Posts tagged Blue Mountains
The Red Dust with Marian St Theatre for Young People - back on!

After many pandemic delays and false starts, The Red Dust is back on (tickets here)! Reimagined as an intimate physical theatre performance alongside the original vision of music, poetry and text, the show will be performed at Ku-Ring-Gai Town Hall with elders from Chinese Australian Services Society (CASS).

Our team has changed up a little but it’s still being directed and composed by the tireless Nate Gilkes, with traditional Chinese music composition and performance by Dr Nicholas Ng, movement and choreography by Jia-wei Zhu, lighting design by Benjamin Brockman, assistant direction by Alexandra Sharps, and subtitles in Mandarin and English by the team at the Institute of Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture at Western Sydney University, headed by Professor Jing Han.

The show follows Chinese Australian teen Talia in a near future where Sydney is continuously covered by a red dust storm. Much like the Chinese term hóng chén 红尘, which refers to the world of desires and distractions, Talia is often so distracted by ‘the red dust’ of her online life that she neglects to realise her climate scientist mother has gone missing on a trip to find the last blue gum trees. Through poetry, music, dance and physical theatre, Talia is challenged with ‘seeing through the red dust’ as she embarks on a journey to the Blue Mountains to find her mother.

We just started rehearsals and I’m so excited to be working with the kids at Marian St, as well as Robyn Clark, who will play the lead role of Talia.

Where: Ku-ring-gai Town Hall, 1186 Pacific Hwy, Pymble NSW 2073, Australia

When: Wednesday 13th July 10.30am and 1.30pm, Thursday 14th July 10.30am and 1.30pm, Friday 15th July 1.30pm and 7.30pm, and Saturday 16th July 7.30pm

Who: All ages!

Cost: $20

Tickets: Here!

The Red Dust with Marian St Theatre for Young People + Writer in Residence

I’m so very excited to share the details about my first big show, The Red Dust at Marian St Theatre for Young People! I’ve been working on this show with Artistic Director Nate Gilkes for over a year now, and I’m very excited that it’s going to have its world premiere at The Concourse in Chatswood in September. The show will feature poetry, music, dance and animations, performers from the Chinese Australian Senior Service (CASS) and subtitling from the Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture at Western Sydney University. It would be great if you came along! Details below, and you can book here:

Where: Chatswood Concourse, 409 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW, 2067

When: 10:30 and 1pm on 22nd September, and 2pm and 6pm on 23rd September

Who: Recommended for ages 8+

Cost: $35 each, or $30 per person in a group of 4 (all attendees over 24 months must have a ticket)

I’m also the Writer in Residence this year at Marian St, and I’m looking forward to mentoring three Young Artists in Residence over the remainder of the year. They’re all very talented folks and I’m very excited to be working with them.

WestWords/Varuna Fellowship 2020
Clockwise: myself, Nicole Cadelina, Libby Hyett and Samara Lo

Clockwise: myself, Nicole Cadelina, Libby Hyett and Samara Lo

Recently I was lucky enough to receive a WestWords/Varuna Fellowship to spend a week at the historic Varuna completing the first draft of NAT/JESSIE/JIMMY, a poetic music narrative with music by Paul Castles. NAT/JESSIE/JIMMY is a meditation on the overlap of experience between Asian, queer and Wiradjuri characters and was earlier shortlisted for programs at Playwriting Australia and ABC. I’m very much looking forward to getting my teeth into it with mentor Wai Chim and meeting the other fabulous residents—Nicole Cadelina (screenwriter), Samara Lo (middle grade novel) and Libby Hyett (young adult novel)!