Aboriginal Tasmanian playwright Nathan Maynard, TASMANIA PERFORMS and the biennial arts Festival Ten Days on the Island are celebrating the confirmation of major funding for Maynard’s original play about mutton birding family life in Tasmania, The Season.
The Season recently secured funding through the Major Festivals Initiative (MFI), and will now be staged in theatres across the country in the 2017 including Ten Days on the Island Festival in March.
The Season is Nathan’s first full-length play, it will be produced by TASMANIA PERFORMS, directed by Isaac Drandic and features a cast of seven leading Aboriginal actors drawn from across the country including renowned film and theatre actor, Trevor Jamieson.
Mr Maynard said,
“I may have written this yarn but the story is really a testimony to the old coes who carried our traditions through a time where they were being pressured to assimilate. These old fellas deserve to be depicted on stage.
The dogged determination from the Ten Days on the Island festival, Tasmania Performs and many others, to go out and make this possible is very humbling. It is also a reflection of the spirit and character of these organisations and the people who run them.”
TASMANIA PERFORMS Producer, Annette Downs, is thrilled to see Nathan’s talent being recognised and his community’s story making it to the mainstage of our international festivals.
Ms Downs said,
“TASMANIA PERFORMS identifies artists that have creative potential and provides support via; mentoring, sourcing investment, producing and touring, to bring their work to audiences. After two years in development with Tasmania Performs, it was the Ten Days on the Island’s link to the MFI funds that provided the critical last step to staging Nathan’s play.“
Ten Days on the Island’s CEO Jane Haley is very proud that Ten Days on the Island can play a significant role in helping local artists and companies take their work to audiences outside the state.
Ms Haley said,
“As a member of the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals, Ten Days on the Island is in the fortunate position of being able to pitch for Australian Government funding which ensures that new, original Australian creative projects can reach their full potential. We are also able to work with our interstate counterparts to extend the life of new Tasmanian and Australian arts productions through their presentation as part of at least three international arts festivals,”
Tasmanian audiences can look forward to a wonderful night of comedy and rich story telling when Nathan’s play THE SEASON is presented at the Ten Days on the Island Festival 2017 which will run from 17-26 March bringing arts experiences to Tasmanians across the state.
For more information, or to request interviews please contact:
TASMANIA PERFORMS
Background information on…
THE PLAY: Featuring an all Indigenous cast, The Season is a funny insight into the inner workings of a family mutton bird shed on Dog Island. The story follows the highs and lows of the mutton bird season; with no TV reception and basic living conditions there are lots of shenanigans. Every problem is complicated by the island factor, dealing with extreme weather and ‘family’. There are plenty of tears, truths and laughs to be had during a birding season and at the Maynard’s shed it’s no exception.
Not since elder, Jim Everett wrote most of his plays in the 1980s, has Tasmania had an Indigenous playwright actively telling stories about their culture. Jim and the community have identified Nathan as a man of talent and cultural strength and have anointed him as the one to keep telling the stories.
The misconceptions that many people hold about Tasmanian Aboriginal culture are turned on their head by this play.
THE WRITER: Nathan is a direct descendant of Mannalaganna, chief of the Troowolway clan and of the whole of the North East Tasmanian Indigenous peoples. Since the 1830s, Nathan’s family has been known as the Maynards. Nathan has 17 years’ experience as a performer in schools and communities.
TEN DAYS ON THE ISLAND FESTIVAL AND THE MFI: Over the past 15 years Ten Days on the Island, as the Tasmanian member of the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals, has presented a number of works supported through the MFI, including, Blue Angel produced by Big hArt, Ringing the Changes by Strange Fruit (2011), Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s The Garden of Paradise (2005) and Beasty Grrrl written by Scott Rankin (2003).
The Australian Government provides approximately $1.5 million each year for the major international arts festivals through the MFI which supports the commissioning, development and showcasing of new Australian performing arts works of scale for Australia’s major international arts festivals.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Major Festivals Initiative in association with the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals Inc. and the Australia Council.
Annette Downs, Producer Tasmania Performs
