Country Song Program

Happy Days is part of QTC’s 2015 DIVA program. The series brings together five theatrical goddesses, each taking centre stage in their tour-de-force performances.

18 Jul – 15 Aug 2015 Bille Brown Studio, The GreenHouse Call 1800 355 528 queenslandtheatre.com.au

Queensland Theatre Company and Queensland Performing Arts Centre present

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C E L E B R AT I N G

Cast

A fictionalised story inspired by the life of Jimmy Little Elaine Crombie

Mum/Marj/Ensemble

Bradley McCaw

Musician/Ensemble

David Page

Bobby/Ensemble

Megan Sarmardin

Auriel Andrew/Ensemble

Cremorne Theatre, QPAC

Michael Tuahine

Jimmy Little

Tibian Wyles

Lionel/Ensemble

Country Song will run for approximately 2 hours and 5 minutes, including a 20-minute interval.

Wesley Enoch

Director

Josh McIntosh

Designer

Jason Glenwright

Lighting Designer

4 July – 8 August

Warning: Replica firearm, mild coarse language, smoke and haze.

PRODUCTION SPONSOR

Jamie Clark

Musical Director

Matt Erskine

Sound Designer

Justin Harrison

Sound Designer

optikal bloc

Projection Designers

Louise Gough

Dramaturg

Jason Klarwein

Associate Director

Jodie Roche-Jones

Stage Manager

Pip Loth

Assistant Stage Manager

Queensland Theatre Company and Queensland Performing Arts Centre would like to take this opportunity to alert members of the audience that this production and resource contains names and visual representations of people recently deceased, which may be distressing to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. All care has been taken to acquire the appropriate permission and show all proper respect.

Acknowledgement of Country: Queensland Theatre Company and Queensland Performing Arts Centre would like to acknowledge the Jagara and Turrabul people who are the Traditional Custodians of this Land.

We would like to pay our respects to their Elders both past and present, and all Aboriginal peoples whichever Aboriginal nation they may come from.

Follow this play Cover: Binge Advertising + Design Cover Photography: Aaron Tait

facebook.com/qldtheatreco twitter.com/qldtheatreco #qtccountry Instagram.com/qldtheatreco 1

Welcome Sue Donnelly, Executive Director

Dear Patrons, Supporters and Friends, When I was a little girl I used to watch boxing with my Great Uncle Jack – I wasn’t into dolls so much.

My favourite boxer was Lionel Rose and I thought that all boxers were singers as well. Or at the very least, there were songs named for them. After Uncle Jack died I stopped watching boxing and I didn’t think much about Lionel’s singing until many years later when I heard a man called Jimmy Little singing on a TV show. His voice was like honey, he had a huge smile and I recall being impressed by how polite he was to the interviewer.

Country Song is a fictionalised account of Jimmy’s story and the other remarkable Indigenous country and western singers, including

Lionel, from the 1960s and 70s. Of course, Jimmy’s fame continued until his passing in 2012. In his lifetime he released 34 albums, he had an acting career, he was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, he won a swathe of awards and he established the Jimmy Little Foundation to assist other Indigenous Australians who have kidney disease.

He was truly an amazing individual.

We’ve co-produced Country Song with our partner QPAC who are this year celebrating their 30th anniversary. It is our fifth co-production of an Indigenous work and we’re very proud of this collaboration, established in 2012. Since then audiences for plays with Indigenous themes and stories have grown dramatically. As you know Black Diggers, which we co-produced last year, had a national tour this year and has reached over 50,000 people. We hope that Country Song will also reach a large audience across the country.

After the Brisbane season it has a small tour to Lismore, Geelong, Wollongong and Blackwater and next year there is a much bigger tour

organised – such is the interest in Indigenous stories.

I also want to thank our longterm sponsor Wesfarmers Resources who are supporting Country Song and we’re very excited to be able to take it to Blackwater with their support and also the support of WorkPac. As Queensland Theatre Company, we have the responsibility to take our work across the state and these partnerships are incredibly important.

To continue extending all our Indigenous, youth and education, and artist residencies programs throughout the state, we are establishing the QTC Regional Engagement Fund. Our annual appeal is specifically aimed at building this fund and I hope that you will continue your generous donations so that we can extend our reach. Everyone deserves to experience theatre.

Enjoy Country Song and tell your friends to come along. You are our strongest advocates.

Cheers,

Sue 2

Welcome John Kotzas, Chief Executive, QPAC

The intimacy of the Cremorne Theatre will bring you closer to Jimmy Little’s music and his gentle yet triumphant spirit. I congratulate Michael Tuahine for his original concept and bringing this inspired story into live performance.

Country Song is based on stories about the life of one of Australia’s most celebrated and beloved Aboriginal singer-songwriter musicians – Jimmy Little. His is a story of inspiration and hope; a pioneering artist who defied incredible odds as he journeyed from immense poverty and personal tragedy to become one of Australia’s founding country music stars.

Jimmy Little’s career spanned six decades and his legacy remains today.

This year, QPAC marks 30 years of storytelling.

Creating new live experiences that engage audiences in Australian stories is as important now as it was three decades ago. Thank you for your support in attending this new work and I hope you enjoy the world premiere season of Country Song.

John

This play is a co-production between QTC and QPAC and forms part of an ongoing commitment from both organisations to support, celebrate, create and present new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander productions.

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L-R: Tibian Wyles, Elaine Crombie, Bradley McCaw, Megan Sarmardin

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Sharing Stories BLOODLAND 2012 Playhouse, QPAC 14–18 March 2012

Presented by Queensland Theatre Company and QPAC. A Sydney Theatre Company and Adelaide Festival production in association with Bangarra Dance Theatre.

MOTHER COURAGE & HER CHILDREN 2013 Playhouse, QPAC 25 May – 16 June 2013

Presented by QPAC and Queensland Theatre Company

STRADBROKE DREAMTIME 2012 Studio 2, QPAC 12–16 June 2012

Presented by QPAC and Queensland Theatre Company for Out of the Box Festival ON TOUR 2014 Bleach Festival, Gold Coast, 14–16 February 2013 Lines in the Sand Festival, Stradbroke/Macleay Island, 24–25 June L-R: Joe Klocek, Burton, Toby Martin, Ellen Bailey 2012 Regional Queensland tourEmily to 30 schools in Cairns, Rockhampton, the South Burnett, Roma, Cunnamulla, St PHOTO BY ROB MACCOLL George and Warwick 6

Art is never created in isolation. Over 30 years, QPAC has collaborated with local artists and companies to develop, present and tour new works for Queensland audiences. A shared sense of storytelling and a commitment to engaging people through live performance is at the core of QPAC’s award-winning partnership with Queensland Theatre Company to bring new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander works to the stage. This year’s production, Country Song, is the fifth work presented with QTC at QPAC that celebrates the rich history and stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

BLACK DIGGERS 2014 Playhouse, QPAC 24 September – 12 October 2014

Presented By Queensland Theatre Company and Brisbane Festival, in association with QPAC and The Balnaves Foundation. A Queensland Theatre Company and Sydney Festival production.

PHOTO BY JAMIE WILLIAMS

ON TOUR 2015 Perth International Arts Festival 3–7 March, Adelaide Festival 10–14 March, Civic Theatre Newcastle 20–21 March, Canberra Theatre Centre 25–28 March, Melbourne Arts Centre 22–26 April, The Capital Bendigo 1–2 May 2014 Sydney Festival 18–26 January, Brisbane Festival 24 September – 12 October 2015 Ulumbarra Theatre

AWARDS Helpmann Awards nomination 2014 – Best New Australian Work, Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting (NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2015) 2015 Premier’s Reconciliation Award

COUNTRY SONG 2015 Cremorne Theatre, QPAC 4 July – 8 August 2015

Presented by QPAC and Queensland Theatre Company ON TOUR 2016 34 national venues to be announced 2015 NORPA 13–15 August Geelong Performing Arts Centre 27–29 August Illawarra Performing Arts Centre 2–5 September Community performances in Blackwater and Stradbroke Island

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Wesfarmers Resources is proud to support Indigenous arts and culture as production sponsor for Country Song.

