FRESH NEW WRITING at MTC

MD is strongly represented in the developmental readings this week at the MTC Lawler Studio.

The pieces are eclectic, original, and unlike anything you will have seen on Melbourne stages this year.

And, they include a number of MD members at the helm!

• Wed 11th @ 7pm --> Elise Hearst & Sam Strong's The Sea Project
• Thu 12th @ 7pm --> Amelia Roper & Naomi Edward's Hong Kong Dinosaur
• Fri 13th @ 7pm --> Declan Greene @ David Mence's Pretty Baby

Come along and see what we have been up to over the last few months. It promises to be a lot of fun and there will, of course, be plenty of red wine and Q & A afterwards.

A Link to the Unordinary

Dr Ricci-Jane Adams, a Melbourne playwright & recent PhD graduate, has written a terrific thesis on magical realism in Australian theatre. It covers the work of Lally Katz, Ben Ellis and Kit Lazaroo, and is well worth a look:

Seeing in Unordinary Ways: Magical Realism in Australian Theatre
by Dr Ricci-Jane Evangeline Adams
University of Melbourne

"Abstract:
This thesis introduces three emerging Australian playwrights, Lally Katz, Ben Ellis and Kit Lazaroo, who are interrogating the politics of culture, identity and gender through the application of magic realism to theatre. This thesis contends that magic realist theatre offers a public site for the cultural mediation of binaries: self and other, margin and centre, life and death, western and non-western, pragmatic and spiritual. Australia, because of its history, geographical location and cultural positioning provides a fascinating case study."

Melbourne Dramatists' New Writing Award 2009

And the award goes to….

The Melbourne Dramatists New Writing Award, supported by the Melbourne Theatre Company was presented at the Melbourne Fringe Festival Awards on Saturday 10^th October at Trades Hall.

The winner of the 2009 award is:

Tom Holloway for his play And No More Shall We Part

 

Highly Commended:

A Black Joy by Declan Greene

Yuri Wells by Benedict Hardie

 

Congratulations!

Thank you to everyone who submitted an entry into the award.    

For more info about the Melbourne Fringe Festival go to:

www.melbournefringe.com.au

Australian Women Directors Alliance - Debate gains momentum

Debate is flourishing in news papers and blogs across Australia regarding the representation of women directors working for main stage companies.  The debate has also recently reached the UK.  The Australian Women Directors Alliance (AWDA) present statistics and research that points towards a distinct lack of opportunities for women directors in Australia.  The AWDA is advocating for serious debate and change. 

 The AWDA is a non-profit coalition of professional women directors and theatre makers. The purpose of the AWDA is to provide a community of peers for mutual support and to further the art, professional development and visibility of women directors in the theatre industry. The AWDA was formed in 2009 as an outcome of focus group discussion arising at the 2009 Australian Theatre Forum (ATF).

 To read recent developments in this discussion and a range of articles go to:

 www.australianwomendirectorsalliance.blogspot.com 

Posted by Alison Mann

Create a culture of Creation

Wonderful to read this today over at Marcus Westbury’s blog:

I wonder whether Australia’s European cultural history has somehow left us wanting to keep the artefacts and trappings of European culture while skipping the forces that led to it.

We should flip the traditional hierarchies over. Rather than place our culture centres at the top, it makes far more sense to think of them as at the bottom. It is time we placed far more emphasis on creation and development than reproduction, middle management and bureaucracy by thinking about those street-level tasks and challenges.

Time to recognise that culture — and, by extension, art — is not large and grand but small, dynamic, co-operative and competitive creation and to nurture it right at that point. Time to flip the system over and put the bureaucrats and administrators on the bottom and put the creators back at the top.

Amen to that. Writers are creators!

Melbourne Dramatists' New Writing Award

Yes, it's that time of year again:
Melbourne Dramatists'
New Writing Award
Supported by the Melbourne Theatre Company

The award is presented to the writer/s responsible for the best script at this year's Melbourne Fringe. The award is judged on the brilliance of the writing (rather than the production). The award is judged by us, your peers.

The award includes:
$250 AND a funky Fringe trophy AND opening night tickets to Melbourne Theatre Company shows in 2010!

Winner announced at the Fringe Awards, Saturday October 10th
Previous winners include Alison Mann & Adam J Cass

Have a show at the Fringe and want to be considered?
Contact the Fringe office

Recognising the new life, with Martha

"Many writers failed to recognize the new life in their own art, and missed seeing the truth that a first-hand observation of life is always of more value than rules of any sort. Therefore an immemorial war has been waged between the sticklers for old laws, on the one side, and, on the other, the genuinely creative writers. In no art has this war been more apparent than in the drama; and in no art have rigid rules been more oppressive. There have been long periods when the dominance of technical rules, wholly or partially outgrown, has sterilized and all but killed the theater."

