MAY 10 - AUGUST 22, 2021 TOM MANN THEATRE 136 Chalmers St, Surry Hills PROGRAM 2021 PROGRAM SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY SYDNEY SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY SHORT+SWEET THOUSANDS OF SHOWS PROGRAM 2021 AT YOUR FINGERTIPS! PROGRAM 2021 OCAT L IO O N E ! G • Follow your favourite actors and creatives • Buy tickets • Read reviews • Get directions to theatres And so much more! Download the NEW StageCenta App 2 FREE! 3 SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY SYDNEY SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY SHORT+SWEET THOUSANDS OF SHOWS PROGRAM 2021 AT YOUR FINGERTIPS! PROGRAM 2021 2020 HINDSHIGHT FINAL SUNDAY MAY 16 — 2PM 2020 HINDSIGHT AWARDS GALA SUNDAY MAY 16 — 6PM 2021 COMPETITION MAY 20 — AUGUST 22, 2021 Get your tickets to Short+Sweet Sydney OCAT via the Stagecenta app or visit L IO O N shortandsweet.org/sydney E ! G GET INVOLVED! WRITE DIRECT ACT VOLUNTEER • Follow your favourite actors and creatives Like us on Facebook facebook.com/shortsweetsydney • Buy tickets Follow us on Instagram @shortsweetfest • Read reviews #shortandsweetsydney #shortsweetfest #sss21 • Get directions to theatres Founder and Artistic Director – Mark Cleary International Literary Manager – Alex Broun MAJOR SPONSOR And so much more! Festival Director, Short+Sweet Theatre, Sydney – Nick Hardcastle Festival Producer – Belinda Ling Festival Production Manager – Karen Ways Press and Publicity – Geoff Sirmai Graphic Designer – Emily Maskimovic Download the NEW PARTNERS StageCenta App MEDIA PARTNER 2 FREE! 3 SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY SYDNEY SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY SHORT+SWEET A NOTE FROM FOUNDER MARK CLEARY Welcome (back) It doesn’t seem enough to just welcome you to the theatre today as if nothing has significant PROGRAM 2021 has happened... to proceed as though it has been PROGRAM 2021 another normal year, without mention of the evil elephant in the room that still lurks around the edges. It seems like an age ago (in March 2020) when I came back home after a fantastic Short+Sweet program in the UAE (Dubai/Abu Dhabi/Sharja). We’d managed to get the whole 8 week program done and I got a flight the day after it ended. As it happened, I got back to Sydney days before the two week quarantine came into effect. The festival in Sydney was halfway through and people were afraid, audiences evaporating, actors didn’t want to be on stage (imagine that - actors not wanting to be on stage!). It was palpable. Like a dark cloud. People didn’t want to be inside and certainly not in a crowd. So we bit the bullet. It was a group decision but everyone was instantly relieved. We tightened our belts and took whatever other cliched actions were required to somehow survive. All our other festivals (12 countries worth) also shut down and shuttered, battening the hatches. Even now as things start to open up with little light peeking through the cracks and around the edge of the metaphorical door, I’m still trying to find the silver lining. Maybe there isn’t one. Lots of artists did their best through this time with Zoom and other mechanical solutions. I didn’t have the heart for it. Because our heart is ‘live’ performance. People, in a room, telling their stories to other people, and the more the merrier... So we made plans for our comeback and stepped away a couple of times... it didn’t seem right (safe) until now... yes we’ve just has another scare but we’ve gotten better at all this and the vaccine is rolling out... There have been a few minor miracles during the covid time. We presented a fantastic new festival in Perth (finished last month) and that went off without a hitch thanks to a wonderful local team led by Michael Woods. Dubai, rebooted, rebounded with a bang. So for Sydney I’m so grateful that Nick Hardcastle (your fabulous S+S Sydney Festival Director) decided to give Los Angeles a wide berth, for the moment at least and came back home. Hollywood’s loss is our gain and now it’s (finally) Sydney’s turn. So, Welcome back! As if it was a normal year… Mark Cleary Artistic Director Short+Sweet 4 5 SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY SYDNEY SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY SHORT+SWEET FESTIVAL DIRECTOR’S WELCOME 2020 was an incredibly challenging year for all of us – particularly those of us working in the theatre. Our 2020 Short+Sweet Sydney Theatre Festival was cut short at PROGRAM 2021 week 5 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and PROGRAM 2021 I was living in Los Angeles, where rising case numbers and deaths and an incredibly hostile political climate led to at least one silver lining. I came back to Australia. Now, here I am, back in the theatre, well before anyone in the US has been able to be, presenting Short+Sweet Sydney as we turn the lights back on at the Tom Mann. We have also introduced the Inaugural Short+Sweet Actor’s Circle, It’s wonderful to be able to present