See More. Be More.

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Message from our Sponsor

Wesfarmers Resources is very proud of its long association with QTC as a Program Sponsor supporting its regional program throughout Queensland. This year we are delighted to be the production sponsor for Country Song - the fictionalised story of Jimmy Little, an Aboriginal singer-songwriter and guitarist who is an icon in the Australian music industry. Country Song is a fitting tribute to Jimmy and the significant contribution that he made to Australian music.

As a part of the Wesfarmers group of companies we, like QTC, are committed to reconciliation and ‘closing the gap’ by providing opportunities for training

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and employment for Indigenous Australians. Just as important as providing these opportunities we feel it is important to support Aboriginal culture by sharing their stories through productions such as Country Song.

I congratulate Reg Cribb, Michael Tuahine and Wesley Enoch for bringing this wonderful story to life and sharing it with us.

Stewart Butel Managing Director Wesfarmers Resources

Elaine L-R: Emily Crombie Burton, Ellen Bailey, Jason Klarwein, Peter Sutherland, Toby Martin

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Writer's Note Reg Cribb

Who are these poets and storytellers in song that strode across our conflicted and troubled landscape armed with nothing but battered guitars and lived in voices? Three chords and the truth? Hardly. A white generation before the 1967 referendum was not ready for the truth but these pioneers of country and western, blackfella style, sang out loud and proud anyway. And we heard them. We simply couldn’t ignore them. Their stories and their voices spoke to black Australia and white Australia tapped their feet and sang along despite themselves.

Crafting a theatrical event inspired by Jimmy Little’s story has been a long term passion for Michael Tuahine and I for a number of years.

Michael has a deep abiding love and reverence for Indigenous country and western music and won the respect of Jimmy himself whilst discussing his burning passion for this project.

When we lost the great man in 2012, it stopped being just a passion. It became an

obligation. We both have a personal connection to this man. In 2004, I was researching the life of David Gulpilil for the Adelaide Festival and both David and I were invited guests at the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land. On the first night of the Festival, a group of us were sitting around a campfire, late in the evening and a gentle voice came out of the darkness: Mind if I join you? Jimmy Little stepped into the firelight, guitar in hand. He played and sang for all who were gathered there under the night sky whilst David Gulpilil played clap sticks.

It was a magic moment for me, as much because of the generosity and spirit that shone out of the man but also because he was obviously battling the debilitating kidney disease that would eventually claim his life. I was in the presence of great wisdom and grace.

Under the endless carpet of stars that night, you knew this was a sacred moment ...

I want to thank QTC for their unswerving belief. Wesley Enoch, Michael Tuahine and 11

Louise Gough for helping me to find the shape of this amazing journey.

We can’t tell everyone’s story in our piece. There are simply too many.

They are all heroes in this tale and they are all damn entertaining but Auriel Andrews, Bobby McLeod and Lionel Rose, all of whom fought to be accepted and successful on their own terms, were the ones chosen to guide us all along the connecting song lines that we will all journey in Country Song.

Wesley L-R: Ellen Enoch Bailey, Toby Martin, Joe Klocek

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Director's Note Wesley Enoch

When creating a show based on the life of real people you are caught between the truth in a documentary sense and the storytelling from a theatrical sense. We are familiar with the description based on a true story when we see a movie or read a book and we understand that the truth has inspired the story but things may have changed to help shape the drama of the moment.

There needs to be a respect for the memory and legacy of the people involved, but there also has to be a sense that the audience needs to be taken on a journey.

Country Song is a fictitious piece of storytelling celebrating the people and the time based on stories from the public record.

We have used the stories and recollections of many people to piece together a narrative that reflects the key issues for Indigenous performers through the 60s and 70s and you could say they are just as relevant today. In some ways, this show is as much a story

of artistry in the face of political challenges as it is about Jimmy Little.

Uncle Jimmy was a giant amongst us and his death in 2012 left a hole in the hearts of many. He was a survivor, a stayer. Through all the trials and tribulations, he was a man of integrity and consistency who inspired generations of people who followed. His story is writ large in the careers of contemporary Indigenous musicians like Troy Casser-Daly, Jessica Mauboy and Busby Marou, musicians who use their craft and careers to advance the causes of their people through example.

His work and example continue also through the work of the Jimmy Little Foundation which I encourage you to support.

Check out their work at www.jlf.org.au

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I look forward to seeing the future documentary story of Uncle Jimmy and his life or reading the detail of his achievement in a biography.

With Country Song, sit back and enjoy a toe-tapping celebration of the music and the man.

Love, Wesley

Design presentation model of set

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Designer's Note Josh McIntosh

Jimmy Little is one of those personalities that defines culture, and he had enormous influence across cultures within our society.

In many ways, Country Song positions this as his privilege and his struggle.

The direction of the design for this unique production has been largely dictated by this notion of Jimmy Little’s spanning of Indigenous and western cultures in our nation, but focussing on our shared experience the shaded bit in the Venn diagram.

The projected imagery, beautifully created by optikal bloc, is a main player in this production, and this set has a primary responsibility to support that projection. There has been an overt effort to meld this projection with the action and the story, not simply perform as surtitle, so in sympathy, these multiple projection surfaces are arranged and treated to provide a very immediate context to Jimmy’s storytelling.

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There are textures and shapes of the natural Australian landscape set against the practicalities of urban life and, more specifically, the life of a touring balladeer. And supporting the style of our storytelling, this set needs to multi-role as often as our players - to become the banks of the Murray, a tacky stage in a suburban RSL, the dressing room of Australia’s premier venue.

There has been a deliberate choice to expose some of the workings of a show, in order to tell the workings of a man and his peers, and in the end to cut back the artifice and simply enjoy the music and personality of one of our country’s true cultural treasures.

L-R: David Page, Megan Sarmardin

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Time for a Change Baz McAlister

While Jimmy Little was building a career in music, his homeland was building momentum for change – and the legendary entertainer played a part in bringing Aboriginal Australians into the spotlight.

chart hit with gospel track Royal Telephone, which sold 75,000 copies and hovered at the top of the charts for more than four months. And he put together the first all-Aboriginal showcase at Sydney’s Anzac House.

When Jimmy was born, in the late 1930s, Indigenous people had seldom been more downtrodden. Their numbers were in sharp decline to just tens of thousands; they were not even recognised as citizens; and blackfella soldiers who’d taken up arms to defend the country in a brutal World War were still being marginalised and ignored.

While Jimmy was spreading his message of faith and positivity, the 1960s heralded recognition for his people and their plight.

More than 90 percent of Australians supported the landmark 1967 referendum on including Aboriginal people in the Constitution.

Inspired by the US civil rights movement, activist Charlie Perkins spearheaded a Freedom Ride bus tour through small towns to expose discrimination.

Vincent Lingiari led a mob of 200 Gurindji stockmen and servants in a seven-year strike over land rights at Wave Hill Station, inspiring the iconic Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody song From Little Things Big Things Grow.

But one charismatic Yorta Yorta man was fast breaking down barriers with his gentle, hopeful songs. Kicking off his music career in the 1950s as a fresh-faced teen, Jimmy put in the time playing pubs, sideshows and clubs before checking off a list of firsts.

He was the first Aboriginal entertainer to regularly pop up on TV. The affable singer became a household name in 1963 when he became the first Aboriginal musician to score a No.1

As the 1970s dawned, more Aboriginal people were making giant strides.

Yuggera man Neville Bonner became the first Indigenous 17

Federal Senator. Former footy player and Yorta Yorta man Douglas Nicholls was appointed Governor of South Australia. Rugby league player Artie Beetson was the first Aboriginal man to captain Australia. And Evonne Goolagong was world tennis No.1.

Then one day a beach umbrella appeared, stuck in the soil of the Old Parliament House lawn in Canberra.

A tent followed. Then more.

From little things, big things grow.

