And BEN ANDERSON present THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS, QUEEN OF HEAVEN BY JO CLIFFORD

30 APR - 8 may THEATRE WORKS 14 ACLAND STREET, ST KILDA THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO WRITER’S NOTE | JO CLIFFORD When I first wrote and performed Queen Jesus in Glasgow, back in 2009, I was afraid people JESUS, QUEEN might find her dull. I was wrong about that. OF HEAVEN I was very frightened and distressed by all the hatred she inspired back then. Hatred that came in from all over the world. 30 APR - 8 mAY But the hate taught me her words mattered and I should work to keep her alive. THEATRE WORKS So I did. And I discovered that performing her was a powerful act of resistance against the 14 ACLAND STREET, ST KILDA shame and fear that had possessed me since the time I was a child and knew that I wasn’t a boy.

A shame that touches everybody. Because none of us quite measure up to the gender we’re supposed to be.

And since then she’s helped many others resist in so many places in the world.

All over the UK, all over Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Cabo Verde, Belfast, Brussels and Berlin. And here she is incarnate in the magnificent Kristen Smyth and opening in .

That is so wonderful.

And opening to the same hatred, expressed in the same words, as in Glasgow.

Because hatred cannot change.

But love… love is creative.

Love changes everything… DIRECTOR’S NOTE | KITAN PETKOVSKI I can still recall the emotional mess that I was upon reading Jo Clifford’s The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven. I was in Glasgow about halfway through my secondment at the National Theatre of Scotland and movement director Skye Reynolds mentioned Jo’s work and suggested I got in touch. Jo emailed me a copy of her script that same evening and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Queen Jesus brings wisdom, courage and resilience. She reminds us to love, support and accept our differences. She encourages us to bring light to dark places and to let it shine. Kristen Smyth is the epitome of Queen Jesus, she’s one of the most graceful and brave people I know, and this Melbourne production only exists because of her. Thank you Jo for trusting me with your words and to my dream team for joining me on this epic journey.

This is the time, this is the place - welcome and enjoy.

PERFORMER’S NOTE | KRISTEN SMYTH Kitan and I were having coffee in the Malthouse after graduating in 2019. It was March 2020, just days before the world stopped turning and Kitan showed me this play. Have a read, he said, so I read The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven and we both wept and then he asked me if I’d like to perform it and I said yes, and I realised I had just changed my life. I’ve never thought of myself as a performer, preferring the role of imagining voices and putting work together for others to embody. But this work had moved me, I had been drawn into the bosom of Queen Jesus as she articulated my story. Jo Clifford’s work is heart-breaking and extraordinary and beautiful and courageous. It is a gift and it’s been a gift to work with this company. Kitan and Ibrahim have held me as directors, Bethany and Katie have built a world that I am privileged to step into and Rachel has created a soundscape that is epic and tender, personal and profound. And my angels, my choir, Willow, Tom, Melissa and Sherry, they have the voices that carry this work into our hearts. I am beyond gratitude. WRITTEN AND CREATED BY PERFORMED BY JO CLIFFORD KRISTEN SMYTH

Jo Clifford is a proud father and grandmother, playwright and performer, based in Edinburgh. She is Kristen is a writer and performer based on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin the author of over 100 plays, many of which have been performed all over the world. Plays include: Nation. She graduated from VCA’s masters in writer program in 2019 and was shortlisted for Theatre EVERY ONE, THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE, FAUST PARTS ONE AND TWO, INES DE CASTRO and GREAT 503’s 2020 international writer’s award for her play PIN DROP. Her second play NO BALL GAMES EXPECTATIONS. As a writer performer, she is best known for EVE (co-written with Chris Goode) and ALLOWED will have an advanced preview at Melbourne Fringe Common Rooms on June 9th and has THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS QUEEN OF HEAVEN. During lockdown, she has been creating been programmed for later in 2021. She has been offered an internship at Wooster online work for Paines Plough, Pitlochry, NTS, The Tron, and creating 2 sequences of short plays for her Group in New York post Covid and worked with Tom Holloway on a film development in 2020. She is company, Queen Jesus Productions. She is currently working on THE NOT SO UGLY DUCKLING (with a proud native Londoner and citizen of Australia and she is transgender. She works with health and Maria MacDonell) and THE COVID REQUIEM (with Lesley Orr) for Pitlochry theatre. She has just been social justice campaigners to improve the lives of people living with mental health and addiction and awarded the Olwen Wymark award for “Exceptional encouragement of theatre writing”. this is her debut role as a performer.

