inc), I AM MAN (Browns Mart Theatre), Junction (Bakehouse Theatre) and Lucky (IPAN Productions). In 2012 Guy made his feature film debut playing the role of Jacob in Around The Block, directed by Sarah Spillane.

His TV credits include Redfern Now (Blackfella Films).

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CAST & CREATIVE BIOS Season 2016

Declan Greene Dramaturg

Eugyeene Teh Set & Costume Design

Paul Jackson Lighting Design

Declan Greene is Resident Artist at Malthouse Theatre, and works in theatre as a playwright, director, and dramaturg. For Malthouse Theatre, he has written Moth, Tame, Pompeii, L.A., and I Am A Miracle, and directed and co-created Calpurnia Descending. His plays Moth and Eight Gigabytes of Hardcore Pornography have been produced across the U.K., U.S., and Europe. As dramaturg and director, he has worked on The Listies’ Hamlet: Prince of Skidmark (STC), Zoey Dawson’s The Unspoken Word is ‘Joe’ (La Mama / MKA) and Conviction (ZLMD Shakespeare).

Awards include the Malcolm Robertson Prize, the Max Afford Playwright’s Award, the AWGIE for Theatre for Young Audiences, and the Green Room Award for Best Original Writing. Alongside Ash Flanders, Declan co-runs queer independent theatre company Sisters Grimm, and has directed and co-created all their shows to date, including Little Mercy (Sydney Theatre Company), The Sovereign Wife (MTC NEON), Summertime in the Garden of Eden (Theatre Works / Griffin Independent), and Lilith: The Jungle Girl (Melbourne Theatre Company).

Eugyeene is a designer across multiple artforms. He has designed for the productions Meme Girls, A Social Service (Malthouse Theatre) Endgame and Straight White Men (Melbourne Theatre Company).

As co-Artistic Director and Resident Designer of Little Ones Theatre, his designs include Dracula, Dangerous Liaisons (MTC NEON) and Salome (Malthouse Helium). For MKA, his designs include The Trouble with Harry and The Unspoken Word is ‘Joe’.

Other credits include Back to Back Theatre’s Lady Eats Apple (Melbourne Festival), Sydney Chamber Opera’s Exil and In Between Two (Sydney Festival). In 2014, Eugyeene undertook the Besen Family Artist Program placement at Malthouse Theatre. Eugyeene has been nominated for five Green Room Awards for his work.

Paul has designed for most of Australia’s major and independent performing arts companies.

Recent designs for Malthouse Theatre include Love and Information, Night on Bald Mountain, Meow Meow’s Little Mermaid, I Am a Miracle and Picnic at Hanging Rock. He has taught at Melbourne University, RMIT University and VCA, and his work has featured in festivals and programmes in the United States, Asia, Europe and the UK. Paul was listed in the Smart 100 in 2004, is a Churchill Fellow and was an Artistic Associate at Malthouse Theatre from 2007-2013. He has received five Green Room Awards, a Helpmann Award and a Sydney Theatre Award.

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CAST & CREATIVE BIOS #blaqueshowgirls

Jed Palmer Composition & Sound Design

Ben Graetz Movement Director

Sermsah Bin Saad Assistant Movement Director

Jed is a Melbourne-based noise maker with a diverse skill set.

He is known for textured and nuanced sound designs and compositions. His Malthouse Theatre credits include: Meow Meow’s Little Mermaid, Blak Cabaret and Calpurnia Descending. Other theatre credits include: The Listies’ Hamlet: Prince Of Skidmark (STC) Ghost, Toast and The Things Unsaid (Sandpit/ Adelaide Fringe) & The Sovereign Wife (Sisters Grimm/Melbourne Theatre Co.) Recent film & TV credits include: OtherLife (Feature Film, dir.

Ben C. Lucas), Vietnam - The War That Made Australia (Documentary Series, SBS TV), The Infinite Man (Feature Film, dir Hugh Sullivan) Ukraine Is Not A Brothel (Feature Documentary, dir. Kitty Green).