And as all this happened, rising young star Jimmy found himself being called upon more and more as a spokesman and commentator, always holding forth that music is “the universal language of this country [and] the world over”, as he said in one 1963 interview. After he played at Sydney Opera House in 1973, music gradually moved to the backburner for Jimmy, and by the end of the decade he had devoted himself to his people as an activist, ambassador, champion and educator.

The Characters

THE TRAILBLAZER: JIMMY LITTLE, 1937-2012 James Oswald Little was a born entertainer.

A Yorta Yorta man from Cummeragunja, on the Murray River, his parents were multi-skilled vaudevillians who toured the Riverina. The eldest of seven kids, his only dream was to go into the family trade and, at the age of 13, he started strumming the guitar. In 1953, he travelled to Sydney to do a spot on radio program Australia’s Amateur Hour, that sealed his destiny.

By the end of the decade he had a recording contract with Festival Records, a wife and daughter, and the 1960s brought television fame, acting work, a No.1 chart hit and a string of albums.

THE BRAWLER: LIONEL ROSE, 1948-2011 Victoria-born boxer Lionel Rose learnt his pugilistic skills from his dad, Roy, almost as soon as he could stand. By the age of 15, he’d won the Australian amateur flyweight title and after narrowly missing Olympic selection in 1964, he went pro, training

daily and smashing down opponent after opponent on the Melbourne circuit. By the time he was 18, he won the Australian bantamweight title, and by 20 he’d bested “Fighting” Masahiko Harada for the world title in Tokyo – making him the first Aboriginal world champ. By 1970, a string of defeats saw him take time away from the sport to build a singing career on the back of his national celebrity – and after a short-lived fighting comeback in the mid-70s, he retired.

THE ANGEL: AURIEL ANDREW, 1947Auriel Andrew is of the Arrernte people from Alice Springs. Born in Darwin, she grew up with stints in Alice, Mount Isa and Cloncurry. She is from a large family, and when she was four years old, her mother Myrtle would stand her up on the kitchen table and exhort her to “sing louder!” – which is why, she maintains, she has such a big voice. She mimicked the country singers she heard on the radio, entered a Mount Isa pub talent show and won.

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Aged 21, she left for Adelaide to pursue her career, later moving to Sydney and touring with Jimmy Little and his band.

THE FIREBRAND: BOBBY MCLEOD, 1947-2009 The eldest of six siblings, Bobby McLeod was born in Jervis Bay Territory and grew up in Worragee, an Aboriginal community outside Nowra on the NSW south coast. Growing up in adversity, the two-fisted, hot-tempered Bobby did time in jail for scrapping and struggled with alcoholism, but he was a passionate musician and a radical political activist, pioneering the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra. He sang from an early age in a Baptist choir, and learnt the guitar as a boy, but didn’t write his first song Wayward Dreams until 1973, when his father died while Bobby was doing a stretch in jail.

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L-R: Tibian Wyles, Bradley McCaw, Michael Tuahine

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The Jimmy Little Foundation Jimmy Little was more than a musician. Jimmy was the patron of the Australian Indigenous Doctors' Association, an ambassador for the Fred Hollows Foundation and Kidney Health Australia. He was also an ambassador for literacy and numeracy with the Federal Department of Education Science and Training.

Jimmy founded the Jimmy Little Foundation in 2006 to improve health across Indigenous communities in regional and remote Australia.

Employing a 'whole of community' approach, the Foundation works in Australia's most remote communities in consultation with Elders and Councils, government and non-government agencies, health and community services and stores and schools, The Foundation hosts school music and nutritional education workshops, cooking demonstrations and events, a healthy lifestyle website and a stores program and a healthy food seal.

Programs include:

Good Tucker - Long Life School and Community Workshops The Thumbs Up! Schools Program targets Indigenous children aged 5-16, but it also engages the community through special events and cook-ups. Focused on schools in remote communities, the Thumbs Up! Program has visited over 50 schools in outback regions all over Australia, educating and engaging hundreds of children. The Jimmy Little Foundation also developed a Thumbs Up! Healthy Living school curriculum resource, which has been delivered in all Northern Territory schools.

Mobile Dialysis Unit The generous contribution of Medicines Australia also made Jimmy's dream of easing the burden of medical treatment for those in remote communities, many of whom are forced to leave their beloved country and families to access medical care.

The 'Purple Truck' mobile renal dialysis unit provides vital renal treatment that allows people to stay in their own community while receiving life-sustaining dialysis.

Healthy Food Seal and Stores Program Thumbs up! Seal and Stores Program helps customers of community stores identify the food items with the Uncle Jimmy's Thumbs Up! seal of approval for healthy living.

Participating stores also display Uncle Jimmy's 'Recipe of the Month', featuring healthy and easy-to-prepare family meals that provide an alternative to fast foods and foods with high fat and sugar content. Over 40 Outback Stores across Northern Territory, Far North Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, have Thumbs Up! signage and 'Recipe of the Month' displayed.

Visit www.jlf.org.au to donate or find out more.

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When we announced we were doing a season of woman-centred works called DIVA, an actress got in contact and said she was worried that ‘diva’ was a derogatory term for women. I wrote back saying I didn’t see the term like that and reached for good old Wikipedia which gives the following definition

A diva ˈdiːvə; Italian: [ˈdiːva] is a celebrated female singer; a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, and by extension in theatre, cinema and popular music.

Emboldened by my reach into cyberspace I said … I think it’s time we took back the word and started using it properly. To describe these amazing women as DIVAs should be seen as a compliment of the highest order. These extraordinary women have created and chosen these works to showcase their talents and view of the world with incredible diversity. From classic plays, and new international works, to locally devised works the array of talent is self-evident.

Some of the activities within the DIVA Series you might like to also see include a set of commissions and developments with women artists from Queensland. Check out the schedule of readings and showings.

Please enjoy DIVA.

WELCOME 22

Margi Brown Ash

Carol Burns

Upcoming DIVA events 14–25 July - Home featuring Margi Brown Ash 18 July – 15 August - Happy Days featuring Carol Burns 29 July – 15 August - Grounded featuring Libby Munro 31 July – Play reading: Testify by Elaine Acworth 7 August - Play reading: Romance Me Yesterday by Sally McKenzie 7–17 October - Rumour Has It featuring Naomi Price September: Play readings of new works by Ngoc Phan and Ludmila Doneman

TO DIVA 23

Libby Munro

Naomi Price

Proud sponsors of Queensland Arts

“The centre of the s

Email: sales-qld@datacom.com.au 24 Level 1, 25 Donkin Street South Brisbane QLD 4101

tage is where I am.�

Martha Graham

Let Datacom make IT the star of your business.

Call 1800 152 726

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Queensland Music Festival and Queensland Performing Arts Centre in association with Brisbane City Council, Topology and The Australian Voices present

VE TI ILL TA W IME R EN S PR STE NE , ES G I A N IN B PR SI M IS RE BR N U

Topology and The Australian Voices bring provocative text and exceptional musicianship together to create a musical narrative inspired by famous Prime Ministerial speeches, narrated

by TV personality Adam Spencer.

BOOKINGS qmf.org.au or qtix 136 246

Brisbane Wed 29 Jul 8pm Concert Hall QPAC Tickets $35 – $59

qmf.org.au

Ticket price includes GST and Booking Fee Transaction Fees may apply

Queensland Music Festival is an intiative of the Queensland Government

Broadcast Partner

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Biographies Reg Cribb PLAYWRIGHT

REG CRIBB is a multi-award-winning writer for the stage and screen. His original plays include: The Damned (Perth Theatre Company, winner of the 2012 NSW Premier’s Literary Award); The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell (Sydney Theatre Company); Unaustralia (WAAPA); Boundary Street (Brisbane Festival, winner of the Rodney Seaborn Award); Krakouer (Deckchair Theatre Company), Uncle Vanya (Black Swan Theatre Company); Ruby’s Last Dollar (Pork Chop Theatre Company, Sydney Opera House, nominated for Victorian Premier’s Literary Award); The Chatroom (Perth Theatre Company, shortlisted for the Patrick White Playwright’s Award) and The Return (Griffin Theatre Company, winner – Patrick White Playwrights Award). Last Cab to Darwin was first premiered in 2003, produced by Pork Chop Productions/Sydney Opera House. It was the winner of the Patrick White Playwright’s Award, the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for Best Play, the WA Equity Award for Best New Play, the WA Premier’s Literary Award for Best Script and the WA Premier’s Prize Award 2003 for Overall Literature, making history as the first play to win this award. He co-wrote the one-man play Gulpilil with David Gulpilil (Belvoir St and Brisbane Festival). His screen credits include: adaptations of Last Cab to Darwin (Premiering Sydney Film Festival, 2015.

