Theatre

Last updated July 2017.

Making & Producing

(see also Writing)

I make things. I help others make things.

I am interested in projects that explore connection and vulnerability. I am interested in projects that are cross disciplinary and are in conversation with non-arts experiences (like theatre + farming). I am interested in collaboration and experimenting and exploring and not knowing.

My recent works have been intimate (for between 1 and 8 audience members at a time) and have delved into soundscapes/audio and installation rather than traditional ‘plays’. I am interested in theatre-making that blurs the lines between roles and focuses instead on what collaborators bring to the table and making something that wasn’t there before.

I am interested in projects that are in conversation with audience – that might be literally through live text messages conversations, or by here and now subject matter or by ancillary experiences (like feasts and dress- ups pre or post show) – especially audiences who have felt left out or intimidated by theatre/art spaces/worlds. Regional communities and young people have my heart. I like urban discoveries and old people too.

I have stepped in and out of many roles – performer, director, producer, writer, co-designer, dramaturg – some roles fit more comfortably than others, some roles come more easily than others, some roles I have fumbled my way through.

Being in the room and on the floor making things is one of my favourite things. I like to say yes.

Recent works:

Aeon Residency, as part of Vitalstatistix’s Adhocracy (2016)

Lead artists: Lz Dunn, Lawrence English, Lara Thoms, Shian Law

With: Alysha Herrmann, Bella Hone-Saunders, Erin Fowler, Jonno Revanche, Lauren Abineri, Marcus Louend, Pony Horseman, Sara Scarlet Strachan, Susan Bruce & Thomas Capogreco.

The Aeon residency invited 10 South Australian artists into the process of refining Aeon with the lead artists during Adhocracy. Adhocracy presented two public performances of the work in August.  Aeon is a listening experience and participatory performance exploring what we think of as ‘natural’. Queer, uplifting, personal and public, Aeon continues to be developed and presented nationally by the lead artists.

Another Elusive Maybe (2016)

By Alysha Herrmann and Ryan Morrison. Performed by Alysha Herrmann.

Another Elusive Maybe was a performance experiment presented as part of the Adelaide Fringe 2016. Each show was presented in a different (real life) lounge-room for a maximum of 8 people per show. The performance incorporated poetry & soundscape (via silent disco headsets), live text message conversations (with each individual audience member) and expressing breast milk.

“Amidst all the rabble about the true meaning of Fringe, I can tell you that this is it. Real art that pushes the boundaries – art that is completely different to anything you’ve experienced before.

Another Elusive Maybe is truly special. It’s an intimate and absorbing experience that cuts you off but leaves you wanting more.”

Jen St Jack, Great Scott ★★★★½

Manifold Portrait (ongoing)

Lead Artist: Alysha Herrman

With: Jessica Weidenhofer, Lauren Foreman, Caroline Reid, Nic Tubb, Terry & Lorraine Marter & ??

Manifold Portrait is a community arts and cultural development project bringing together professional artists with residents of Manifold Crescent and Derrick Street, surrounding Rotary Park in Berri, SA. The project is a long-term artistic commitment to developing a collection of outcomes that nurture resilience, connection and community. Manifold Portrait started in 2015 with a small residency and a sharing evening outcome of food, photographs and installations in the park. In 2016, the focus was on building relationships and trust with residents of the park and to get to know what they’d really like to be part of.

The 2015 stage was presented as part of This Is A River, a series of ten artistic residencies curated and support by Country Arts SA along the South Australian stretch of the River Murray. Read about Manifold Portrait here and here.

Manifold Portrait is informed by an interest in exploring how art can be a catalyst for conversation between people who may not otherwise reach out to each other. How small art activations can open up dialogue and hope and refresh the emotional relationship people have to a place. How we build relationships and trust with people who are different from us. How we document mundane community and family life. How we celebrate the small and the hyper-local.

Jump on board my Patreon for all the behind the scenes of Manifold Portrait (and my other projects), and also sign up to the stand alone MP blog for updates, insights and invites specific to MP in 2017.

Regional SA Tour of Sprout by Jessica Bellamy (2015)

I produced a small regional SA tour of Jessica Bellamy’s play Sprout with director Hannah Fallowfield. Background on the project here, photos from the tour here.

Sprout is a play set in an Australia of the future, where everything has dried up, run out, or fled. In this world, human beings live in skeleton cities, or out in the wild, with only the barest of necessities for survival. One thing unites these fragmented souls: a self-appointed prophet on the radio, the Weatherman, who shares classic poetry with his listeners – his way of making their fear and desolation more bearable, through the beauty of language. And in this world full of endings, four people start new beginnings. Curiosity, romance and new life continue to sprout.

Sing Me Your Sorrow (2013)

Creative Team: Alysha Herrmann, Brianna Obst, Jessica Weidenhofer, Nic Tubb

Sing Me Your Sorrow is a participatory installation/space exploration. Inspired by the PostSecret community and The Obliteration Room by artist Yayoi Kusama and the need we all have to share our hurts with someone who will listen.

Sing Me Your Sorrow invites the audience to write/draw their story of sorrow into the space our artistic team claims. Over the course of an afternoon/day/month, the artistic team then responds to those stories with through photography, poetry and digital media culminating in a unique song of sorrow. Sing Me Your Sorrow was first presented at the 2013 Crack Theatre Festival (as part of This Is Not Art).