Tasmania Performs - First Nations Voices

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FIRST NATION VOICES

A PROGRAM OF WORK SUPPORTED BY TASMANIA PERFORMS, 2021

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CONTENTS

FROM THE PRODUCER Tasmania Performs is passionate about its role as the lead facilitator connecting talented Tasmanianbased Aboriginal artists with the professional performing arts sector.

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COVID CAVEAT

As we create this programme, the borders with New Zealand have, suddenly, closed again. It is our hope that as you read this, Hide the Dog is indeed premiering at the Theatre Royal Hobart, but it may have been postponed again, just as it regrettably was when it was scheduled to play as part of the Sydney Festival in January 2021.

In 2012 pakana man and Park Ranger Nathan Maynard was invited to attend the inaugural Tasmania Performs Artists’ Residency. Several years of mentoring and support followed, and Nathan has gone on to have an exceptional career as an artist and in particular an in-demand playwright, with commissions from major theatre companies nationally. Nathan has ensured that the opportunities open to him were shared with others from the community.

This booklet demonstrates the artistry and excellence of this group. The array of talent profiled is testimony to the impact of a long-term, consistent investment of time, money, and strategic thinking in a community where there is an enormous depth of untapped talent.

I hope it inspires other young people from the community to consider the arts as a meaningful and valuable career option, and a powerful tool for sharing untold stories. Newcomers can find an entry point to the

3 performing arts via the Aboriginal stream of the Tasmania Performs annual Residency.

Our work over the past 9 years now sees companies and festivals across the country increasingly employing and collaborating with a range of empowered, skilled palawa/ Aboriginal artists.

I recommend Nunami’s tour, takara nipaluna, to give you the context that your school textbooks failed so miserably to deliver. Sinsa’s work BACK demonstrates the resilience that helped this community survive colonisation. And Hide the Dog by Nathan and Jamie is a collaboration of Māori and palawa artists, encouraging children to take pride in and connect with their cultural heritage.

ANNETTE DOWNS Senior Producer, Tasmania Performs

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Nathan Maynard

FEATURED ARTIST

Jamie McCaskill

pakana trawlwoolway

HIDE THE DOG

Ngāti Tamaterā, Te Ati Haunui a Pāpārangi, Ngā Puhi

CO-WRITER/ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, HIDE THE DOG Nathan is a Trawlwoolway man from lutruwita/Tasmania. He also belongs to lutruwita’s Furneaux Island Aboriginal community.

Nathan’s play The Season was featured in the 2015 Yellamundie Festival (Moogahlin). This Tasmania Performs production received MFI funding and premiered in 2017 at the Sydney Festival, Ten Days on the Island and Melbourne Festival followed by an 11-venue national tour in 2018. Nathan’s play for children A Not So Traditional Story produced

by Terrapin Puppet Theatre company, toured to primary schools across Tasmania in 2018 and in 2019 and was presented at Arts Centre Melbourne and Brisbane Festival.

HIDE THE DOG

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FEATURED ARTIST

CO-WRITER, HIDE THE DOG

Nathan was named Tasmanian Aboriginal Artist of the Year Award in 2006 and 2013, and Tasmanian Aboriginal of the Year at the 2017 NAIDOC awards. In 2019 he was awarded the Balnaves Foundation Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Fellowship at Belvoir and a Churchill Fellowship.

Jamie is a writer, director, actor and producer based in Wellington. After graduating from UCOL Theatre School in 2000, Jamie has gone on to maintain a successful career in the performing arts, touring nationally and internationally as an actor and singer, most recently as a member of Modern Māori Quartet.

Nathan balances his life between family, community, culture and writing and resides on the East Coast of Tasmania.

An award-winning playwright, Jamie was awarded the prestigious Bruce Mason Award in 2013 for his dynamic play Manawa. Not In Our Neighbourhood was awarded Best New New Zealand Play at the Wellington Theatre Awards in 2015.

An up and coming Māori screenwriter, Jamie has written for Awa Films’ Colonial Combat and Whatta Beauty and is head writer for Hari with The Māori Sidesteps.

Jamie is Director of Wellingtonbased independent theatre company Tikapa Productions and The Māori Sidesteps Collective.

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HIDE THE DOG

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BY NATHAN MAYNARD (PAKANA, TRAWLWOOLWAY), AND JAMIE MCCASKILL (NGĀTI TAMATERĀ, TE ATI HAUNUI A PĀPĀRANGI, NGĀ PUHI) | A TASMANIA PERFORMS PRODUCTION | PREMIERE SEASON: TEN DAYS ON THE ISLAND, 19-21 MARCH 2021, THEATRE ROYAL, NIPALUNA/HOBART

CAST

Najwa Adams-Ebel (Biri-Guba) Reuben Hohepa Butler (Māori) Zak Thomas Martin (Māori) Melodie Reynolds-Diarra (Wangkathaa) Tibian Wyles (Girramay, Kalkadoon) Kaninna Langford (Aboriginal) Caitlin Berwick

Niara Kaitamariki/Tāwhirmātea Te Umuroa Bird/Mum/Moinee/ Kuti Kina/ Tangaroa Tigs Understudy Understudy

