Crack Theatre Festival is seeking applications from theatre and performing artists to present performances, workshops, presentations, demonstrations, panels, forums and other creative live occurrences. Crack is a national festival and forum for alternative theatre makers and performing artists. It takes place in Newcastle annually, and is part of This Is Not Art.

Crack is an opportunity for you to enrich your creative practice. Inclusion in the program is a chance to experiment with new ideas, investigate new collaborations or take your work in an entirely different direction. A convergence of artists and companies from across Australia, Crack can also increase your national profile, and extend your creative networks for the future.

Crack Theatre Festival provides programmed artists and companies with a shared venue, production support and equipment, public liability insurance, inclusion in the TINA program, event listing on the Crack website, and basic documentation.

Unfortunately Crack can’t fund project development, or cover travel and accommodation costs, but it is totally free to attend. Crack is a forum and festival for artists by artists and hence there are no charges to participate or present work in the festival. So although selected artists won’t receive any box office income, showcasing your new work and ideas, with the support of Crack Theatre Festival, is free.

We look forward to receiving your proposal and the opportunity to program your new work in Crack.
Be sure to visit the Crack Theatre website, and the TINA website to familiarise yourself with the convergence of artists, reviewers, thinkers, writers, dreamers, the independent, the emergent, and the experimental.

Submissions close midnight March 16, 2012

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD APPLICATION PACK

Fleur Kilpatrick, The Insomnia Cat Came to Stay, Crack 2011

[Show as slideshow]

(Crack 2011 work (L-R) Insomnia Cat Came To Stay, Catalyst#5, Polly Wolly)

For more images of Crack 2011, please click here. 

Crack 2011 is over, and the festival team look excitedly toward 2012 for what is already shaping up as the best and brightest Crack Theatre Festival yet!  Some exciting projects are already bubbling along, and without giving too much away, feel free to get excited over the words:

Circus – Film – Installation – Experimental – Dance – Theatre

We hope 2012 has begun gloriously for you all, our Crack family, and will be seeing you all soon.

EXCITING NEWS: Join the Crack team!  We are seeking two inspiring and passionate people to become the 2012 Associate Producers.  The successful candidates will lead on to become the 2013 Artistic Directors. Apply now, by downloading the PD here:  Crack Theatre Festival Associate Producer
APPLICATIONS CLOSE: Wednesday 8th February 2012
INTERVIEWS HELD: Mid-February 2012 

Gareth and Jane x

Beyond the use of video the dancers bring true creative flair to the performances in a genre-bending mash-up of dance styles and conventions. It’s high standard improvisation, brought to fruition with audience help: picking from a selection of traditional and absurd dances in different styles. Nobody knows what may come – in Friday’s show we saw Swan Lake and the Macarena performed in various modes of the modern and hip-hop ouvre. Truly unexpected and original work…

It’s an open ended workshop, so Friday’s dances will differ from Saturday’s; which is slated to take the next level and incorporate audience participation in the form of remixed video contributed throughout the course of the festival. This could include literally any video content you can think of – so it’s a striking imaginative leap for the dancers to translate into movement in a live context.

Hit up the Crack House to contribute to the video remix or catch the final multidisciplinary collaboration at 7pm Tonight at The Loft!

THE OFFICIAL CRACK THEATRE FESTIVAL PROGRAM IS LIVE

Very exciting times here in the Crack office (and by office of course I mean the screens of our respective laptops)….

The program has been launched!  Check out the “Program” tab above to get a sneaky cheeky peak at what is in store for Crack 2011.

CRACK TROOP Rowan McDonald defies the space time continuum again to catch up with CRACK ARTIST Patrick Lenton to discuss Apocalyptic fashion victimistion and his new show

CRACK:       What are you expecting from TINA and CRACK this year?   Anything you can’t possibly miss?  Apart from your own show of course!

LENTON:    The Five Foot Five event on the Friday night looks to be a hoot. Excited to see Applespiel do their Awful Literature is Still Literature I Guess, got a sneak of them at Underbelly this year and it was great. Annnnnd, the Apocalypse themed party on Sunday. Should be hell.

