ANGELS IN AMERICA, THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE, LOADED and More Set for Black Swan's 2016 Season

Black Swan State Theatre Company are proud to announce their 25th anniversary season, where they reveal the hidden places and secret spaces of where they make their work, celebrate their past and look to the future. The 2016 Season will deliver three world premieres, five new Australian plays, three WA premieres, two co-productions, a French classic, a modern German classic, a glittering multi-award winning American play and three Malcolm Robertson award-winning plays.

The year begins with Black Swan's young guns in the Black Swan Lab with LOADED: A Double Bill of New Plays featuring Gita Bezard's Girl Shut Your Mouth and Will O'Mahony's Tonsils + Tweezers as part of FRINGEWORLD Festival; a Malthouse Theatre co-production of Picnic at Hanging Rock; award-winning fantasia Angels in America; the true life story of Julia Pastrana in A Perfect Specimen; the first international collaboration with the National Theatre of China in The Caucasian Chalk Circle; the wicked political satire Clinton: the Musical; concluding with a co-production with Queensland Theatre Company in the farcical Tartuffe.

"Artists lit the spark that become Black Swan State Theatre Company, creating a force that the entrepreneurial spirit of Western Australia embraced and celebrated. Black Swan grew to become Western Australia's state theatre company. Thanks to Founding Chair, Janet Holmes a? Court AC, our two most recent Chairs, Sam Walsh AO and Mark Barnaba AM and two General Managers, Shane Colquhoun and Natalie Jenkins, Black Swan has come of age in the magnificent State Theatre Centre of WA. Thanks to the sheer tenacious creativity of our artists we have continued to grow in ambition and theatricality, and thanks to our wonderful audiences we have flourished.

"The inspiration for the establishment of Black Swan Theatre Company was Andrew Ross' visionary production of Bran Nue Dae by Jimmy Chi. The theatrical genius and sheer pioneering audacity of that work was recognized by Will Queckett, Duncan Ord and Janet Holmes a? Court. They came together with Ross to form a company that would support such visionary Western Australian work.

"Now, 25 years later, the flame of theatrical possibilities still sparkles. The Heath Ledger Theatre builds on artistic pathways that are years in the making. The Studio Underground gives us glimpses of future possibilities. The 2016 Season reveals the hidden places and secret spaces where we make our work. I hope you will join us on these journeys." - Kate Cherry, Artistic Director

HIGHLIGHTS OF BLACK SWAN'S 2016 SEASON:

Black Swan welcomes back former Associate Director Matthew Lutton, who makes his debut in the Heath Ledger Theatre as the newly appointed Artistic Director of Malthouse, in a daring retelling of the multi-award winning iconic film PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK. Lutton will bring his unique brand of storytelling to this much loved Australian story in a co-production with Malthouse.

Directed by Kate Cherry, one of her favourite plays the Pulitizer and Tony Award-winning ANGELS IN AMERICA: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES receives its first professional premiere in WA. This play is clever, witty and transformative.

The jewel in our crown is our first international collaboration with the celebrated National Theatre of China, in Bertolt Brecht's THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE. Renowned director Dr Wang Xiaoying, will combine forces with Chinese and Australian designers to lead an all Australian cast in delivering this epic tale - exploring the synergies of both indigenous Chinese and Australian culture combined with Noongar storytelling and song. This project has been three years in the making.

In an Australian premiere, we present the delightfully shameless CLINTON THE MUSICAL by Australian brothers Paul and Michael Hodge and directed by Adam Mitchell. This delightfully wicked musical about President Clinton and Hilary wowed Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Off - Broadway,

TARTUFFE is Black Swan's final main-stage production. Justin Fleming has set Molie?re's classic in today's Australia, and in this uproarious comedy, he skewers hypocrisy. Darren Gilshenan leads a stellar cast in this co-production with Queensland Theatre Company, directed by Kate Cherry.

Finally to our burgeoning Black Swan Lab in the Studio Underground, where we will present three new Western Australian plays all written by members of Black Swan's Emerging Writers Group. First up is LOADED, a double bill featuring GIRL SHUT YOUR MOUTH by Gita Bezard directed by associate director Jeffrey Jay Fowler and TONSILS + TWEEZERS by Will O'Mahony, who will also make his directorial debut for the company. We launch our new initiative, The Bridging Company, a company of actors who graduated from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2015, and are making their Black Swan debut in the Lab. Later in the year you can be treated to the heart-wrenching world premiere of the tragic, true tale of Julia Pastrana in A PERFECT SPECIMEN, from rising star Perth playwright and 2013 Emerging Writers Group prize winner Nathaniel Moncrieff, directed by associate director Stuart Halusz.

And there's the opportunity for early subscribers to win one of 3 great prizes, including a return trip for two from Perth to New York on Singapore Airlines.

Subscribers can choose between 3, 4 and 5 play and Closing Night 5 play subscription packages, (which include complimentary programmes and entry to VIP cast parties). Black Swan also offers an affordable 3 play preview/matinee package, enabling subscribers to see three previews and/or matinees of their choice for only $156. A 3 play student subscription package is also available for just $90. We encourage you to subscribe and continue to receive great value in discounts, preferential seating and free ticket exchanges. Subscribers also receive exclusive invitations, behind the scenes newsletters, briefings and Q&As with the stars of the show.

2016 Subscriptions - book at bsstc.com.au or 6212 9300. Black Swan single ticket shows on sale on Friday 30 October 2016 Single Tickets - book at ticketek.com.au or 1300 795 012