Okay, time for the six-month round-up. I’ve
just looked back at some of our previous round-ups. Put together, they provide a
fascinating example of the on-going joys, banalities (i.e. Hard Slog! Boring But
Necessary Tasks!), large (WOOT!) and small (woot!) triumphs, hopes and expectations, both confirmed
and dashed in the play-writing life in Oz in this early part of the
twenty-first century. It’s interesting to be participating in an accidental
social history….
DONNA
I’ve been working as a full time
narrative writer at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child
Sexual Abuse since September last year. I’ve learned the art of writing
narratives that convey the voice and experience of survivors, and reckon that I
must’ve written in excess of 80,000 words during my time there. The 3500+
narratives that our team have written will be available for the public to read
when the Commission’s report is tabled in December.
The need to work full time, and to also
juggle teaching and mentoring commitments, has meant no time or headspace for
dramatic writing. However, I did manage to clear two periods of about a week to
do a writing/research binge on my plays-in-progress The Secret Warzone and
Flame Tree Street which exist as prototypes, as rough as guts zero
drafts which is the best I can do until time becomes available in the months
ahead.
Teaching, mentoring and dramaturgy have
otherwise kept me busy. I ran the Page to Stage playwriting course at the
National Theatre of Parramatta, and continued to be part of the Artistic
Advisory Council of Milk Crate Theatre. I began mentoring a young writer
through the Starlight Foundation, and worked as a dramaturge on the Iqbal Barkat’s
project Terrorist/Apostate which had a showing at the Riverside Theatres
at Parramatta. I also delivered a speech to this year’s HSC Drama Students
during the WritersOnStage event at the Seymour Centre which ATYP later
published online.
Ending a tortuous era, I graduated from
the University of Wollongong with a doctorate in April that evolved my
playwriting knowledge and practice. And a couple of weeks ago, I saw the
bright-eyed acting students at Charles Sturt University perform my adaptation Tales
from The Arabian Nights with a gravitas I did not know was possible.
VANESSA
I
have often remarked (whinged, actually) on the up and down life of the fancy
free, freelance and fairly fab life of the playwright. Sometimes you are up amidst the clouds and
tweety birds and sometimes you fall so far down it feels like you’re digging
out the mud from your back teeth.
This
six months is no exception but a couple of jolly things have recently happened
which makes things more tweety bird than muddy teeth.
The
first is that my 2016 play Trailer
just received an AWGIE nomination. Yay. And especial yay because I am in the
most marvellous company including my brilliant fellow 7-ONner, Noelle.
The
second is that my new play Captain
Dalisay has been included in Playwriting Australia’s Duologue scheme which
means I get to work with awesome dramaturg Jane FitzGerald. Woohoo!
I’m
still working on A Ghost In My Suitcase
for Barking Gecko and actually I had a fantastic workshop this year in Perth
with Artistic Director Matt Edgerton and the cast and creatives – more please!
And I’m writing an adaption of The Magic
Pudding which is excellent fun and has honed my baking skills not a whit.
But
maybe the thing that is the most tweety bird of all is that it has been 12
months since my sister was operated on for tongue cancer. And she is officially
cancer free and doing great! She is so vibrantly alive and so fantastically
well and how can I not be flying high and happy as a result?
HILARY
It’s
been a Cadbury’s Assorted kind of year so far, with many things going on. The
main event has been my musical adaptation of Shaun Tan’s The Red Tree, for the National Theatre of Parramatta. Working with
composer Greta Gertler Gold, an old friend who lives in New York, has been a
joy. It feels like one of those special projects where the gods smile and
things just work. Neil Gooding is directing, James Browne designing, and it
features Nicola Bowman and a fabulous band. We have a second creative development
in August and open in October: watch this space.
I
wrote the script for a little film for ACON’s website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4mQPatNFXE&feature=youtu.be A happy
collaboration with Maxi Shield, the AIDS Council of NSW and Frost.
Seven
Stories,
created with Ensemble Offspring, video artist Sarah Jane Woulahan and seven
composers, all women, went off at the City Recital Hall in June, and we’re now
looking at a future life for it.
This
past month I’ve had the pleasure of indulging my fascination with Sydney
history on a project with the State Library of NSW. I’ve been teaching for
Griffin, the NSW Writers’ Centre and PlayWriting Australia’s Muru Salon. And I
collaborated on Justine Clarke’s Look
Look It’s A Gobbledygook, now playing at the Opera House, where I fulfilled
a long-held dream: writing songs with Peter Dascent for Justine to sing.