CREATIVE TEAM

Director Assistant Director Set Designer Sound Designer Lighting Designer Video Artist Costume Designer Associate Designer Puppet Design Mentor Boat Technical Design moinee song lyric contributors moinee song sung by pakana Cultural Advisor Additional Māori Advice Pakana Visual Advisor Additional Cultural Advice Education Kit

Isaac Drandic (Noongar) Nathan Maynard (pakana, trawlwoolway) Jane Hakaraia (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga) Maaka McGregor (Māori) Ben Hughes Keith Deverell Sabio Evans Denni Proctor (pakana) Bryony Anderson, One Off Makery Greg Methe Kaninna Langford (Aboriginal) Jordy Gregg (Murrie) Dewayne Everettsmith (palawa, Gunai/Kurnai) Nathan Maynard (pakana) Maaka McGregor and Rueben Butler (Māori) Denni Proctor (pakana) Maakarita Paku (Māori) Dr Meg Upton with Theresa Sainty (pakana) Kimo Winiata (Māori)

HIDE THE DOG

HIDE THE DOG

A fun-filled tall tale for all ages. Two best friends stumble upon the last Tasmanian Tiger. All three set sail across the Tasman Sea, outwitting Maori gods, palawa spirits and human hunters to keep Tigs safe.

PRODUCTION

HIDE THE DOG COMPANY

Producer

Annette Downs

Production/Stage Manager

Simon Rush

Technical Operator

Rory Grinham

Construction Team

Sabio Evans, Jen Goodluck, Petra Lagewaard, Greg Methe, Denni Proctor, Jake Sanger, Èdith la Sauvage

Marketing materials

Jillian Mundy (pakana—photography) Denni Proctor (pakana—Tiger Linocut)

HIDE THE DOG

Peter Oldham (video) CREATIVE DEVELOPMENTS 2018–2019

Dramaturgy

Kamarra Bell-Wykes (Yagera, Butchulla)

Director

Jada Alberts (Larrakia, Yanuwa, Bardi, Wardaman)

Performers

Elaine Crombie (Pitjanttajtarra, Warrigmal, South Sea Islander), Jordy Gregg (Murrie), Kaninna Langford (Aboriginal), Tamati Moriarty (Māori), Denni Proctor, Lisa Gormley, Craig Irons, Melissa King

Other Artists

Tānemahuta Gray (Māori), Horomona Horo (Māori), Andrew Bluff, David Clarkson, Rachel Lang

Hide the Dog is assisted by the Australian Government’s Major Festivals Initiative, managed by the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, in association with the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals Inc., Ten Days on the Island, Brisbane Festival, Rising, and Sydney Festival; and Arts Tasmania, Arts Centre Melbourne, Performing Lines, and Tim Minchin.

Hide the Dog is supported by Alive Technologies, Old Nick and Bryony Anderson.

Creative Development supporters include anonymous 2017 PAC conference delegates, Australian Government Regional Arts through RANT, Capital E, Creative NZ, ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, Puawai Cairns, Museum of New Zealand te Papa Tongarewa, Taki Rua, QPAC, Tikapa Productions, Terrapin Puppet Theatre.

Thanks to Rose Ebel and QUT Acting Faculty.

Special thanks to Julie Waddington, Associate Producer 2016-2019, and to Marianne Taylor who, in 2016, had the wisdom to suggest that Nathan and Jamie should meet.

ISAAC DRANDIC (Noongar) Director Isaac is a Noongar man from the south west of Western Australia. He is a dramaturg, writer, award winning actor and director. He is a recipient of the Victorian Indigenous Performing Arts Award (VIPAA) - Uncle Jack Charles Award 2008. He has been nominated for numerous Green Room Awards in both the Independent and Theatre Companies category including, Blood on the Dance Floor which won most outstanding independent theatre production in 2017. In 2018 The Season was nominated for eight green room awards winning the big three for best new writing, best direction and the coveted award for best production in the Theatre Companies category. His highly acclaimed production, City of Gold won several Sydney Theatre Awards including a nomination for Best New Australian Work. Isaac has held the positions: Associate Director of ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, Resident Artist at Playwriting Australia and Resident Dramaturg at Queensland Theatre among others.

He is a member of the Independent Expert Panel COCA (Cairns) providing advice to Arts Queensland, a member of Playwriting Australia and Australian Plays National Advisory Panel and is Associate Artist at Queensland Theatre.

JANE HAKARAIA (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga Set Designer Jane Hakaraia is a freelance theatre and TV designer.

She has a degree in Product design from Unitec and undertook an honours degree in sustainable furniture design at AUT. In 2014 she received the Excellence In Theatre award at the Auckland Theatre awards. Jane was production designer and technical manager for the play Daffodils by Bullet Heart Club which toured extensively for four years and is now a feature film. She also regularly works with Blue Bach Productions as Art Director on their TV offerings and is currently working with Māoriland Film Festival on the on-going design of their indoor and outdoor spaces at the Māoriland Hub in Otaki. Jane was LX designer for Astroman with Te Rehia and Auckland Theatre Companies and Set designer for Wild Dogs Under my skirt with Silo and F.C.C Theatre companies.

