ROOMWORKS Announce Live Stream Premiere Screening

RoomWorks - the socially distanced digital scratch night presented by ATYP and Nightingale Content - was announced in June as a program created to bring young emerging artists throughout Australia together during this time apart. ATYP and Nightingale Content would pay the 20 selected artists (writers and actors) and place them in teams of two to write, develop and perform an original monologue all in one week - no pressure!

After receiving over 200 applications from writers and actors from all over the country, a panel of industry professionals was assembled to select the 20 candidates to participate in the program. They are Flick Anderson (VIC/ACT), Lotte Beckett (VIC), Toby Blome (NSW), Linda Chen (ACT), An Dang (VIC), Bernadette Fam (NSW), Peter Irankunda (QLD), Jasper Lee-Lindsay (NSW), Mabel Li (NSW), Teresa Li (NSW), Callum Mackay (VIC), Olivia McLeod (VIC), Susanna Pang (NSW), Olivia Richards (NSW), Shahrin Shamim (NSW), Sophie Strykowski (NSW), Egan Sun-Bin (QLD), Susan TakTak (NSW), Georgia Wilson (NSW) and Renae Valastro (NSW).

RoomWorks kicked off on June 29 and saw the teams attend workshops with ATYP's Artistic Director Fraser Corfield and Resident Dramaturg Jane FitzGerald, actor and playwright Sam O'Sullivan and interdisciplinary artist and creative director Moreblessing Maturure. Throughout the week the teams also met with the RoomWooks industry mentors Darren Yap (Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, Letters to Lindy), Paige Rattray (Black is the New White, Fangirls), Jane FitzGerald (Dramaturg ATYP, Ensemble Theatre), Dom Mercer (Artistic Associate Belvoir, Grounded) and Kate Champion (Director and choreographer, Every Brilliant Thing). These respected artists helped guide the development of each new work before their final submission on Sunday July 5.

Alexandra Punch, co-founder of Nightingale Content and co-producer of RoomWorks along with Emily Buxton, feels this program has exceeded all of her expectations. "I am genuinely giddy at the thought of what these young people have achieved in such a short amount of time. They came together to learn, connect and create while supported by some of Australia's most successful dramaturgs along with a selection of the most exciting up and coming artists. I am so grateful to everyone who lent their time and knowledge to our vision. I hope everyone tunes in on July 18 to see the beauty that has come out of this week. I also hope these young people have found some creative friends for life from the experience. If there's one thing that they've reminded me of, it's that the arts sector is a community, and a strong one at that."

The RoomWorks screening will be Saturday, July 18 at 7pm and can be streamed from ATYP's Facebook and Youtube pages. The event will be hosted by ATYP's 2020 Rose Byrne Scholarship and Rebel Wilson Comedy Commission winners Chika Ikogwe and Victoria Zerbst. Although the event is free to watch, audience members can 'purchase' tickets from the ATYP website, raising donations for AIME and Headspace. In the interim, RoomWorks is collaborating with newly founded company Panimo Creatives to bring an industry Q&A series with some of the mentors and panelists from RoomWorks.

To post a comment, you must register and login.