What’s On In March
Recently we’ve been a little besieged at ATYP by what people would generally refer to as ‘good problems’. The kinds of problems you are pleased to have … but still leave you scratching your head. They can be things like: “What are we going to do with these eight boxes of flavoured yoghurt that were randomly given to us this morning?!” Or: “Oh, so we now need to move out of Studio 2 in August because you’re starting construction on our new home early?!”
Other ‘good problems’ have been a reminder of the extraordinary talent that makes up the theatre industry. For the past two weeks we auditioned more than 200 young actors for our show Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Somehow we need to whittle this amazing group down to just four people. Rose Byrne and Rebel Wilson have also been agonising over how to select just one outstanding candidate from the 156 people that applied for their respective scholarships. You can see their final decisions below. And we’re just about to enter the inspiring process of sorting through the applications to this year’s ATYP Foundation Commissions. Applications close on Monday 15th May. If you have a story that’s perfect for young actors to tell please click HERE for details.
Last week we are welcomed the Inner West Youth Theatre to ATYP with their production Political Children. This carefully researched new work examined the controversial ‘Safe Schools’ program from the perspective of teenagers. I saw the initial season when it was staged in Ashfield at the end of last year and rushed up to Artistic Director Felicity Nicol to discuss bringing it back to coincide with Mardi Gras. ATYP was very proud to be able to give Sydney audiences another chance to see this important new work. It’s a beautiful show. Intelligent, thought provoking, entertaining and fun, and I’m sure it will have another season.
In two weeks, for our second Cameo season, we host the magnificent international work for young audiences, Age of Bones. A unique collaboration between Australia’s Performing Lines and Indonesia’s Satu Bulan/ Teater Satu Production, this production combines storytelling, movement and puppetry for young audiences. This is the perfect outing for audiences 12 and above. Fresh from a critically acclaimed season in Melbourne it is the perfect evening’s entertainment for ATYP’s workshop participants, family and friends.
ATYP has also been honoured this month to receive a nomination for Melbourne’s Green Room Awards in the category “New Writing/Adaptation for the Australian Stage” for Rachael Coopes and Wayne Blair’s beautiful Sugarland. We’re very excited to be included amongst such extraordinary productions.
And that’s the intro for this month’s e-news. As always there’s plenty going on so check out the details below and the website for details. Hopefully I’ll see you at an ATYP event soon.
Fraser