MAAKA MCGREGOR (Māori) Sound Designer Maaka is an internationally renowned and multiple award-winning musician, composer, engineer, producer and artist. He specialises in creating original musical works fusing the Māori language, traditional Māori instruments, and pre-European Māori song structures and philosophy, with contemporary sounds, technology and musical styles. At 15 years old

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Maaka began his broadcasting career working at the first Māori Radio Station (Te Ūpoko o Te Ika) and spent 12 years Māori radio, news media, print and television. He started in theatre at the same time as an actor and in sound design. In 1999, Maaka and his partner Mina Ripia created the groundbreaking Māori electronica group WAI and also established Minaaka Limited, specialising in Māori language audio and music production for multi-platform media applications. Maaka has created titles and music for television and radio, soundscapes for theatre, markers and flags for websites, Māori language educational resources, and original Indigenous music. He has been a finalist or recipient of numerous NZ Music awards, Waiata Māori Music and APRA awards. In 2015 he was awarded Wellington Sound Designer of the Year for his work in theatre soundscape production, and in 2018 was inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame.

KEITH DEVERELL Video Artist Keith is a video artist living and working in Hobart. He has been a collaborator and designer on notable Aboriginal productions including Jacob Boheme’s Blood on the Dance Floor (ILBIJERRI), Stephen Oliver’s From Darkness (Brisbane Festival, La Boite), Mariaa Randall’s Diversity (FOLA, Arts House Melbourne), and the opening of Yirramboi Festival, 2018. Keith has presented artworks at festivals and galleries including Dark Mofo, Melbourne Now, and the Singapore Art Gallery.

BEN HUGHES Lighting Designer Ben Hughes is a lighting designer for theatre, dance and opera.

Ben’s designs include: for Opera Queensland, Don Giovanni, Mozart Airborne (with Expressions Dance Company and Natalie Weir), Snow White; for Queensland Theatre, Mouthpiece, Antigone, L’appartement, Twelfth Night, An Octaroon, Scenes From A Marriage, Switzerland, Good Muslim Boy (with Malthouse Theatre), Black Diggers (with Sydney Festival), Mother Courage And Her Children, The Seagull, Happy Days, Grounded, Home, The Button Event, Much Ado About Nothing, Constellations, Switzerland, Design For Living, 1001 Nights, The Lost Property Rules, Orbit, The Moutaintop, The Pitch & The China Incident, Kelly, Head Full Of Love; for Sydney Theatre Company, Black Is The New White directed by Paige Rattray (and national tour), The Effect (with Queensland Theatre); for La Boite, The Neighbourhood, From Darkness, The Mathematics Of Longing, A Streetcar Named Desire; for Meryl Tankard, Two Feet (Adelaide Festival); for Expressions Dance Company, The Dinner Party (The Host), Converge, Propel, Carmen Sweet; for Queensland Ballet, Masters Series, Flourish, Giselle.

Ben is Associate Artistic Director of The Danger Ensemble, and lectures in lighting design at Queensland University of Technology.

SABIO EVANS Costume Designer Sabio is an established freelance costume designer and maker, seamstress, and emerging contemporary artist based in Hobart, Tasmania. Her practice encompasses

the design and construction of fashion garments, costumes, and soft furnishings. Sabio designed and produced costumes for Terrapin’s Ubu as part of Mona Foma 2020, and Fabien Giraud and Raphael Siboni’s The Unmanned: Part Two, exhibited at Mona, 2018. Sabio’s most recent art works have been exhibited as part of Kirsha Keachele’s Eat the Problem 2019 MONA exhibition. Her emerging art practice is a mixture of textiles, soft furnishings, experimental performance, video, site-specific sculptural installations and sculptural costumes, which are shaped by ritualistic and esoteric processes and informed by surrealist traditions and sensibilities and Tasmanian folklore especially as it pertains to its gothic elements.

DENNI PROCTOR Associate Designer Denni is a pakana palawa woman of the trawlwoolway nation, with a reputation as a strong live musician, ranging across indi folk to hip-hop, and playing a host of local and national festivals including Falls Festival Marion Bay (opening for triple j in 2016), Festival of Voices, Huon Valley Mid-Winter Fest, Party in the Paddock, A Festival called Panama, DarkMofo, Mona Foma, Spirit Festival SA and GARMA festival in North East Arnhem Land.

Theatre credits include A Not So Traditional Story and King Ubu for Terrapin, and design associate, puppet maker and cultural advisor on Hide the Dog. Denni was 2020 Tasmanian Aboriginal Artist of the Year 2020 and as an independent First Nations artist she continues to use her platform to make change and tell the story of her people and her own healing.

MELODIE REYNOLDSDIARRA (Wangkathaa) Bird, Mum, Moinee, Kuti Kina and Tangaroa Melodie is a Wongutha Nadju woman from Western Australia. She made her acting debut at the age of 16 in No Sugar at Belvoir St and went on to graduate from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in 1996.