the which instead of awarding a Best Actor top plays that were performed last year, or Best Actress, is acknowledging 5 with our ‘HINDSIGHT 2020’ Final to outstanding performances irrespective of launch this year’s Festival. Our thanks gender identity. to JJ Splice, Simona Janek and Casting Networks for honoring their promised 2020 In the interest of reducing unnecessary prizes to the 2020 winners and their for contact and increasing a commitment to continued support. My thanks also to our sustainability, we have gone digital with esteemed judges joining us at the finals and ticketing and voting this year and have throughout the Festival. introduced upcycled, re-useable and recyclable drinkware from One Green I’m thrilled to be able to welcome back Cup. This is thanks to our Major Sponsor, so many of our 2020 participants for Screenwise, Australia’s leading screen HINDSIGHT and this year’s competition. acting school. Our greatest challenge this year was simply to get the Festival back open amidst Finally, we have a professional development continued lockdowns, restrictions, border program that offers free workshops and closures and a range of new protocols and panels for our participants, with writers, procedures that need to be adhered to in actors, directors, casting directors, this ‘New World’. industry thought leaders and mental health professionals, which kicks off in July and Well, we made it! Now, our mission is promises to add enormous value to the to bring to you, our audience and our Short+Sweet experience. participants, an experience really worth waiting for! We’ve made some changes While we continue to navigate many new to programming and have two groups and unpredictable circumstances outside of performing each week, all named after one our control, we hope that you’ll join us for of our iconic Sydney beaches. We’ve done the journey and come back often to share away with Wildcard entries, opening the in some incredible stories from around the festival right up and focused our attention globe with some truly brilliant local talent. on making Short+Sweet a truly inclusive Thank you for having me Sydney- it’s great festival with the creation of our Diversity to be back! and Inclusion Programming Committee. Thank you to Mark Cleary and my team, especially Belinda Ling, Karen Ways and Nick Hardcastle Geoff Sirmai and everyone who has become Festival Director a part of our first ever D&I Committee. You can request a copy of our D&I strategy @nickcastlehard through our website shortandsweet.org/ Sydney. 4 5 SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY PROGRAM 2021 WELCOME TO PROGRAM 2021 COUNTRY Short+Sweet 2021 takes place on Gadigal land. We are honoured that Matthew Doye has generously prepared our very special Welcome to Country. Matthew Doyle is a descendant of the Muruwari people from the Lightning Ridge area of NSW and was born and raised on Gadigal land. He is a professional musician, composer, dancer, choreographer, cultural consultant and educator, with a passion for passing on the indigenous languages of Sydney. From 1985-1988 Matthew completed an Associate Diploma in with the prestigious Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre (now, NAISDA Dance College). In 1990 he returned to AIDT to become a founding member of their professional company, where he worked on several productions. Matthew’s company, Wuriniri Music & Dance, is comprised of professional indigenous musicians and dancers who create and present both contemporary and traditional performances. Matthew has toured extensively in Australia and abroad, performing in many countries as both a Soloist and a Collaborator. He has performed in many major international events including the 1996 Olympic Games Closing Ceremony in Atlanta and the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Matthew played digeridoo on top of the Sydney Opera House, as part of the ABC Millennium Broadcast. Other performing credits include the opening of the Indigenous Gallery Musee Du Quay Branly in Paris, World Expo Japan, World Youth Day 2008 and the production of “I am Eora” at the 2012 Sydney Festival. 7 6 SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY SYDNEY SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY SHORT+SWEET WELCOME TO PROGRAM 2021 PROGRAM 2021 COUNTRY Your Stories, Your Voice, Your City. YOUR FESTIVAL Since 2002! This year all of our short works have been programmed in to groups that are named after one of Sydney’s iconic beaches. Each group will present a minimum of 3 performances over four days, ahead of being considered for our Finals Week. All performances are at the Tom Mann Theatre in Surry Hills. 6 7 SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY COOGEE & NEWPORT BONDI & MANLY WEEK BEGINNING MAY 24 WEEK BEGINNING MAY 17 PROGRAM 2021 PROGRAM 2021 Thursday 7:30pm COOGEE Thursday 7:30pm BONDI Friday 7:30pm NEWPORT Friday 7:30pm MANLY Saturday 2pm NEWPORT Saturday 2pm MANLY Saturday 7:30pm COOGEE Saturday