Aristotle, Classic Technique, and Greek Drama (1927)
MARTHA FLETCHER BELLINGER

Good acting is good acting

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I don't think there is a conflict between the writer's intentions and a commitment to diverse casting. When I write a play, I want the best actors. And the best actors are not always white and Anglo looking.

I think the problem is that white, Anglo looking performers are considered the natural default. If you have a non-white Anglo looking performer - than that person's ethnicity needs to somehow be the subject of the play or inform the character. As though you couldn't have a strung-out prostitute being played by a Sri Lankan performer without the character needing to talk about her Sri Lankan-ness. If they're not white, we need to explain their otherness otherwise, why were they cast?

My friend told me an anecdote. She was an extra on City Homicide. She sat at a desk. In between takes, she had a conversation with Aaron Pederson. He asked how she got into extra work. She told him that she wanted to be an actor but decided against it fairly early on because of the way she looks and the roles she knew would be offered to her. Her mother is Malaysian and her dad is from Trinidad and Tobago. So no one can really place her. Some people thinks she looks Indian, Thai, Arabic, or even Aboriginal. She wasn't interested in a lifetime of 'ethnic other' roles. Aaron Pederson told her that his role in City Homicide is the first role he's had that hasn't been about being Indigenous Australian - and he's been acting for over a decade.

Like in any other field, people should be given jobs based on whether they can perform the role. Can Aaron convince as a tough cop with a troubled personal life? Yes. Is he attractive and will viewers like him? Yes. Would it be nice not to see Gary Sweet in this role? Yes.

We should all be committed to seeing a diversity of faces on our stages and screens and recognise (this is so obvious that it's embarrassing to say it - except the fact that this conversation is happening means it needs to be said) that non-white actors can play a whole lot of roles that have nothing to do with their ethnic background.

MD and the Smacktors

Enjoy some pics from our last triumphant Smackdown!

Conversations on Casting

The racial diversity in Australian theatre issue has flared up again, this time finding a more dialogical home for itself online.

Point your browser to Red Stitch's online forum and check out the discussion.

I don't want to write a big post about it here (I've already done that over at the forum) so it will suffice to say that I believe strongly in the need for Australian theatre companies and directors to make cross-racial casting part of their everyday practice.

I'm not really sure how this intersects with our concerns as writers; whether, for example, we think that diverse casting practices are more important to uphold than the writer's intentions?

For me, though, seeing The Birthday Party at MTC the other night was a good example of how diverse casting can open up new layers of meaning in a text. And, a few small annoyances aside (since I know the text religiously), I thought that it was well handled.

Any thoughts or comments?

Offensively unfunny

Andrew Denton asked Mel Brooks if he believed there was any subject that you couldn’t make fun of. The man who created The Producers – a comedy with musical numbers about the Holocaust – answered (and I paraphrase here because I can’t remember his wording), ‘The only thing in bad taste is not being funny.’ That means everything is up for grabs – genocide, paedophiles, constipation and yes, sick children. But you better make it funny.

And that’s my problem with the Chaser’s ‘Make-a-realistic-wish’ sketch. It wasn’t funny. It was lame. And somehow in all the debate about the sketch – we seemed to have lost sight of that. The debate shouldn’t be about whether you can make fun of terminally ill kids or whether the ABC was wrong to air such a controversial sketch. The debate should be about the laziness with which some comedians approach ‘wrong’ humour.

I love a bit of wrong humour. I love humour that pushes well past the boundaries into black unsettling terrain. The problem with the Chaser’s sketch is that it relied solely on being wrong - ‘ooh, they’re making fun of sick kids – that’s so naughty’. It’s not enough to just be ‘wrong’. Anyone can say something offensive. Just take a ride on the 57 tram if you want to be shocked and appalled. The skill is how you push that wrong humour and make it funny. Being funny is about doing something unexpected, crazy, ridiculous, over-the-top – something. It requires skill and thought.

The only thing that could’ve saved that ‘Make-a-realistic-wish’ sketch is if that sick kid poked Chris Taylor in the eye for being such a patronising douchebag. Then I would’ve giggled.

Roll Up Roll Up for the Smackdown!!

Ladies & Gentlemen!!

The Melbourne Dramatists' Smackdown is back (by popular demand)!

It's the one and only event of its kind: bare knuckle, no holds barred, playwright wrestling (in a large vat of baked beans) for YOUR gratification and felicity.

