Archive for category: News

You are here: / News

‘The Agitators’ is coming to Hay these school holidays

/in , /by

OUTBACK THEATRE RETURNS TO HAY

During the second week of the school holidays (16-20 July), artists from Outback Theatre will be back in town to develop a new piece of theatre with local young creatives. 

The last time artists from Outback Theatre for Young People (OTYP) spent time in Hay, the result was the roving performance of The Echo in Our Walls at Bishops Lodge, which transformed the historic building and celebrated the stories of our community with three performances in April of 2016.

Now it is time to commence work on another large-scale creative project – however this time things are slightly different! OTYP is engaging well-known theatre and technological wizards Transience Theatre (Dave Jones and Greg Prichard) who are exploring techniques of combining live performance and real-time mapped projections. Basically, it’s like being in the movies and being in real life at the same time.

The week of workshops will be spent diving into ideas about our current society – who has the control, how do we interact with technology and what happens when you start resisting the status quo? We’re going to be inspired by our social media feeds, the protests of the Parkland teenagers, complicating and resisting, your own experiences of finding your place in the world around you, online friends versus IRL friends, the Anonymous hackers, and glimmers of hope.

We are calling for a wide variety of young people to work with us this time: not just artists and performers, but musicians, creative thinkers, self-confessed geeks and nerds. We are also calling on young people with big ideas. We want to form a troupe of guerrilla creative do-ers and big-picture young thinkers who will transform the Plains around Hay into a digital wonderland with us.

This project is called THE AGITATORS – are you ready to join to revolution?

When: Monday 16 – Friday 20 July, 11am – 4pm each day

Where: Community Building, near the Oval

To Register: Email sarah@outbacktheatre.com

Ages: 12 – 17 years

Cost: Free

Bring: Own lunch and water bottle

Any questions, please text/call Sarah Parsons (OTYP Creative Producer) on 0417 164 641.

OTYP APPOINTS FOUR NEW BOARD MEMBERS

/in /by

MEDIA RELEASE

OUTBACK THEATRE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE (OTYP) APPOINTS FOUR NEW BOARD MEMBERS

OTYP Chair Perin Davey today announced the appointment of four new directors to the OTYP Board of Directors. Daniel Dunlop, Alysha Herrmann, Alison Naderbaum and Olivia Wynne join existing local Directors Perin Davey, Airlie Circuit, Neville Ladson and Harley Moore, to make up the new look, skills-based board.

Perin says ‘Outback Theatre has evolved from a small company run from the back of a ute to a leader in the field of regional youth arts and we need to make sure we continue to adapt in the highly competitive arts environment. It is exciting to welcome our new Board members who have a wealth of combine experience in arts, working with children and in philanthropy.’

‘We were overwhelmed by the quality of applications for our Board from arts professionals from throughout Australia. I believe we now have the perfect balance for a skills based board that includes people from the communities in which we work and from the wider arts industry.’

Creative Producer Sarah Parsons says ‘I am thrilled to welcome such skilled and passionate arts leaders to the OTYP team to shape the future of our organisation. Alison, Dan, Olivia and Alysha all bring with them a skill-set that will support, shape, motivate and drive OTYP towards goals we’ve only ever dreamed of achieving in the past. Combined with our local board members, our governance team is looking ready for the future and we are excited for what it may hold.’

‘I want to thank our dedicated and loving outgoing board members Amy Hardingham, Scott Howie and Alex Walker for their years of insight and generosity. They’re all been such helpful and inspiring voices in the boardroom. Thank you especially to Amy, who, as the original Artistic Director of OTYP, has such a connection and passion for the organisation. She’ll always be a part of the OTYP family. They all will.”

Outback Theatre for Young People engages with young people from regional and remote communities to create distinctive contemporary theatre through collaborative processes. OTYP’s work increasingly explores interdisciplinary arts and the nature of theatrical performance as a means of engaging rural young people and communities. We aim to raise the profile of and develop support for, regional young people and our objective is excellence in youth theatre. Our projects create an inclusive and supportive creative environment, where young people have the opportunity to give voice and value to their ideas.

