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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. 
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​DVA and Black Hole Theatre Collaborate....
To make "Toast" in 2016

With the generous support of Maddocks, the RACV Foundation and Sisters’of Charity Foundation, DVA Theatre successfully completed the project Live Wires and the Sundance Toasties. In collaboration with Black Hole theatre and La Mama Theatre, the company worked to devise and present “Toast,” The eventual outcome of the project was a live theatre production, presented at the Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School Theatre on the 12th and 13th of November. 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.
Performed by The DVA Theatre Company Ensemble In collaboration with Black Hole Puppetry 
“Toast” was a culmination of characters true and imagined, merging from what we feel inside to what we see and know and have and what we reach for too. It was the story of a heart of a search for gold, a heart of gold. It was the story of finding and looking for more. It was a lot of hard work and great people and a toast to love.
This piece of theatre proved that community can sit at the heart of creation. It was a testament to the transformative nature of theatre and the important role of the Arts to embolden the human spirit and as a catalyst for change and understanding. 

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DVA at the 2015 Light in Winter Festival 

“ I am gentle, I am tall, I am history, I am yours. I am past, I am future, I am one, I am one, I am two, I am red and I’m blue...... we are here in the light " DVA Theatre Company 

In June 2015, DVA Theatre Company together with Melbourne Djembe paid homage to the life giving power of light by day and by night. As Chandra Moon illuminated the skies, Sunna Sun brought brightness, warmth energy and joy to Federation Square. Tribal Rhythms, a twist of marching band brigade and an exhibition of light and light based technology in photography, our gentle giant Puppet Alias Olive, stood out in the crowd to celebrate us @ DVA Theatre. Dancing, drumming and roving through a solstice of festivities, the magic, the moonlight and the sun collided as one peaceful warrior.


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​Live-Wires
...AND THE SUN-DANCE TOASTIES

DVA have been  working on a new puppetry project, "Live-Wires and the Sun-dance Toasties." Part of this project involves the ensemble creating a giant puppet, using recycled materials. The group have so far collected discarded rubbish from their homes and visited Reverse Art Truck to collect materials for construction. Reverse Art Truck is a non-profit organisation located in the suburb of Ringwood that collects rejects, seconds and factory off cuts. 

The giant puppet  "Alias Olive" will feature in this years Federation Light in Winter Festival. He is almost complete and ready to join the parade.

The puppet was inspired by the ensembles poem:


We Are

I am gentle, I am tall, I am history, I am yours...
I am past, I am future, I am one...
I am one, I am two, I am red and I’m blue,
I am wise, I am kind
I am round like the moon...
I am looking, I am lonely
I am round like the sun...
I am feet of a frog
And a heart that can long....
I am beautiful
I am love
I am life
We are
Here
In the light....


DVA Theatre Ensemble




Harvest Moon and the Breakfast Club
A Photographic Exhibition 


While documenting work on our current puppetry theatre project we had a photographic exhibition at the Diamond Valley Library...

By DVA Theatre and in collaboration with
The Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service 
 
“I like Breakfast most… with toast…most…. Hot, soft, warm, tender, butter tops, a peanut coat of comfort and crunch, sweet jam with vegemite, alright…Toast!.....all rise for some morning toast… I am the orange OC, Dark Princess apple Queen, passion-fruit ‘s evening delight, fruit salad light, grapes green and a hip-hop star, I am tomato red in Nonna’s Kitchen ..Blueberry night and a watermelon's afternoon…… “
DVA Theatre Ensemble

“We are Inside- Outside...shutdown , closed up,  swimming  free... “
DVA Theatre Ensemble


Photography by: Patti Green
Directed by: Nicla Byrnes

From the 8th -15th of December DVA showcased an exhibition in Photography and moving images featuring the DVA Theatre Company Ensemble following a journey through an orchard of life giving fruit and flowers in the relationship between time and self,
exploring the depths of human fear, light, hope, repression and freedom. Presented at the Diamond Valley Library this work celebrated the developing work of the DVA Ensemble in collaboration with Artistic Director Nicla Byrnes and our in house photographer Patti Green.






A Masterclass With RAWCUS 

On the 8th of July 2014, 4 members of the DVA team; Duane Wilks, Larelle Kearney, Nicla Byrnes and Sophia Constantine, attended the Rawcus Masterclass at TheatreWorks in St Kilda. "Beyond the Room" provided the opportunity for artists with and without disabilities and an interest in inclusive theatre making, to work for a day with the Rawcus ensemble and associate artists. 
We had a great experience alongside a range of other artists and organisations in attendance, bringing home some important learning in accessible frameworks and ideas for building future works at DVA. Thank you Rawcus. 