Melodie has performed in several ABC radio plays and recorded the audiobook of My Place by Sally Morgan. Theatre credits include: for ILBIJERRI, The Dirty Mile, Chopped Liver, Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country (with Sydney Opera House), Black Sheep and Glorious Baastards (with Melbourne International Comedy Festival), Headhunter (with Polyglot); Wild Cat Falling, Honey Spot, King For This Place and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Dreaming Festival/STC), Actors at Work (Bell Shakespeare); Holy Day (Playbox); Stolen, Shrunken Iris, Master Builder, Quilting the Armour and Yandy (Black Swan State Theatre Company); Yibiyung (Company B); The Man from Mukinupin (MTC) and Jackie by Elfriede Jelinek (Red Stitch Theatre). Melodie appeared in the successful 2017/18/19 seasons of Black is the New White (STC).

Television credits include Natural Justice, Broken Shore, Hard Rock Medical, Redfern Now Series 2. In 2013 Melodie was Associate Director of The Shadow King (Malthouse).

In 2018, her first play Skylab had its world premiere in Perth, as a coproduction with Black Swan Theatre and Yirra Yarkin Theatre.

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HIDE THE DOG

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Ko Mamaru te Waka

Wahine Rangatira

Ko Kahukuraariki te

HIDE THE DOG

No Te Whare Tapu o Nga Puhi me Ngati Kahu ki Whangaroa Raised on the farm, and taught with Aroha and respect, I was a hori with a story. After kura, I found myself on a doorstep to a creative pathway, and since, I have connected deeply with so many. Laughing, crying, connecting, Hongi with an immense amount of pressure on our noses just to make sure you get all the Mauri in.

Sincerely, creativity is my thing, and my art is my Taonga to you.

Ko Reuben Hohepa Butler Toku Ingoa.

TIBIAN WYLES (Girramay and Kalkadoon) Tigs Tibian is a descendent of Girramay & Kalkadoon tribes from North Queensland, and a graduate of the Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts (ACPA), Brisbane. Theatre credits include: Black Diggers, directed by Wesley Enoch, 2014 Sydney Festival and a sell-out season at Brisbane Festival (QTC), and Legs on the Wall’s The Man with the Iron Neck, by Ursula Yovich and directed

by Josh Bond and Gavin Robbins, at Brisbane, Sydney, Darwin and Adelaide Festivals 2018-19. Dance credits include DJUKI MALA (Chooky Dancers), with whom Tibian has

ZAK THOMAS MARTIN (Māori) Te Umuroa

toured Europe and Asia performing contemporary dance and comedy mixed with traditional Aboriginal culture; Baru AFC Final Draw, Sydney Opera House; Treaty Opening, Brisbane Festival; Baru Clancestry; Baru Byron Bay Blues Festival, and Queensland Poetry Festival. Tibian is an Ambassador for DigiYouth Arts.

INTRODUCING . . .

NAJWA ADAMS-EBEL (Biri-Guba) Niara Najwa is a young Biri-Guba woman and comes from the small indigenous community of Woorabinda in Central Queensland. She discovered performing as a 5-year-old when enrolled in her first dance class at the Moura School of Ballet. Ten years of training and performing resulted in teaming up with dance studios from Sydney and touring to California’s Disneyland, Adventure Park, Universal Studio and Orland Florida’s Disney World and Universal Studios in an international dance tour with the Australian Dance Ensemble.

To progress her training, her parents drove her two hours every Saturday to Rockhampton to attend the Dance and Musical Theatre Academy.

Najwa extended her skills into musical theatre, cabaret, hip-hop, contemporary and lyrical, with roles in the local musicals. In 2017, Najwa was cast as Kupi, the sole survivor of the Myall Creek Massacre in Brad Diebert’s Myall Creek: Day at Justice film and was also cast in a Brisbane Tourism advertisement in 2019. Najwa studied drama as a senior subject and completed her final year 12 exam the day before she flew to Hobart to begin rehearsals for Hide The Dog, her professional theatre debut.

Ko Taranaki te maunga Ko Aotea te waka Ko Ngati Ruanui te iwi Zak found the performing arts quite later in his life but immediately fell in love with it all. He began his training doing screen focused workshops while getting work in TV series, web series and short films.

Hide the Dog in rehearsal

He then became a member of Tepou theatre, a Māori theatre organisation which supports local Māori artists.

He continues to do training and workshops at both Tepou theatre and Massive theatre companies in Auckland, New Zealand. Zak has a passion for both storytelling and his Māori culture and he believes there is a bigger reason why Hide the Dog is his professional theatre debut.

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Ko Zak Martin Toku Ingoa.

HIDE THE DOG

REUBEN HOHEPA BUTLER (Māori) Kaitamariki, Tāwhirmātea

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FEATURED ARTIST

Sinsa Mansell pakana

CREATOR, CO-DIRECTOR AND PERFORMER, BACK A passionate and proud pakana woman from the Northern region of lutruwita/ Tasmania, Sinsa Mansell is a performer and choreographer. Dancing statewide, nationally and internationally, Sinsa has been working to reclaim cultural dance in luturwita for the past 15 years. She facilitates opportunities for the broader community to engage with local First Nations peoples through educational dance workshops and ceremonial performance at a wide range of events.

