Woolf
Written by Patrick Livesey.
Co-Created and Co-Directed by Christian Cavallo & Dan Graham.
Bravo Arts would like to present WOOLF, a queer play inspired by Edward Albee’s iconic play ‘Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf’, targeting Australia’s queer communities in partnership with Gasworks Arts Park and Midsumma Festival. The project won the 2022 Fast Track Award at the Queer Playwrights Award Showcase and will be staged within Midusmma Festival.
‘Woolf’ explores contemporary queer relationships, difficulty around creating a family, and infidelity as experienced by a middle-aged gay couple. They befriend a young queer couple who highlight themes of gender and sexual identity as experienced within their respective generations, drawing the two couples into a night of revelations and feuding.
In subverting the themes in Edward Albee’s original play to include a cast of LGBTQIA+ characters, it is our aim to examine contemporary relationships through queer identities and and non-traditional conventions.
This play is an original interstate collaboration from Christian Cavallo, Dan Graham and Patrick Livesey.
The play runs for 90 minutes and features a cast of four.
Woolf is an adaptation and is still in writing and development stages. It currently requires refinement of the adapted script through continued collaboration and workshop. A workshop would ensure that we are able to support the creative team and assemble a team of actors to workshop the material before it can proceed to being presented as a live performance.
Further to this, we hope that by assembling a cast of actors to expand on the current collaborators committed to this project, that our project will benefit from the inclusion of their unique voices and perspectives.
Creative Team
Christian Cavallo
Director / Producer
Christian is a graduate of the Masters in Directing for Performance at the Victorian College of the Arts. He has directed numerous theatre productions around the Geelong and Melbourne region including H#SHED OUT, The Eight Reindeer Monologues, Kinky Boots, Heathers The Musical, Dusty The Original Pop Diva and more. He is currently Resident Director for Class Act Theatre in Education’s touring shows.
Through COVID-19, Christian was one the Creative Directors who delivered Hope. New Works Development Initiative, producing and facilitating the series of ten developments for theatrical work. The initiative continues to grow in exciting ways and in 2021 was the recipient of two Green Room Association Awards.
He has a theatrical background encompassing musical theatre, plays, immersive performance, theme-park work, concert and cabaret, and more recently devised works. He has also sung in bands and recorded. With working relationships across regional and metro Victoria, Christian has worked extensively with community groups.
He is Artistic Director of emerging company Bravo Arts, which later this year debuts “The Mentor” at Theatreworks. He also works as a freelance graphic designer, specialising in entertainment marketing.
Dan Graham
Director / Access Facilitator
Dan is a graduate with Honours in Performance Studies Paper at USYD. He proudly represents modern Australian diversity through his multicultural ethnicity, disability and queer identity. He is passionate about support for Artists with Neuro-Diverse Disabilities.
Dan is currently involved as director and dramaturg in the developments of three new Australian works with Bell Shakespeare, Sydney Festival & Accessible Arts NSW. He worked as dramaturg on 'All My Sons' at Darlinghurst Theatre, Directed by Iain Sinclair.
He has attended Director's Labs in Chicago and LA, and recently returned from New York where he completed a Directing Residency at Atlantic Theater Company and attended ISPA. In 2018 he was invited to the Future Leaders Program (Australia Council for the Arts).
He has directed Christie In Love By Howard Brenton, A Kind Of Alaska By Harold Pinter, Wolf Lullaby By Hillary Bell and The Crucible By Arthur Miller. Last year, Dan Directed SAM I AM, a One Man Show by a Deaf Artist which will play at La Mama in April 2021. In February this year he completed Stage 1 in a Development for Bell Shakespeare, The Sydney Festival and Accessible Arts NSW of which he is a Creator and Director. Dan has also been awarded a Creative Development with Giant Dwarf with Aunty Gayle Kennedy as Director and Dramaturg.
Dan has served on the Board of Arts Access Australia, is presently a Co-Chair of Artists With A Disability Committee for MEAA and serves on their Diversity Committee. He is also on The Hickson Road Committee for Accessible Arts NSW. He is head of Access for Antipodes Theatre Company’s Winter Retreat. He was interviewed recently by 2ser, which you can listen to here.
Patrick Livesey
Writer
Patrick Livesey is a multi-award winning actor, writer and producer. In 2017, he graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts with a BFA in Theatre Practice.
In 2018, Patrick wrote and performed The Boy, George, winning the NZ Tour Ready Award at the Melbourne Fringe Festival and earning a nomination for Best Performance. Patrick then sold the rights to this work to comedian, Joel Creasey who previewed a sold out season to Melbourne audiences in January 2020. In 2019, Patrick starred in #KWANDA by Tom Ballard, directed by Alan Brough, alongside some of Australia’s best comedic talent.
Patrick’s second play, Gone Girls earned rave reviews at Adelaide Fringe 2020, sold out five shows at the Holden Street Theatres and has been programmed for Gasworks 2021 main season. Patrick and his partner, Wil King, commissioned, produced and starred in Dirt by Angus Cameron, directed by Bronwen Coleman for Adelaide Fringe 2021, winning the Weekly Award for Best Theatre and the Adelaide Critics Circle Award. He is currently writing Mummy’s Boy, which was shortlisted for the Midsumma Queer Playwriting Award and is currently working with Princess Pictures on the development of an original television series.
Creative Development
Stage 1: Creative Development 1.
This first development period involved collaboration across themes, characters, text and narrative.
QPAS SHOWCASE:
We showcased 20 minutes of the work at the Queer Playwright Awards Showcase through Midsumma Festival 2022, and were awarded the inaugural Fast Track Award. The award bestows a $18,000 Venue In-Kind and Support Prize, including a pathway into production for our project as part of Midsumma Festival 2024 at Gasworks Arts Park.
Stage 2: Creative Development 2. (Two weeks, part-time)
This second development period involves gathering to further the material originated from the first development period, including table readings with actors, writing and responding to the feedback gained in these sessions.
Stage 3: Workshop. (Two weeks, full-time)
Stage three requires a workshop period to build upon the staging of the piece, working with actors in a space to further inform the physicality of the work. This stage will also consider what creative elements, physical and audio, are required within the piece.
Stage 4: Rehearsal. (Three Weeks, Full Time)
Stage four requires a rehearsal period to rehearse the piece for performance.
Live Performance Outcome. (Two Weeks)
A two week production within Midsumma Festival 2024 at Gasworks Arts Park.
