A Year 11 drama student at Hawker College, Jenny Kay, is in the running to win $20 000 to start her career in theatre.
The 1997 Dolly/McDonald's Career Start contest began for Jenny when she noticed the advertisement in her younger sister's copy of Dolly and made the mistake of saying how great it would be to get money to put on a play. She found herself committed, by the enthusiasm of her parents and friends, writing the required 500 word proposal with an additonal budget.
Jenny's proposal, judged by Susie Pitts, Editor of Dolly, Charlie Bell, Managing Director of McDonald's Australia, and Catriona Rowntree, Getaway reporter on the Nine Network, has placed her among the 7 finalists - and has already won her $5 000.
On Tuesday December 2, Jenny attends a celebratory lunch at Pavilion on the Park in Sydney where the winner will be announced.
What will Jenny do with the money? The core of her proposal is to demonstrate young people's abilities in theatre production. She comes to this from a strong background at Canberra Youth Theatre where she has already directed Jack Hibberd's Slam Dunk, which received a good review in The Canberra Times.
She has lined up friends Brendan Hayes (writer and assistant director), Sarah Davies (media producer) and Eliza-Jane Oliver (stage manager) to work on a play already partly written but as yet untitled. For $5 000 she plans a small scale production, but if she wins $20 000 she plans to put some aside to help her through university studies, with a view further down the track of taking the Victorian College of the Arts Directing course.
Since she will be in Year 12 next year, Jenny plans to present her play in March or April. She is considering using the Canberra Youth Theatre venue, partly as a recognition of her admiration for Roland Manderson and the support CYT has given her, and noting the irony of the recent loss of funding, and of Manderson as CYT Director.
The finalists' 10 minute presentations in Sydney, in which they explain why they should win $20,000, will certainly be a nailbiting time, but Jenny has been a debater for some years and hopes to show that the award would not only benefit her towards her chosen career, but all the other people who will work with her in creative and managerial roles.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
Thursday, 27 November 1997
Thursday, 20 November 1997
1997: Leader of the Pack - The Ellie Greenwich Musical
Leader of the Pack - The Ellie Greenwich Musical. Phoenix Players at Belconnen Community Centre. Amateur.
The Mills & Boon story is kept to a minimum between songs, all of which you will recognise if you lived through the Sixties. The year Ellie Greenwich won 6 awards, the Beatles won 10. As the Beatles worked towards Sergeant Pepper, Greenwich was writing "And Then He Kissed Me" - the pop teeny-bopper romance music which never grew up.
Greenwich had to deal with reality when her song-writer whirlwind-romance husband Jeff Barry gave her the choice of house-bound motherhood while he became famous - or divorce. She took divorce, and wrote her only creative song "Rock of Rages".
But time heals all ... at least that's what this show says.
Susannah Gallie presents a credible Ellie, and Mimma Furlan does well as Darlene Love. The musical direction by Garrick Smith is excellent and the singing, though not always strong, is well rehearsed.
I spoke to Margo Mitchell from the management team working to make Belconnen Community Centre fulfil its function. She is clearly succeeding, and Phoenix Players' President and Director of The Pack, Ian Davenport, is enthusiastic about the good feeling at the Centre. The audience on opening night last Thursday was substantial and very appreciative of the efforts of everyone in the show. Whole families seem to take part on and off stage - in other words Phoenix has found its niche in the local community.
This show, I thought, was more sophisticated than earlier Phoenix productions, with stylish choreography by Natalie Antoine and an interesting cartoon set and props designed by Michael Winters. An amateur group such as this may not be expected to have actors and singers to match fully professional standards, but with intelligent design, choreography and musical direction the elements of drama - humour, pathos and joy - can be put together effectively. People knew what they were doing on stage, and the audience justifiably responded with enthusiasm.
So if you want to know "Why Do Lovers Break Each Others' Hearts?", or to find out if you are "Not Too Young (To Get Married)", or just to toe-tap along to "Do Wah Diddy", join the community with Phoenix Players.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
The Mills & Boon story is kept to a minimum between songs, all of which you will recognise if you lived through the Sixties. The year Ellie Greenwich won 6 awards, the Beatles won 10. As the Beatles worked towards Sergeant Pepper, Greenwich was writing "And Then He Kissed Me" - the pop teeny-bopper romance music which never grew up.
Greenwich had to deal with reality when her song-writer whirlwind-romance husband Jeff Barry gave her the choice of house-bound motherhood while he became famous - or divorce. She took divorce, and wrote her only creative song "Rock of Rages".
But time heals all ... at least that's what this show says.
Susannah Gallie presents a credible Ellie, and Mimma Furlan does well as Darlene Love. The musical direction by Garrick Smith is excellent and the singing, though not always strong, is well rehearsed.