DIRECTED BY COMPOSER KITAN RACHEL PETKOVSKI LEWINDON

Kitan Petkovski is a director, dramaturg and co-founder of gig-theatre company Bullet Heart Club with Rachel Lewindon is a composer, pianist and sound designer based in Melbourne, Australia. She collaborator Ro Bright. He’s an alumni from the Victorian College of the Arts (Master’s in Directing) completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Music (Hons) in Interactive Composition at the and Director’s Lab (Melbourne). He is a recipient of the Melbourne Global Scholars Award and Cybec VCA whilst developing her sound from her classical piano background with contemporary influences of Foundation scholarship. In 2020, Kitan was an Associate Artist at Theatre Works. voice and electronic synthesis. She has been hailed a “revelation on the piano..” by David Collins and is a member of avant-garde theatre company Finucane and Smith as a composer and pianist, with Since 2015, Kitan has been the creative director for the Scotsman Fringe First Award winning show whom she has toured nationally and internationally. She was nominated for two Daffodils. Other directing credits include; Elizabeth featuring singer/songwriter Lisa Crawley (Nominated in 2020 and in 2018 was awarded the Marion Thomas Award for Excellence for her conceptual body of for Best Cabaret, Melbourne Fringe 2017), Freefall co-directed with Milly Cooper (2018), the development work Superhuman - Quest for the Ubermensch based on Friedrich Nietzsche’s Three Metamorphoses. season of LuNa by Keziah Warner (Winner of the Sydney Theatre Company Patrick White Playwright’s Award 2019) and A Strange Nostalgia featuring Lheon (2020). Most recently Kitan directed the world premiere of The Hall by Ro Bright and Pat Irwin, as part of the Festival of Colour 2021 (Wanaka, New Zealand). SET & COSTUME DESIGNER LIGHTING ASSOCIATE BETHANY J RACHEL LEE FELLOWS

Bethany J. Fellows is a Melbourne based artist and designer. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Rachel is a Singaporean-Chinese lighting designer and artist based in Melbourne. She works primarily University of Newcastle (2004) and a Bachelor of Fine Art with Honours (2010) from Monash University. with new writing and is a member of theatre collective, New Working Group. Most recently, she co- New to theatre, she studied at The Victorian College of the Arts under the Masters of Design for produced and designed award-winning (Luò yè guī gēn) - Getting Home (Melbourne Fringe). Performance program in 2017. She is interested in participatory and experiential practices involving food, slime and experimental saunas. Design credits include POONA (Next Wave), Hello, World! (The ), Single Ladies (Red Stitch), She Is Vigilante (Theatreworks), Fallen (She Said Theatre), The Three Graces (The Anchor), World Problems (Emma Hall), Gender Euphoria (Mardi Gras), Virtual Intimacy (AsiaTOPA), The Honouring (Yirramboi), Romeo Is Not The Only Fruit (MICF), Bread Crumbs (Poppyseed) and Oh No! Satan Stole My Pineal Gland! (Melbourne Fringe). As an associate, she assisted on Moral Panic (Darebin Arts), Considerable Sexual License (Yirramboi) and Easy Riders (Rising). Rachel is a current 2020 Besen Family Artist Program participant and is being mentored by MILKE as an emerging producer. She was part of 2019 MTC Women In Theatre Program.

LIGHTING DESIGNER SOUND & LIGHTING OPERATOR KATIE NATHAN SFETKIDIS SANTAMARIA

Katie Sfetkidis is a lighting designer and contemporary artist based on Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung Nathan Santamaria is an audio engineer, production manager and sound designer, working across many Country. She has worked extensively in theatre, dance and experimental performance for almost 15 genres of music and live performance. His involvement with music has seen him work with some of the years across Australia. Katie has received one Green Room Award and has several nominations. She best musicians and artists in Melbourne as well as international artists. In 2019, Nathan worked with Live has worked with a range companies across the sector including; Little Ones Theatre, Joel Bray Dance, Nation Touring on the Red Hot Chili Peppers tour in Melbourne, supported by George Clinton & Parliament APHIDS, Malthouse Theatre and MTC. Alongside her theatre practice, Katie has a successful career as Funkadelic. Nathan’s theatre credits include Technical Operator for Das Rheingold (Melbourne Opera), a contemporary artist and shown work in a number of ARI spaces across Melbourne. In 2020, she was Production Manager and Sound Designer for The Boy, George (One Eyed Man Productions), Sound appointed the Feminist Emissary for the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre. Operator for Extinction (Sarah Tierney Productions), Technical Manager for the premier production of Swim Between The Flags (VCA Theatre), Sound Designer for On The Town (VCA Music Theatre), Sound Designer and Composer for F###ING A (VCA Theatre), Sound Design Consultant for POST: A New Musical (Something Blue Productions) and Technical Supervisor for Delilah (Left of Centre Theatre Company). Nathan worked with award-winning sound designer and composer Kelly Ryall as an intern on the productions of A View From The Bridge (Melbourne Theatre Company), You Animal, You (Force Majeure) and SIMULCAST (Chunky Move). In 2016, Nathan started his own technical production company, SAVi Studios, and in 2019 he graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production). CHOIR CHOIR WILLOW SIZER MEL O’BRIEN

