Welcome and Show Information

Welcome and show information Welcome to this audio introduction to Straight White Men, presented by State Theatre Company of South Australia and La Boite Theatre Company, and directed by Nescha Jelk. American playwright Young Jean Lee describes herself as a ‘woman of colour’ and has written this play to explore the role and identity of white males in the 21st century and their historical position of privilege.

Set in New York, widowed father Ed welcomes his three adult sons – Matt, Jake and Drew – home for Christmas. Here, family history, individual needs and current tensions collide. Lee has added a female Stagehand who interacts with both audience and actors in the present time, interposing between the action, the acting and the reception both at the start and in subsequent Act changes.

Please note that very loud hip-hop music is played in the auditorium from when the doors are opened until the start of the play. I mean LOUD music. As a result, there will be no Pre-show Notes over the headphones prior to the show, with the information made available during the Touch Tour instead. Audio Description users are therefore encouraged to attend the Touch Tour one hour prior to the show.

The audio described performances will take place on Saturday the 16th July at 2pm with a pre-show touch tour at 1pm and on Tuesday 19th July 2016 at 6:30pm, with a touch tour at 5:30pm. Straight White men runs for approximately one and a half hours with no interval and the live audio description will be given by Carol Wellman-Kelly and Jo Ankor.

There now follows descriptions of the set, characters and costumes, and a list of cast and production credits.

For this play, the seating in the Space Theatre fills two adjacent sides with the set on the diagonal, defined by a large square of cream carpet.

The action takes place in the beige-themed living room of Ed’s stylish apartment. Central is a low dark-wood coffee table with a square-shaped cream three-seater lounge directly behind it and behind that, three steps leading up to a hallway. To the right of the lounge is a matching single lounge chair. A white and silver patterned cushion sits tidily on each chair. To the left of the coffee table is a Danish-modern- style blond timber and white leather chair and footstool. A remote-control lies on the coffee table.

Behind the lounge, three wide steps lead up to a carpeted hallway with two adjacent white wooden doors opposite the steps. The left door opens onto a laundry with washing machine and drier, scattered shoes and clothing, and shelves of towels. The right door opens onto the toilet. Small pictures decorate the wall of the hallway and a string of Christmas cards stretches across the opening above the steps.

Either side of the steps, the living room walls are a neutral cream colour. On the left side is a white fireplace and mantelpiece. On the mantelpiece, two white lamps flank

Introductory Notes Audio Description: Straight White Men Access2Arts 2016 a collection of Christmas cards and a small Nativity set. Four Christmas stockings of differing sizes are suspended from the mantelpiece and on the floor are two storage boxes holding Christmas decorations. A large landscape painting in soft blues, whites and ochres hangs on the further wall beyond the fireplace.

Against the right-hand wall stands a tall combined bookshelf and desk in dark timber. An old-fashioned leather-upholstered office chair is drawn up to the desk and books and photographs crowd the shelves. Boxed game sets are piled on the top while an old-style green desk lamp lights the writing space. Next to the desk several filing boxes are stacked behind a wastepaper basket.

Characters and Costume:

Characters and costumes (in order of appearance):

The STAGE HAND IN CHARGE is in her early 30’s with dark hair tied back and wearing a head-set and receiver. She is dressed in all black; a bodice/corset with silver clasps, skin-tight leather pants, long socks pulled up over her knees with knee-high boots and long black fingerless gloves to her elbows. She wears silver neck chains and large hoop earrings and speaks directly to the audience, introducing herself as a female performer of aboriginal decent.

JAKE is in his early forties, well built, athletic and clean-shaven. He is dressed in a new pair of dark-blue close fitting jeans, a purple sweater over a blue striped collared shirt, black socks and no shoes. His receding hair is crew cut and he wears a heavy gold neck chain. Later, Jake wears overly large red Santa pants and coat over his day wear, with the coat unbuttoned. In Act 3 Jake is dressed for jogging, in grey shorts and T-shirt over black stretch leggings, a black headband covering his ears, fashionable black running shoes with bright orange soles and a black down vest.

Youngest brother, DREW, is in his late thirties with slim build. His unkempt straight brown hair continually falls over his face and he sports a trimmed beard and moustache. He wears dark slim-fit jeans, an untucked red and black checked flannel shirt, and black high-top Converse sneakers.

Oldest brother MATT is in his mid forties, taller than his brothers, with curly brown hair and a gentle face. In his baggy worn blue jeans, mushroom-brown zip-up synthetic jacket and untucked white t-shirt, he appears slightly dishevelled. He wears with brown socks and no shoes.

ED, their father, is in his 70s with a shock of white hair neatly groomed and parted on one side. His green cord trousers are belted and his brown cardigan is buttoned up over a white shirt. Ed wears frameless glasses, black loafer style slippers and a wedding ring on his left hand. Later, he dons a hand-knitted burgundy Christmas cardigan patterned with reindeers and Xmas trees.

The characters make slight changes of shirt, jumper or trousers during the play.

Production Credits

Cast 2 Ed – Roger Newcombe Matt – Hugh Parker Jake – Chris Pitman Drew – Lucas Stibbard Stage-hand – Alexis West

Production Director – Nescha Jelk Set and costume design – Victoria Lamb Lighting designer – Ben Hughes Composer – Busty Beatz Fight choreographer – Duncan Maxwell Stage Manager – Gabrielle Hornhardt Sound – Andrew Howard

Access Information Straight White Men is performed in the Space Theatre of the Adealide Festival Centre. Access is trhough the Dunstan Playhouse foyer. If you would like to use the audio description service, please make sure you request it when booking tickets through Bass.

To attend the pre-show touch tour, please meet in the Space foyer one hour prior to show time. Headsets will be available during the touch tour and from the foyer up until the performance starts.

The Space theatre is guide dog friendly and there are accessible toilets in the venue. One is close to the Space foyer and another is between Door 1 and the stairs to the Art space.

When planning your trip to the venue, please note that the Adelaide Festival Centre car park has disability parking spaces, which can be booked through Bass, by calling 131246. The car park provides lift access to both levels of the car park for your convenience. To obtain a disability car park you must have a disability-parking permit displayed in the window of your car. There are also two disability parks in front of the Festival Theatre and two disability parks in front of the Drama Centre, which are available on a first-in basis. Again, a disability-parking permit must be displayed in the window of your car. Train – the Dunstan playhouse is a short walk from the Adelaide Railway Station. Tram – the tram stops on North Terrace by the train station.

This completes this audio introduction. It has been produced by Carol Wellmann- Kelly and Jo Ankor for Access2Arts. For more information on audio described performances please contact Access2Arts using the email address [email protected] or speak to the audio describer at the theatre.

Introductory Notes Audio Description: Straight White Men Access2Arts 2016