So come one, come all...

And join us for a night of theatrical goodness at Melbourne's own Storeroom Theatre.

DETAILS:

David Mence! Melissa Bubnic!

Alison Mann! Robert Reid!

Ross Mueller! Amelia Roper!

Thursday 18 June,

Doors open at 7:00pm for a 7:30pm start

@ The Storeroom,

St Georges Rd, North Fitzroy

First floor Parkview Hotel

Corner of Scotchmer Street

& St Georges Road

North Fitzroy

Melways Ref: 30 B12

Tram 112, Stop 22

Whose Face?

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I was recently sent a link to an article in The Australian about the young Perth director Matthew Lutton. For others (like me) who missed it the first time around I have included it below (The Face: Matthew Lutton, by Victoria Laurie, 21/2/09). You can't help but admire the guy's chutzpah. One small part was worth a reread. For playwrights, in particular,

"...we compare notes on whether we go to the theatre to see a play or rather to savour a strong directorial vision.

"(Lutton) If there's two versions of Women of Troy showing in a city, I go to see Barrie Kosky's version because I want to see what he does," he says. "Otherwise I can go home and read the play: I go to hear his voice.""

Do you go to the theatre to "see a play" or "to savour a strong directorial vision"? I stay home and read plays a fair amount too, but I'd like to think that if they were all playing in my city, I'd go - strong directorial vision or not. There's something about hearing them aloud. It's almost as if they were written that way. After reading the article for the first time I made angry toast. That's the toast you make when you cut each slice into four squares, not because you need to but because it makes you feel better. I ate the toast and read the article again. I believe in story. I almost feel the need to apologise for this but you'll notice that I don't.

I believe in a collaboration between director and playwright (when there is one. And some of the old ones might not be around so much anymore, but they wrote stuff down. That's the thing about playwrights, we write stuff down). I believe in a collaboration for the production of stories that are not owned by the director, or the playwright, or even the performers. I believe in a collaboration for the production of stories to be owned by the audience. The audience own your work. If your audience leaves feeling that it is yours, and not theirs, then you have failed. If your audience leaves believing that they are not smart enough for you, or smart enough for theatre, then you have failed. Yes, you. And when I say you I don't mean Lutton or Kosky or anyone else with a strong directorial vision, I mean you, dear reader & fellow theatre maker, or me. Yes. Usually I mean me. If my audience leaves believing that they are not smart enough for me, or smart enough for theatre, then I have failed.

When a person buys a novel she can take it home and put in on her shelf. She can write her name in it and decide whether it goes on the bottom shelf or the top one with the DVDs, or next to the lamp or under the painting she got from Ikea. That novel might be so great she reads it two or three times before lending it to a friend. Who returns it. She owns that novel. It lives in her house. A play, on the other hand, lives in a theatre. The theatre is someone else's house. She must be invited in. 'Not yet,' says the usher, 'we haven't opened the doors yet.' She only gets to see it once and not at any pace, or rereading the bits that were difficult, but once, and at one pace. In this day of object ownership - DVDs, books, paintings from Ikea - what can the theatre offer? The answer is complimentary key rings. No. Or maybe. Or maybe the answer is an experience that she feels she can own. A story she can take home. Theatre made for the audience. I believe in theatre that audiences feel empowered to own. Accessible is not a dirty word. Accessible is everything. I want them to take it home - the characters, the images, the ideas, the costumes, the memory of an actor - I want them to want to take it all home. That's all. Nothing else. Nothing else matters if you don't have that. I almost feel the need to apologise for it - How obvious! How sentimental! I almost feel the need to apologise for it but you'll notice that I don't.


LINK: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25068275-15089,00.html

- Amelia Roper

His name is Tom Holloway

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The following link is for The Age online article called "A stage they're going through" (30/5/09). It's worth a look but does seem to suggest that all independent theatre artists in Melbourne aim for either a Malthouse Tower Room season or a Full Tilt gig. Now they are both great opportunities but really, is that accurate? I also noticed that it mentions the play Red Sky Morning on a number of occasions, but never once mentions the playwright. The playwright's name is Tom Holloway. I mention that the playwright's name is Tom Holloway because, well, even though my name is not Tom Holloway, and Tom Holloway is not a Melbourne Dramatist, I still think that if I'm going to mention that the play is called Red Sky Morning, then I should probably also mention that the playwright's name is Tom Holloway. I won't mention the director, or the venue, or the actors, or the program, or the name of the journalist, because they have all been covered in the article.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/a-stage-theyre-going-through/2009/05/30/1243456778978.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap3

- Amelia Roper

Mueller's No Man's Island opens in Sydney

No Man's Island was first produced over ten years ago at La Mama. It was the first La Mama play to be included in the Melbourne International Festival. Two years ago it was presented at HERE performance space in New York City. Next week it finally opens in Sydney. http://my247.com.au/sydney/Old-Fitzroy-Theatre/whats-on/No-Mans-Island-by-Ross-Mueller.165608

Melburnalia No. 2 Opens to Great Reviews!