I spoke to Margo Mitchell from the management team working to make Belconnen Community Centre fulfil its function. She is clearly succeeding, and Phoenix Players' President and Director of The Pack, Ian Davenport, is enthusiastic about the good feeling at the Centre. The audience on opening night last Thursday was substantial and very appreciative of the efforts of everyone in the show. Whole families seem to take part on and off stage - in other words Phoenix has found its niche in the local community.
This show, I thought, was more sophisticated than earlier Phoenix productions, with stylish choreography by Natalie Antoine and an interesting cartoon set and props designed by Michael Winters. An amateur group such as this may not be expected to have actors and singers to match fully professional standards, but with intelligent design, choreography and musical direction the elements of drama - humour, pathos and joy - can be put together effectively. People knew what they were doing on stage, and the audience justifiably responded with enthusiasm.
So if you want to know "Why Do Lovers Break Each Others' Hearts?", or to find out if you are "Not Too Young (To Get Married)", or just to toe-tap along to "Do Wah Diddy", join the community with Phoenix Players.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
Friday, 14 November 1997
1997: HAIR The Tribal Rock-Love Musical - Supa Productions
HAIR The Tribal Rock-Love Musical. Joint production by Tuggeranong Community Arts, SUPA Productions and The Street Theatre. 8pm at The Street until November 19. Bookings: 6247 1223.
This is a terrific production, with a revised script which adds maturity to this "flower-power" musical. It is both a celebration of all the good things the young people of 1968 stood for - peace, love and freedom - and a sad memorial to all those ideals which we have still not achieved.
Everyone in the cast seemed to have absorbed the commitment which the original performers felt. Only last Monday the ABC's Timeframe documented the first Sydney production and opening night here on Thursday stood the comparison very well indeed.
When a cast is as evenly matched as this one, and so much of the show is a group presentation - originally done deliberately to avoid creating "stars" - it may be unfair to highlight only some performers, but I feel I must mention Kirrily Cornwell's wonderful voice, the beautiful rendition of the "Air" in Act One by Simone Bresser, Jacqui Hoy and Rachel Burleigh, and the characterisation of Claude, who can't bring himself to burn his draft card, by Ra Khahn.
Oddly enough, despite what we think we remember (many in the audience were at least in the vicinity in 1968), the story is quite thin and is strongly male-centred, notwithstanding the excellent women's singing roles. But the band (called "Headband") never let the action flag and the choreography was always inventive, especially given the rather small range of wafty movements that the real flower people thought were creative.
The result is a musical drama, set within the frame of appearances - on what was definitely an Admiral TV set - by President Johnson (with Harold Holt grinning in the background) going all the way to Vietnam and President Nixon uncomfortably announcing the end of the war he couldn't win, moving many in the audience to tears.
Director Sue Belsham has maintained integrity, judging well the levels of glorious freedom, satirical humour and sad recognition of human frailty which makes HAIR well worth seeing. Among others, the surprise appearance of the anthropologist Margaret Mead is a special highlight. Don't miss it!
© Frank McKone, Canberra
This is a terrific production, with a revised script which adds maturity to this "flower-power" musical. It is both a celebration of all the good things the young people of 1968 stood for - peace, love and freedom - and a sad memorial to all those ideals which we have still not achieved.
Everyone in the cast seemed to have absorbed the commitment which the original performers felt. Only last Monday the ABC's Timeframe documented the first Sydney production and opening night here on Thursday stood the comparison very well indeed.
When a cast is as evenly matched as this one, and so much of the show is a group presentation - originally done deliberately to avoid creating "stars" - it may be unfair to highlight only some performers, but I feel I must mention Kirrily Cornwell's wonderful voice, the beautiful rendition of the "Air" in Act One by Simone Bresser, Jacqui Hoy and Rachel Burleigh, and the characterisation of Claude, who can't bring himself to burn his draft card, by Ra Khahn.
Oddly enough, despite what we think we remember (many in the audience were at least in the vicinity in 1968), the story is quite thin and is strongly male-centred, notwithstanding the excellent women's singing roles. But the band (called "Headband") never let the action flag and the choreography was always inventive, especially given the rather small range of wafty movements that the real flower people thought were creative.
The result is a musical drama, set within the frame of appearances - on what was definitely an Admiral TV set - by President Johnson (with Harold Holt grinning in the background) going all the way to Vietnam and President Nixon uncomfortably announcing the end of the war he couldn't win, moving many in the audience to tears.
Director Sue Belsham has maintained integrity, judging well the levels of glorious freedom, satirical humour and sad recognition of human frailty which makes HAIR well worth seeing. Among others, the surprise appearance of the anthropologist Margaret Mead is a special highlight. Don't miss it!