Starring Jacki Weaver), The Return (renamed Last Train to Freo and nominated for AFI Best Screenplay and Critics Circle Award), Ruby’s Last Dollar, the true crime screenplay and The Great Mint Swindle (Channel 9 – Primetime). Reg co-wrote Bran Nue Dae, the feature film, with Rachel Perkins, for which he was nominated for an AFI Best Screenplay and in competition at the Sundance, Toronto and Melbourne International Film Festival where it won Most Popular Australian Feature. It was nominated for seven AFI Awards.

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Michael Tuahine JIMMY LITTLE/ ORIGINAL CONCEPT

Wesley Enoch DIRECTOR

Queensland Theatre Company: Mother Courage and Her Children (co-production with QPAC). Other Credits: Pork Chop Productions: Ruby’s Last Dollar, Last Cab to Darwin; Sydney Theatre Company: Deadly Indigenous Theatre; Livent Inc. Showboat (Melbourne season); Black Swan State Theatre: Corrugation Road. Short Film: Redfern Beach, Immortal Man. Television: Secrets & Lies, The Time of Our Lives, Redfern Now, K9, Sea Patrol, The Strip, Valentine’s Day, Two Big Boys, Living Strong, Hotspell, Sa Black Thing, Life Support, Farscape.

Positions: Host: Former Origin Greats, South East Queensland Indigenous Chamber of Commerce NAIDOC Breakfast, Australian Indigenous Minority Supplier Council Gala Dinner, Indigenous Employment Conference Dinner, Deadly Awards, Vibe Alive Festival, Harvey Norman NRL Indigenous All Stars Match, World Masters Games, Deadly Sounds Summer Series, Behind the Scenes of The Deadly’s, National Indigenous Television Service Launch. Training: Bachelor of Dramatic Arts, NIDA. Queensland Theatre Company: As Director: Black Diggers (coproduction with Sydney Festival), Gasp!, Design For Living, Trollop, Mother Courage and Her Children (co-production with Queensland Performing Arts Centre), Managing Carmen (co-production with Black Swan State Theatre Company), Head Full of Love, Elizabeth, Bombshells, Fountains Beyond, The Sunshine Club, Black-ed Up, Radiance (co-production with Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts). As Writer: The Sunshine Club. As Actor: One Woman’s Song. Other Credits: As Director: Sydney Theatre Company: The 7 Stages of Grieving, Black-ed Up, The Cherry Pickers; Company B: The Man From Mukinupin (co-production with Melbourne Theatre Company), Yibiyung, Black Medea (co-production with Malthouse Theatre), The Sapphires (co-production with Melbourne Theatre Company and remounted co-production with Black Swan State Theatre Company), Paul, Parramatta Girls, Capricornia, Conversations With The Dead, The Dreamers, Stolen; Erth: Nargun & The Stars (co-direction, co-production with Sydney Festival); Gondwana (co-production with Queensland Performing Arts Centre); Queensland Performing Arts Centre: Red Earth, Blue 28

Water (Associate Director); Nyurin Ga (Associate Director), Boat (for KITE Arts Education and Out of the Box Festival); Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts: The 7 Stages of Grieving, Bitin’ Back, The Dreamers (co-production with Brisbane Festival), Murri Love, Little White Dress (coproduction with Queensland Performing Arts Centre and Out of the Box Festival), A Life of Grace and Piety (coproduction with Just Us Theatre Ensemble), Changing Time (co-production with Salamanca Theatre Company), Up the Ladder (co-production with Melbourne Workers Theatre/ Festival of the Dreaming); Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company: Waltzing The Wilarra; Performing Lines/Sydney Festival: I Am Eora; Browns Mart Theatre/Jute Theatre/Totem Theatre: Head Full of Love; Malthouse Theatre: One Night, the Moon; Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Cooperative: Rainbow’s End, Shrunken Iris; Windmill Performing Arts/Adelaide Festival/ Brisbane Festival/Sydney Festival/Perth International Festival: Riverland; Legs on the Wall: Eora Crossing; Playbox Theatre: Stolen; Bell Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet; The Melbourne Workers’ Theatre; 1975. As Writer: The 7 Stages of Grieving (co-written with Deborah Mailman), Little White Dress, A Life of Grace and Piety, Black Medea, The Sunshine Club, Grace, The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table. Positions: Artistic Director, Queensland Theatre Company 2010 - present, Trustee, Sydney Opera House 2006-2013, Associate Artistic Director, Company B 2007 - 2010, Artistic Director Australian Delegation, Festival of Pacific Arts 2008, Director, My Skin My Life, Opening Ceremony, Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006, Artistic Director, Ilbijerri ATSI Theatre Co-op 2003-2006, Resident Director, Sydney Theatre Company 2000-2001, Artistic Director, Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts, 1994-1997. Awards: The Patrick White Award – The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table, Helpmann Awards – Best Play and Best New Australian Work The Sapphires, Helpmann Award – Best Presentation For Children Riverland, Deadly Award – Best Direction The Sunshine Club, Matilda Award - Best Direction The Sunshine Club, Queensland Performing Arts Centre Award - Contribution to Theatre.

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Josh McIntosh DESIGNER

Jason Glenwright LIGHTING DESIGNER

Queensland Theatre Company: As Designer: Treasure Island, Rabbit Hole. As Design Consultant: Thom Pain. Other Credits: La Boite Theatre Company: Pale Blue Dot, The Kursk, The Wishing Well (co-productions with Matrix), The Danger Age, The Year Nick McGowan Came To Stay, Red Cap; The Arts Centre Gold Coast: Miss Saigon, The Hotel Beche de Mer, Ruby Moon, Jesus Christ Superstar; deBase Productions: The Furze Family Variety Hour, Fly-In, Fly-Out, Chasing the Lollyman, Ithaca Road, Popping Lead Balloons; Shake & Stir: Wuthering Heights, Revolting Rhymes, Out Damn Snot, Tequila Mockingbird, 1984, Statespeare, Animal Farm; Harvest Rain Theatre Company: Pirates of Penzance, Spamalot, Cats (Arena Spectacular), Guys and Dolls, Blood Brothers, Oklahoma, Hairspray, The Neverending Story, The Wizard of Oz, James and the Giant Peach, Aladdin, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph And His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cats, Alice, Disney’s Beauty And The Beast, Into The Woods, Little Shop Of Horrors, Twelfth Night and The Lion The Witch & The Wardrobe; Canberra Centenary: Kungkarangkalpa: Seven Sisters Songline; Queensland Music Festival The Road We’re On, Behind the Cane. Other Companies: Zen Zen Zo, Toowoomba’s Empire Theatre, Brisbane Festival, Strut & Fret, Qld State Library. Positions: Artistic Director, Writer/ Collaborator - Directions Musical Theatre Company. Awards: Groundling Awards - Set Design (2011, 2012), Costume Design (2011); Matilda Award - Body of Work (Design) (2011); Dell'Arte Awards 2003-2014.

Queensland Theatre Company: As Lighting Designer: Argus (Dead Puppet Society), I Want to Know What Love Is, A Tribute of Sorts, The Removalists, Faustus (co-production with Bell Shakespeare), Water Falling Down, The Little Dog Laughed, Thom Pain (based on nothing).