Melbourne Dramatist David Mence's comany White Whale Theatre has achieved wonderful reviews for this week's opening of their show Melburnalia No. 2.

"We're really pleased with the response, it's been a long road but it demonstrates that Melbourne audiences are defininately interested in seeing Melbourne writing."

Check out the Age review http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/theatre-of-the-burbs-behind-facades-of-five-postcodes/2009/05/24/1243103429775.html

Another Melbourne Dramatist in The Age

Ross Mueller is a Melbourne Dramatist and today he was featured in an article in the Saturday Age A2. You can read the article by clicking on this link - click away. http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/in-an-unscripted-moment-the-seen-is-set/2009/05/21/1242498866789.html.

The Ghost Writer

A Play Reading of The Ghost Writer By Ross Mueller

Directed by Lucy Freeman
Featuring:
David Whiteley, Georgina Capper,
Natalie Carr & Kevin Summers

Saturday 30 May, 2009. 3pm
The Plaza Room The Arts Centre on St Kilda Road.
General admission is by $5.00 donation.


“I am so thrilled to be directing a public reading of the re-write of the Ghost Writer. The fact that the play premiered on the MTC main stage in 2007, and the playwright elected to keep working on the material into 2008 is nothing short of inspiring. I believe if all plays in the contemporary Australian cannon underwent this detailed and responsive reworking, our repertoire would be the stronger for it.” Lucy Freeman

This script is available for sale through - Playlab.
Go to the http://www.playlab.org.au/catalogue/index.php
for details on how to purchase your copy.

The Early Stages - Play Reading

She's Not Performing

A new work by Alison Mann
Directed by Kelly Somes

Thursday 28 May, 2009

6.30pm

The Black Box, Arts Centre

The Early Stages features some of Melbourne’s exciting emerging playwrights, presenting their new works through performed readings. The third in the series is She’s Not Performing by Alison Mann.

Margarite by chance sees a girl at a strip club that uncannily resembles herself. She becomes fascinated by the girl and continues to attend the strip club by herself. Margarite had a daughter adopted out when she was a teenager. Is it possible the girl at the club could be her? Or is Margarite looking out from within her own fantasies?

The Early Stages are FREE events, presented by the Emerging Writers' Festival in partnership with FULL TILT.

www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au

Melbourne Dramatist in The Age

David Mence is a Melbourne Dramatist and his company (White Whale Theatre) is about to open their new show about Melbourne's suburbs, Melburnalia No. 2.

Check out The Age profile on their upcoming season.

And what a nice combination of blazer with jeans?

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/all-the-suburbs-are-a-stage/2009/05/17/1242498636652.html

Melbourne Dramatists Manifesto

Melbourne is a cultural community hungry for a diversity of artistic forms. Melbourne Dramatists (MD) believes that there is a genuine and unfulfilled desire for Melbourne plays.

MD is an organisation consisting of professional Melbourne based-playwrights at various stages of their careers.

Our purpose is to support and champion Melbourne playwrights and highlight issues facing us as artists working in the theatre industry.

The need for a manifesto

The Melbourne Dramatists was started some time ago. I am a founding member.

When we began there was a distinct change in the way that Playwrights were being treated in Melbourne. Opportunities for work were evaporating and there was no advocacy group in Melbourne at the time. Since that first meeting we have changed, morphed and grown into a tight knit unit. We are not just angry folk, we have solid commitments and solutions to offer.

We regularly present an Award in the Melbourne Fringe for Best Emerging Writing. The first recipient was Adam Cass and the most recent was Alison Mann. We advocate and enthuse for Melbourne writing and argue that there is a market for good stories that are well written (as well as devised) for the Australian stage. We also present Playwright Wresting - otherwise known as Smackdowns. These are events that show new work in formative stages. They are fun and frequently loud - which is a reflection of who we are. This blog is not just for ads about our work, most of it is a forum for discussion about the Australian theatre industry. Melbourne used to be the capital of new Australian writing. Where does Melbourne see Melbourne writing now?... mostly in Sydney.

We started this journey at that first meeting saying - "we need a manifesto!" ... Now we have written one... Stay tuned.

