The Philip Parsons Memorial Lecture & Young Playwright‟S Award
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Media Release November 2012 Belvoir presents The Philip Parsons Memorial Lecture & Young Playwright‟s Award BELVOIR ST THEATRE | UPSTAIRS SUNDAY 2 DECEMBER 2012 This year Andrew Upton, who has been Co Artistic Director of Sydney Theatre Company since 2008 and becomes Artistic Director in 2013, will present the annual Philip Parsons Memorial Lecture. In his lecture entitled The Resonating Space, he will discuss how theatre must evolve with our culture and live in a contemporary context. „Theatre exists in the present,‟ Upton emphasises. „While theatre has a profound history and ties to our shared culture, it‟s not a bookish history. It‟s more important to tell stories for today‟s audience than to be faithful to history. When adapting a script I choose language that speaks to our contemporary audience, but that resonates with the history of the play. Theatre is „a monster that forgets‟ as Dion Boucicault wept. It is a resonating space that must be re-tuned by every generation and then played on human gut strings that link us all the way back to the caves. „The creation of a production has to be viewed holistically. No one element can be given more import than the production, which is always greater than the sum of its parts.‟ The Young Playwright‟s Award winner will be announced at the conclusion of the lecture. The Young Playwright‟s Award is given annually to an outstanding writer under 35 years of age who will receive a writer‟s commission supported by Belvoir. Past winners include Matthew Whittet, whose play Old Man was part of Belvoir‟s 2012 Season, Brendan Cowell whose play Ruben Guthrie was part of Belvoir‟s 2009 Season, and Kate Mulvany whose play The Seed was part of Belvoir‟s 2008 season and toured nationally. The 2012 finalists are: Kit Brookman for Heaven Joanna Erskine for K.I.J.E. Philip Spencer for Boxing Day Tim Spencer for Show Me Yours, I’ll Show You Mine Rick Viede for A Hoax An embargoed announcement of the winner will be available in the last week of November. The Philip Parsons Young Playwright‟s Award is supported by Arts NSW and Currency House. For media information contact publicist Elly Michelle Clough [email protected] | + 61 (0)2 8396 6242 | 0407 163 921 Media Release November 2012 NOTES FOR EDITORS EVENT DETAILS Date Sunday 2 December 2012 Tickets $10 Venue Belvoir St Theatre | 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills Bookings 02 9699 3444 or belvoir.com.au BELVOIR INFORMATION The name of our company is Belvoir, not the Belvoir, Belvoir Theatre or Belvoir Theatre Company. Belvoir St Theatre is our venue. BIOGRAPHIES ANDREW UPTON Andrew Upton‟s association with Sydney Theatre Company spans 13 years and he has been Co-Artistic Director since January 2008. He becomes Artistic Director in January 2013. As writer, his first adaptation for STC was Edmond Rostand‟s Cyrano de Bergerac which debuted in 1999 and was reprised at Melbourne Theatre Company in 2005. His adaptation of Moliere‟s Don Juan was produced by STC in 2001. A third major adaptation, Hedda Gabler, was staged by STC in 2004 and toured to New York in early 2006. His adaptation of Anton Chekhov‟s The Cherry Orchard was presented by STC in 2005. In 2010 his adaptation of Chekhov‟s Uncle Vanya was presented at Sydney Theatre. The production toured to the United States in 2011 and 2012 to acclaim and was named the best play of the year by Washington Post critic Peter Marks, after what he described as the strongest year of theatre in a decade. In The New York Times, Ben Brantley declared that he considered the three hours of the show “among the happiest of my theatergoing life”. Other works for STC include his play Riflemind, staged as part of the 2007 STC main stage season, and in London in 2008 for the Ambassador Theatre Group. He has a long association with the National Theatre of Great Britain. His adaptation of Maxim Gorky's Philistines was presented there in 2007, and his adaptation of Bulgakov‟s The White Guard was commissioned and presented by the National in 2010. Andrew‟s own production of The White Guard was presented by STC in 2011, and later in that year his adaptation of Chekhov‟s The Cherry Orchard was presented by the National and subsequently broadcast internationally as part of the cinema program NT Live. In 2007 Andrew adapted the Luigi Pirandello play Right You Are (If You Think You Are), which was staged by Francesco Vezzoli at the Guggenheim Museum. In 2008 he wrote the libretto to Alan John‟s opera Through The Looking Glass (Malthouse Theatre & Victorian Opera) which won best New Operatic Work at the 2008 Green Room Awards. He has also directed for STC, including David Mamet‟s Reunion in 2006, part two of 2009‟s The Mysteries, Eugene O‟Neill‟s Long Day’s Journey Into Night in 2010 which toured successfully to the United