Sinsa is Co-Founder, Program Producer and Project Officer with pakana kanaplila, a Traditional/ Contemporary Tasmanian Aboriginal dance troupe. pakana kanaplila aims to create a safe and inviting space to broaden the awareness of the

BACK is assisted by the Australia Council, the Australia Government’s arts funding and advisory body; the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia; the Tasmanian Minister for the Arts through Arts Tasmania; and the City of Hobart. Supported by Moonah Arts Centre, Peacock Theatre and Terrapin Puppet Theatre.

rich cultural heritage of the pakana, maintaining living ancient traditional practices through song and dance.

Following this season of BACK, Sinsa has a diverse range of projects linedup including Unknown, an exhibition co-created by Julie Gough, Michelle Maynard and Sinsa, and funded by King Island Council, and a project with visual artist Deb Wace. She is choreographer/performer on a new work with TasDance, and a co-driver of Illuminate, TasDance’s 40th Anniversary celebration. Sinsa is also one of the artists featured in the inaugural Hobart Current, a major biennial program that showcases contemporary Tasmanian and international artists.

CREATED AND PERFORMED BY SINSA MANSELL | PRODUCED BY TASMANIA PERFORMS | PREMIERE SEASON: TEN DAYS ON THE ISLAND, 19-21 MARCH 2021, THE STUDIO THEATRE, NIPALUNA/HOBART An original solo dance conveying a story of Indigenous women after the brutal invasion of lutruwita in 1803. Leading pakana dancer Sinsa Mansell explores her millennia-old culture, its near-destruction and the resistance and courage that preserved it.

CAST

Sinsa Mansell CREATIVE TEAM

Creator, Co-Director Co-Director AV Content Projection Artist Lighting Designer Composer Costume Designer Cultural Support Documentation Education Kit

Sinsa Mansell Kate Champion Tony Melov Cary Littleford Greg Thompson Matthew Fargher with Sinsa Mansell Anja Rienalda Jamie Graham-Blair Peter Oldham Lesley Graham

PRODUCTION

Producer Production Manager Stage Manager Assistant Stage Managers

Annette Downs Simon Rush Andrew Macdonald Jamie Graham & Lucy MacDonald

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENTS 2019-2020

Dramaturge Mentor Composition Projection consultant

Mariaa Randall Marilyn Miller Kelly Ryall Keith Deverell, Jason James

Special thanks to Nathan Maynard, Niara Mansell, Noah Milner, and all the friends, family and community who have supported me over the years.

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BACK COMPANY

KATE CHAMPION Co-Director Kate was the founder of Force Majeure, a revolutionary Sydney-based dance theatre company. She has worked in theatre, dance, film, opera and musical theatre with arts companies and institutes including Belvoir (Every Brilliant Thing, Under The Influence, Cloustreet, Food, My Urrwai, A Taste of Honey, My Brilliant Career), Sydney Theatre Company (Never Did Me Any Harm, Spring Awakening), STCSA (That Eye The Sky, A View From The Bridge), English National Opera (The Prisoner, La Strada), Opera Australia (Bliss, The Ring Cycle, La Boheme), The Hayes (Evie May), NIDA(Not Who I Was, Meat Eaters), National Theatre of Parramatta (Swallow) and DV8 Physical Theatre.

Kate created and performed two critically acclaimed solo shows, Face Value and About Face. As Artistic Director of Force Majeure, Kate directed Same, Same But Different, Tenebrae, Already Elsewhere, The Age I’m In, Not In a Million Years, and Nothing to Lose. Kate has been awarded Helpmann, Green Room and Australian Dance Awards.

MATTHEW FARGHER Sound Designer/ Composer Matthew is a composer and sound designer who has produced, composed and directed music across many genres with a remarkable array of collaborators since the early 80’s.

He has been Musical Director of leading intercultural dance company Marrugeku’s since 1995. He has worked with Choreographers from Ballets C de la B in with remote and urban Indigenous contexts.

Collaborating with musicians and dancers on Mimi, Crying Baby, Burning Daylight, Buru and Cut the Sky, through national and international Tours. He has trained in physical theatre and voice with Phillipe Gaulier, Monique Pagneux, Yoshi Oida, Zigmund Molik (Grotowski’s Laboratorium), and a wide cross section of cultural masters from Tanzania to Chile. He has composed or musical directed for: Terrapin Puppet Theatre, Circus Oz, Belvoir Street Theatre, Kickstart Arts, and many others over a 30 year career. He has produced devised a number of major music and theatre projects in Tasmania including Origins, Storming Mount Wellington and Continental Drift. In the last 4 years has mixed, mastered or produced 15 albums and other musical releases from Bedlam Studios in Hobart.

