ABOUT DVA
DVA Theatre Company has been an established community theatre company for over 20 years. It is a company of adult performers with intellectual disability, working alongside volunteer facilitators and a professional Artistic Director. DVA meets weekly for a two-hour workshop throughout the year, with extended workshop and rehearsal hours in preparation for a performance. We are based in the City of Banyule, but members are welcome from anywhere, with participants, volunteers and artists coming from across Melbourne, including the Darebin, Nillumbik, Manningham, Moreland, Yarra and Whittlesea areas. Click here to see company bios
Over its life span DVA has created many public performances. In 2013 DVA presented the project 'A Cosmic Love', a project based in film and performance and presented at LaMama's Courthouse Theatre in collaboration with Platform Youth Arts. Click here to watch our first ever film A Royal Star.
Our most recent work, "Toast," In collaboration with Black Hole Theatre and La Mama Theatre, was presented in 2016. Toast told the quirky tale of two people and a surrounding neighborhood as they searched for love, hope, freedom and the secret and allusive ingredient to toast.
Brought to life through puppetry, dance, photography, light and shade, music and storytelling, this work told of the search for gold, the heart of gold, of finding and losing and loving.
DVA’s 25 participants range in age from 18 to 60. DVA is always open to new members and has no selection process based on audition, making it a truly accessible theatre company for all interested adults with intellectual disability.
DVA aims to dissolve prejudices towards those with intellectual disability through its public performances, which encourage audience participation and visibility of people with intellectual disability in public spaces.
The Company is a not-for-profit, incorporated association managed by a committee of volunteers. It is listed on the Register of Cultural Organisations and is eligible to receive tax deductible gifts.
Project Funding is attained through successful grant submissions to local/state/federal government and philanthropy. Past projects have been awarded funding by; Arts Victoria, the Australia Council, the Reichstein Foundation, VICHealth, Banyule City Council, Nillumbik Shire Council, City of Darebin, the ANZ Trustees, the TAC and other bodies.
Click here to read the DVA Statement of Purpose
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Current News
November 2018 The Other Film Festival DVA Theatre made it to THE OTHER FILM FESTIVAL. As part of the opening night celebrations our film, A Royal Star, will be shown at The Melbourne Malthouse Theatre on 22nd November. This film was entirely devised by the DVA Theatre Ensemble. The artists of DVA wanted to rewrite history so that people with a disability might feature in film. We decided to make a love letter to the past with a unique and new twist. This silent film is set in the 1920s and stars Michael Buxton and Joanne Spicer together with a star studded cast of budding actors. The Film was directed by Nicla Byrnes and Neil Triffet. otherfilmfestival.com Invisible Dances and the Ocean Yarn A Year of Development 2017 and 2018 "Spin me a yarn of the ocean, Spin me a colourful sky... Spin me around and upside down and watch the sun go by...." DVA Theatre Ensemble This year DVA has begun to embark on a brand new project which has sprung forth in response to the work of Arcko Symphonic Orchestra. Arcko's mission is the creation of an arc between heritage and emerging composers and to play its part in the establishment and preservation of an Australian music canon. We will also be collaborating with Sanctum Theatre in 2019 in the creation of some exciting giant puppets to be used in the making of this original theatre piece! The DVA ensemble have begun to create a piece of theatre based on dance and it's interplay with contemporary classical music, hip hop music, light, projection art, film making, sound recording, photography, fashion design storytelling and poetry writing. As we explore the hatching of new ideas and tell our stories, as we become the makers and weavers of time, we ask the questions... What lies beneath? What do we see and what is hidden in us and all? How can the heart of the sea be saved? Can you tell me a yarn of the ocean? Can we let the birds go free? Stay tuned for more exciting news soon.... |
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