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DVA Theatre Company and the Paper Moon/Cake Industries Workshops

On the 17th of April 2014, DVA Theatre Company was invited to participate in workshops with acclaimed Indonesian Puppetry Group Paper Moon and Media Artists/Future Makers Cake Industries. Within these workshops, members of our ensemble were involved in hands on puppetry making and electronic media arts creation training. Paper Moon and Cake Industries have been commissioned to design and realise an art installation work for the Light in Winter Festival at Federation Square in June of this year. Incorporated into this installation will be puppetry and media art inspired by or created by individuals and groups including DVA who took part in these workshops. DVA along with a range of other artists and organisations will also be presenting work for this festival. DVA is set to present a performance installation work at the winter solstice on the 21st of June at Federation Square.

During the workshop the Paper Moon puppeteers provided hands on training on how to make a simple puppet with newspaper tape and pieces of dowelling. Participants began to layer stories and character onto their creations as they took shape and form. 

Cake Industries describe themselves as …

“Artists, tinkerers and futuristic dreamers. Their practice concentrates on electromechanical sensing, handmade electronics, lighting and robotics to create anthropomorphic autonomous self-regulating objects to investigate ideas of reality, future and culture..."

During the workshops DVA learnt about the fascinating possibilities of 3D scanning and robotics and electronics in arts exploration and creation. 




International Day of Disability with Jets Studios 

In December of 2013 DVA were invited to design and facilitate a celebratory morning of Theatre Workshops to mark the International Day of People with A Disability. The event was hosted by Jets Studios and brought together a number groups, organisations and individuals with an intellectual disability to share and create through a focus on practical explorations in the dramatic arts. Participants were encouraged on the day to create physical representations in body and sound of visual artworks. 


A Cosmic Love

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"Sometimes you want to fly to the stars but if you got there, you wouldn’t wonder what was there at all.” 
 Stacey Treller, DVA Theatre Company.

An exploration of stargazing, film making, loves true calling and the story of who we are and who we dream of. A world
 of fact and fiction, stereotypes and a more complex human experience. 

DVA Theatre Company,  In collaboration with Platform Youth Arts and La Mama and funded by The Maddocks Foundation, The TAC Small Grants Scheme, Banyule City Council and  Platform Youth Arts  presented… 
A Cosmic Love
26th/27th October Carlton Courthouse

Photo by Sean Porter

About the Film!

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In 2012 the DVA ensemble together with Artistic Director, Nicla Byrnes and Film Maker Neil Triffett, devised and shot, on location, a silent film set in the 1920s. A Royal Star  tells the tale of a young Princess bound by the strict confines of her royal upbringing. This work was filmed at Montsalvat, The Clyde Hotel and Darebin park. 
The film featured as a centre piece for the live theatre/screening presentation of the project A Cosmic Love.




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DVA Performs at the Eltham Library
Yarra Plenty Regional Library hosted a Marketplace Of Ideas event at Eltham Library on Saturday 22 June 2013 with the theme 'Reading for Social Peace'. Specifically, this event was concerned with disability.
Marketplace Of Ideas included a range of speakers from Council, community and professional organisations.
 
As part of the event, we were invited to perform a short piece of work. As guests, we showcased an exert from our 2013 work "A Cosmic Love" while celebrating, through performance, the diversity which exists within local communities. 

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Mind Your Own Arts Business

On Thursday the 20th of June at Watermarc in Greensborough DVA participants and Staff were invited  to a forum on how to build a successful career in the arts. It was an informative and inspiring day showcasing artists with a disability in Banyule who are achieving great success and presented a panel of experts in the fields of financial literacy, marketing, pathways, further education, mentoring and inclusive arts practice. There were presentations and hands-on workshops as well as entertainment provided by Rudely Interrupted and DJ Remix. 
On the day one of our performers Brendan Slee was chosen to wear the incredible costume art "City Creatures" of http://www.sanctumtheatre.org/sanctum/index.php/photos2 in Lara Hynes's box city art making workshop. In character as this mythical urban creature Brendan helped create havoc, knocking over a city scape created by participants during the workshop. 

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Camp Diversity


On the 13th of April 2013, DVA was employed to run workshops for the 20th Birthday celebration of Camp Diversity at Lord Summers Camp and Powerhouse. The camp is a weekend camp for young adults living with intellectual and physical challenges. Participants are divided into four colour groups who rotate around different activities full of action, excitement and fun times. Each group contains both young adults living with intellectual and physical challenges, and those living without such challenges.
DVA was invited to run one of these activity stations where over 60 participants were engaged in drama workshops based around an ocean theme. It was a great opportunity to share with new people, some of the accessible and engaging processes used weekly within our ensemble workshops.
DVA hopes to run more workshops like these as a way of sharing skills and broadening our outreach to other groups and organisations. 

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