Mr Burns, a post-electric play - End of Year Production Season 2021

END OF YEAR PRODUCTION SEASON 2021 nida.edu.au/june-2021

This season is supported by the Nick Enright AM Estate

WELCOME I am excited to welcome you to NIDA’s End of Year Production Season for 2021.

These four fully-staged live NIDA productions tell stories of worlds in flux. We invite you into a magical forest, a world without electricity, a beachside camping ground and a theatrical kaleidoscope through opera, myth, comedy and invention.

Commissioned by NIDA, God’s Country is a new work by First Nations writer Nathan Maynard, a Trawlwoolway, Pakana/Palawa man from Lutrawita/Tasmania. This play has been written specifically for the NIDA acting students and has been developed in workshops with them over the course of the year.

The play is directed by Liza-Mare Syron, Co-Founder and Senior Artistic Associate of Moogahl in Performing Arts. God’s Country is supported by The Keir Foundation.

Liza-Mare Syron Director of God’s Country has been supported by UNSW. An exciting co-production with our friends at the Sydney Conservatorium brings the genre of opera to NIDA’s Parade Theatre with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Conducted

by Stephen Mould and directed by Kate Gaul, Britten’s magical opera breathes new life into Shakespeare’s most loved comedy. Our technical production and stage management students, props, scenic construction and costume, bring the production to life with Conservatorium students as performers.

For many, Caryl Churchill is the world’s greatest living playwright. This contemporary masterpiece asks how our insatiable appetite for knowledge can be informed by our capacity for love. We are so proud to present Love and Information, a collage of story, directed by Anthea Williams.

Anne Washburn’s international hit comedy Mr Burns, a post-electric play dissolves the barriers between high art and pop culture and imagines a world where The Simpsons becomes the new bible, showing how the stories we tell make us the people we are.

Directed by NIDA alumnus Alexander Berlage, this production takes comedy to a new level.

We couldn’t present any of these high-calibre productions without support from the Australian Government, our First Nations Program Principal Patron The Balnaves Foundation, Principal Partner for Property Services ARA Group. I would also like to thank our Major Partners, Technical Direction Company, our Corporate Partner YouTube, as well as UNSW and Tempus Two wines. NIDA is appreciative of the support of the various trusts and foundations and the generous individuals supporting the Behind the Scenes Program, including our student scholarship supporters.

This End of Year season is supported by the Nick Enright AM Estate.

We welcome you back to NIDA and hope you enjoy these live productions.

— Liz Hughes, CEO

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we learn and tell stories, from the lands of the Bidjigal and Gadigal people of the Eora nation where our campus stands, to the nations across this continent where we teach.

We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders past and present who have cared for land, water and story on these lands for generations. We also recognise the work and strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, workers and creatives within the NIDA Community.

Sovereignty was never ceded. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

Mr Burns, a post-electric play – rehearsal images

Mr Burns, a post-electric play

By Anne Washburn Score by Michael Friedman Lyrics by Anne Washburn Directed by Alexander Berlage Musical direction by Andrew Worboys Set and costume design by Isabel Hudson Lighting design by Isaac Barron Sound design by Kaitlyn Crocker

NIDA Theatres, Playhouse 13, 15–19 November 7.15pm 16, 20 November, 1pm

Running time 130 minutes Mr Burns, a post-electric play will be performed in two acts and include a 20-min interval ‘Though every fear is facing me And I do not know what next I’ll be And I cannot know what next I’ll see I’m running forward anyway’ Bart Simpson, Act 3 The past 18 months have thrown us all into a world of the unknown, forcing us to adapt and recalibrate. Finding new ways to connect, to work and to share stories. During this time we often yearned for what we once had, sometimes distorting these memories with rose coloured glasses to morph them into what we needed them to be.

Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a post-electric play is an incredible piece that not only dissolves the barriers between high art and pop culture but also examines how the stories of one era could very much evolve into the mythology of another.