States following its Sydney season, and The White Guard presented by STC in 2011. In 2013 he will direct Joanna Murray-Smith‟s new play, Fury, and with Benedict Andrews he will adapt Jean Genet‟s The Maids. KIT BROOKMAN Kit trained as an actor at NIDA, graduating in 2008. He has performed for Sydney Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare, Sydney Opera House and in numerous independent productions. He is a founding member of the playwrights‟ collective ISM. Kit‟s credits includes: writer/director Heaven (ISM/Old 505 Theatre), assistant director Babyteeth and Private Lives (Belvoir), PWA Associate Playwright (Belvoir). Kit was shortlisted for the 2011 Inscription/Albee Foundation Award, his play Close was shortlisted for the Patrick White Playwright‟s Award and the Griffin Award. His new play Small and Tired was also shortlisted for the Griffin Award. Kit will direct Small and Tired for Belvoir next year and Night Maybe will be produced by Stuck Pig Squealing at Theatreworks in Melbourne. Media Release November 2012 JOANNA ERSKINE Joanna is a graduate of the NIDA Playwright‟s Studio and previous winner of the Sydney Theatre Company Young Playwright‟s Award. She has undertaken residencies with La Mama NYC in Umbria, Playwriting Australia, the Bundanon Trust and Shopfront Theatre, has been a delegate at World Interplay and a core writer for ATYP‟s Fresh Ink in 2010. Joanna‟s credits include: K.I.J.E. (Old Fitzroy Theatre), Boot (ATYP‟s Tell It Like It Isn‟t), Bye Bye Baby (Slide Bar), Little Mouse, Ham & Eg (Brand Spanking New), Clippings (NIDA), Foot (Griffin Theatre‟s 24 hour Play Generator), Baby Doll (Stories from the 428) and Midsummer Madness and Macbeth: Undone (Bell Shakespeare Learning). Boot was commissioned to be adapted to film by director Damien Power for ATYP‟s The Voices Project, has screened at Dungog and Cockatoo Island Film Festival and was a finalist in the You Tube Your Film Festival this year. Joanna is a member of playwriting collective, ISM. RICK VIEDE Rick is a writer and performer. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University and a Graduate Diploma in Screenwriting from AFTRS. He is well known for his satirical character Glace Chase, who has performed at B Sharp, Melbourne Comedy Festival, Mardi Gras Festival, The Butterfly Club and Feast Festival and was shortlisted for Movie Network‟s WebFest for Glace Chase vs NY. Rick‟s credits include: Whore (Belvoir, New York‟s Summer Play Festival) and A Hoax (Griffin Theatre Company/La Boite Theatre Company). Rick has won the Griffin Award twice, in 2008 for Whore and in 2011 for A Hoax and the Queensland Premier‟s Literary Award for Whore. PHIL SPENCER Since graduating in 2007 from the University of Glasgow, Phil has worked professionally as a writer, performer, director and festival director in both the UK and Australia. Phil is Associate Artistic Director at Tamarama Rock Surfers Theatre Company & Co-Artistic Director of Tin Shed Theatre Company. His credits as a writer include: Boxing Day (Tin Shed, MakeBeLive & TRS, The Old Fitzroy Theatre & regional NSW tour), The Night The Roses Grew (Home Brew Festival 2012), Pelvis (Home Brew Festival 2011), Mike (ATYP and published by Currency Press), Kansas (Home Brew Festival 2010), Yolk (Brand Spanking New), Power of Poetry (Poetry in Action Schools Touring Show), Fit For A King (Brand Spanking New & The Arches), Cardboard Castle (Imagine Festival, Sydney and The Arches & Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Collisions Can Be Painful (West End Festival, Glasgow). As writer/performer: The Great Apeth (The Horse‟s Mouth Festival, The Old Fitzroy Theatre), Bluey (Melbourne fringe festival, Sydney Theatre Company, The Old Fitzroy Theatre. Battersea Arts Centre, London. The Arches, Glasgow), Shop Lifters of the World (Carriageworks, Sydney). As festival director Phil curates and produces the monthly scratch night Cut & Paste (with Zoe Norton Lodge), he founded the annual Home Brew Festival and is the Festival Director for The Horse’s Mouth (a bi-annual festival of autobiographical performance works) and is Co-Director of Bondi Feast Festival. TIM SPENCER Tim is an actor, writer and theatre maker. Whilst studying a Bachelor of Arts/Commerce he performed and directed numerous shows at Sydney University Dramatic Society. In 2010 the performance he created in Shopfront Theatre's ArtsLab Words They Make with their Mouths won the People's Choice Award in the Adelaide Fringe Festival. In the same year he wrote and performed in I Scare My 6 Year Old Self (Underbelly Arts) At the Drive In (Shopfront Theatre) and The Pursued, The Pursuing, The Busy and the Tired (Brand Spanking New). Since co-founding Bambina Borracha Productions he has produced, written and performed for shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide including Beyond the Neck (B Sharp) and Under Milk Wood (Sidetrack Theatre).