CRACK:       Ah, yes, I saw some of that too – live readings of awful smut, surely a sign that it’s the Apocalypse.  And that being so, what do you wear?

LENTON:   My biggest fear is being caught in the apocalypse wearing flimsy dress shoes. As soon as I turn my stylish ankle, then bam – the dinosaurs are ripping into my nubile flesh. So I would wear boots. And a shotgun hat.

CRACK:     You totally just stole my look. Never mind. TRICK QUESTION: Do you think the Newcastle Knights are in with a chance at the NRL Premiership this year?

LENTON:   If they get to wear full armour, I can’t see many people volunteering to stop them.

CRACK:      Hah! That’s all you know.  I can confidently predict that by the time this article is published they will be out of the competition. Since you clearly know nothing about the NRL, what do you see are the main challenges facing emerging writers?

LENTON:   Dragons.

CRACK:      Nope, They’re out too. Honestly.  What is it with Artists and Sport? Actually don’t answer that. What would you say are the main challenges facing emerging artists in theatre?

LENTON:   Dragons. Apart from dragons, it’s probably the extenuated, amorphic notion of what emerging actually means. There’s a very real danger that a writer could be stuck inside the emerging cocoon for the rest of their lives, constantly applying for mentors or developments or magic swords etc. The actual opportunities for emerging writers to put on real work – ostensibly the most important part of a theatre writers job – are increasingly scarce.

CRACK:      Is there a generation gap within the Australian theatre community?

LENTON:   Yes.

CRACK:      That’s a very mysterious and complex answer. So- tell me a little bit about the background of this show?  Has it changed much in its various incarnations?

LENTON:   100 Years of Lizards began as a lab development with Underbelly Arts Festival on Cockatoo Island. As is the beauty of a dedicated development time, the playmutated in a variety of ways over the course of it. Some were necessary plot changes – others no more than sporadic whims. A joke about including a jellyfish in a scene, led to featuring an entire jellyfish subplot. Characters were invented and dropped like an old hat. But it’s much better now. Under the expert directorial vision of first Scott Selkirk and now Ngaire O’Leary, the show which I ludicrously outlined on the page has been translated into something horrible and beautiful on the stage.

CRACK:     Sounds invigorating! What’s next?

LENTON:   100 Years of Lizards will be travelling to the Adelaide Fringe in 2012. We will be playing at a venue called The Maid from March 1-17.

CRACK:      Rocking Chair.  But you can catch it at CRACK exclusively for the time being, since March 1-17 is not Saturday October 1st, at 9:30, or Sunday October 2nd at 4pm, in the Crack House.  Be there.

As if our program wasn’t Jam-Cracked enough, these last minute additions slipped through the cracks in the official guide … Be sure and take note!

The Slip… At The Crack House Thursday 29th September 5pm, 9.00pm & Saturday 1st October 5.30pm, 8.00pm

The moment stops… bends… tilts… curves
This is a momentary performance shared with you by Newcastle’s own Tantrum Theatre. Let this moment carry you away, immerse yourself, blend yourself, stop to smell the roses, listen to the harmony and let your thoughts drift on the breeze and dream. The moment lasts for as long as you want to be there.
This is a tremendous collaboration from Toni Main, Lachlan Tetlow-Stuart and Anne Berry. It combines physical theatre with audiovisual splendour with live cello with vast auditorium of your imagination. From The Tantrum Ensemble.

Transparency Collective –

Open for Inspection

from 12.30-3pm and NOW extended hours between 3.30-6pm!  On saturday Oct 1st Transparency Collective invite you to engage with them; as observer, as participant, as co-creator in this quartet of intimate performances. Unfolding diverse relationships between the audience and artist/work. Transparency Collective want you!

Transparency Collective is: staking claim over; prohibited from entering; housebound to; AND partying in… Blackall House. Drop in Saturday 1st October. Inspection hours are 12.30pm-3pm AND 3.30pm-6pm. BYO curiosity, spontaneity, and iPod (essential)

Transparency Collective – ‘As yet Undecided’

a durational performance centred around obsessively expunging the past, and preserving it. Themes of excavation and the residue of history are explored through extraordinary needlework. One showing only! Come by between 12 noon and 5pm Sunday 2nd of October.