GREG THOMPSON Lighting Designer Greg has worked as a theatre technician for almost 50 years. His lighting design credits embrace classical and contemporary dance, drama, musicals, puppetry, physical theatre, circus, concerts, outdoor performances and events, and large ‘fire and light’ spectaculars. Greg has worked as freelance designer, production manager and stage manager for numerous Tasmanian companies including Zootango, TasDance, Stompin’ Youth Dance, Salamanca Theatre Company, Terrapin Puppet Theatre, and most recently on Tasmanian Theatre Company’s Gruesome Playground Injuries directed by Ben Winspear, and Blue Cow’s Nothing directed by Kate Gaul, for which Greg received the 2020 Tasmanian Theatre Award for Outstanding Lighting Design.

TONY MELOV AV Content Tony has decades of experience as a high-level visual design creative in Australian and international media. His achievements include more than 30 TV show title design packages, award winning short films both locally and on the world scene, major international magazine cover illustrations and theatrical stage work.

Tony has produced creative material

for all major television networks in Australia, London, and for numerous clients in the corporate, business and academic sectors. His history includes Creative Consultant on the ABCTV Doug Anthony Allstars doco, Tick F!@#ing Tock, broadcast titles design for Just For Laughs Comedy Festival on Comedy Channel through to being lead animator on the AFi award winning animation, The Girl who Swallowed Bees, the flickerfest winning, The Scree, and a plethora of TV title sequences over the last twenty years such as The Melbourne Comedy Festival, Good News Week, The Glasshouse and The Sideshow.

CARY LITTLEFORD Projection Artist Cary emerged artistically as live video performer VJ Smucklepod in the Tasmanian rural underground in 2010. Since then he has gone on to do live VJ performances, recycled interactive installations and small to large-scale projection mapping displays and performances at various events including Unwind, Falls Festivals, Fractangular Festivals, FRESH, FauxMO, DARK MOFO, Devil In The Streets, Day of the Dead, Momentum, NewKind, Sanctum, Jazz events, 2018 Remembrance Day projection project, MOFO performances, TSO and TMAG Beaker St events, Community exhibitions, countless pub gigs and many others. Now turning to experimenting with connecting communities through live projection mapping in inspiring organic spaces and the quirky world of digital light-field photography.

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FEATURED ARTIST

takara nipaluna

Nunami SculthorpeGreen palawa, Warlpiri

CREATOR, WRITER AND PERFORMER, TAKARA NIPALUNA Nunami is a palawa activist and storyteller who has proudly represented her community at a national and international level. She has been strongly embedded in her community and culture her entire life. Now a mother, she is passionate about making people aware of Aboriginal history and justice issues.

Nunami holds a BA in history and legal studies from the University of Tasmania. She has a background in public education focusing on Aboriginal culture and history and has presented Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Training through the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre. Nunami served as Indigenous Cadet at Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery for two years, and was recently

takara nipaluna is assisted by the City of Hobart; the Tasmanian Minister for the Arts through Arts Tasmania; and the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.

Thanks to the test audience participants; Matt Aitken and Mei

appointed Community Development Officer for Aboriginal Programs at the City of Hobart. In 2015, Nunami was one-half of a delegation sent to Germany, Austria and the UK to successfully negotiate the return of some ancestral remains. Her achievements were recognised by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Youth of the Year Award in the NAIDOC Awards 2015.

Nunami has presented at a range of events and facilitated Aboriginal programming for all ages and audiences. She has participated in reading of work by Jim Everett at Salamanca Arts Centre. In 2020 Nunami attended the Tarraleah Artists Residency and is the Tasmania Performs Indigenous Mentor for 2021.

Saraswati, Swamp Club, Perth; and to Hobart Lord Mayor Councillor Anna Reynolds. Nunami thanks her community for their support and inspiration.

TAKARA NIPALUNA

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(WALKING HOBART)

CREATED AND PERFORMED BY NUNAMI SCULTHORPE-GREEN A TASMANIA PERFORMS PRODUCTION | PREMIERE SEASON, TEN DAYS ON THE ISLAND, 18-21 MARCH 2021, NIPALUNA Passionate palawa historian and activist Nunami Sculthorpe-Green leads an informative, emotional and surprising 90-minutes walking tour of the streets of nipaluna. She gives voice to the palawa perspective on history, and will lead you to a richer understanding of this place.

CAST

Nunami Sculthorpe-Green (palawa, Warlpiri) with Kartanya Maynard (trawlwoolway) CREATIVE TEAM

Creator, writer Dramaturge and Mentor Documentation

Nunami Sculthorpe-Green Sarah Hamilton Takani Clark

PRODUCTION

Producer Production Manager Assistant Producer Stage Manager

Annette Downs Simon Rush Bella Young Lucy McDonald SARAH HAMILTON Dramaturge/ Mentor

Sarah is a writer, performer, presenter and theatre maker.

She studied acting at the University of Ballarat Arts Academy and has a Masters of Writing for Performance from VCA (University of Melbourne). Over the last decade Sarah has collaborated with Justine

Campbell through their company Human Animal Exchange. Together they have made A Donkey and a Parrot, They Saw a Thylacine, The Dust and Us and Untold. Their work has toured nationally and internationally and received awards at Melbourne, Adelaide and NZ Fringe Festivals, and has been nominated for five Green Room Awards and a Helpmann Award for best regional touring production.

