Associate artist Miranda Aguilar had her work included in this year’s Mardi Gras season with the inclusion of her work, Let Me Know When You Get Home at PLAYLIST 2019.
PLAYLIST 2019 is a partnership between Seymour Centre, Siren Theatr Coe and Mardi Gras. It’s a day-long celebration of the creation and development of new Australian theatre work with an LGBTQIA+ focus.
Let Me Know When You Get Home had its first act read, alongside readings from works by emerging, mid-career and established LGBTQIA+ theatremakers such as Lachlan Philpott, James Elazzi, Michelle St-Yves and Nyx Dorian Calder.
PLAYLIST 2019 was the first time the work has been performed in front of an inter-city audience.
This is what Miranda had to say about her work being read:
I’ve been developing Let Me Know When You Get Home since 2016. Through the years, though I’ve had many generous readers read the different drafts, listening to an audience experience the work on stage is an entirely different and wonderful experience. This was only a simple reading of the first act made with minimal rehearsal, but the beautiful casting really helped bring it to life. It was especially wonderful to have this work presented as a part of Mardi Gras, with a delightfully queer and accepting audience who embraced both its praise and criticisms of Sydney Mardi Gras and our community.
Though I’ve had the work read in front of Western Sydney-majority audiences, this was the first time I heard the work read to a majority-LGBTQIA+ audience. Listening to the different ways both audiences related to different parts of the material was enlightening, and made the solitary work of writing and rewriting feel much less lonely. It really solidified in my mind that LGBTQIA+ Western Sydney youth need work that speaks to these different aspects of our lives ; after all, we are more than just our culture, just our sexuality, just our suburb.
I’m more fired up than ever to bring this work in its entirety to the stage
Thank you to Kate Gaul and Siren Theatre Co for inviting Miranda and her work to PLAYLIST, and thank you to all the artists involved in the reading of the work (pictured above, from right to left): Liza-Mare Syron, the director, and Brian Fuata, Janet Anderson, Gloria Demillo, Valerie Berry, and May Tran, the readers.