Teaching Aboriginal Theatre
In collaboration with Drama NSW, this Professional Learning day will explore a range of Aboriginal drama texts and how they can be used in the drama classroom.
Delegates will participate in a range of different sessions throughout the day beginning with an Acknowledgment of Country and an In-Conversation and Panel Q&A with leading Aboriginal artists and special guests.
The In-Conversation will focus on the development of Aboriginal Theatre and the nature of Aborginal Theatre in society and in schools. This will be followed by practical sessions focused on:
• Exploring contemporary Aboriginal texts and how they can be taught in the classroom through ATYP’s CUSP by Mary-Anne Butler (Abbie-lee Lewis)
• Exploring how Aboriginal plays have developed from classic to contemporary plays with a focus on Whitefella Yella Tree which is being produced at Griffin Theatre Company in August (Dylan Van Den Berg)
This will be a phenomenal opportunity to build confidence, authenticity and respect in how to approach Aboriginal texts with students in the Drama classroom. There will be material provided including ideas on how to program and resource an Aboriginal Theatre Unit in Stage 5.
ARTISTS
Abbie-lee has guest appeared on ABC’s Blak Comedy (Season 4) as well as starring as Emily in the Black Swan production of Our Town that saw three First Nations performers at the heart of it, directed by Clare Watson.Last year she performed as Hermia in Bell Shakespeare’s national tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
As well as IDA in the Bleeding Tree written by Angus Cerini, directed by Ian Michael and produced by Blue Room Theatre.
In recent years Abbie-lee has begun to develop a passion for directing.
Abbie-lee has assisted on main stage shows like Hamlet, produced by Bell Shakespeare in 2020 and directed by Peter Evans, as well as the production of Charlie Pilgrim (or a Beginner’s Guide to Time Travel) in 2018 by The Australian Theatre for Young people directed by Jena Prince.
2022 will see Abbie-lee’s directing debut with Cutter and Coot written by Bruce Pasco and produced by Mooghalin Theatre Company. Abbie-lee is also making her Belvoir debut with Counting and Cracking, touring to the Edinburgh International Festival.
Dylan Van Den Berg is a Palawa writer originally from the northeast of Lutrawita/Tasmania. His plays include, Whitefella Yella Tree (Griffin Theatre Company, 2022), Ngadjung (Belco Arts, 2022), Struthers (NIDA, 2022), Milk (The Street Theatre, 2021) Way Back When (Next-in-Line: Darlinghurst Theatre Company, 2020), and The Camel (Fringe at the Edge, 2020). Dylan is currently a resident artist at Sydney Theatre Company through the Emerging Writers Group, was a 2021 Studio Artist with Griffin Theatre Company, and a previous participant in ILBIJERRI Theatre Company’s BlackWrights program. He is under commission at the National Theatre of Paramatta and The Street Theatre. Along with wining both the Victorian Premier’s Award for Drama and NSW Premier’s Award for Playwriting for Milk, he was also recipient of the 2020 Griffin Award for his Gothic revenge drama, Way Back When. He’s been shortlisted for STC’s Patrick White Playwrights Award (twice), the Queensland Premiers Drama Award, and was Highly Commended for the Max Afford Award. Dylan studied drama at the ANU and the State University of New York.
After 30 years as a performer working in the UK, New Zealand, and nationally in Australia, both in radio, theatre and television Wendy Blacklock went to the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust to learn how to become a Producer. Into her office came artists wanting her support for their work including Bryon Syron and Robert Merritt with The Cakeman. The Cakeman became the first Aboriginal play to tour overseas to Denver Colorado in 1982. By 1986, Wendy had commissioned Jack Davis to write both No Sugar and a children’s play Honeyspot and she personally took the No Sugar company, many of whom had never travelled outside of WA to represent Australia at a world theatre festival in Canada and in 1989 to London.
Having been set up in her own company Performing Lines to facilitate, produce and tour all areas of the Arts, Aboriginal work continued to be important and many of the artists who were given support have gone on to have successful careers. This includes Wesley Enoch, recently the Artistic Director of the Sydney Festival, Deborah Mailman and Deborah Cheetham and many more.
INFO & PRICING
- with Abbie-lee Lewis, Dylan Van Den Berg, and Wendy Blacklock
- Term 3, Week 1 – Saturday 23 July, 2022
- 9:30am – 4:30pm AEST
- Popsy Studio, Pier 2/3
- Cost: $220 for non-Drama NSW members