2024 Programs
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Image: Canberra Theatre Centre – About New Works Video
We continue supporting Canberra artists to create exciting new works in 2024
Creative Developments
New Works provides creative development residencies through application and curation, providing artist income and access to the Courtyard Studio and CTC team to develop work beyond the initial seed of an idea.
Liz Lea
Artist: Liz Lea, with Tammi Gissell
Work: Diamond
Dates: 15–19 January 2024
Liz spent a week in The Playhouse researching her new one woman show Diamond. The process supports continued immersive collaborative process with artists and scientists in Australia and Asia, informing the next iteration of her development as a performer, creator, and access provider – a reconnect with her past to move into the future. Diamond springs from the expansive analogy of the creation of rare and precious jewels over millions of years. Founded in a personal journey with Chronic Illness, Diamond becomes a reflection on resilience, longevity, and potential for brilliance that comes with age.
“It was such a thrill and honour to open the year in a venue like The Playhouse, begin research and cast the net wide with ideas with my collaborator Tammi Gissell. We connected online with Dramaturg Brian Lucas and musicians Toby Cole and Alexander Hunter. A myriad of new ideas and previously unseen connections, now settle into space for the next steps. Deeply grateful for the support from Canberra Theatre Centre and artsACT.” – Liz Lea
This creative development was supported by CTC’s New Works program and arts ACT project funding.
Nick Delatovic and Charley Allanah
Artists: Nick Delatovic and Charley Allanah, with Maeve Marsden, Adam Noviello, and Sara Zwangobani
Work: Must Go On
Dates: 8–13 April 2024
Venue: Courtyard Studio
Nick is a writer, theatre maker, songwriter, lead singer, performance artist, filmmaker, and arts producer working in cross-discipline, multi-arts-informed contexts. Charley is a director, theatre-maker, writer, and performer, and is Co-Artistic Director of House of Sand.
Must Go On is a queer indie-rock musical that began life in CTC’s inaugural New Ideas Lab in 2022. Nick has been developing the work with New Ideas Lab mentor and now collaborator Charley Allanah, with a development as part of Performance Space’s Live Dreams program in 2023. For this week of development they are working with director/ mentor Maeve Marsden (Queerstories) and performers Adam Noviello and Sara Zwangobani as part of the development team.
The work is set 30 years from now at the This-Is-Your-Life style celebration of a pop star, who is about to be destroyed and used as raw material for her fanbase to create a new, more acceptable version. The work aims to explore “the systems and cages we build when trying to love each other, the human drive toward deviance and the hope baked into our lack of control”.
Image: Buda
Charlie Wan
Artists: Charlie Wan with Emma Maye Gibson
Work: Shame
Dates: 8-9 May, 16 – 18 May 2024
Venue: Courtyard Studio
Drag King. Vaudeville Performer. Clown. Stripper. Producer. Choreographer. Activist. Wizard. Charlie Wan is a multi-faceted, genre bending performance artist who has been dancing and performing across the globe since the age of 15. The Chameleon Clown King of Character, Charlie embodies the art of authenticity. The director of a dance school built around empowering humans to see themselves through eyes of love, Charlie seeks to disempower the darkness through humour, levity and laughter, believing the best art should feel safe to lap up but never entirely comfortable. Now based in Canberra, Charlie is proudly working class British-Chinese, genderfluid, and an all-round silly goose.
During their time at CTC, Charlie will be working with the phenomenal Emma Maye Gibson (AKA Betty Grumble) as mentor to develop existing characters Daddy Charles and Distracto, as well as workshopping a new theatre show examining the intersection of arts, expression, and sex work with the working title “Shame”.
Sugar Kaye Sañejo Grefaldeo
Artist: Sugar Kaye Sañejo Grefaldeo, with Erika Jane Goldsmith and Richu John Kung
Work: Fortuna
Dates: 3 – 7 June 2024
Venue: Courtyard Studio
Sugar is originally from Manila, Philippines. She is a dance studio manager, performing artist, school dance teacher, and choreographer. Sugar is passionate about cultivating and promoting the indigenous and cultural dances of the Philippines and is actively involved in the Filipino-Australian Community. Since arriving in Australia she has trained in contemporary dance, afro, dancehall, and street latin styles.
Mentors Erika Jane Goldsmith – a Meanjin-based performing artist, producer, and cultural community development practitioner, and dancer Richu Jong Kung will join Sugar in Canberra for the development period. Development of this work also involves local community dance organisation Kulture Break to explore creative exchange and ways to navigate cultural protocols in contemporary dance storytelling contexts.
Fortuna is a one-woman dance theatre work about Sugar’s journey as a Filipino migrant to so-called Australia. Further, the work seeks to question the idea of ‘fortune’ (fortuna in Spanish). In the Philippines, people often say that ‘kung ano ang itinanim, siya’ng aanihin’ – what you reap is what you sow. But is it ‘chance’? What brings good fortune? What IS good fortune? Sugar’s dance journey began after a teacher from her school, Raffy Fortuna, saw her playing sports and invited her to join the school’s dance troupe. Raffy changed the course of her life and became a key mentor as her passion for dance grew. The work explores this relationship between student and mentor, the passing on of knowledge, and the cycle of giving back to mentors and community.
This development is presented in collaboration with Ausdance ACT.
Thea Jade
Artists: Thea Jade with Will Tran and Jessie Gooding
Work: How These Things Go
Dates: 21 June 2024
Venue: Courtyard Studio
Thea Jade is a writer and arts worker hailing from Ngunnawal land. Her work strives to champion the voices of young people, explore social change through storytelling and strengthen community through collaboration.