—END—

For more information about the OTYP Board please call Creative Producer Sarah Parsons on 0417 164 641

For a full list of board members please click HERE

 

 

 

 

Regional Arts Connect kicks off for 2018

/in , /by

Regional Arts Connect is back and in full swing for 2018. The year will see us continue to work with community organisations and groups in 4 remote and rural areas of NSW: Walgett, Wilcannia, Lake Cargelligo and Curlewis, with one simple mission – to increase arts opportunities for young people living in these areas, and up-skill the communities to deliver these opportunities themselves beyond the completion of our project. With last year being made up of community consultation, drama facilitation training and planning, 2018 is where we go full steam ahead to put all of that into practice!

First up for a visit this year was the Lake Cargelligo Drama Group. In the closest of all our towns (just a 4.5 hour drive away), Lake has a population of 1,300, and within that, a thriving Drama Group that have been putting on plays and musicals since the 1980’s with sell out shows each year. So where do we come in? Even though the drama group are primarily an adult group, they have found that more and more young people are wanting to join, and so we’re working closely with them to help that happen in the best possible way.

Last year the community underwent some professional development with our Community Producer Alyson, by participating in 2 evenings of drama facilitator training, and assisting Alyson in the delivery of a week long school holiday program in partnership with Lake Youth Centre. From that, we are so thrilled that there are now community run monthly drama workshops for young people at the Youth Centre.

To accommodate a young cast, it was decided that the groups production for 2018 was to have a family focus, with young people and adults uniting on stage and performing equally alongside each other. How amazing are Lake Drama Group?! We love this, as not only does it mean more opportunities for young budding actors, but encourages a whole new audience of young people. Talk about arts exposure!

After lots of readings of plays something magic happened – for the first time ever the whole group agreed on the same play – the fabulous Love by Finegan Kruckemeyer. Being a play that is about a small Australia community and aimed at audiences of all ages, it’s no wonder why it was Love-d (see what I did there?).

So, with this decided, our first trip out was all guns a blazing to get the production process going! In just 3 days we assisted with a community read through of the script, casting of the play (with a young person in the lead!) assigning and defining production roles and beginning the production schedule. Now it’s over to Lake Drama Group to begin rehearsals, and we can’t wait to see the story begin to come to life in our next visit.

As we travel around Regional NSW we feel so inspired by the commitment from groups like this one in Lake, in supporting young people and the arts. With the wealth of experience and knowledge in theatre making that Lake Drama Group already have, we’re thrilled to support them in passing that on to the younger generations, and inspire  the development of young artists.

Click HERE to check out the animation we made in the holiday workshop.

Join the OTYP Board

/in , , /by

Outback Theatre for Young People is seeking EOIs from the community to be considered for nomination to the OTYP Board of Directors.

OTYP is dedicated to creating innovative, participant-owned youth theatre. We engage young people, aged 4 to 26 years, from throughout the Riverina region in collaborative, generative theatre projects that celebrate their lives and their aspirations.

OTYP is seeking 2 – 3 new board directors with a skills-base not limited to but drawn from the fields of Law, Finance, Arts Management, Governance, Fundraising, Community Leadership and Education.

If you are interested in submitting an EOI download the Board EOI Document and follow the instructions to submit.

Deadline for EOIs is 5pm, 15 December, 2017. Appointments will be made in 2018.

Find out more about OTYP’s current Board of Directors here.

Folk Song premieres in Berrigan Shire

/in , , /by

 Outback Theatre for Young People (OTYP) presents the world premiere of Folk Song by Julian Larnach at community halls in the four towns across the Berrigan Shire in September.    

7 local young people (Christyanne Dart, Mackenzie Hannan, Chloe Hudson, Bella Jackson, Robert Johnston and Lochie Lawrence) aged 13 to 19 have been cast in the production, and have been working with director Alyson Evans since July to bring the show to life.

“For the production we’re looking to challenge the audience’s perception of theatre, and find new and non-traditional ways of staging a performance, that really highlights the talent of the young people,” said Evans. “We’re currently deep in the rehearsal process, and the cast are in the world of learning lines, delving into their characters and building on their performance skills along the way.”