Ben a descendant of the Muran and Malak Malak Clans in the Northern Territory. Ben is a performer, director, writer and producer. Ben’s education and training include: Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Arts Management from VCAM in Victoria in 2011, Graduate Diploma in Movement Studies from NIDA 2008, Bachelor of Arts in Acting from NIDA in 1998, Advanced Certificate in Aboriginal Musical Theatre from WAAPA in Perth WA in 1995. Ben’s Movement works includes: Gift Nida (2008-2009).

I Am Man (Brown’s Mart Arts 2013) Straight White Man (MTC 2016).

As a multifaceted personality, Sermsah’s name in the Indigenous community is synonymous with theatre, television, films, the festival circuit, opera, dance and choreography. After cracking into the tough Top 14 on So You Think You Can Dance, he also led the dancers of the crowd-pleasing, mega hit movie Bran Nue Dae. He is currently a member of the Melbourne Playback Theatre Company and a Radio Broadcaster for Joy 94.9 with his own show Urban Dreaming about Bridging the Gap between two worlds.

Above all of his artistic achievements, Sermsah values his heritage. He believes in ‘Liyarn Ngarn’, a Yawuru saying springing from his hometown of Broome in WA meaning ‘coming together of the spirit’. Affectionately known as Suri, this vibrant and awardwinning artist aims to entertain with style and incredible magnetism.

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Season 2016

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A huge chunk of Blaque Showgirls is influenced by queer theatre… queer art has this amazing way of totally undercutting the status quo and questioning what holds the centre. ­— Nakkiah Lui ——> PG 9

Season 2016

Lisa Osborn Stage Manager

Matilda Woodroofe Assistant Stage Manager

Lisa works as a freelance stage manager and production manager on theatre works and for events both in Australia and on tour overseas. Her stage management credits for Malthouse Theatre include Meow Meow’s Little Mermaid, The Shadow King, Love and Information (Malthouse Theatre/STC), Calpurnia Descending (Malthouse Theatre/ STC), Blak Cabaret, Meme Girls, The Good Person of Szechuan, Night on Bald Mountain, Pompeii L.A., Blood Wedding, The Wild Duck (Malthouse Theatre/ Belvoir), The Story of Mary MacLane by Herself and Baal (Malthouse Theatre/ STC). Her other stage management credits include Big Bad Wolf, Grug, Afternoon of the Elves, Two Weeks with the Queen, Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (Windmill Theatre); When The Rain Stops Falling (Brink Productions); Me and My Shadow (Patch Theatre Company); Man Covets Bird (Slingsby Theatre Company); G, Devolution, Ignition (Australian Dance Theatre); and Three Sisters, Metro Street, Attempts on Her Life, The Female of the Species, Triple Threat, Noises Off and The Government Inspector (State Theatre Company SA).

Matilda is a set and costume designer and a graduate of Victorian College of the Arts BFA Production Design program. Earlier this year she toured internationally with Malthouse Theatre production Meow Meow’s Little Mermaid. In 2014, she was the Design Assistant on Walking into the Bigness (Malthouse Theatre). Matilda has worked with a myriad of performing arts companies across Melbourne and Sydney including STC, Complete Works Theatre Company, Vic Opera, MTC and Bangarra Dance Theatre.

Matilda is currently completing an artist placement with THE RABBLE in 2016 as their Design Intern.

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ABOUT MALTHOUSE THEATRE

Season 2016

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT At Malthouse Theatre we collaborate with local and international artists to create inventive performances that cut to the core of the human experience.

Theatre has the power to interrogate, disrupt and to be an agent of change—and we think it always should.

At Malthouse Theatre the work we produce explores the world personally, socially and politically.

Based in a dedicated venue, The Coopers Malthouse in Melbourne, we are a home for live experiences that entertain and provoke a dialogue with and within audiences.

Welcome to Malthouse Theatre.

