THE MONOLOGUE COLLECTIVE Sells Out at PHIVE Parramatta

The Monologue Collective will return for its second season on September 9-10 at PHIVE Parramatta, presented by Riverside Live. Nine brand-new monologues, all written by teenagers, all built for HSC students' individual drama performance.

The bet behind it is simple: teenagers show up for theatre when it's actually about being a teenager. The 2021 season sold out twice. This one has already sold out its first show.

"I couldn't find a monologue written by someone under 30 about what life is actually like as a teenager, so I started writing them myself," said creator Laneikka Denne, who launched the project at 19 and is now 24 and on commission with Belvoir St Theatre.

"Teenagers are anxious about politics, money, the future. Give them a stage for that, and they'll fill the room. Without opportunities like this, we risk raising a generation with no young artists and no theatre audience at all."

The nine writers, aged 16 to 18, spent a week in an intensive at PYT Fairfield, mentored by industry names including Daley Rangi (Griffin Theatre Company), James Elazzi, Donna Abela, Malaika Mfalme and Jules Orcullo (Sydney Theatre Company). Bernadette Fam (former New Work Manager, Malthouse) dramaturged, and Ryan Whitworth-Jones directs. ATYP provided production support, Create NSW and Riverside funded the initiative, and Australian Plays Transform gave every writer a subscription.

Past alumni have gone on to WAAPA and AFTRS. Nick Annas, a Monologue Collective writer at 15, has now written, directed and starred in his first feature film, Crash Out, at 20, alongside Joe Bird (Talk to Me) and Catherine Laga'aia (Moana).