‘As yet Undecided’ is duet between two subjects; one artist is centred on thr purification of site and space and the other is charting the ephemeral to have it linger as an object. Together like scientists in a lab they weave a delicate and profound tapestry of information and offer the fruits of this research to thier audience.

Kieran Julian Cooper Swann’s work continually takes the form of obsessive and durational undertaking of tasks.  This particular concept  revolves around a grappling with the history of site; as both an unearthing of the residue of that which has occurred within it, and the subsequent removal of it and the abolishment of those traces.  This fine and engrossing penetration of the space is both gentle and eviscerating.

Kali Rose has had a long-standing preoccupation with what it means for a woman to weave. This historically feminine form has signified the placement of woman in culture from the earliest form of archiving and text to the ultimate symbol of feminine oppression in Victorian culture. With the notion of ‘keeping the devil who loves idle hands at bay’ coupled with textile as document Kali Rose attempts to collide these two structures and chart, through nuanced and definite techniques, the psychological state of the performer in task.

Transparency Collective are composed of four talented artists who converge in an interstitial field between installation, live art, and performance. Their work is united by an investigation into mutualistic relationships between artists and viewer/participants. From Jamie Lewis’s meandering philosophical dialogues, to the carefully constructed spaces and rituals of Kali Rose’s work, to the silent and durational tasks of Kieran Swann’s practice, and to the physical/circus improvised encounters with Rockie Stone, this work is focused on how the artist and participant connect in a performance space

Tonight’s Secret Location will only be revealed to those attending the Facebook Event Cy*Bent*Ity hosted by Polly Wolly.

This Site Specific Performance explores the boundaries between self identity and social media, the clash of technology and the human soul.

Far. Out.

Join the FB group for the exclusive invitation!

Van Badham

DISCLAIMER: Given the time-space differential that comes with asking interview questions both before and after said answers are given, be warned that some of the following exchange may be subject to the rules of non-sequitur and lack of sleep.

CRACK:    Hi Van, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions -

VAN:        ROWAN. INSOMNIA. USE THIS.

CRACK:    I have a distinct memory of you there wearing blue and red ribbons in pigtails the night Newcastle won the NRL Grand Final.  Do you think the Knights are in with a shot this year?

VAN:       Actually, I’m Roosters-til-I-die, but out of eternal deference to Marcus Westbury and Lisa Ronneberg, I’ll proxy to the Knights if the Roosters aren’t playing. Had a lovely evening in Newie last year at the end of the festival, watching my beloved chickens go down to the Dragons in the mud. Marcus and Lisa were very supportive, despite the loss. I’ve one thing to say, and that’s Todd Carney, work your 12-step. Enough.

CRACK:  We’re pretending that 2011 never happened as far as the Roosters are concerned, but thanks for the reminder. You’re adamant the local footy team doesn’t stand a chance in the finals, what other forms of excitement do you expect to find happening in Newy that weekend? Or is it unwise to form expectations of TINA before going?

VAN:        Don’t pack expectations – you’ll lose them between the Festival club and the hostel on your first night with your lipstick, tampons and pen. The great thing about TINA is the random encounters that forge fast friendships – I met Benito Di Fonzo smoking a cheeky cigarette outside the Festival Club in 1999 and a decade later I still can’t get rid of him.

CRACK:    I have the same problem, except I think I met Benito at the Hunter on Hunter, having a cheeky beer.

VAN:        There’s an anecdote about John Birmingham and a cake which is shared by many old timers.

CRACK:  Was that the year he was “researching” Dopeland?  I recall very little of that season.

VAN:        My defining memory of the Festival is Linda Jaivin giving a panel on erotic fiction and concluding it with “now I’m off to practice what I preach” and a young handsome man. The only way to “do” TINA is to rock up. Hang around. Engage. And don’t show any sympathy to the performance poets – they’re just going to hassle you for free drinks.

CRACK:   I know you’ve been in and out of the country for the last decade or so, what are your thoughts on how much the creative community has changed in Oz?

