Writers undertaking NIDA’s Writing for Performance MFA program will present a thirty minute excerpt from their full length plays, screen and radio plays over the course of two nights.
Dr Stephen Sewell (Head of Writing for Performance, National Institute of Dramatic Art) will introduce the evening, and then each writer will introduce their piece with a brief overview prior to the reading.
Frederick J Gibson Graduate Season in memory of Garnet H Carroll OBE
THE KICK
By Michael Costi
Now you look me in the eyes and tell me it was ‘just a game’
THE KICK is an Australian comedy that follows the bizarre odyssey of Cookie ‘the rookie’ Gilchrist, former star of a prestigious North Shore boarding school. Captain of the Saint Seb’s rugby team, Cookie was destined for greatness…until he missed the kick that would’ve won the premiership.
Now in his forties, Cookie is forced to re-live his mistake at his thirty year school reunion. However, Cookie’s luck is about to change, as he is given the opportunity of a lifetime. A former school mate has invented a time machine that will send Cookie Gilchrist back to 1984, for 30 seconds, to retake the kick and reverse history.
Cast
Skip Saunders – Jack Ellis
Olivia Gilchrist – Imogen Morgan
Cookie Gilchrist – Jamie Oxenbould
Macca Hunt – Rhett Walton
Matty Mercer – Ben Wood
SCOUT
By Angela Collins
A motley crew of Scouts and Girl Guides navigate growing up in this wacky coming-of-age romp.
Milly’s a goody-two shoes Girl Guide attending her first combined Scouts and Guides camp in the Belanglo State Forest. Over a single weekend, she makes new friends, a couple of enemies, hears a scary story about a man called Milat, and tries to cling to familiar territory as some uncharted memories threaten to bubble to the surface the deeper she ventures into the great Aussie bush.
Cast
Milly – Sophie Wilde
Mickey – Badaidilaga Maftuh-Flynn
Crunchy – Brontë Sparrow
Spud – Tom Russell
Rod – Jeremi Campese
Counsellor 1/Gertrude – Nick Drummond
Counsellor 2/Starr – Mabel Li
Stage Directions – Ella Prince
WHOSE UTERUS IS IT ANYWAY?
By Georgina Adamson
“What happens when an IUD, HRT, an STI and an abortion walk into a bar?”
Have you ever wanted to take a peek at the privatest privates of complete strangers?
Have a squiz at their naughty bits? A geez at their ganders? Well now you can!
Four people have made appointments here at the reproductive health clinic and will now compete to receive their treatments.
Our contestants are Mary the nun, Michelle the wine-mum, Lila the millennial and our dark horse Tom.
What prizes will they receive? Maybe an IUD? An STI? An abortion? You’ll have to tune in to find out.
Cast
Mary – Melissa Kahramen
Michelle – Alison Chambers
Lila – Eve Beck
Tom – Nyx Calder
Host – Fabian Mccallum
Stage Directions – Roman Delo
BIRD SONG
By Suvi Derkenne
A tapestry of family memories embroidered with bird song
With the announcement that her parents are divorcing, five year old ruth says goodbye to her best friend william. years later they rekindle their romance,
but ruth struggles to escape the traumas of the past. bird song is a play with words, a performance for sound and radio.
Cast
Ruth – Mabel Li
Mum – Natalie Freeman
Dad – Patrick James Howe
William – Joseph Marcus Althouse
Womyn/wife – Barbara Papathanasopowulos
Creative Direction – Andrew Fraser
Sound Design – Mattison Tabone
HALFWAY
By Sarah Odillo Maher
Your 20’s are supposed to be the best years of your life, but what if they’re not? What if you’ve taken a wrong turn and can’t find your way back?
Welcome to Halfway, an inner city share-house where the only certainty is uncertainty. A drama series about a disparate group of 20-somethings, Halfway is about navigating the muddy waters of love, life and relationships while trying to work out what the hell you’re doing.
Cast
TBC
THE BESTIARY: PART 1
By Hannah Tonks
The Arts celebrates our difference, Aesthetics transcends them.
A group of friends in a dead-end town, full of creative potential but completely stagnant.
For Valerie the decision is clear, keep fighting for creative fulfilment or surrender to a mundane life in the public service.
Their artistic futures seem bleak until an upstart Minister, Oswald Emerson, arrives on the scene. He promises drastic change and the opening of a new, state of the art facility called ‘The Institution’.
The Minister for Aesthetics is bold, charismatic and very, very likeable; His aim is to unify Australia, once and for all. But what is the Ministry for Aesthetics? Can Oswald be trusted?
Is the Institution really as wonderful as it seems? One thing is for certain, the Arts in Australia will never be the same.
Cast
Valerie – Chantel Leseberg
Harry – Edward Skaines
Knife – Alex Chalwell
Chloe – Alexandra Morgan
Oswald – James Lugton
Prime Minister – Mark Langham
Stage Directions – Lloyd Allison Young
