New Indigenous Voices 2005 featured Staged
Readings and Post-Show Discussions of 4 new plays by Native American and
Australian Aboriginal writers. While in New York, the visiting writers and actors worked
predominantly with Native American directors and actors to stage the readings
as well as conducted workshops about their plays and the state of contemporary
Aboriginal theatre.
Monday May 23, 7:30pm |
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Friday May 27, 1:00pm |
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Tuesday May 31, 7:30pm |
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Monday June 6, 7:30pm |
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Dawn Jamieson (Cayuga)
Dawn is a member of AEA, AFTRA and SAG and has appeared on Broadway. The Escape of the Potted Plant is her second play and she dedicates it to the memory of her mother – the real Maxine. Her first play, Silent Quest – the Faithkeepers, is a drama about sexual abuse in the priesthood and in the native population. In it she examines the conflict between the fundamentalists, as represented by the Cardinal and the Clan Mother, and the liberals as represented by a Priest and his friend, a female Native American attorney. Dawn's third play, On the Mangled Beam, is a drama about two Native American iron workers who leave the reservation where they are on opposite sides of the smuggling issue and come to the World Trade Center 9/11 disaster to walk the mangled beams to help in disaster relief.
[ top ]John Harding (Ku Ku, Meriam)
John Harding playwright, director, actor and founding member of Ilbijerri was awarded the Indigenous Fellowship by the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australian Human Rights Award (Drama) for his Belvoir St. Theatre production Up The Road. In 2002 John was the first Indigenous recipient of the ANU Nugget Coombes Fellowship. He worked on the first Aboriginal current affairs program on ABC TV and wrote the first Aboriginal sit-com, The Masters for SBS TV. Directing credits include; Enuff for Blak Inside at Playbox, No Parking for Bless Your Big Blak Arts Festival, Blak and Tran 11 with Hung Lee for the Adelaide and Melbourne Comedy Festivals, and the Woodford International Dreaming Festival. He was commissioned by Ilbijerri to develop his first musical Reconstructing Jimmy Strong and by ANTAR to write and direct Second Helping for Melbourne’s NAIDOC Week, about reconciliation.
[ top ]Wesley Enoch (Noonuccal Nuggi, Quandamooka)
Wesley Enoch is the eldest son of Doug and Lyn Enoch, who hail from Stradbroke Island. His directing credits include The Dreamers and Conversations with the Dead for Company B at Belvoir St Theatre; Fountains Beyond for the Queensland Theatre Company; Stolen, which premiered at Playbox and has since toured both nationally and internationally; Romeo and Juliet for the Bell Shakespeare Company and 1975 for the Melbourne Workers' Theatre. While Resident Director with Sydney Theatre Company (STC), his productions included Black Medea, The Sunshine Club, Black-ed Up, and The Cherry Pickers, which toured to the UK. In 2002, STC remounted The 7 Stages of Grieving, co-written with Deborah Mailman. In 2004, Wesley directed Riverland, for Windmill Performing Arts, which was presented at the Adelaide and Perth International Festivals, and for Legs on the Wall, he directed Eora Crossing, a spectacular free outdoor event for the Sydney Festival. After directing The Sapphires for Melbourne Theatre Company and again for the Sydney Festival in 2005, he will direct Black Medea for Malthouse Theatre and Company B.
[ top ]Maryanne Sam (Erub)
A founding member of Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Co-operative, Maryanne has worked in numerous capacities, including Administrator, Production Manager, Director, and Project Coordinator and is currently an Executive Board Member. Her acting credits include Miracles (Playbox); Magpie, Up the Ladder, Hanoi/Melbourne, and Last Drinks (Melbourne Workers Theatre); Blood Sister (The Tide); and Opa – A Sexual Odyssey (OPA Productions). Her writing includes Oh My God I'm Black devised with Irine Vela and Patricia Cornelius (MWT), a national Handbook on the issues of Family Violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities, and is presently in development with her second writing project Unsettled Spirits (four short plays). Maryanne was the Indigenous Arts Officer At Arts Victoria (1996-97), was Coordinator of the Indigenous Performing Arts Course at Swinburne University (Prahran) and also operates an artists' agency called Indigenous Arts Management.
[ top ]AATI is grateful to the following organizations for their generosity and support of New Indigenous Voices 2005: Arts Victoria, Australia Council, Australian Consulate General, American Australian Association, Malthouse Theatre, Ilbijerri Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Theatre Cooperative, Hotel Chandler, Advance, AICH, Andrew Brennan, Westfield Garden State Plaza, Yellow Tail, W.J. Deutsche & Sons Ltd., Leann J. Edwards, Eric Gingold.