Act One begins with an assortment of strangers huddled around a fire in a world now without electricity. Act Two takes us seven years in the future, in a post-apocalyptic society. The group who were once strangers from different past lives are now a troupe of theatrical players desperately rehearsing an episode of The Simpsons in order to survive in this new world. Act Three thrusts us seventy five years further into the future, where these familiar tales of the past have now become a new myth to be told.

– Alexander Berlage, Director

Presented by NIDA BFA Design for Performance, BFA Costume, BFA Properties and Objects, BFA Scenic Construction and Technologies, BFA Technical Theatre and Stage Management and final year BFA Acting students. The costumes for Act 3 are made by second-year Costume students.

Company

Matt/Scratchy Jenny/Bart Maria/Marge Sam/Mr Burns Colleen/Lisa Gibson/Homer Quincy/Itchy Claire/Edna

Alfred Kouris Charlotte Lucas Ebony Tucker Harrison Quast Olivia Bourne Philip Lynch Wern Mak Hannah Julii Anderson

Band (Piano) Dylan Pollard* Band (Guitar) Owen Drinian* Band (Percussion) Rowan Brooks* Director Alexander Berlage* Musical Director Andrew Worboys* Assistant Musical Director Cypress Bartlett*

Production Designer Isabel Hudson* Lighting Designer Isaac Barron Sound Designer Kaitlyn Crocker

Voice and Dialect Coach Jennifer White* Movement Consultant Troy Honeysett*

Production Stage Manager

Deputy Stage Manager

Assistant Stage Manager

Nathan Sandy Tim McNaught Keelan Ellis Isobel Morrissey

Lucy Jauristo Hunter Depalo Matthew Hinton Scott Cleggett Bella Thompson

Costume Supervisor Properties Supervisor Construction Manager Head Mechanist Head Electrician

Costume Assistants

Properties Assistants

Design Assistants

Construction Assistant

Michrophone Technician

Mechanists

Delan Woods Michiru Encinas Natalie De Palo Gaia Stein Connor Palmer Zali Kassi Lou Flowers Paris Burrows Madaleine Cooper Tommaso Patelli India Lively Chris Milburn-Clark Madeleine Picard * Guest artist

Graduating students 2021 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting)

G abriel A lvarado

H annah Julii A nder s on

Fly nn B arnard

Julie B et tens

O liv ia B ourne

S haw C ameron

R yan Ennis s

A my Joyce

Libby Kay

A lfre d Kouris

A shan Kum ar

A ri Ma za Long

Charlot te L uc a s

Philip Ly nch

Wern M ak

B raydon May

Riley McNam ara

A lyona Pop ova

Harrison Q ua s t

C onnor Reilly

Mem a Munro

Chris t y Tran

Eb ony Tucker

Adolphus Wayle e

L ucy Jauris to

S am antha Manning

S iobhan Nealon

A ngelina Meany

H ayden Relf

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Costume)

Elsb eth C ameron

B ethany Hew it t

O ri His er

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Design for Performance)

S oham A pte

B lake He dley

Hannah Tayler

H annah Yardley

A my Jack s on

Pho eni x Mckay

Is ab ella S altearn

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Properties and Objects)

Hunter D epalo

Danielle G uyot

Rachel Hallet t

Is ab ell de L aurentis

Zo e M anning

Rhyanna M ar tinus s en

Z achar y Por telli

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Scenic Construction and Technologies)

Mat thew Hinton

Z achar y W hite

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Technical Theatre and Stage Management)

Elif A kgul

Is a ac B arron

K aitly n Cro cker

S ophie Jone s

Leia Lois a

Alex Makaronopoulos

Jo el M allet t

K r ys telle Q uar term ain

Jame s Rawlings

S aint Clair

Nathan Sandy

Z achar y S aric

Mellit a Ver tigan

Trillian V ieira

Sy billa Wajon

S ophia Wallace

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Principal Partner for Property Services

Principal Patron First Nations Program

Major Partners

Corporate Partner

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