Willow is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts’ Music Theatre course. An emerging multi- Mel (she/her) is a graduate of both NIDA (Diploma of Musical Theatre) and The Melbourne disciplinary performer and writer; her work spans Burlesque, Cabaret, Experimental Theatre and Conservatorium of Music (Bachelor of Music - Voice), with a particular affinity for comedy, collaboration Musicals. Most recent impressive things include multiple Green Room nominations for both her cabaret; and the development of new work. Recent credits include her sold-out season of ‘No Hat, No Play! Death of a Demi Diva and her body of work in 2019; playing Pearl White in Dave Malloy’s Ghost Quartet The Cabaret’ at the 2021 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the role of Muffin Rows in the (Antipodes Theatre Company) and Paulette in Legally Blonde (James Terry Collective). Australian premiere of ‘Voldemort and the Teenage Hogwarts Musical Parody’ (Salty Theatre). Other credits include ‘Starstruck’ (RGM Productions), ‘Girls Are Hot!’ (Midsumma), ‘Tinder Tales’ (MICF) and In 2019 she was commissioned by the University of Melbourne to create a work inspired by 100 Years ‘The Mikado’ (Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Victoria). She is also set to star in the 2022 production of ‘Disco of Women’s Suffrage in Victoria; Cowboys and Taxes, a series of parody musical videos. Pigs’ (Gasworks).

CHOIR CHOIR TOMAS SHERRY-LEE PARRISH WATSON

Tomas (he/they) is originally from Wollongong, Dharawal Country, acknowledges the Dharawal people, Sherry-Lee Watson is a proud Arrernte woman hailing from the central desert. She recently graduated and that sovereignty was never ceded. Tomas is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts (Music from the Victorian College of The Arts where she studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Theatre. Sherry Theatre). Credits include This Bitter Earth reading (dir. Dean Drieberg, Antipodes Theatre 2020), When is currently completing her honours degree at VCA where she is researching Aboriginal Resiliency in The Light Leaves (Dan, La Mama and Citizen Theatre, dir. Jayde Kirchert 19/20), Patti Lupone - Don’t Performing Arts and is passionate about making the industry more accessible and inclusive. Monkey With Broadway (Hamer Hall, M.D. Joseph Thalken, 2018), and Vivid White (Ensemble, MTC, dir. Dean Bryant, 2017). Tomas is also a composer, and won Best Original Score at the Vancouver Island Short Film Festival for his work on Behind Barres (Sophia Bender Films 2017). DIRECTING INTERN PRODUCER İBRAHIM BEN ANDERSON HALAÇOĞLU

A theatre maker based originally in Istanbul, Turkey, Ibrahim has been professionally involved in theatre Originally trained as a writer and director at Unitec in Auckland, Ben is a passionate supporter of since 2010 predominantly as an actor, as well as a dramaturg and a playwright. A couple of years high quality work with a strong social impact. He spent two years working as an event coordinator ago, he rediscovered theatre through meddah, an ancient form of Turkish/Ottoman storytelling. and associate producer at New Zealand’s largest arts centre Auckland Live, and currently manages He developed a passion for revising traditional storytelling techniques to become a 21st century commercial and arts hires at the . storyteller. He gets inspiration from contemporary and postmodern fiction, fragmented mini narratives, metafiction, and memory. Ibrahim has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Literature, a minor in film Notable producing credits include ‘Trash Puppets: Escape From Trash Mountain’ (Gasworks Arts Park studies and is currently doing another master’s degree at the VCA in theatre (Directing). 2017, Auckland Live 2017, The Art House Wyong 2019, Adelaide Fringe 2019, Sydney Opera House 2020), ‘Leather Lungs: Son of a Preacher’ (Adelaide Fringe 2019, Brisbane Powerhouse 2019, Melbourne Recital Centre 2020), ‘Leather Lungs: Yas Queen’ (Q Theatre 2020, Adelaide Fringe 2020 & 2021)

PUBLICITY JAI CAMERON ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Jai Cameron is a celebrant, MC, radio and television presenter and producer, publicist and comedian. The production team would like to thank Di and the team and Theatre Works, the team at His work in theatre has included SPOT (Theatreworks), Leather Lungs: Yas Queen and Son of A Preacher, Midsumma Festival, Australia Council for the Arts, Steph and Richmond Uniting Church, Jo The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven, PISCA, WRATH, JUST US GIRLS and Ms CeCe Clifford, Annabel Cooper and Susan Worsfold at Queen Jesus Productions, Additive Pty Ltd, Rockefeller: Somebody’s Somebody (Ben Anderson Presents). Jai currently sits on the Australian Youth Harrie Hogan, Romanie Harper, and Onion. for Young People AYTypicals Advisory Committee, Watch This Committee of Management and the BATS Committee of Management This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

Promotional photos by Sarah Walker. THEATRE WORKS 14 Acland Street St Kilda VIC 3182 Australia theatreworks.org.au