Since 2015, playwright Julian Larnach (member of the Writer’s Group at Sydney Theatre Company) has been working with the young people of the Berrigan Shire to develop a new work based on interviews with members of the local community. The work was developed as a result of this community consultation, as one young person explains “our main objective is to break down the barriers between young generations and the broader Berrigan community. We are trying to show that the young generation, are creative, smart, team players, organised and talented and aren’t just trouble makers.”

These interviews form the basis of the new work Folk Song, a verbatim play that reflects on the lives, stories and personalities of the community living across the Berrigan Shire. The show will be performed to audiences in Berrigan, Finley, Barooga and Tocumwal across two weekends in September.

“Outback Theatre has an almost 30 year history of working with the young people in our region to engage them in the arts and showcase their diverse talent” said OTYP Creative Producer Sarah Parsons. “Each year, OTYP engages professional artists to work closely with the young people and draw out their stories, develop theatre skills and perform their work in high quality productions. Folk Song is a fantastic example of how this process can engage a whole community in the arts, and give important opportunity for our young people’s voices to be heard”.

“Hearing their own stories and the stories of their communities on stage is something that our young people are not often given the chance to do. Folk Song will ignite a spirit of pride, humour and resilience in our audiences. We hope these evenings will be a celebration for the audiences, something to come together for, to talk about, to laugh about, to think about. We hope everyone looks around and acknowledges the incredible work of the young people in the room”.

Folk Song will have 8 performances across the shire on the weekends of the 15th and 21st of September.

Find Out More

This project is made possible through support from Create NSW, the Australia Council for the Arts, Berrigan Shire and the Catalyst program. 

Outback Theatre for Young People receives $100,000 Catalyst funding

/in , , , , /by

Member for Farrer, Sussan Ley, today welcomed $100,000 for Outback Theatre for Young People, part of the second tranche of funding for Catalyst – Australian Arts and Culture Fund.

“I am pleased that Outback Theatre for Young People has received funding from Catalyst and understand that two large scale community events are planned over the coming two years – ‘Bordertowns’ and ‘While You Were Sleeping’,” Ms Ley said.

Creative Producer, Sarah Parsons said that ‘Bordertowns’ will be based in the Berrigan Shire, and will unite the four towns in the shire (Berrigan, Barooga, Tocumwal and Finley) in a theatrical event that celebrates stories from the region.

“Young people will be at the centre of the production, and the wider community will participate in the retelling of their histories and family anecdotes. The outcome will be a huge community celebration that tours around the four towns,” said Ms Parsons.

‘While You Were Sleeping’ is a project that aims to facilitate recycling and sustainability awareness through large-scale public art sculptures installed overnight.

Ms Parsons said “The township of Deniliquin will be gifted with artworks made by local young people from recyclable materials, which will be left for a few days and then disappear again. The end result of the project will be an artistic and historical audio tour of the town that can be downloaded by anyone visiting.”

Catalyst funding is available from three streams: partnerships and collaborations; innovation and participation and is open to small, medium and large arts organisations at a national, regional and community level.
Ms Ley said that the projects include the visual arts, screen based art, music, digital arts, dance and physical theatre, performing arts, cross-disciplinary art forms, community arts as well as arts support and development projects.

“I am delighted that this Australian Government funding will assist in providing opportunities for young people in our region to work with professional artists, share ideas and stories, and produce work that is of our area – proudly regional and rural, and firmly planted in the Riverina,” said Ms Ley.

Minister for the Arts, Mitch Fifield said the arts have the ability to illuminate and enliven the communities we live in, and to teach us more about ourselves, our society and our time.

“Catalyst is a truly national arts funding program and I am pleased to see funding reaching our local arts organisations, and arts and cultural organisations from across Australia, recognising the innovative and creative work being undertaken,” Minister Fifield said.

“The successful Catalyst projects will enhance the experience of and access to arts and culture across Australia, exploring themes and issues relevant to contemporary Australian and international audiences.”

