True Friends - "Testing Testing Testing"

TRUE FRIENDS is a podcast about the process of producing a play. Episode Three: meet Aaron Lee and Avril Duck as they share with us their journey as Aaron creatively develops his play "True Friends" and takes it out to the audience at Woree High School and the FNQ One Act Play Festival. Aaron Lee (writer/co-producer) and Avril Duck (director/co-producer) discuss TRUE FRIENDS which Aaron wrote in 2018. Their ambition is to put on a full production and go on tour across Australia! How will they do it? And why? What has been happening in the extended Creative Development process? TRUE FRIENDS is a journey through communities and creativity in Far North Queensland and a look into the non-neurotypical world of theatre-making. MORE INFO ... True Friends a play by Aaron Lee True Friends project is looking to share the love, fun and inclusion of a bright new theatre production! You will be connected with a production which recognises and elevates people with a disability, local talent and experience, inclusive community building and the values of “True Friends”: supportive friendship authentic ambition and all the little things that drive us to succeed Aaron Lee is an emerging writer who is generating excitement in theatre-making in Cairns. Aaron is a prolific creative who has overcome many barriers to success by his vibrant curiosity and heartfelt energy. From volunteering on local theatre and film productions, to becoming the driving force in the development of his own work, Aaron has written and is producing “True Friends”, a show that will warm your heart. Avril Duck is a local theatre director has built a portfolio of grass roots arts and cultural projects. She has dedicated her creative talent to inclusive practices within the FNQ area for over 20 years. Supporting Avril in this project supports her to develop regional creativity, community connectedness and visionary theatre productions. TRUE FRIENDS COMMUNITY PARTNERS Tropical Arts was established to find pathways into theatre for all people. They pull down the barriers to participation by innovating supportive inclusive processes, and by saying “yes” to as many people as possible to get on the stage or around it: people of all ages, backgrounds, abilities and levels of experience find joy, hope and a sense of belonging. Building a model of an inclusive community onstage. www.tropicalarts.org Tropical Arts partners with ARC Disability Services which provides programs and supports across the Cairns region, ensuring that people with a disability benefit from participation in the Arts. CONTACT: [email protected] MORE INFORMATION True Friends invites the audience into a quirky, fresh, but recognisable world in which 2 young women become friends and flourish. Through the journey of their friendship the play takes deep dives into the unremarkable, often invisible tech we use on a daily basis. Characters sing when they want to, and the story builds to a climax with Aaron inserting a play within a play, borrowing from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and taking the play into another level of nautical twinsanity. The project cultivates the new talent in Aaron Lee and extends Tropical Arts’ inclusive theatre practice from a workshopping ensemble training and producing an annual, large-cast, innovative Shakespeare production at Tanks Arts Centre, to producing the work of local playwright with a disability. Aaron Lee is well-known in the disability and theatre sectors in Cairns, volunteering regularly and attending a lot of theatre. With his trademark question-asking, Aaron has cultivated an enthusiastic support base, with many being amazed at his achievement and keen to see his work onstage. It is a dream of Aaron’s to see his work being brought to life. The production will employ a team of professional theatre makers to stage the play. Two professional actors will take on the two key roles and actors from Tropical Arts and ARC Disability Services Arts Program will fill the minor roles and populate the world of the play, carrying on Tropical Arts commitment to inclusion and diversity. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.