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OUR PARTNERS

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TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS

OUR SUPPORTERS URANIA—MUSE OF THE STARS—$25,000+ Michele Levine, Mary-Ruth & Peter McLennan, Craig Reeves, Maureen Wheeler AO & Tony Wheeler AO CLIO—MUSE OF HISTORY—$10,000+ Roseanne Amarant, Annamila Fund, John & Lorraine Bates, Debbie Dadon AM, Colin Golvan QC, Janine Tai, The Vera Moore Foundation, Anonymous (1) THALIA—MUSE OF COMEDY—$5,000+ Richard Leonard & Gerlinde Scholz, Mary Vallentine AO, Anonymous (1) MELPOMENE—MUSE OF TRAGEDY—$2,500+ David Bardas, Dr Sian Fairbank, D.L. & G.S. Gjerg ja, Rosemary Forbes & Ian Hocking, Sue Kirkham, James Penlidis & Fiona McGauchie, Elisabeth & John Schiller, Dr Jenny Schwarz, Leonard Vary & Dr Matt Collins QC, Jason Waple, Jon Webster, Jan Williams, Tom Wright, Anonymous (1) EUTERPE—MUSE OF MUSIC—$1,000+ Frankie Airey & Stephen Solly, Chryssa Anagnostou & Dr Jim Tsaltas, Marc Besen AC

TERPSICHORE—MUSE OF DANCE—$500+ Graham & Anita Anderson, Michael Arnold, Rowland Ball OAM, Sandra Beanham, David & Rhonda Black, Ros Casey, Tim & Rachel Cecil, Marisa Cesario, Chris Clough, Alan Connolly, Carolyn Floyd, Leonie Hollingworth, Brad Hooper, Dr Irene Irvine, Joan & Graeme Johnson OAM, Dr Irene Kearsey, Dr Angela Kirsner & Dr Richard Kirsner, Virginia Lovett, John McCallum, Ian McRae AO, Linda Notley, Jan Owen AM, Robert Peters, Katherine REHEARSAL PHOTOS / ZAN WIMBERLEY ZANWIMBERLEY.COM

Sampson, Barbara & Neil Smart, Toby Sullivan, John Thomas, Neil Waters, Phil & Heather Wilson, Anonymous (4) ERATO—MUSE OF LOVE—$250+ Simon Abrahams, Jennifer Bourke, Fiona Brook, John & Alexandra Busselmaier, Siu Chan, Diane Clark, Georgie Coleman, Patricia Coutts, Jason Craig, Kerryn Dickinson-Rowe, Brian Doyle, Orla & Rachel, Taleen Gaidzkar, Joanne Griffiths, Peggy Hayton, Sarah Hunt, Ann Kemeny & Graham Johnson, Mira & Dr David Kolieb, Robyn Lansdowne, Sally Lindsay, Kim Lowndes, Judith Maitland-Parr, Ian Manning & Alice De Jonge, John Millard, Susan Nathan, Paul Natoli, Dr Kersti Nogeste, Tony Oliver, Kaylene O’Neill, Wendy Poulton, Gerard Powell, Gavin Roach, Rae Rothfield, Dr Michael & Jenny Rozen, Dr Jill Sewell, Chris Teh, Lee-Ann Walsh, Jan Watson, Gary Westbrook, Joanne Whyte, Barbara Yuncken VOLUNTEERS Malthouse Theatre would like to acknowledge the generous and ongoing support of our dedicated volunteers.

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MALTHOUSE THEATRE STAFF Season 2016

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michele Levine (Chair), John Daley (Deputy Chair), Debbie Dadon AM, Colin Golvan QC, Michael Kantor, Jan Owen AM, Pamela Rabe, Nick Schlieper, Kerri Turner, Mary Vallentine AO & Leonard Vary.