Sarah’s play The Split premiered in Adelaide and Sydney in 2019. Sarah attended the Tasmania Performs Artists Residency in 2019 and 2020.

takara nipaluna

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ABORIGINAL MENTORSHIPS

Kartanya Maynard The Season by Nathan Maynard.

From time to time Tasmania Performs identifies and develops relationships with performing artists at critical points in their careers, who could benefit from long-term mentoring.

Previous artists assisted in this way by Tasmania Performs include Nathan Maynard, who started with a story and a desire to tell it, and is now being commissioned to write for major theatre companies around the country.

Currently we are working with five young artists. All are at different stages of their artistic journey, discovering their own voices and shaping their careers.

Nunami Sculthorpe-Green is our most recent Mentee, and her story can be found on p.18, with details of her work, takara nipaluna. The following pages detail the work and mentorships of the other mentees.

This program is supported by Arts Tasmania’s Aboriginal Arts Mentoring Scheme, which develops the capacity of these arts and cultural practitioners that enable them to further their careers, enrich their artistic practice and contribute to Tasmania’s arts sector.

Kartanya is a trawlwoolway woman of nipaluna, lutruwita. She holds a Bachelor of Music from UTAS Conservatorium and is an established musician.

“Through my Tasmania Performs / Arts Tasmania mentorship I was able to participate in the 2019 Yellamundie Festival in Sydney, where I engaged with industry professionals, networked with Indigenous creatives, and saw incredible theatre. I received dramaturgy mentorship from Peter Matheson and Frederick Copperwaite. I attended two other valuable workshop situations: the 2018 Tasmania Performs Tarraleah Artist Residency, where I received mentoring and connected with a broad range of innovative Tasmanian artists; and a very valuable Rosie Dub writing workshop where I worked on creating characters.

“Terrapin Puppet Theatre hosted me as a placement on Nathan Maynard’s A Not So Traditional Story, and I participated in the Tasmania Performs Matchbox program, a business training program for independent artists.

“Tasmania Performs arranged for Ben Winspear to give me a series of one-on-one acting lessons/ workshops which led to my being cast in the Archipelago production |of Angus Cerini’s The Bleeding Tree.

I had the opportunity to act opposite Marta Dusseldorp on the stage of the Theatre Royal: an extraordinary culmination to my Mentorship.

“Before my Mentorship I was kind of paddling around, not really knowing what to do to move forward. So many doors were shown to me by Tasmania Performs: all I had to do was pick a course and trust that I would be supported all the way.”

MENTORSHIPS

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MENTORED ARTIST

MENTORSHIPS

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Jordy Gregg

Jordy Gregg is a 20 year old Murrie man who has strong cultural ties to the palawa community.

“I undertook my residency over two years, and it centred around the writing of my play, Park Days.

“It was a very busy two years which saw a ‘mini-Yellamundie’ event in Tasmania followed by going to the actual Yellamundie Festival in Sydney where my script was professional workshopped for two weeks. I also attended as an observer the Blacklines Touring Program in Melbourne.

“Due to the personal nature of the play’s content, it has been at times hard to write. All along the way, I have received support and encouragement. In various drafts and stages, it has been read at the Breaking Ground First Nations writing festival in New Zealand, with

MENTORED ARTIST professional actors and director here in Hobart (also supported by the City of Hobart), and via Zoom as one of the first Covid-response arts events in the state. It continues to grow.

“During my mentorship I received scholarship positions at multiple Tasmania Performs Residencies, and was given a supported placement at Terrapin. This led to Terrapin employing me in A Not So Traditional Story, following which I was employed as an actor for Blue Cow Theatre’s acclaimed Hamlet at TMAG. I was awarded the 2020 Young Achiever’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Achievement Award, and I am now an operations specialist with ABC Hobart. I would not have met these people, joined these companies or achieved so much without the initial and ongoing support of Tasmania Performs.”

Denni Proctor “I am a pakana palawa woman of the trawlwoolway nation, and a theatre worker based in Hobart.

My mentorship involves a professional development program to extend my skills in design for theatre and puppetry.

“In 2018 I participated in a creative development for Hide the Dog. Given my background in visual arts, my role evolved into palawa design guide, primarily to advise the set designer, Jane Hakaraia (Māori) on such features of the show as traditional boat design and depiction of the palawa spirit figures.

The mentorship has given me the

opportunity to work with NSW-based Bryony Anderson, a leading puppet designer-maker, on the design and manufacture of the Hide the Dog puppets, ‘Tigs’ and ‘Mum/Blue Wren’.

I have also been working with Sabio Evans, with whom I am exploring such things as the potential of materials and the more philosophic aspects of design.

“Through the residency I am developing a stronger conceptual approach to design and acquiring significant practical skills. I am keen and proud to develop my skills and understanding so as to contribute to the growth of First Nations theatre.”

MENTORSHIPS

MENTORSHIPS

MENTORED ARTIST

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MENTORSHIPS

Tasmania Performs is present at every level of the Tasmanian performing arts sector.

MENTORED ARTIST

Jamie Graham –Blair

Jamie is a trawlwoolway pakana, an environmental activist, a Marine and Antarctic Science student, an educator and an artist.

