Queer Theatre Program
Since its inception in 2007, ActNow Theatre has been run, led, by and engaged with queer artists from all walks of life. We have queer community members represented across all our programs, and continue to advocate for and consult on queerness in the theatre industry — locally and across the world.
Our queer-specific programs have evolved through the years, in line with the changing needs of the community and the world at large. Scroll down to see a timeline of our queer programs over the years…
2007
ActNow Theatre starts, with queer artist Edwin Kemp Attril at the helm, and a plethora of queer collaborators creating and performing in the company’s works.
2013
Speak Out, an in-schools interactive performance addressing homophobia, is developed and toured across Adelaide and South Australia in partnership with Feast Queer Arts and Culture Festival.
2014
ActNow Theatre partners with Gay Men’s Health and Feast Festival to deliver the first series of our Queer Youth Theatre workshops where participants develop a new work exploring safe sex and healthy relationships.
2017
ActNow Theatre presents Zero Feet Away, the result of our partnership with Gay Men’s Health, supported by The Australia Council (now Create Australia). The work discusses dating and relationships as a queer person. It is presented at Ancient World and involves an interactive component where audience members are encouraged to anonymously share their own experiences via an online form throughout the performance.
The final in-schools performances of Speak Out are delivered, with the artists involved reworking the script to include a discussion on biphobia. For the first time, the performing team are majority queer.
This same year, Queer Youth Theatre workshops are officially launched, and coordinated by Program Coordinator, Chiara Gabrielli and Associate Artist Teddy Dunn, and assisted by Sarah-Jayde Tracey. Two blocks of workshops are delivered on Wednesday evenings between May and July, and September and November for LGBTQIA+ people aged 18-30. The workshops include scenework, discussions, writing tasks, and general queer joy. This group creates a Queer Manifesto, attempting to answer questions including “How to make queer theatre” and “Are some things inherently queered or do they need to be queered?
2018
ActNow Theatre moves to a new home on Hindley Street and we now have a venue of our own, giving us the opportunity to expand Queer Youth Theatre. The program continues to be held on Wednesday evenings, with almost 30 people signing up to participate in three 7-week terms of workshops between May and December. Again, it is coordinated by Chiara Gabrielli and Teddy Dunn. Participants are invited into a space where they can explore storytelling and discussion in a wholly queer environment.
2019
Teddy Dunn continues to act as lead artist for Queer Youth Theatre before moving to a new city. A group of local queer artists take over from Teddy, each delivering a couple of workshops each in the second half of the year. These artists include Lachy Barnett, Ben-Hur Winter, and Annabel Matheson.
Virtual Intimacy is presented in Taiwan in collaboration with local company Very Theatre. The work explores queerness and the online dating space.
2020
In a hugely ambitious collaboration, with funding from Arts South Australia, ActNow Theatre teams up with State Theatre Company SA to create Decameron 2.0 — an online theatre project involving over 100 artists designed to create work for artists to mitigate the impact of the covid-19 pandemic. Each week for 10 weeks, a new 10-story episode is written, filmed, edited and then released on YouTube. It is a huge undertaking involving the bulk of the theatre industry in Adelaide, representing a wide diversity of artists from different backgrounds and identities.
As part of this project, an invitation-only group of 17 community artists is formed, selected from past participants of Queer Youth Theatre. The group, called Queer 2.0, is coordinated by past Queer Youth Theatre participants and lead artists Annabel Matheson and Lachlan Barnett. Queer 2.0 meets once a week for the period of the project, creating monologues, characters, relationships and brainstorming ideas prompted by the theme given to them each week by the Decameron 2.0 directors, Yasmin Gurreeboo and Anthony Nicola — all through the lens of their queer lived experience.
Many participants are included as writers and performers in the episodes, with some making their professional debut as playwrights or performers. The atmosphere of Queer 2.0 is supportive, creative, and unique — clear evidence that we as a community rally together in the face of adversity.
The prolific body of work created by Queer 2.0 is hard to ignore and a live presentation of these pieces is performed at Rumpus Theatre to an audience of friends, family, and industry professionals at the conclusion of the program.
During Feast Festival in December, all the queer Decameron 2.0 stories are screened at the Palace Nova as a fundraiser.
Virtual Intimacy is presented again in Taiwan, with ActNow artists joining the performance through pre recorded videos and live streaming and video calls.
2021
Community Arts & Cultural Development consultations take place with past participants of Queer Youth Theatre. These consultations eventually inform the future of queer programs at ActNow Theatre.
New MakeSpace Residencies are awarded, with 3 out of 4 residents identifying as LGBTQIA+.
Funding is secured to implement Drag Troupe in 2022 and 2023.
A queer podcast, Next Stage, is in development.
2022
Associate Artists Lauren Fraser and Caitlin Tait provide pastoral support across the year to queer community members, and assist in the lead up to a weekend of Drag Troupe during Feast Festival in November.
Drag Troupe is a program to support the development of emerging drag artists, in line with community consultation. The weekend is led by local drag artists F-Boi George and ALIXXX, and culminates in an in-house showing.
Next Stage is released.
2023
Associate Artist Annabel Matheson joins the team and manages the development and delivery of Drag Troupe between February and September, alongside Assistant Producer and drag artist, Arran Beattie aka Marian Westfield.
We secure funding from the City of Adelaide to support a relaunching of the Queer Theatre Program — now welcoming everyone LGBTQIA+ aged 18 and older. The program includes a range of skills building sessions in acting, writing, devising, and dramaturgy, and participants are provided with dinner at each workshop. Facilitating artists include Ashton Malcolm, Katherine Sortini, Teddy Dunn, Philip Kavanagh, Connor Reidy, and Anthony Nicola.
Supported By
This project has been made possible in 2023 with support from the City of Adelaide’s Community Impact Grant.