NOËLLE
I
finished The Book of Thistles and
sent the manuscript to the publisher in February. Researching and writing it
has been a long haul and a huge part of my life. I almost didn’t know what to
do with myself in the weeks immediately following its completion. Fortunately,
I had a trip to London booked for March/April and when I got home, there were
the various stages of book production to occupy me—editing, proof reading,
cover design, marketing blurb, etc. The
Book of Thistles is part accidental memoir, part environmental history and
part exploration of the performative voice for the page. It fuses essay,
monologue, poetry, digressions and archival collage and it will be out in
October. Very exciting and more than a little terrifying.
What
else? I’ve been working on a radio script for the ABC. Good With Maps had a short Sydney return at Belvoir Street Theatre
to help raise funds for its Edinburgh Fringe season in August. And Teacup in a Storm, which was produced
last year by The Q/Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, has been nominated
for a 2017 AWGIE Award (Community and Youth Theatre). Which is especially sweet
as I’ve just started work on a new theatre project with The Q/Joan Sutherland
Performing Arts Centre.
VERITY
My
day job during the last six months has been to continue my PhD in political
theatre (Creative Arts PhD) at Flinders University, which is both fun and a
challenge. But it’s reasonably early days as yet. My Candidature was only
confirmed last November, so I have much more work to do before I can feel
comfortable in this new jungle.
In
April 2017, Brink Productions produced my semi-verbatim play, Long Tan. This has been a long journey
for me (yes, I know that’s a cliché!): more than three years, lots of hard yakka,
and much learning. But. In the end, we had a beautiful play about a very
difficult and complex subject. We were rewarded with great audience and
critical response. I was very proud of what we all – director, creative team,
actors and production team – achieved. And the response from the veterans who
were able to be there for first night was especially meaningful for me.
A
poem of mine, Kangarilla, Summer, 2016
was featured in Black Inc’s, Best
Australian Poems, 2016. The poem commemorated someone I and those close to
me loved very much. If ever a poem of mine were to succeed, I would have wanted
it to be this one. So that, too, was a moment.
NED
The
first six months of 2017 have been as challenging as any I can remember. I
started my third new teaching job in three years. It’s been a wild old ride.
Three years ago I surprisingly found myself teaching part time at Melbourne
Grammar, of all places. Then last year at the grandly named but curiously administered
Australian Performing Arts Grammar School and, finally, this year at
International Grammar School.
What
has made this year challenging is that at my ripe old age I find myself
teaching full time with the most demanding timetable I have ever had. What it
has meant is that I have had to abandon a number of writing projects or, at the
very least, to defer them. I realised that teaching 31 periods a week along
with 3 playground duties and numerous other tasks wasn’t going to leave me much
time for writing.
When
I say abandoning projects I mean I haven’t had the energy to pursue production
options that in years past I would have pursued. Specifically, with Tsunami, a play that I’m very proud of
but which I fear will never see the light of day.
I
haven’t got the energy to rail against the dying of that light anymore. I have
instead focussed on short-form writing that I can manage in the time
constraints I am confronted with. These have taken the shape of articles for
various publications, mainly focusing on Education and Teaching (www.nedmanning.com).
The
one big project I am ploughing on with is my novel. That I will never abandon
Fortunately,
school holidays and the odd weekend provide me with time to return to it I
don’t know if anyone will ever read it, but I do know that I am loving writing
it.
I
also know that 7ON remains the beacon of hope in an otherwise personally
depressingly dark theatre landscape.
Our
new project is going to be a cracker.
On
another note, while I was wallowing in self-pity about my playwriting career, I
received this note. It was strangely reassuring.
“Dear Ned,
I am the speech and Drama Coordinator at
Ascham School in Edgecliff. We run a large program of about 480 students
through the school. Every year our students sit Trinity College London
Examinations and enter the Sydney Eisteddfod. This evening a group of our
15year olds performed monologues in the eisteddfod. One of our students had
chosen a piece from your play Luck of
the Draw. It’s a popular choice each year, the girls really enjoy it. I
just thought you may like to know that she won first place with her piece,
playing Pearl, out of about 20 performances. Thank you for writing such
wonderful Australian drama that our girls can learn through.
Kind regards, Kerryn” (Bick)
Where
there’s life there’s hope I guess!
CATH
Owing
to full-time study, part-time work, making visual art and parenting, this time
round Cath is just going to refer you all to her wonderful website http://catherine-zimdahl.squarespace.com
This is
less a news avenue, more a glimpse into a wild, free, quirky mind. I can
recommend it!
Verity, for 7-ON
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