In 2024, Jade’s script How These Things Go (seeded as part of the New Ideas Lab 2023) spent a day in development in the courtyard studio working with 2 actors and a director for a closed reading and dramaturgical discussion. The work delves into the silent corners of the justice system, where in a remote witness room a young witness and her Court Bailiff wait to be live-streamed into the courtroom.
How These Things Go has been acknowledged nationally in 2024 as a Runner Up for the Rodney Seabourn Playwriting Award, shortlisted for the Katie Lees Fellowship and shortlisted for the Griffin Award.
Image: Ant Hellier
Michael Simic
Artists: Michael Simic with Tracy Bourne
Work: In the Belly of a Whale by Mikelangelo
Dates: 9 – 14 September 2024
Venue: Courtyard Studio
Mikelangelo is celebrated nationally and internationally as a solo artist, and with his long term group The Black Sea Gentlemen. A charming and compelling performer, known for his rich baritone voice and powerful and playful stage presence, he has played to packed houses and critical acclaim from the Sydney Opera House to London’s West End.
Mikelangelo is the alter ego of Canberra-born Michael Simic, who grew up in a household where creativity was instilled as fundamental by his parents and siblings. This joyful creative journey was shadowed by his Croatian father’s childhood trauma, which deeply impacted the family.
Becoming a husband and father himself has led Simic to radically alter his approach to making work, and the genesis of a new solo show, In The Belly Of A Whale. At CTC, he will collaborate with director Tracy Bourne on scenes and songs to build a draft script for the show. Thematically, it is part parable of parenthood, part psychic journey, and part investigation of the nature of on and off-stage personas. This poetic and absurdist piece moves between the personal and the mythical, delving into the construction of self image, and what happens when the stories we tell ourselves unravel.
New Ideas Lab
Four artists took part in the New Ideas Lab, allowing each artist to explore their idea in a collaborative context, working to develop the artistic concept and the creative planning for the work. Practice building sessions were led by a diverse group of professional mentors and Canberra Theatre Centre (CTC) staff, and each artists spent dedicated one-on-one time with their respective mentors to develop their ideas. To conclude the Lab, the artists re-pitched their ideas and presented their plan for the next stage of development, as well as sharing any script excerpts or storyboarding they had generated during the week.
Dates: 20 – 24 May 2024
Venues: Courtyard Studio and Playhouse Reception room
Artists and projects:
Artist: Linda Chen (She/Them)
Project Name: t(here)
Mentor: Yasemin Sabuncu
Artist: Gemma Hudson (She/Her)
Project Name: Creatures
Mentor: Andi Snelling
Artist: Fi Peel (They/Them)
Project Name: Glimmer of Hope
Mentor: Danielle O’Keefe
Artist: Isha Menon (They/Them)
Project Name: The Coming of Babaur
Mentor: Tasnim Hossain
Skills Development
Circa Workshop for Young Circus Artists
CTC is constantly looking for ways to engage meaningfully with our incredible local artists and organisation. To accompany the tour of Humans 2.0 at the Canberra Theatre Centre 2 – 4 May, Circa will present a workshop for selected participants with Warehouse Circus. Working closely with both Circa and Warehouse Circus, CTC is excited to be presenting this workshop opportunity to emerging artists in our region to develop their circus skills and gain insight from leading national circus artists.
Akram Khan Repertory Workshop
Sunday 4 February 2024, 2 – 4pm
Akram Khan Company dancer, Elpida Skourou, delivered a two-hour workshop to 30 emerging and professional dance artists from the ACT, NSW, Victoria and Queensland in February. This exclusive 2-hour workshop took participants through excerpts from AKC company class and taught repertoire excerpts from Jungle Book Reimagined. This was the only workshop held during the Akram Khan Company’s Australia tour, and a very special experience for our local artists.
Presented in collaboration with QL2 Dance and Ainslie and Gorman Arts Centres.
Mentor Chats
As part of New Works commitment to sector development, CTC connects local artists to world class professional artists to learn from connection and conversation.
Local musician Lisa Richards writes and performs music that delves deep into the tapestry of human experience, connection, and emotion. Her guitar-based songs are steeped in folk, roots, and jazz music. Lisa had the opportunity to attend Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier’s Songs from the Book of Life performance in February 2024, followed by a 2 hour mentoring session with Deborah Conway. She reflects on her experience here.
You can find out more about Lisa and her work here: https://www.lisarichardsmusic.com/
Sarah Stewart with Georgie Carroll.
Local storyteller and comedian Sarah Stewart writes and performs comedy that it drawn straight from the heart of her life experiences. Sarah had the opportunity to attend a performance of Adelaide based comedian Nurse Georgie Carroll in November 2024, followed by a 2-hour in person mentor chat with Georgie.
Industry Networking
CHIPS DIPS AND SIPS – INDUSTRY GATHERING
Wednesday 9 October, 4pm – 6pm
Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre
Joshua Lowe, Co-CEO of Theatre Network Australia (TNA), a leading body for advocacy and research for live performance, provided an update on the state of national live performance landscape as well as facilitating some provocative conversations. He was joined by local artists, producers, and arts sector advocates providing local updates by representatives from The Minister’s Creative Council, The Childers Group, You Are Here Canberra, The Mill Theatre, Music in Exile, and CTC’s New Works Program.
Supported Works
New Works is supporting a number of independent Canberra artists and organisations in 2024 to develop and present work at Canberra Theatre Centre, including:
- Canberra Youth Theatre
– Work, But This Time Like You Mean it - QL2 Dance
–Subject to Change - Australian Dance Party
– Co_Lab: 24 - Show within a Show
– Only Everything