inSPACE 20th Anniversary Program
Image: Womb
The 20th anniversary of Adelaide Festival Centre’s inSPACE Development Program has been revealed, with eight new works-in-progress selected for development. The program will run from January 2022 until October 2022 and will showcase a range of genres including dance, theatre, musicals, cabaret and performance art.
Adelaide Festival Centre’s inSPACE Development program provides the opportunity to support, encourage and provide feedback to South Australian independent artists, with works-in-progress shown to an invited audience of arts critics, industry experts and members of the public at Adelaide Festival Centre’s Drama Centre Rehearsal Room. Audiences can register interest to attend inSPACE 2022 presentations here.
Kicking off inSPACE 2022 in January is Womb, a dance work that invites the audience to step inside the world of rituals. South Australian choreographer Samuel Hall delves into the history of rituals and how they create opportunities for people to gather, gain new insight and let go of old energies.
A new immersive exhibition from young Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour, Unheard, intends to break the fourth wall between the audience and artist, inviting audiences to engage and interact rather than simply observe. Audiences will leave the exhibition questioning their subconscious ideologies and pose questions that will stir conversation. Unheard opens in February 2022.
Image: Unheard. photographer: Jefferson Ofesi
Unheard Director Clement Rukundo: “My purpose in the industry is to give a voice to my community and the world at large. Being a multicultural person, whose work challenges stereotypes by capturing the complexity of human behaviour, I aim to give hope to other ethnic people who want to follow their passion of being a storyteller.”
The all-female cast of BUMBLING takes the audience on a nostalgic journey through your awkward teenage years, from pink champagne to the boy you made out with behind your Nan’s garage. Creator Isobel Marmion uses humour to explore social issues such as loneliness and mental illness. BUMBLING will be presented in April 2022.
Writer H Lawrence Sumner and Artistic Director of Brink Productions Chris Drummond join forces for an eye-opening performance that follows a teen coming to terms with his own lived experience of blackness. Black will be presented in May 2022.
Dancers and Helpmann Academy alumni Felicity Boyd and Zoe Gay (Motus Collective) will create an innovative cross-artform experiment that brings the audience through the performers’ personal experiences of love and connection in Trifle. This contemporary dance work opens in July 2022.
Award-winning South Australian playwrights Hew Parham and Jamie Hornsby will come together to explore the life and misadventures of famed crooner Al Bowlly in Mr Lucky. The one man show features Bowlly’s greatest hits accompanied by stories of his misfortune that echo Parham’s travels overseas, tragic romantic mishaps and missed moments of fame. Mr Lucky will be shown in July 2022.
South Australian Playwrights Theatre further develops the first African Australian musical, The Deep North. Award-winning playwright and screenwriter, Matt Hawkins, tells the story of a young woman torn between a scholarship at one of Adelaide’s most prestigious schools and keeping her family from falling apart in Port Augusta. Soul singer Elsy Wameyo joins the musical cast of African Australians to explore the meaning of home. The Deep North will be presented in September 2022.
Image: The Deep North - Elsy Wameyo as Jasmin
Chinese-Australian performer Sam Lau explores the generational cultural clash many Asian-Australians face. Walk of the Ancestors follows Lau, who travels through time and space to understand the stories and journeys of his ancestors. The generational exploration opens in October 2022.
Over the past 20 years, inSPACE has proudly worked with representatives across South Australia’s independent arts scene with organisations such as Vitalstatistix, Slingsby and Brink and alumni include Erin Fowler, Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Finegan Kruckemeyer.
In celebration of its 20th anniversary, inSPACE is partnering with Country Arts SA to offer one of the successful/programmed inSPACE Developments the opportunity to tour their production regionally, as well as pairing 1-2 of the inSPACE development teams with a regional emerging creative to be part of the artistic process during their creative development period in 2022.
Country Arts SA Chief Executive Anthony Peluso: “This partnership will offer exciting collaborations between Adelaide and regional artists, supporting career pathways for regional emerging creatives and bringing innovative and diverse contemporary work to regional audiences.”
Adelaide Festival Centre CEO & Artistic Director Douglas Gautier AM: “Since its inception in 2002, inSPACE has been at the forefront of artistic creation and excellence whilst supporting South Australian artists.
“This program reinforces Adelaide Festival Centre’s philosophy of ‘Arts for All’ by fostering and showcasing the professional development of local independent artists. The creation of new works is more important than ever given the challenging times the arts industry has seen in the last couple of years.”
For more information about inSPACE programs at Adelaide Festival Centre or to sign up to receive updates and invitations to work-in-progress shows, visit https://www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/whats-on/inspace-developments/.
Article basede on the Adelaide Festival Centre Media Release.