KXTs profiling of new writing has evolved from the long-held bakehouse commitment to showcasing new Australian work, with productions over the past 10 years of her holiness, Coup D’etat, a Land Beyond the River, His Mother’s Voice, and Junction all grounded in a focus on the too often untold stories of Australia, and our place in the world.
Most recently in 2019 at KXT we were proud to partner with @jackrabbittheatre for the world premiere of Megan Wilding’s A Little Piece of Ash; and then went on to stage James Elazzis Omar + Dawn; the restaging of Tabitha Woo’s A Westerner’s Guide to the Opium Wars; and the award-winning @greendoortheatreco of Good Dog. Our Popupstairs program featured the world premiere of Doing by Amy Sole.
In 2016 the first bAKEHOUSE production at KXT was the Australian premiere of Black Jesus by Anders Lustgarten with our StoryLines champion @elijah_williams1 in the title role, and in 2017 we were able to finally bring to the stage The Laden Table and Jatinga, both developed over many years with the latter the result of our ongoing work in the slums of Mumbai. Storylines is the umbrella under which all this bAKEHOUSE work sits.
There’s more - much much more - and we are honoured to have partnered in the work with writers, actors, directors and producers who saw the need for and value of changing the stories on our stages.
In 2021 we step it up.
We have dedicated time in August / September for a StoryLines season, showcasing the work of artists of colour. We’re making room for up to 3 productions by writers of colour, selected by an open call out and playing alongside a support program of play reads and artist workshops.
The program will be led by our StoryLines Ambassadors Renee Lim, and Elijah Williams. We’ve worked with Renee for 10 years now, at Seymour Centre, NIDA, Riverside, ATYP and now KXT. She has been a cast member on a swathe of bAKEHOUSE productions and has served for a time on our Board. We first worked with Elijah Williams on the very first iteration of StoryLines back in 2009, which featured A Land Beyond the River, a play based in part on his life, and then again in 2012 at NIDA and Tamarama Rock Surfers, and in development in 2013 at CRACK festival and ATYP. Elijah’s professional debut was here at KXT, where he was nominated for Best Newcomer.
Too often we get it wrong. It’s time for us all to change the way we work, and to recognise a changing, growing community of artists.
Due to the 2021 Covid Lockdown:
The Marriage Agency will be staged in September 2022
Falling has been cancelled until further notice
Three Fat Virgins Unattended enjoyed an extended 2 weeks season as part of the KXT2021 reboot program, playing a sold out season and taking home the Sydney Theatre Award for Costume
StoryLines in 2022: partnering with emerging independent company kwento, KXT hosts The Marriage Agency by Saman Shad; One Hour No Oil by Jordan Shea; and facilitates a writing course targeted at marginalised voices to dramatise, create and understand a story that has shaped us and feels so utterly personal to us.
Throughout the year bAKEHOUSE continues development of the Australian response play to Jatinga, planned for a season in 2023. Stay tuned for details