Other Credits: Griffin Theatre Company: A Hoax (co-production with La Boite Theatre Company); La Boite Theatre Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pale Blue Dot, Ruben Guthrie, Julius Caesar, The Kursk; Expressions Dance Company: While Others Sleep; shake & stir: Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, The Tempest, Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes and Dirty Beasts, Tequila Mockingbird, Out Damn 30

Snot, 1984, Animal Farm; Queensland Music Festival: Drag Queensland; Harvest Rain Theatre Company: Cats, Guys and Dolls, Blood Brothers, Oklahoma!, The Wizard of Oz, Hairspray, Jesus Christ Superstar, Songs For A New World, Cinderella, Joseph, Peter Pan, The Sound of Music, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; JUTE: Is My Lipstick on Straight, Stewed, Delirium, Soph and the Real World, At Sea Staring Up, The Shining Path, Cake; Gardens Theatre: Gaijin; Zen Zen Zo: Therese Raquin, The Tempest; La Boite Indie: The Truth About Kookaburras, My Name Is Rachel Corrie, Blackbird; Metro Arts: Dead Cargo, Trolley Boys, Tender, The Pillowman, My Night With Harold, Bronte; Debase: Chasing The Lollyman, Snagged, Popping Lead Balloons; Oscar Theatre Company: Boy & Girl, Next to Normal, [title of show], The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Positions: Queensland Theatre Company Emerging Artist 2010.

Awards: Gold Matilda – Body of Work (Lighting Designer) – 2013, Groundling Awards - Best Lighting Design 2010, 2012 and 2013, Dell’Arte awards – Best Lighting 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. Training: Bachelor of Fine Arts (Technical Production), QUT.

Jamie Clark MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Queensland Theatre Company: As Musical Arranger: We Were Dancing.

Other Credits: As Musician/Musical Director: QPAC: Women In Voice, Chicago; La Boite Theatre Company: Long Gone Lonesome Cowgirls; QLD Biennial: Bobcat Dancing; Toadshow/ QPAC: Glamalot; JUTE: Blackbird; Blackbird Productions: Little Birung. Musical accompaniment, arrangements, musical direction, recordings, songwriting for: Leah Cotterell, John Rodgers, Alison St Ledger, Katie Noonan, Kate Miller-Heidke, Christine Johnston, Annie Lee, James Morrison, James Blundell, Rachel Beck, Grace Knight, Rhonda Burchmore, Carita Farrer, Melissa Western, Christina Olsen, Elly Hoyt, Kristin Beradi, Carol Lloyd, Carl Risely, Naomi Price, Angela Toohey, Topology, Andrew Firth, Louis Shelton, Tyrone Noonan, Queensland Pops Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Wangaratta Festival of Jazz, Woodford Folk Festival, Brisbane Festival, Manly Jazz Festival (Sydney), Brisbane Cabaret Festival, Qld Biennial Festival of Music, Adelaide Festival, Tamworth Country Music Festival, Redlands Bluegrass Festival, Gympie Muster, National Folk Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival, and Blue Mountains Festival. As member of bands, music ensembles: The Company, 18 Wheels, The El Caminos, The Brand New Sweeties, Good Bait, Loops, The View From Madeleine’s Couch.

Television: Australian Story, Queensland Weekender. Positions: 31

Guitar tutor/lecturer, Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University. Awards: CMAA National Flatpicking Guitar Champion (2011). Training: Bachelor of Music (Jazz/Classical Guitar), Queensland Conservatorium of Music.

Matt Erskine SOUND DESIGNER

Justin Harrison SOUND DESIGNER

Queensland Theatre Company: As Sound Designer: Country Song.

As Head of Sound: Black Diggers (National Tour), Gloria, End of the Rainbow, Faust. As Technician: Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

Other credits: As Sound Designer: MAD Squad: Australiana, Furry Tails Gone Wrong, Spring into MAD a Festival of Short Original Musicals; Queensland University of Technology: Who’s Afraid of the Working Class?. As Head of Sound: Easter Jazz 2015, Boundary St. As Sound Engineer: Songs for Nobodies (National Tour). As System Engineer/ Designer: Brisbane Powerhouse: Eric Bibb, Eddie Perfect and the ANAM students; Eddie Perfect, ANAM and the Brodsky Quartet: Songs from the Middle. Album Credit: Vieux Farka Toure Live (Maiga – Live at the Brisbane Powerhouse).

Positions: Technical and Operations Director of MAD Squad.

Queensland Theatre Company: Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore; The 7 Stages of Grieving (co-production with The Grin & Tonic Theatre Troupe), Orbit, Youth Ensemble Showcase. Other Credits: Grin & Tonic Theatre Troupe: Revolt, Inferno, Romeo and Juliet, I Am Macbeth, Livid, Super/Natural, Heartfail, Island Home, Romeo and Juliet versus The World, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth versus The World; State Library of Queensland: Garage Gamer. Film: Tailgate, The Little Things, Conscience for Cambodia, Don’t Show Mother.

Television: Aussie Helpers Drought Campaign, Handball Heroes, Crimestoppers, Lotteries NSW Opera House, ACT for Kids, Starlight Children’s Foundation, Gold Coast Suns AFLC, Royal Children’s Hospital, Regent Cinema. Awards: Crime Stoppers International (Capetown), Brisbane Advertising and Design Club, Queensland New Filmmakers. Training: Bachelor of Film and Screen Media Production, Griffith University.

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optikal bloc PROJECTION DESIGNERS

Louise Gough DRAMATURG

Queensland Theatre Company: Gasp!, The Mountaintop. Other Credits: As Projection Designer: The Arts Centre Gold Coast: Miss Saigon, Jesus Christ Superstar; Empire Theatre: April’s Fool; La Boite Theatre Company: Pale Blue Dot; Opera Queensland: La bohème (projection realisation), FiZZ!, Dirty Apple; shake & stir theatre co: Wuthering Heights, 1984, Chop Logic, Terrortorial, The Macbeths; Queensland Music Festival: 101 Years; Anna McGahan/Melanie Wild/Metro Arts: He’s Seeing Other People Now; The Good Room/Metro Arts: I Should Have Drunk More Champagne; HHO Events for the Canberra Centenary: Seven Sisters Songline. Events: As Projection Designer: G20 Cultural Celebrations - Colour Me Brisbane: Queens Place. Film: As Editor: Blood Hollow, Tender (QPIX).

Television: Endemol Australia / Nine Network: Big Brother (2013 – 2014). Awards: Gold Matilda Award (2014) for Body of Work; Silver Matilda Award (2014) Best Technical Design (Multimedia) for Pale Blue Dot; Del Arte Chart (2014) for Pale Blue Dot. Queensland Theatre Company: As Dramaturg: Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Brisbane, Black Diggers (co-production with Sydney Festival), Gloria, I Want to Know What Love Is (co-production with The Good Room). Other Credits: As Dramaturg (selection only): Belvoir: Aliwa!, Yibiyung; Arena Theatre Company: Criminology; Playbox: Salt, Conversations with the Dead, Holy Day (with State Theatre Company of South Australia); Melbourne Workers’ Theatre: The Procedure, 1975 (with Canto Coro); The Anthropologists: Another Place, For the Love Of…, Give Us Bread; Vulcana Womens’ Circus: Cravings, Dragonfly, Blissed Out, Distraught and Intoxicated, Fire in the Belly, Lifeblood; LaBoite: Black Chics Talking (Bungaburra Productions), Long Gone Lonesome Cowgirls; Queensland Performing Arts Centre: Decent Spinster and the Upright Citizen, Blurred, Keep Everything You Love, The Magic Finger; Backbone Youth Arts: Toxic, Trail, Blaze, Scar, Risk8, After Dark, Love My Arsenal; Rock’n’Roll Circus: The Dark; Kooemba Jdarra: Little White Dress. As Television Development Executive: MDA: Medical Defence Australia, Fireflies, Hell Has Harbour Views, Marking Time, Loot, The Shark Net, The Forest, 33