Catalyst funding is available to support projects across the Australian arts and cultural sector. A majority (82 per cent) of the projects supported in this assessment period have been awarded to small-to-medium arts organisations, with half of the activity occurring in regional and remote communities.

Applications for Catalyst are open with rolling assessments made by independent assessors. Guidelines and information on the application process can be found on the Ministry for the Arts website www.arts.gov.au/catalyst

A Week in the Country – by Jessica Bellamy

/in , , , /by
[wzslider]Last week, commissioned Playwright Julian Larnach, Mentor Jessica Bellamy and Creative Producer Claire Harris got together at HotHouse Thetare’s Country House for the first in a series of residencies to develop Julian’s work for staging in OTYP’s 2015 Season. We were lucky enough to work with HotHouse’s Studio Ensemble, meet some new cow friends and bask in the sunshine and sounds of country life.

Jessica, with her usual with and humour, tells us all about it. She really does love us huh?!

A Week in the Country

The thing about working with Outback Theatre for Young People is: it never gets boring. I mean this in a few ways.

Firstly, there’s the scenery. It’s hard to get writers’ block or feel uninspired when you’re hanging out on the Hay Plains, walking through Deniliquin’s Island Sanctuary, or serenading a pack of 11 curious steers who are all very interested in what sort of dramaturgy you’re getting up to.

Secondly, there’s the work. I have a theory that once you get bitten by the “working with young people” bug, there’s no going back. There’s something very intoxicating about the honesty and enthusiasm of a young group of theatre makers soaking up any opportunity they can find, whether it directly relates to their life goals and personal interests or not.

Finally, there’s the colleagues. I love working with other artists who really care about providing opportunities for young people to develop their skills and passions. They’re usually pretty nice people who are into the same sort of bad TV and 9pm bedtimes as you are.

All this is a pretty long introduction but it’s not like I’m in a massive hurry today, because we are on RETREAT. I’m currently sitting in a rehearsal shed at HotHouse Theatre’s country house in Albury, looking out at the bright green grass in front of me and the swirls of dust conjured up by passing utes speeding down the road at the end of the paddock.

I’m in Albury working as a mentor for the EMERGE project, which is OTYP’s new project to commission exciting young voices to write plays that speak to the outback experience. The winner of the commission is Julian Larnach, who is writing a play inspired by his own teenage years in outback NSW.

The week has been full of highlights: not only has it been great to chew the hay with Jules and discuss the conceptual scaffolding of his play, world, characters and themes, but we’ve been lucky enough to workshop the play with young people from HotHouse Theatre’s youth ensemble. This group of 16-26 year olds has provided us with incredible detail, subtleties, stories and hilarious moments, all of which will contribute to the relevance and authenticity of Julian’s final draft.

I’ll leave you there, because those cows hanging out on the other side of the fence waiting for our arvo chat are probably getting a bit worried. Better start getting excited about the production of the EMERGE play in 2015, if you ask me. Until then.

Little Movers and Makers – Deniliquin

/in , , , /by

The Grandma Tree

Outback Theatre for Young People’s Little Movers and Makers Project

Little Movers and Makers sees Outback Theatre artist, Mandy Field work with two playgroups in Deniliquin; the Aboriginal Jyldamenk Playgroup and the Young Parents Group, which will result in a community performance. The project will offer an introductory theatrical experience for local young children and launch OTYP into our first foray of theatre for the very young.

In partnership with Intereach, the Little Movers and Makers Project will work young children under five and their parents, from the Intereach’s Family support service in a 6 week visual arts and movement program, culminating in a community performance.

A small cast of high school age young people will be engaged in the process, working alongside director/choreographer Mandy Field, Sound Designer Vic McEwan and Visual Designer Danilo Paglialonga.

The performance outcome, set to be staged in Deniliqin on Saturday November 15 and 16 2014, will be an immersive and tactile experience, designed to overcome age, developmental and language barriers and create a shared, joyous experience for parents and children. The outcome will be a combination of visual, audio and performance elements that will take families on an intimate journey through a theatrical world of their own creation.

We acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the traditional custodians of the lands and waters where we live, learn and work, and we pay our respects to Elders past and present.