AUDITION CALL-OUT
BLACKROCK
AUDITION DATES
FEB Sat 19 & Sun 20
FEB Sat 26 & Sun 27
MAR Sat 05 & Sun 06
Call-backs: 08 MAR
In-person at Platform Arts
REHEARSAL PHASE
Begins late March
PRODUCTION WEEK
JUN Mon 20 Bump-in
JUN Thu 23 - Sat 25 Performances
IMPORTANT TICKETING INFORMATION
From Friday 22 October 2021, all patrons over the age of 16 must show proof of their COVID-19 vaccination status as a condition of entry. Before you arrive, please make sure you have added your COVID-19 digital certificate to the Service Victoria app or bring printed proof of vaccination with you. You can find more details about how to add your certificate by visiting coronavirus.vic.gov.au
PLATFORM ARTS IS WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE VIA GHERINGHAP STREET ENTRANCE.
FOR ACCESSIBILITY BOOKINGS PLEASE DIRECTLY CONTACT HELLO@PLATFORMARTS.ORG.AU
LAB alumna Olivia Staaf is currently seeking actors to perform in a June production of Blackrock, a full-length play by Nick Enright.
Performance venue: Platform Arts (60 Little Malop St Geelong) Performance dates: 23rd-25th June 2022 (4 performances) Rehearsals in Geelong approx. 3 times a week commencing March. We are seeking 5 actors for the adult roles and 6 actors for the teenage roles. These are paid positions (profit share). Directed by Olivia Staaf.
Blackrock by Nick Enright
It’s Toby's 18th birthday party down at the beach — and that should mean heaps of drinking, dancing and fun. But by the morning a young girl is found dead in the sand. Who is responsible? Blackrock is an intimate and powerful drama which examines community, class, and the impact of social influence on Australia’s youth.
In 1992, Nick Enright wrote The Property of the Clan, a short theatre-in-education play which was based on the sexual assault and murder of 14-year-old Leigh Leigh in 1989. Enright’s play was later redeveloped into a full-length play for a wider audience in 1995 and was retitled as Blackrock.
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Available adult roles:
Male-identifying role, playing age 40
Plays multiple roles including several father figures, a detective and a stripper (must be comfortable with appearing shirtless on stage).
Male-identifying role, playing age 22
Primarily plays the role of Ricko, a rough guy who commits murder and suicide in the play (these are depicted offstage but are graphically referenced in the dialogue). Also briefly doubles as another young adult character.
Female-identifying role, playing age 21
Plays the role of Tiffany, Ricko's girlfriend.
2x Female-identifying roles, playing ages 35-40
One actor plays a mother figure diagnosed with breast cancer, and a police officer.
The other actor plays two mother figures.
Available teenage roles:
4 x Male-identifying roles, playing ages 16-18
2x Female-identifying roles, playing age 16
Actors of all ethnicities and abilities are encouraged to apply. Please note that the play contains strong themes and graphic references to sexual violence, cancer, murder and suicide. We will prioritise mental health and have a wellbeing support system in place.
Auditions will be held in-person at Platform Arts (60 Little Malop St Geelong) in February. To register, please complete the form (specific to your age group) via the buttons on this page. Please email any questions to blackrockplay22@gmail.com.
Why Blackrock? Why now?
Blackrock only exists because a violent crime was committed against a young woman.
More than three decades have passed since the murder of 14-year-old Leigh Leigh in 1989, yet violence against women persists as one of the most prevalent abuses of human rights in Australia. At the time of Leigh’s murder, the media’s depiction of Leigh as a highly sexualised teenager has since become a well-known example of victim blaming. A crime is not the fault of the victim, but of the perpetrator, and in the majority of cases violence against women is committed by a man. As such, the primary source of violence stems from toxic masculinity. Australia’s patriarchal larrikin culture allows toxic masculinity to thrive and remains a pressing issue amongst young men in this country. The events in Blackrock demonstrate how upholding problematic expectations of manliness leads to devastating consequences for everyone in the community. In staging this work today, we hope to confront the traditional ideas of masculinity and promote more positive alternatives in order to create a safer and more respectful world for everyone.
ABOUT THE TEAM
Olivia Staaf (she/they) - director
Olivia is a collaborative and community-orientated theatre and performance maker from Naarm/Melbourne. She is a recent graduate of the Master of Theatre (Directing) course at the Victorian College of the Arts and in 2021 completed an internship at Back to Back Theatre where her research focussed on accessible, inclusive and socially engaged arts practices. In 2020 Olivia and her collaborators were recognised for their work in inclusive and accessible arts practice with the Melbourne Fringe Access and Inclusion Award. Olivia was an Associate Artist at Theatre Works in 2020 and currently works with a diverse group of artists at Footscray Community Arts. Recent directing credits include: Two (VCA 2021), Big Ben versus The Void (VCA 2021), A Recorded Companion (Melbourne Fringe 2020), Signs (Monash University 2019) and The Golden Age (Monash University 2019).
Harry Dowling (he/him) - production manager
Harry Dowling is a Creative Producer and Arts Manager with a commitment to fostering the work of emerging artists and bringing new work to life on Australian stages and screens. Harry is the co founder and Executive Director of Independent Live-Arts company Fever103 Theatre, where he oversees the programming and production of all company activities. Most notably, Harry produced Treats at the MTC's Southbank Theatre for the company in 2021. Outside of Fever103, Harry's recent theatre credits include producing Kill Climate Deniers (Alexander Theatre 2022), stage managing A Midsummer Night's Dream and Telling Tales (Melbourne Shakespeare Company) and Body Horror (Melbourne Fringe 2021). He has worked on films screened at major Australian festivals including Flickerfest, Tropfest and St Kilda Film Festival, and is producing a film entitled Objects in the Mirror in 2022.
Celina Mack (she/they) - stage manager
Celina Mack is a Naarm based director, stage manager, writer and performer interested in experimental and hybridised art forms and interactive performance practices. As the Co-Artistic Director of STRANGEkit Performance Collective, she has recently made performance art in digital spaces, directing absurd, platform-hopping treasure hunts and zoom-devised, shapeshifting podcasts. Celina has completed a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Performance Studies at Monash University and performance training with VCA, Meisner Melbourne and Studio Sonder. Celina has recently assistant directed and assistant stage managed projects including The Mermaid (La Mama Theatre, 2021) directed by Cassandra Fumi and Take Me To Your Leader (Melbourne Fringe Festival, 2020) with Born In A Taxi.
Georgie Wolfe (she/her) - designer
Georgie is a Melbourne-based theatre maker, whose passions are in lighting design but she also dabbles in sound design, set design, direction and technical management. Her recent lighting design credits include Treats (Fever 103), Thigh Gap (La Mama), Q (La Mama), Frankenstein xx (MUST), Wood Wide Web (ArtPlay), Pink Matter (Dancehouse), Daydream (Motley Bauhaus, MICF), The Love of the Nightingale (Theatre Works, Fringe Replanted), The Bachelor S17 E05 (La Mama/Mechanics Institute), Death Match (Monash Centre for Theatre and Performance/Malthouse) and The Drill (Women’s Circus). Georgie is currently focused on spending more time making works that focus on unconventional uses of technical design. Additionally, with her academic background in Environmental Science, she is committed to working on more sustainable ways to make theatre.