VAN:        Actually, I don’t think the creative community has changed, as much as events like TINA have brought a lot of those people together, and given them a space to talk to one another, collaborate, pick up, make out, be the cool kids they universally weren’t in high school. For first-timers, TINA is like discovering you’re not the only kid in Hurstville who likes the Ramones.

CRACK:    Is it better or worse for emerging artists in the UK?

VAN:        The great thing about the creative community in Australia as opposed to here in the UK is that in Australia we have DIY culture, where you can whack together a zine, or throw together a show, or make something happen just through time, the miracle of temporary unemployment and sheer force of will – and the broader professional culture will give you respect for that. Here [in the UK], you essentially need rich parents and/or the backing of an institution for people to take you on board. I tell people here about Chris Gregory getting a book deal because a publisher from Penguin picked up one of his zines in an independent bookstore and they actually gag with disbelief. In the UK, everyone begs and waits around for institutional approval and it makes the culture very conservative, the writing, in particular, very safe. My boyfriend is British and I brought him to TINA last year and he was amazed. He just couldn’t believe all you had to do was call yourself a writer and turn up. You learn by doing and having the means to just do is the very great privilege of being Australian – whereas in the UK if you’re not loaded you have no means to do anything on your own. Sad fact.

CRACK:     Yes.  I agree with that completely.  Why theatre?  Why not, say – a series of fantasy novels about adolescent witches?  Surely there’s more of an audience in teenage anxiety than semi-satirical-socio-political comment… There were way to many hyphens in that sentence.

VAN:        I write everything. I am not exclusive. I make theatre because it’s dynamic and social and I write books because they are detailed and intimate. I write film reviews because I love genre movies, oh god, and analysing something you love keeps your senses sharp. I write radio drama because it forces the audience to do the most imaginative work of any media, I write musicals because I like to sing in the shower. I write across different literary forms on the principle that having stuff to say about the world is fundamentally entertaining – I pick my audience, choose my form and proceed accordingly.

CRACK:  Would you say theatre can be considered a ‘global’ art form, or do the format’s limitations make that impossible?

VAN:         Of course theatre is global – it’s the language of bodies in space, and, with effort, if you can’t translate what’s going on, you’ll be given enough material to invent your own narrative. I’ve had this experience a couple of times – I was one of 8 playwrights who had work translated for a performance in German for the State Theatre Company of Bern in Switzerland. Great premise – except when it came to watching eight back-to-back hours of theatre in a language I don’t speak. Amazingly, for most of it I was able to piece together an understanding of what was going on from the images on stage – until they got into that hardcore German stand-in-a-line-facing-the-audience-and-shout form of drama, of which I could translate “An apple is not an apple!” and no more. Then my brain started to hurt.

CRACK:   So, despite the language barrier, there are still ways to express theatrically through form and staging that transcend culture?

VAN:        I was in China recently and saw some Kunqu opera in Suzhou – very beautiful, very formal performance. I could not understand a word (my Chinese is even worse than my German), but the performance is so strictly stylised and the technical demands of the performers so exacting (they have to play a range of musical instruments as well as engage and recite) that it was a delight just to revel in their artistry. What was the question? I travel a lot, I’m so way cultured, etc etc etc

CRACK:  Given that most theatre productions have a highly localised, short-term lifespan, what are the challenges for artists trying to create work that operates on a global level?

VAN:        Ha – actually I was making this point earlier today; the best plays, the most universal ones, are those that are most intimately focused on the time and place of their construction, that communicate most clearly the values, protocols and paradoxes of their own moment in social space. Shakespeare, Brecht, Ibsen, Chekhov, Ionesco, Caryl Churchill – all of these playwrights, for example, have a profound understanding of their own world and what governs it that the lesson becomes one of appreciating how we also are governed.

CRACK: So wherever we are, whenever we are, we write from the context of the same humanity, the same global power struggle?

