Virag Dombay - Page 6

MJ O'Neill is a Brisbane producer, specialising in heavy, colourful beats spanning hip hop, leftfield, house, techno, and breaks. Previously played alongside members of Death Grips, clipping., and Donny Benet.

Check out our interview with Lewis Treston!

Next up on our my Brisbane local artists segment is the amazing and incredibly passionate Kate Edminston, who I was very fortunate to have had as my of my university professors whilst I was studying drama. Katie Edmiston is a passionate arts leader that has been working with, for and on behalf of regional communities in Queensland for over a decade. Katie has worked as an independent creative producer and practitioner and within a number of arts and cultural organisations, creative businesses, festivals and events, universities, peak bodies, local councils and state government.

Next up on my Local Artists segment is one of the most hard-working, kindest and one of the most passionate humans you'll ever meet... performer, theatremaker, writer and access consultant, Madeleine Little. Since 2015, Madeleine has been a member of the Indelabilityarts Ensemble, co-devising Love Me; (2017) and co-devising and performing in Look Mum... No Hands! [The Legless Bar Years] (2016-2018). Among other credits, Madeleine performed in Restless Dance Theatre's Helpmann-nominated work Intimate Space on the Gold Coast (2018) at bleach* Festival in association with Festival 2018. Her original work, Hold, was presented in April 2019 as part of her Master of Arts (Creative Arts) research at USQ testing the implementation of accessible theatre practice conventions in a new work. She worked as a Research Associate for The Last Avant Garde - Disability and the Performing Arts in Australia: Beyond the Social Model research project (UniMelb, UniSyd, AAV, ARC lastavantgarde.com.au). Madeleine was also awarded the inaugural Stella Young Award from Arts Access Victoria (2018) and the inaugural National Leadership Award from Arts Access Australia (2019). Here's what Maddie had to say...

Next up in my Local Artist's Interview Segment is the lovely theatremaker Angela Witcher. Angela studied with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, trained at E.15 Theatre School in London and has a Masters in Shakespeare studies from the University of Birmingham. She is passionate about performance in all forms, inclusive theatre, promoting new work and talent and encouraging creativity to blossom in the most unlikely places. Angela has over 30 years of theatrical experience as a performer, director, tutor/facilitator and artistic director of a theatre company in the UK. As founder and Artistic Director of Independent theatre company InsideOutside (since 2012), Angela produces and facilitates opportunities for emerging artists to create new work and provides opportunities for people with disability, dementia and disadvantage to experience and create theatre. Here's what she had to say...

Next up on my local artist's segment is such an incredible woman who has inspired and continues to inspire me in so many ways. Her name is Dana Holden and she's the President of Drama Queensland, Drama Teacher and A/Head of Department of Teaching and learning. She is also a member of the Queensland Advocates for Arts Education, a past board member of Playlab Theatre, and a QCAA panellist, endorser and subject matter expert. Dana holds a Masters in Creative Industries with a focus on the role of Education Manager's in arts organisations. In 2016 Dana was awarded the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Fellowship in New York, working with schools in curriculum design for all subject areas from prep through to tertiary level.

Bridget Boyle is an Australian-based performer, writer, director, researcher and teacher in Drama, with a focus on comedy and gender. In 1998, she co-founded Debase Productions with Liz Skitch and Robert Kronk, and since then their theatrical works have been performed in venues and festivals across Australia and internationally. She has performed and directed for the Brisbane Festival, Queensland Theatre, State Theatre Company of South Australia and the Out of the Box Festival. She holds a doctorate in Drama and is one of the funniest and the most giving human beings you will ever meet. I'm so so grateful to be having her on this segment. Here's what Bridget had to say...

The next guest for our Brisbane Local Artists segment is...Anna Straker. Anna is a Queensland-based, award-winning artist specialising in puppetry and visual theatre. She has over a decade's experience working across theatre and television as a performer and maker, and is known for her allegorical works of 'fierce originality' and grotesque whimsy. She prioritises working with found and recycled objects in her practice as a designer.

Next up in our Brisbane Local Artists interview segment is Dorothy (Dot) Mae. Working as a performing artist and teacher, and as a Captain Starlight, Dot is very passionate about teaching youth about the arts and helping them release their creativity. Not only that, but she is one of the loveliest and supportive humans that I've ever met. Here is what we had a chat about...

don't think I've ever met someone more passionate about the arts and youth arts than Katherine Quigley. She is the current Artistic Director and CEO of Backbone Youth Arts, the Chair of Vulcana Women's Circus and an active member of the Queensland Chamber of Arts and Culture and the national youth arts steering committee. A scholarship recipient and graduate of NIDA's inaugural cohort, Masters of Fine Arts in Cultural Leadership Katherine specialises in producing collaborative, experimental multi-arts and cultural experiences. Her career spans 15 years as a producer of multi-arts festivals, events, exhibitions, theatre and circus and has produced works for most, if not all, major theatre companies in Brisbane and fringe festivals around Australia. She has also worked with artists in Australia, Germany, Mexico and the United Kingdom. In addition to her studies at NIDA she has completed a Bachelor of Creative Industries with subjects in Drama, Film and Music and a Graduate Certificate in Accounting (partial completion) at the Queensland University of Technology. Katherine is also a peer assessor for Arts Queensland and the Australia Council. She is quite honestly everything I aspire to be and I'm so thankful to have been able to interview her for this segment.

As a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, most, if not all, of your local artists, actors, entertainers, creatives, directors, producers, playwrights, you name it, have lost their jobs. This not only means that they've lost their financial income but a platform on which the showcase their creations. Consequently, over the course of the next few months, I will be conducting interviews with local artists in the hopes of providing a platform for their artistic voice to be heard. My aim is for this to result in two-three interviews being posted per week. First up is an award-winning comedy and cabaret artist Jenny Winter, who chats about her recently released video Hug an Artist .

Presented by If Theatre, Mother proves that Noni Hazlehurst is one of the storytellers of our times. The stage becomes a storybook and we are its readers, as Hazlehurst, through every cry, twitch, cackles and shuffle, shares a story with of compassion from someone who is deeply hurting and misunderstood. Running for seventy-five minutes, Hazlehurst vanishes into the character of Christie, a heartbroken and grief stricken homeless, alcoholic mother who longs for the touch of her child, from her trembling walk and constantly twining fingers, to her dry and hardened voice. As audience members, we get lost in the rhythm of her conversations, the longing in her voice, the love she feels for her not only her son but for her husband and her uncertainty in where she belongs and what role she can play in the world. She desperately wants to play the role of the Mother, but her husband won't allow that because of her alcoholism but she is the Mum so shouldn't that be enough? This is just one of the many questions the play asks its audience to critically think about.

Following sold-out houses on London's West End, the Sydney Opera House, and most recently on tour in the USA, Australia's hottest tap dance sensation, THE TAP PACK are bringing their high energy, tap comedy show to 16 venues across Queensland this June and July!