Small Time Gangster. As Film Script Editor and Consultant: City Loop, Bran Nue Dae, Save Your Legs, Oxygen, Macondo, Afterlife, Wastelander Panda. Positions: Guest Dramaturg, Banff Playwrights’ Colony (Canada); Dramaturg, Inaugural Victorian Indigenous Playwrights’ Conference; Dramaturg-in-Residence, La Boite Theatre Company (Brisbane); Tutor and Lecturer, QUT; Executive Director, Playlab; Literary Manager, Playbox Theatre; Editorial Manager, ABC TV Drama and Narrative Comedy (Melbourne); Script Manager, Film Victoria; Development Executive, Robyn Kershaw Productions (Melbourne, New York); Australian Film Commission Fellowship Vox3 Films (New York); Literary Fellow, Vineyard Theatre (New York); Script Advisor, Sources 2 (Berlin); Script Advisor, Berlinale Talent Campus Script Station (Berlin); Curatorial Advisor, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (Brisbane); Judge, Queensland Premier's Drama Award; Reader/Assessor, Australian Writers’ Guild, Lark Play Development Center Literary Wing (New York), Primary Stages (New York), Screen Australia, Screen Tasmania, Screen New South Wales, Film Victoria, New Zealand Film Commission, The Summer Play Festival (New York); Madman Production Company Development Executive. Committee Positions: Australian National Playwrights’ Centre, Backbone Youth Arts, Sources 2. Training: QUT Bachelor of Arts, Drama (First Class Honours), QUT Graduate Diploma Secondary Teaching (Drama, English).

Jason Klarwein ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

Queensland Theatre Company: As Director: Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, The 7 Stages of Grieving (co-production with The Grin and Tonic Theatre Troupe), Orbit, This Hollow Crown. As Actor: Macbeth (co-production with The Grin and Tonic Theatre Troupe), Design For Living, Elizabeth - Almost By Chance a Woman, Fractions (coproduction with HotHouse Theatre), Faustus (co-production with Bell Shakespeare Company), An Oak Tree, Thom Pain (based on nothing), A Streetcar Named Desire, God is a DJ, Phedra, The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, Bash, Mad Hercules, The Tragedy of King Richard the Second, Shopping and F$$$ing, The Skin of Our Teeth. Other Credits: As Director: The Arts Centre Gold Coast: Oh the Humanity and Other Exclamations; The Grin & Tonic Theatre Troupe: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth Versus the World, Romeo and Juliet (and Bottom), Livid, I Am Macbeth, Sunburn, Island Home, Revolt, Inferno, VS, Super/Natural, Romeo and Juliet, The Zoo Story, The Trial, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As Actor: Bell Shakespeare: Henry IV; Sydney Theatre Company: A Streetcar 34

Named Desire; Belvoir St Theatre: Paul, Capricornia, Maralinga; La Boite Theatre Company: The Glass Menagerie, Half and Half, Cosi; Adelaide Festival Centre: A Thing Called Snake; The Grin & Tonic Theatre Troupe: The Trial, Monkey, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Richard the Third, The Winter’s Tale, Henry the Sixth, Romeo and Juliet, Seasons.

Television: The Devil’s Playground, Slide, Sea Patrol, Australia Remembers, Cybergirl. Positions: Resident Director and Facilitator (Youth Ensemble), Queensland Theatre Company 2014-2015, Artistic Director: The Grin and Tonic Theatre Troupe 2010 – current; MEAA Queensland Branch Council 2011 current; MEAA National Performers Committee 2013 - current; MEAA National Board Member 2015.

Elaine Crombie MUM/MARJ/ ENSEMBLE

Bradley McCaw MUSICIAN/ENSEMBLE

Queensland Theatre Company: Bloodland (presentation with Sydney Theatre Company), The Sunshine Club (co-production with Sydney Theatre Company), Fountains Beyond. Other Credits: The Follies Company:The New Black; Sydney Theatre Company: The Cherry Pickers; Belvoir: Conversations With The Dead; Sydney Festival: I am Eora.

As Singer: Album – Another Version EP, Archie Roach’s Bloodstream choir-Into the Bloodstream & The Deadly’s 2014, Yabun Festival 2015. Film: Black Talk, Jackie Jackie, Kiss Me Deadly. Television: 8MMM Aboriginal Radio, Redfern Now. Positions: Host: Master of Ceremonies for the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council-Continuous Quality Improvement Conference (Sydney), Tarpari Wellbeing Day (Port Pirie), VIBE Alive (Post Augusta), Reconciliation Day (Port Pirie). Training: Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts, Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM), Adelaide University.

Queensland Theatre Company: In Good Company (winner: Young Playwrights Award 2011). Other Credits: As Actor/Performer: Brisbane Powerhouse/An Old Fashioned Production Company: Bendigo to Broadway, Cabaret: The Complete Unauthorised Biography; Joymas Creative Production Company: Becoming Bill; Ignations Theatre Company: Company – the Musical, Miss Saigon, Les Misérables, Into The Woods; Starlight Theatre Company: Rent, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest; 35

Meshpresents: Tick Tick Boom. As Writer: Bendigo to Broadway (cabaret), The Game, The Oasis, Becoming Bill, Up the Ladder (contributed music/lyrics for ACPA presentation). As Singer: The Ten Tenors International tour, 2004 AFL Grand final, Brisbane Jazz & Blues festival. Awards: International Cabaret Showcase winner - Cabaret: The Complete Unauthorised Biography, 2012.

David Page BOBBY/DAD/ ENSEMBLE

Queensland Theatre Company: Black Diggers (co-production with Sydney Festival), Mother Courage and Her Children (co-production with QPAC), Bloodland, The Sunshine Club, Fountains Beyond.

Other Credits: Sydney Theatre Company: Bloodland (co-production with Adelaide Festival), Cherry Pickers; Adelaide Fringe: Murras; Parramatta Riverside: Big Sister; Belvoir: Page 8, The Man from Mukinuppin (co-production at Melbourne Theatre Company), Yibiyung. As Composer: For Bangarra: Lore 2015, Patyegarrang, Blak, Terrain, Belong, of earth & sky, Praying Mantis Dreaming, Ochres, Ninni, Fish, Skin, Corroboree, Bush, Unaipon/Clan, Boomerang, X300, Mathinna. For The Australian Ballet: Alchemy, Amalgamate (with Elena Kats Chernin), Warramuk. Contributed music to the Opening Ceremonies of the Sydney Olympic Games, the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival and, in 2002, the Sydney Dreaming Festival. Film: As Actor: Two Bob Mermaid, Oscar and Lucinda, The Masters, Green Bush, Two Big Boys, Bran Nue Dae, The Oysterman, Stone Bros. As Composer: Heartland, Pride, Poison, Songlines, Living Black, Pioneers of Love, Round Up, Passing Through, Grace, Saturday Night Sunday Morning, Bit of Black Business (AFC short film series - 5 of 13). Positions: Artist-in-Residence, Bangarra. Awards: Green Room Award - Best New Australian Play for Page 8, Five Deadly Sound Awards (1995-2006), Indigenous Artist Award for The Sidney Myer Foundation, Helpmann Award for Best Original Score for Belong (2010), Mathinna (2008). Training: Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM), Adelaide University.

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Megan Sarmardin AURIEL/ENSEMBLE

Tibian Wyles LIONEL/ENSEMBLE

Jodie Roche-Jones STAGE MANAGER

Queensland Theatre Company: Debut. Other Credits: QPAC: Women in Voice; Belvoir: The Sapphires (co-production with Black Swan State Theatre Company); Queensland Music Festival: Bob Cat Dancing, The Dream Catchers; Blackbird Productions: Little Birung (co-production with JUTE Theatre Company); BlackArmBand: ngangwarra means heart (coproduction with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra). As Writer: Little Birung (with John Rodgers), Yarning Strong. As Singer: Brisbane Powerhouse, QPAC, Woodford Folk Festival, Judith Wright Centre. With Artists: Leah Cotterell, Pearly Black, Jamie Clark, John Rodgers. Positions: Lead vocalist with BullDust.