VAN:        If you think about it, what on earth does 16th Century London, 1950s Soviet East Germany, Thatcher’s Britain of the 1980s, turn-of-the-century Norway, post-war France or barely-post-industrial Russia have in common with contemporary Australia? Well, everything – because all of these societies contained people who followed rules or broke them, just like our own does. The challenge is not to write THE world, but to write YOUR world. That’s the easy, near-impossible trick of a great play.

CRACK:      I can’t let the opportunity pass without asking if we can get a hint of your plans for Malthouse?  What can we expect for 2012?

VAN:         Hell, my immediate plans for my new job in Melbourne is to find somewhere to live, work out how to buy a ticket for a tram and get to work on time. My plans for 2012 are to make plans for 2013, as I’ll be arriving just as the most recent season has been announced. As for what I’ll be spruiking to the company for the 2013 season, that’s a closely guarded secret – but if you think you can write a Kunqu opera, let me know.

CRACK:  I’ll google it and see what I can do…  Thanks for your insights, Van, looking forward to catching up again in a few short weeks!  See you at the festival club.

Van Badham performs her black comic post-structural feminist meta-theatrical critique of auteur culture: How It Is or As You Like It at the CrackHouse, Friday, 7:15 pm

for more about Van see www.vanbadham.com

Thursday 29 September 1.30pm – 4.30pm Blackall House

Got an idea to throw around the studio? Get in early for this cracking opportunity to develop your theatre shizzle. Thursday at 1:30, Karena Thomas, Karli Evans and Erin Taylor brings this hands on workshop to Crack. Open your fledgling ideas in a straight out improvisational ho-down to kick off the festival weekend. This is the same crew performing their show Tits Up! for the Sydney Fringe Festival (Hive Bar Sept 20-27); bringing an insight into their creative process for your interactive pleasure.

Tits Up! (fun just saying it, right?) was originally performed at the legendary Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and was redeveloped for Australian audiences by the Improvlab crew. The team are Karena Thomas, Karli Evans, Erin Taylor, who founded the Company by originally running regular Impro Workshops at Glebe’s Roxbury Hotel in Sydney’s Inner West.  Rumour has it they will be teaching you how to create characters confidently through Improvisation, then film your wacky creations for the Five Foot Fiveshort work showcase at the Crack House on Friday. Get along early to this workshop, meet the team and give them a cracking good time and and feature in the the improvised videos developed especially for Crack!  Two days into Crack and you could already be a rising star!

at The Loft

Straight out of the thriving independent scene in Sydney the stagejuice crew are renowned for making exhilarating live work from the barest of bones; always pushing new forms and collaborative techniques to make their shows a unique, cutting-edge experience. Their Performance Jam offers a crystallised version of the freshly squeezed process in a fast paced circuit-training format. Their uber-talented team are ready and waiting to take your creative offers/opinions/sweaty kisses to squeeze more art from the pulp.

This workshop is the Crack Theatre Festival at its roots. Featuring live collaboration, creative networking and a crash course in cutting edge performance technique – it’s a real opportunity to make those lifelong connections that only happen at Crack. Meet your creative match in this all-star performance jam from stagejuice. Pairs will team up for five minute slam sessions making fresh art, live and improvised. It’s an open environment for spontaneous artmaking and exchange between strangers and disciplines. The perfect way to get your Sunday juices flowing in style.

Expect fast paced, challenging and hilarious improv work with new and familiar creative partners. Changing every five minutes to take a new direction, a new sound, prop, task or stimuli for creative output. No time to think! Just do.  This is the stagejuice way. The focus will be on creating environments for experimentation, collaboration, hybridity, testing and risk-taking to bring freshly squeezed and Crack artists together leading to new, ideas, connections and approaches.  It’s one of those rare occasions where just about anything might come of the workshop, so bring nothing but an open mind to this. And some pants.

Bookings for the stagejuice Performance Jam are highly recommended, as this will fill up fast!  contact admin@stagejuice.com.au or 0402 626 377 to ensure a place. See you there!

stagejuice are Katy Green, David Buckley, Gideon Payten-Griffiths. Kylie Dennis-Calleja, Marc Chee, Tom Hogan and Skye Kunstelj. Experience their special brand of awesome at midday, Sunday. the Loft.  

www.stagejuice.com.au