RM.

PS - the photo above is of Terry Serio... from Concussion premiered by STC/Griffin.

A Reading

SICK

by Melissa Bubnic

A reading directed by Brett Adam and performed by Sarah Borg and Kurt Geyer. Presented by the Emerging Writers’ Festival and FULL TILT.

Two strangers find each other dumped in the desert. Frank is an ugly young woman. Philip is a broken old man. Neither wishes to speak about their crime, the reason for their exile. But threatened by starvation, cannibals, and the haunting power of memory, the unlikely pair become friends.

If society cannot forgive them, can they forgive each other? Or at least themselves? Who will love the unlovable?  

When: Tuesday 26 May

Doors open at 6:00pm, reading starts at 6:30pm

Venue: The Black Box, Arts Centre

Price: FREE

This project is supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria.

A Bill of Rights

THE MELBOURNE DRAMATISTS BILL OF RIGHTS

1. ARTISTIC INTEGRITY. No one (e.g., directors, actors, dramaturges) can make changes, alterations, and/or omissions to your script—including the text, title, and stage directions—without your consent. This is called “script approval.”

2. APPROVAL OF PRODUCTION ELEMENTS. You have the right to approve the cast, director, and designers (and, for a musical, the choreographer, orchestrator, arranger, and musical director, as well), including their replacements. This is called “artistic approval.”

3. RIGHT TO BE PRESENT. You have the right to attend casting, rehearsals, previews and performances.

4. ROYALTIES. You are entitled to receive a royalty for your work. If any other Creative in the production is being paid, or if any admission is being charged you can negotiate a flat fee per performance or a minimum 10% of the gross box office revenue, whichever is the greater. You must never be paid less than any other Creative.

5. BILLING CREDIT. You should receive billing (typographical credit) on all publicity, programs, and advertising distributed or authorised by the production company. The nature of your billing (including size, order in which it appears, etc) is subject to your approval. Billing is part of your compensation and the failure to provide it properly is a breach of your rights.

6. OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. You own the copyright of your dramatic work. Playwrights do not assign (i.e., give away or sell in entirety) their copyrights When a production company wants to mount a production of your play, you actually license (or lease) the public performance rights to your dramatic property to that entity for a finite period of time or number of performances.

7. OWNERSHIP OF INCIDENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS. You own all approved revisions, suggestions, and contributions to the script made by other collaborators in the production, including actors, directors, and dramaturges. You do not owe anyone any money for these contributions. If a production company uses dramaturges, you are not obligated to make use of any ideas the dramaturge might have. Even when the input of a dramaturge or director is helpful to the playwright, dramaturges and directors are still employees of the production company, not the playwright, and they are paid for their work by the production company. Neither dramaturges nor directors (nor any other contributors) may be considered a co-author of a play, unless you have agreed in writing that they are a co-author.

8. AUTHOR’S CONTRACT. The only way to ensure that you get the benefit of the rights listed above is through a written contract with the production company, no matter how large or small the entity. The basic contract can be obtained from the Australian Writers’ Guild: www.awg.com.

Dear all MD folk,
I am conducting a two weekend workshop with the Victorian Writers Centre. It is especially dedicated to writing for and working with actors. Places are limited to ten people so individual attention is possible. You will produce a short script within the process. We will talk, we will read, we will listen and we will write and in the second weekend, you meet and work with actors. The location is the Nicholas Building in the centre of the city so public transport is a definite. The actors are Georgina Capper (The Time is Not Yet Ripe) and Trent Baker (West East Theatre). These are two of Melbourne's finest independent practitioners, so if you're interested - call the VWC - 03 9654 9608 and grab the special offer.
RM

M2 Flyer

Oh and here's a flyer too.

All the info's up on The Whale's Webpage.

Melburnalia No. 2

Melburnalia No. 2 includes five brand spanking new works by local Melbourne writers Andrea James, Hoa Pham, Danny Katz, Kit Lazaroo and Aidan Fennessy.

It was commissioned, dramaturged and developed by White Whale Theatre and is about to go into production at fortyfivedownstairs (20 May - 7 June).

Suburbs covered in our journey through Melbourne include Birrarung, Maribyrnong, Caulfield, Preston and Mentone.

Here's a picture of the lovely ensemble who play over 25 roles throughout.

Come see it! It will be blast!

Melbourne Dramatists Breathes Cyber-Air

Let the cyber world be aware -

The conglomeration of playwrights collectively known as MD is as of now a force to be reckoned with in the Matrix.

Let the posting begin.

Huzzah!