His mentorship with Tasmania Performs is in its early stages.

For Artists: We provide value across the life-cycle of their career to enhance professional opportunities. We deliver strategic advice, assistance and producing skills to help the artist realise their artistic potential and vision.

For Arts Organisations: We collaborate with companies, producers, presenters, funders and investors to maximise opportunities for Tasmania’s most exciting and diverse contemporary artists and organisations.

For Art Projects: We make our services available to artists and companies at critical points in the process: from concept discussion or creative development, to full production, through to collaboration, or touring.

For First Nations Artists: We acknowledge and respect the primacy of black-led work. We respond to requests for support for First Nations-led work. We champion First Nations creative control and leadership.

TASMANIA PERFORMS ARTISTS’ RESIDENCY

Now in its tenth year, our annual weekend Residency is an opportunity for Tasmanian artists at all points in their career and from all aspects of the performing arts to come together and explore new performance project concepts. This 3-day, 2-night event provides a supportive, creative environment to test ideas, consider new collaborations and explore possibilities. A range of highly skilled mentors from across Australia are provided to enrich concept development.

“The Tasmania Performs Residency was the first serious step in my journey as a playwright – a journey that has taken me around the world but also brought me closer to my home. I already had a strong voice as a proud pakana man, now I have a strong voice as a pakana artist.”

—Nathan Maynard Tasmania Performs Artists’ Residency 2020

TASMANIA PERFORMS

AN ISLAND’S ART FOR A WORLD’S AUDIENCE

Structure: Tasmania Performs is part of Performing Lines, the national arts organisation working with artists on a project basis. With the support of the extensive Performing Lines network, Tasmania Performs works for a stronger and more confident performing arts sector, using our statewide, national and international overview to respond to sector gaps, challenges and, above all, opportunities.

ANNETTE DOWNS Producer

Annette has worked as a university lecturer, performer, ABC TV presenter and for 7 years she was the Artistic Director of international touring company Terrapin. Annette joined Performing Lines in 2006 to establish Tasmania Performs. She delights in taking artists beyond what they thought possible through mentorships, producing and touring work.

Annette has served on numerous Boards and national committees including the Tasmanian State Development Board, Australian National Playwrights Centre, Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board, Playing Australia Committee and the Australia Council’s Theatre Board. She is a Churchill Fellow, a Telstra Tasmanian Business Woman of the Year, and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2018 Annette was awarded the prestigious Myer National Facilitators Prize.

INGRID RAHLÉN

Office Manager Ingrid graduated with a Bachelor of Creative Arts from University of Wollongong in 1998, majoring in both Theatre Technology and Music Performance. She has since worked extensively across the Entertainment Industry as a Stage Manager, Production Manager and

Technical Manager and using her skills in Lighting and Sound. Ingrid has a great love for all things ‘live’ in general and theatre in particular.

Hence, she is incredibly pleased to recently have joined Tasmania’s pre-eminent producer of new and exciting works, Tasmania Performs, as their Office Manager. According to Ingrid the most enjoyable aspects of working in theatre is that no day is the same; ever changing challenges means needing to think on one’s feet and rely and appreciate the true team environment necessary to put on a show — there is no better satisfaction than being part of something where the whole is bigger than the sum of the parts.

SIMON RUSH Production Manager

Simon is a multiskilled events professional with over 20 years experience in the industry. Having spent over 15 years working across corporate events, festival, concerts and theatre he brings a hands-on approach to roles as Production Manager, Stage Manager and Technical Operator for various theatre companies throughout Australia. Simon has delivered two Ten Days on the Island festivals as Technical Manager in 2017 and Head of Production in 2019.

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Email: info@tasperforms.com Web: tasperforms.com Producer: Annette Downs Office Manager: Ingrid Rahlen Production Manager: Simon Rush Marketing: Maria Pate Artistic Advisory Panel: Jo Duffy (Chair), Lindy Hume, Frith Loone, Louisa Gordon, Edwina Lunn, Marion Potts, Jeff Khan Tasmania Performs is a part of Performing Lines and is assisted by the Minister for the Arts through Arts Tasmania.

PHOTO CREDITS

Cover: Sinsa Mansell in BACK; Photo by Jillian Mundy p4: Nathan Maynard; courtesy of The Australian p5: Jamie McCaskill; photographer unknown p13: Hide the Dog company; photo by Jillian Mundy p14: Sinsa Mansell; photo

by Jillian Mundy p18: Nunami Sculthorpe-Green; photo by Jillian Mundy p20: The cast of The Season; photo by Robert Catto p21: Kartanya Maynard; photo

by Jillian Mundy p22: Jordy Gregg; photo

by Amy Brown p23: Denni Proctor; photo

by Jacob Collins P24: Jamie Graham; photographer unknown P24: Tasmania Performs Artists’ Residency 2020; photo

by Amy Brown

PROGRAMME CREDITS

Executive Producer: Marion Potts General Manager: Megan Roberts Web: performinglines.org.au

Content: Robert Jarman Graphic design: Kelly Eijdenberg Printing: Focal Printing

CREDITS

TASMANIA PERFORMS

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