Queensland Theatre Company: Black Diggers (co-production with Sydney Festival), The Landmine is Me. Other Credits: Circus Oz: Corked Up; Digi Youth Arts: in-dijuh-nu-s (co-director/writer/actor), Glad Tomorrow; ACPA: Cyrano, Schiller - The Robbers, Spirit of the LORE, Romeo & Juliet, Oedipus the King, Separate, Moving Opera (coproduction with Opera Queensland); QPAC: Clancestry, G20 Celebrations; Great Big Events: Recognise Inaugural Dinner, Swimmer of the Year Awards. As Dancer: Indigenous All Stars Game, Dreamworld Reconciliation Week. Film: The Secret River, Mystery Road, Home, Stomping Ground. Music Video: The Medics. Training: Aboriginal Centre of Performing Arts.

Queensland Theatre Company: As Stage Manager: Boston Marriage, GASP! (co-production with Black Swan State Theatre Company), Macbeth, Australia Day, Design For Living, Trollop, End of the Rainbow (co-production with QPAC), Managing Carmen (coproduction with Black Swan State Theatre Company), Head Full of Love, Romeo & Juliet, Pygmalion, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (co-production with Black Swan State Theatre Company), Orphans, The Little Dog Laughed, That Face, The Importance of Being Earnest, I Am My Own Wife. As 37

Assistant Stage Manager: The Glass Menagerie, Private Fears in Public Places, American Buffalo, Absurd Person Singular, The Memory of Water. Other Credits: Black Swan State Theatre Company: The White Divers of Broome; La Boite Theatre Company: Summer Wonderland, Sex Cubed, Last Drinks, The Dance of Jeremiah, Amigos; Expressions Dance Company: The Red Shoes, SOLO Festival of Dance 2014, When Time Stops; Queensland Ballet: Giselle, Cinderella, Vis a Vis #1 & Prelude 2011, The Little Mermaid (China tour); Opera Queensland: Aida, The Merry Widow, The Elixir of Love, Waltzing Our Matilda, Rigoletto, Fidelio, La traviata, The Magic Flute, The Barber of Seville, Madama Butterfly; Brisbane City Council: Lord Mayor’s Carols in the Park. Awards: Ashley Wilkie Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Performing Arts. Training: Bachelor of Fine Arts (Technical Production Management), Queensland University of Technology.

Pip Loth ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER

Queensland Theatre Company: As Stage Manager: Gloria. As Set Builder: Macbeth. Other Credits: As Stage Manager: La Boite Theatre Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Motherboard Productions: Shimchong, Daughter Overboard!; EMS Entertainment: Barbie Live! The Musical (East Pacific Tour); Life Like Touring: Elmo’s World Tour; Dora the Explorer’s Pirate Adventure. As Assistant Stage Manager: Gordon Frost: Driving Miss Daisy; Dreamworks & Global Creatures: How to Train your Dragon – Arena Spectacular (North American Tour). As Site Manager and Assistant Production Manager: Midsumma Festival, Melbourne.

Film: As Electrics Rigger: Nim’s Island, Terra Nova. Positions: AV Technician, Avcom. Training: Bachelor of Fine Arts (Technical Production), Queensland University of Technology (Honours); Certificate II – Furniture Making & Finishing, Yeronga Institute of TAFE; Diploma of Live Production; Theatre & Events, Southbank Institute of TAFE.

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Michael Tuahine

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PATRON His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC Governor of Queensland MEMBERS OF THE BOARD Richard Fotheringham (Chair) Elizabeth Jameson (Deputy Chair) Julieanne Alroe Kirstin Ferguson Erin Feros Simon Gallaher Peter Hudson Nathan Jarro ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Wesley Enoch EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Sue Donnelly Executive Assistant: Tammy Sleeth Artistic Associate: Andrea Moor Resident Director: Jason Klarwein Programming Manager/ Senior Producer: Katherine Hoepper Producer (New Work and Development): Shari Irwin Artistic Coordinator: Samantha French Touring and Regional Program Coordinator: Christine Johnstone Producer (Education and Youth Programs): Heidi Irvine Programming Project Officer: Laurel Collins Theatre Diversity Associate: Joon-Yee Kwok Chief Financial Officer: Michael Cullinan Systems Accountant: Roxane Eden Assistant Accountant: Joelene Wright Finance Officer: Robin Koski

Venue and Operations Supervisor: Julian Messer Front of House and Events Supervisor: Deirdree Wallace Front of House and Events Officer: Leisha Du Bois Marketing Manager: Yvonne Whittington Marketing Coordinator: Amanda Solomons Marketing Officer: Tanya Leadbetter Marketing Assistant: Yuverina Shewpersad Digital Marketing Officer: David D’Arcy Database Trainer and Supervisor: Dale Ric-Hansen Publicist: Kath Rose and Associates Ticketing Coordinator: Maggie Holmes Ticketing Officers: Donna Fields-Brown Maneka Singh Philanthropy Manager: Amanda Jolly Corporate Partnerships Manager: Nikki Porter Development Coordinator: Dee Morris Researcher and Grant Writer: Danielle Bentley Production Manager: Toni Glynn Technical Coordinator: Daniel Maddison Production Coordinator: Scott Klupfel Production Assistant: Lilith Tremmery Head of Workshop: Peter Sands Company Carpenter/ Head Mechanist: John Pierce Carpenter: Jamie Bowman Head of Wardrobe: Vicki Martin Costume Supervisor: Nathalie Ryner

Indigenous Reference Group: Nathan Jarro (Chair) Adam James Michael Tuahine Paula Nazarski Todd Phillips Associate Artists: Rod Ainsworth Candy Bowers Carol Burns Katherine Lyall-Watson David Morton Gayle MacGregor Paula Nazarski Ngoc Phan Lucas Stibbard Front of House (The GreenHouse): Anita Hughes Madison Bell Mollie Thomas Sally Lewis Jonthan Petersson Nathan Hollingworth Charlotte Moutrey Country Song Production Staff Scenic Artist: Leo Herreygers Cutter: Kathryn Lee Costume Maker: Selina Bedville Wardrobe Secondment (AICD): Hannah Moroney Wardrobe Maintenance: Liezel Buckenham Production Electrician: Nick Toll Sound Consultant: Neil McLean Sound Operator: Matt Erskine Props Secondment: Elise Baukier (WAPA) Stage Management Secondment (QUT): Rebecca Minuti

FOUNDING DIRECTOR Alan Edwards, AM, MBE (1925 – 2003)

Queensland Theatre Company is a member of Live Performance Australia.

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Country Song QPAC Staff

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Associate Director Programming Deb Murphy

C E L E B R AT I N G

Program Development Manager Janelle Christofis

PO Box 3567, South Bank, Queensland 4101

Programming Administrator Julia Bridger

Tel: (07) 3840 7444 www.qpac.com.au

Programming Assistant David Thompson

Chair Chris Freeman AM

Marketing Manager Alex Holloway

Deputy Chair Rhonda White AO

Campaign Manager Eleanor Price

Trustees Kylie Blucher Simon Gallaher Sophie Mitchell Mick Power AM

Strategic Communications Manager Angela Slater

Executive Staff Chief Executive: John Kotzas Director – Presenter Services: Ross Cunningham Director – Marketing: Roxanne Hopkins Director – Corporate Services: Kieron Roost Director – Patron Services: Jackie Branch

Database Administrator Ruby Hall

ACKNOWLEDGMENT The Queensland Performing Arts Trust is a Statutory body of the State of Queensland and is partially funded by the Queensland Government

Senior Advertising Coordinator Judy Worsfold

Publicity Manager Inga Tracey

Digital Marketing Manager Kim Harper Graphic Designer Liz Wilson

The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk MP Premier and Minister for the Arts Director-General, Department of Premier and Cabinet: David Stewart

Acknowledgements Fight Choreography: Niki-J Price Maton Guitars Maton Guitars hand crafted a slim-profile, 808-sized guitar known as The Performer, and added a tobacco sunburst finish to create a modern, big sounding guitar with a timeless look.