Publicist / TS Publicity Graphic Design / Hours After TICKETING & BOX OFFICE CRM & Ticketing Manager / Prue Sutherland

ARTISTIC & PROGRAMMING

Box Office Manager / Gemma Cotterell

Artistic Director & Co-Ceo/ Matthew Lutton

Box Office Supervisor / Sam Yeo

Executive Producer & Co-Ceo / Sarah Neal

Box Office Staff / Abbey Barnes, Fiona Wiseman, Ian Michael, Jade Thomson, Jo Bassilios, Kate Gregory, Lauren White, Michelle Hines, Paul Buckley

Resident Dramaturg / Mark Pritchard Director in Residence / Janice Muller

DEVELOPMENT

Resident Artist / Declan Greene

Development Manager / Jayne Lovelock

Producer / Toby Sullivan

Development Coordinator / Belinda Locke

Associate Producer / Jason Tamiru Company Manager / Alice Muhling FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION Finance Manager / Mario Agostinoni Finance Administrator / Liz White General Manager / Amanda Macri MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Marketing & Communications Manager / Caraline Douglas

PRODUCTION Production Manager / David Miller Workshop Manager / David Craig Technical Manager / Baird Mckenna Operations Manager / Dexter Varley Deputy Workshop Manager / Goffredo Mameli Head Electrician / Stephen Hawker Venue Head Mechanist / Ivan Smith Head Of Wardrobe / Delia Spicer

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Digital Marketing Coordinator / Davey Simmons

Theatre Technician / Nathanael Bristow

Communications Coordinator / Alex Sadka

Workshop Assistant / Elizabeth Whitten

EDUCATION Youth & Education Manager / Vanessa O’Neill VENUE MANAGEMENT Venue Manager / Aaron Rowlands Front of House Managers / Sean Ladhams & Anita Posterino Front of House Staff / Jo Bassilios, Abi Murray, Alice Hill, Alice Dixon, Aly Grace, Amelia O’Brien, Amy Dowd, Andrew Foord, Anna Nalpantidis, Carissa Godwin, Daniel Moulds, Daniel Newell, Dirk Hoult, Emma Corbett, Fiona Moody, Gem Clarke, Ian Mitchell, James Chantner, Jessi Lewis, Kate Calton, Kate Gregory, Kathryn Joy, Kirilie Blythman, Lara Kerestes, Lee Threadgold, Leon Rice-Whetton, Mark Hoffman, Matilda Woodroofe, Mitchell Brotz, Pamela Cupit, Sam Harrison, Sanne Rodenstein, Sophia D’Urso, Syrie Payne, Tanja George ABORIGINAL & TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER COMMITTEE Uncle Jack Charles, Richard Frankland, Tony Briggs, Lisa Maza, Pauline Wyman, Melodie Reynolds-Diarra & Jason Tamiru Malthouse Theatre acknowledges we are on the Land of the Boon wurrung Peoples within the Kulin Nation.

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WHAT’S HAPPENING NEXT Season 2016

Expect to be on the edge of your seat.

THE ENCOUNTER 2 – 10 FEB

For over thirty years, renowned UK theatre company Complicite have dazzled audiences with their spectacular use of technology in theatre.

Fresh from Broadway, their most immersive work to date uses state-of-the-art audio design to lead audiences into another world, raising some of the most urgent questions of today: how do we live and what do we believe to be true.

As each member of the audience dons a headset, they are plunged into the Amazon through a 3D soundscape, where the heat of the rainforest and the whisper of unfamiliar languages whips through the ears, in an intoxicating and immersive experience.

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By / Complicite Direction / Simon McBurney Performed by / Richard Katz

Tickets on sale 1 December

SEASON 2017 #malthousetheatreseason2017

NEW IN 2017: SEASON PASSES WITH NO LOCKEDIN DATES WE LIVE IN THE NOW. JUST LIKE YOU. Just like we reinvent theatre, we’ve reinvented the subscription. On our new Season Pass, pick five or more shows and lock in the dates later. We’ll even contact you if you forget. You’ll also rake in the savings with up to 40% off single ticket prices.

Our new Season Pass with flexible dates is the new standard in theatre subscriptions.

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BOOK NOW Visit malthousetheatre.com.au/season-pass

SCENE & HEARD

The emu costumes you see on stage took months in development and went through several iterations. These involved eyelashes, hinged knee-joints, puppetry handles and the dismantling of many different feather boas. Š Malthouse Theatre, the artists, designers, photographers, collaborators and contributors. All rights reserved, 2016.

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