New spaces for creativity at Adelaide Festival Centre

Adelaide Festival Centre’s inSPACE Development Program has today launched two new spaces for creativity – firstSPACE, and writeSPACE, along with 10 new and exciting works-in-progress selected for development in 2023. The programs will run from January 2023 until October 2023 and will showcase theatre, dance, shadow puppetry and food from the future.

firstSPACE is a residency program for First Nations creators of new and original work. The inaugural firstSPACE development is 13 Sisters by Of Desert and Sea, a contemporary dance collective made up of young Aboriginal women hailing from language groups across South Australia.

Desert and Sea Co-Director and dancer Lilla Berry:

I am so excited to be a part of the inSPACE program as the inaugural firstSPACE residency. As independent artists, the opportunity to be supported by Adelaide Festival Centre will be so beneficial to us in helping take our production to the next stage of development.

writeSPACE is a collaboration between Adelaide Festival Centre, Writers SA, and SA Playwrights’ Theatre to form the missing space between ideas and the stage. This writers in residence program will support 12 residencies of up to two months each in a purpose-built space at Adelaide Festival Centre.

Kicking off inSPACE 2023 is the theatre production Alien Nation, a social exploration highlighting the many challenges of alienation and belonging. This project is being developed by arts collective The Bait Fridge in collaboration with deaf artists, disabled artists, and multicultural musicians to highlight various narratives of diversity.

Exploring what food in the future will taste like is Eating Tomorrow, an award-winning interactive performance created by Post Dining. Audiences will be propelled fifty years into the future to see, smell, touch, and taste what the future might have in store.

A new comedy work by renowned Adelaide director, choreographer and performer Erin Fowler will be further developed as part of inSPACE. Part satire and part social commentary the theatre piece, FAFF, draws inspiration from Jane Austen.

Another program highlight is theatre show, French Guise that follows the life of Julie d’Aubigny who famously burnt down a convent to escape with her female lover. Created by Various People Inc, audiences can expect extravagant music, sword fighting and dance.

Developed for primary school students is Second Nature by award-winning playwright Ben Brooker. This nature-based work about the climate crisis is inspired by pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson and will bring together leading Australian and Indonesian creatives to inspire sustainability, mindfulness, and empathy.

Other children’s shows in development include Tech Mate created by Open Space Contemporary Arts (OSCA). This unique work invites children to take control of the direction and narrative of their play experience. The children will be supported by three highly experienced artists – their Tech Mates!

Award-winning theatre maker Jamie Hornsby returns to inSPACE with a new shadow-puppet musical. Shadowis a dark-fantasy musical that follows a puppet who wants to become a real-life human being and his journey towards self-acceptance.

Llama is a dance-theatre piece that tells the mythical tale of a woman who loses her sense of reality. This story is inspired by the creator, Zoe Dunwoodie’s connection to her grandmother and how we carry traumas intergenerationally.

Adelaide Sakura Troupe joins inSPACE with contemporary and Japanese Folk dance in Les Japonaises. The dance piece will immerse audiences into an historical space to discuss themes of life and death and its spiritual significance in both Japanese and Western cultures.

Over the past 20 years, inSPACE has proudly worked with representatives across South Australia’s flourishing independent arts scene with organisations such as Vitalstatistix, Slingsby and Brink and alumni include Erin Fowler, Tilda Cobham-Hervey and Finegan Kruckemeyer.

For more information about inSPACE programs at Adelaide Festival Centre or to sign up to receive updates and invitations to work-in-progress shows.

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Season Details

Venue: Adelaide Festival Centre
Date: From Jan- Oct 2023

For more information click HERE