Morris Brothers Music Guitar Brothers The Guitar Centre at the Gabba The Jimmy Little Foundation Frances Peters Little Rehearsal Photography: Stephen Henry

Events Manager Nick Tomlin Lighting Operator Tim Gawne

To ensure that patrons enjoy the performance, management asks you to note: • Cameras, tape recorders and paging devices should not be used inside the auditorium.

• Switch off alarms and mobile phones prior to the performance.

• A single cough measures approximately 65 decibels of sound. The use of a handkerchief helps greatly to soften the sound.

The management reserves the right to refuse admission, also to make any alterations to the cast which may be rendered necessary by illness or other unavoidable causes.

Patrons are advised that The Cremorne has EMERGENCY EVACUATION PROCEDURES, a FIRE ALARM system and EXIT passageways. In case of an alert, patrons should remain calm, look for the closest EXIT sign in GREEN, listen to and comply with directions given by the inhouse trained attendants and move in an orderly fashion to the open spaces outside the venue.

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Who murdered Nellie Duffy?

If you would like to know,

join the QTC Legal Chapter as they raise funds to commission a play about an infamous Queensland murder case that took place on Carpentaria Downs Station in 1908.

Housekeeper Nellie Duffy was found brutally murdered in her bed. An Aboriginal station hand, Billy, was charged but the jury refused to convict him despite his "confessions". Where does the truth lie?

Nellie Duffy Project Supporters 4 Anonymous Roslyn Atkinson & Richard Fotheringham Michael & Anne Back Jennifer Batts James Bell Sarah Bradley Madeleine Brennan Peter Bridgman & Susan Booth S.J & K.W Brooks Sue Brown Patricia Byrne Carter Newell Lawyers Sheryl Cornack Leone Costigan

Peter Davis Ralph & Frances Devlin Richard Douglas Adrian Duffy Scott Falvey Richard Fryberg H G Fryberg Elizabeth Gaffney Anthony Glynn Milton Griffin John & Lois Griffin Michael Hodge Kevin & Joanne Holyoak EM Jameson & AL Anderson

Joshua Jones Stephen Keim Liam Kelly Declan Kelly Asif Khan Fleur Kingham Raymond & Audrey Lawrence John & Janice Logan Sarah Ludwig Stephen & Hana Mackie John & Julienne McKenna Margaret Mc Murdo Kerri Mellifont

If you would like to find out more about this intriguing case and contribute towards the play commission, please visit queenslandtheatre.com.au/nellieduffy or phone 3010 7668.

Donations to this project are tax deductible. 42

Denise & Richard Morton Debra & Patrick Mullins Andrew O'Brien Dan O'Gorman Leanne O'Shea & Peter Gilroy Dominic O'Sullivan Adam Pomerenke Tina Previtera Jeff Rolls & Barbara Houlihan Walter Sofronoff Michael Stewart van de Graaff Lawyers Greg & Sally Vickery Elizabeth Wilson

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www.clovely.com.au GOURMET TRAVELLER WINE: AUSTRALIA’S BEST CELLAR DOOR AWARDS 2015 44 JAMES HALLIDAY’S WINE COMPANION: TOP 5 STAR WINERY 2015

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PARTNER TO THE ARTS

Present your QTC Season 1 TheatreSave card and receive 10% off the best available rate when staying at Quay West Suites Brisbane and 10% off your total bill when dining in McMahons Restaurant. For more information visit ^^^ HJJVYHZPHWHJPÄJWHY[ULYZ JVT XSK[OLH[YLJVTWHU` ^^^ X\H`^LZ[IYPZIHUL JVT 132 Alice Street, Brisbane, Q 4000 | P: +61 (07) 3853 6020 47

LILLYROCK15020

QUAY WEST SUITES BRISBANE IS PROUD TO SPONSOR QUEENSLAND THEATRE COMPANY

Thank You To Our Current Donors $10,000+

$5,000-$9,999

We thank all our generous donors for their contribution to our work.

1 Anonymous Pamela M Marx Cathryn Mittelheuser AM Bruce & Sue Shepherd

Richard Fotheringham & Roslyn Atkinson AO John & Gabrielle Hull Tim & Kym Reid

Your assistance makes it possible for us to enrich the cultural life of our community.

$2,000-$4,999

Donations over $250 are acknowledged for 12 months from the date of donation. Visit queenslandtheatre.com.au or phone our Philanthropy Manager on 07 3010 7621 to find out how you can support our work.

1 Anonymous William Ash & Margi Brown Ash John H Casey John & Lynnly Chalk Sue Donnelly Wesley Enoch Kirstin & Glen Ferguson Alan Galwey Bruce & Alexandra Grove E M Jameson & A L Anderson Trevor Love & Vivienne Johnson The Prior Family Cecily Stevenson

Creative Partnerships Australia RACQ Foundation The Siganto Foundation Tim Fairfax Family Foundation

$1,000-$1,999 5 Anonymous Anne & Peter Allen Lisa & William Bruce Mathieu & Anastasia Ellerby William & Claire Glasson David & Katrina King

Noela & Colin Kratzing Susan Learmonth & Bernard Curran Karl & Louise Morris Donal & Una O’Sullivan Marianna Serghi R & M Williams

$500-$999 8 Anonymous Melissa Agnew Julieanne Alroe Stephen & Jennifer Boyd Ian Bunzli Rita Carter-Brown Bob Cleland Erin Feros Merrilyn Goos Pamela Greet & Nicholas Beaton Ian & Ruth Gough Geoffrey Hirst & Sally Wilde Hudson Family Amanda Jolly Tempe Keune Ross & Sophia Lamont Joan M. Lawrence Fred & Margaret Leditschke Andrew & Kate Lister B Lloyd Brad Mammino Ian & Rhyl McLeod

$250-$499 15 Anonymous Leanne Austin Phil Barker Melissa Bennett Emma Benson Ethna Brown Margaret Byrne Michael & Margaret Clancy Christine Comans Anthony Costantini June Craw OAM Michael Cullinan Judi Ewings William & Lenore Ferguson Kate Foy Peter & Gay Gibson Anita Green Andrea & Malcolm Hall-Brown David Hardidge Albert & Carmen Hili Katherine Hoepper

TRUST & FOUNDATIONS

Marc James Olwyn M Kerr Tammy S Linde Sandra McCullagh Carolyn McIlvenny Hon. Tom McVeigh Sandra McVeigh Dee Morris & Reny Rennie Philip & Fran Morrison Darryl Nisbet Kartina Oei Catherine Quinn People Resourcing Donald Robertson Lyn & Joanne Scott Bronwyn Springer Coralie Van StraatenPeretz VERTEC RAIL Amy Walduck D & J Woodward

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Rob & Barbara Murray Nicklin Medical Service Denise O'Boyle Greg & Wendy O’Meara Diane & Robert Parcell Blayne & Helen Pitts Bruce Richardson & Taninnuch Stone John Richardson & Kirsty Taylor Geoffrey Rush Gary Sawyer Phoebe Stephens Flowers Wendy Tonkes Sandy Vigar & Martin Pearson Margaret & Norman Wicks Gillian Wilton Ian Yeo & Sylvia Alexander Sharon York & Mark Smith

Thanks to our Sponsors Government Partners

Presenting Sponsors

Production Sponsors

Building Enhancement Program

solar Season Sponsors

Season Supporters

Media Supporters

Regional Sponsors

WorkPac Group

78 Montague Rd, South Brisbane PO Box 3310 South Brisbane BC QLD 4101 Tel 07 3010 7600 Fax 07 3010 7699 Ticketing 1800 355 528 queenslandtheatre.com.au mail@queenslandtheatre.com.au

A fictionalised story inspired by the life of Jimmy Little

facebook.com/qldtheatreco twitter.com/qldtheatreco

Š The State of Queensland (Queensland Theatre Company) 2015 Disclaimer: Every endeavour has been made to ensure that the contents of this brochure are correct at the time of printing.

However, things can change. Queensland Theatre Company reserves the right to vary advertised programs and to add, withdraw or substitute artists as necessary.

Recycle this program Support Greening QTC and recycle this program after the performance in the recycling bins provided in the foyer. Read the program before the show at queenslandtheatre.com.au