Big Things Coming…
Begin the slow motion walk, push the eyebrows together just enough to denote concentration but not so much as to look like you’re in pain, slight hair flick, cue the dramatic music. Prepare yourself! Epic things are happening at ATYP! Dun dun dunnn!
Today we are thrilled to announce that ATYP will spend 2018 at the home of new Australian playwriting, Griffin Theatre Company. With the development of the Walsh Bay precinct over the next two years ATYP must leave our beloved home while we wait for our new theatre and facilities to be built. Griffin has come to our rescue with a partnership that will allow ATYP young performers to work in this iconic Australian theatre. The partnership will see three ATYP productions presented at The Stables theatre throughout the year in a very special residency. For further details about the partnership see the link in the newsletter below. Details on the shows will come a little later when we launch our season.
I’m in our theatre at the moment with the team from Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore as we prepare to open this week. This fire-cracker of a play sees four young actors play over sixty characters as they career through the Oedipus trilogy. Rehearsals have been a mix of hilarity and heartbreak as the epic events of these classic plays are reflected against the backdrop of modern suburban Australia. We can’t wait for this show to open and suspect ATYP audiences are going to love it – content warnings and all.
I am pleased to report ATYP’s secret plans to take over the world are on track. I’ve just got back from a sold-out season of Patrice Balbina’s Chance Encounter with the End of the World that performed to standing ovations at the ASSITEJ World Congress and Performing Arts Festival in Cape Town, South Africa. Our Learning team is packing their bags after being invited to present at the Singapore Drama Educators Association (SDEA) conference at the end of this month. And our Writer-in-Residence Tasnim Hossain has returned home after representing ATYP at the Banff International Playwrights Colony in Canada.
The other big news in playwriting is that Lewis Treston, our 2016 Writer-in-Residence, who spent a year with us developing his new play Hot Tub, just received the 2017 Patrick White Playwrights’ Award. Not only that, all four writers selected for STC’s 2017 Emerging Writers Group have been involved in programs with ATYP. It’s a testament to the exceptional work of our Resident Dramaturg Jenni Medway. We are really thrilled to see these exceptional young artists finding a path into the industry.
Of course as always there’s heaps of other things going on. The Winter Workshop program is online for young people looking for something to warm the heart and fire the imagination next school holidays. Nat Rose and the cast of The Dignity of Risk are finding moments of magic as they continue developing the show that will open later in August in partnership with Shopfront, and we’ve kicked off some very exciting partnerships with the State Archives of NSW and the Advocate for Children and Young People. Plus Claudene has discovered a box of blankets stashed in the office that she can wrap herself in to stay warm on the front desk.
That’s it for now. Until next month.
Fraser