© Frank McKone, Canberra
Wednesday, 5 November 1997
1997: Canberra Performance Poets at Tilley's Devine Cafe
Nurrunderi - the Milky Way - watches over us, reminding us of the need for ceremony and keeping up the lore which protects the country from degradation. This was the theme of the story told by Martakupat Potawurtj about how Nurrunderi, chasing his errant wives, formed the lower reaches of the Murray River and created many features of the Coorong. His wives, feeling guilty for breaking the lore, are now the rocks off Kangaroo Island where they drowned themselves. In sadness at their plight, Nurrunderi was taken by the Great Spirit from Kangaroo Island to become the Milky Way.
Martakupat Potawurtj, a Bindjali man whose English name is Darren Perry, is a second-generation stolen child, currently studying Cultural Heritage Management at University of Canberra. Brought up by foster parents in Queensland, he has only recently been able to trace his family back via his birth in the infirmary of Long Bay Gaol and his mother's institutional upbringing in Melbourne to his South Australian Bindjali and Narinjeri origins. He told his story at the Cabaret for Native Title presented by Australians for Native Title and Canberra Performance Poets at Tilley's Devine Cafe on Tuesday November 4.
The Poets, in conjunction with Second Stage, present a monthly eclectic form of theatre they call "Crash Cabaret": unadorned readings of new poems (this time by Anne Edgeworth, Peter Latona, Ken Brewer, Pauline Brooks, Laurie McDonald); strongly dramatised readings (Hal Judge, Kim Houghton) often with accompaniments, this week on digeridoo, guitar and violin; the ubiquitous comedians Fabulous Fred and Wicked Barb; musical acts of all kinds. Eugene Vincent produced amazing harmonics on the digeridoo on Tuesday, as an intro to a C&W style song about the importance of Albert Namatjira.
The purpose of Crash Cabaret is to give the chance for poets to perform their work, new writers to find an audience, and break the bounds of expectations with events which are at least half unplanned - relying on an unpredictable mix of writers and performers who turn up on the night. This is a kind of open-house (open-cafe?) theatre which suits Tilley's, perhaps the only place in town brave enough to put it on.
Nights must vary in quality and excitement level, but for me it was invaluable to hear the Aboriginal story among other people's poetry of place. The non-Aboriginal work all seemed to require degrees of intellectual decoding in order to find the feeling, while a young first timer, Yuga Avatar Hart, went straight to the heart with simple words about identity. Talking of non-indigenous people who have genuinely tried to help, he said "All their words, their kindness / Can they never feel the pain?" and left in the air the past, the present and the dilemma of reconciliation.
While Canberra Performance Poets and Tilley's give the opportunity for moments like this to happen, maybe Nurrunderi can smile a little and look down on us with some hope, after two centuries, of renewed lore and ceremony.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
Martakupat Potawurtj, a Bindjali man whose English name is Darren Perry, is a second-generation stolen child, currently studying Cultural Heritage Management at University of Canberra. Brought up by foster parents in Queensland, he has only recently been able to trace his family back via his birth in the infirmary of Long Bay Gaol and his mother's institutional upbringing in Melbourne to his South Australian Bindjali and Narinjeri origins. He told his story at the Cabaret for Native Title presented by Australians for Native Title and Canberra Performance Poets at Tilley's Devine Cafe on Tuesday November 4.
The Poets, in conjunction with Second Stage, present a monthly eclectic form of theatre they call "Crash Cabaret": unadorned readings of new poems (this time by Anne Edgeworth, Peter Latona, Ken Brewer, Pauline Brooks, Laurie McDonald); strongly dramatised readings (Hal Judge, Kim Houghton) often with accompaniments, this week on digeridoo, guitar and violin; the ubiquitous comedians Fabulous Fred and Wicked Barb; musical acts of all kinds. Eugene Vincent produced amazing harmonics on the digeridoo on Tuesday, as an intro to a C&W style song about the importance of Albert Namatjira.
The purpose of Crash Cabaret is to give the chance for poets to perform their work, new writers to find an audience, and break the bounds of expectations with events which are at least half unplanned - relying on an unpredictable mix of writers and performers who turn up on the night. This is a kind of open-house (open-cafe?) theatre which suits Tilley's, perhaps the only place in town brave enough to put it on.
Nights must vary in quality and excitement level, but for me it was invaluable to hear the Aboriginal story among other people's poetry of place. The non-Aboriginal work all seemed to require degrees of intellectual decoding in order to find the feeling, while a young first timer, Yuga Avatar Hart, went straight to the heart with simple words about identity. Talking of non-indigenous people who have genuinely tried to help, he said "All their words, their kindness / Can they never feel the pain?" and left in the air the past, the present and the dilemma of reconciliation.
While Canberra Performance Poets and Tilley's give the opportunity for moments like this to happen, maybe Nurrunderi can smile a little and look down on us with some hope, after two centuries, of renewed lore and ceremony.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
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