Download Annex - National Arts Council

WILLIAM YANG
Annex 1
Photographer & Performer
A third generation Chinese-Australian, Yang was born in Dimbulah, North Queensland in 1943. He
grew up ignoring the story of his maternal grandfather’s emigration, the story of the Chinese in
Australia. As a child he was encouraged to embrace Australian culture, to “be normal and blend in.”
Yang worked in Sydney as playwright from 1969 – 1974, and since then has worked as a freelance
photographer. His first solo exhibition, Sydneyphiles, was a frank depiction of the Sydney party scene.
Later, these photographs formed part of a larger exhibition, Sydney Diary, and in 1984 Yang published a
book under this same title. Yang then began to explore his Chinese heritage, and his photographic
themes expanded to include landscapes, and Chinese in Australia.
The death of his mother prompted Yang to rethink his cultural heritage and his questions led to the
unique combination of slide show and autobiographical monologue which he employs to great effect in
Blood Links.
Yang began performing his monologues with slide projection in the theatre in 1989, integrating his
skills as a writer and a visual artist. These slide shows were recognised as a form of performance theatre
and have since become his favoured way of showing his work.
This unique theatrical style has taken Yang around the Australia and the world with acclaimed shows
such as Sadness, Friends of Dorothy and The North. Sadness wove together two themes: the discovery of his
Chinese heritage, and the rituals surrounding dying and death in Sydney. In 1999 it was adapted for the
screen, directed by Tony Ayres, and shows at film festivals around the world. The film has won many
awards.
Yang was awarded International Photographer of the Year at the Higashigawacho International
Photographic Festival, Japan in 1993. He was given an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the
University of Queensland in 1998 for his services to photography. Australian Chinese, a photographic
exhibition featuring a large collage My Family in North Queensland was shown at the National Portrait
Gallery, Canberra in 2001 and toured to other states in 2002.
Yang is one of the most toured Australian performance artists. In 2001 alone, Performing Lines toured
his production of Blood Links to Canada, New Zealand, Belgium, Denmark, The Spoleto Festival in
Charleston, USA and the Festival d’Automne in Paris, France. In addition to his famed monologues,
William Yang has also presented over 20 individual exhibitions across Asia, Australian, Europe and
North America.
PROFILE OF COMPOSER, PRODUCTION MANAGER AND
PERFORMING LINES
Annex 2
Stephen Rae
Composer
Stephen Rae has had a prolific career, composing for film, theatre, television and the commercial
medium. He won the Australian Film Industry (AFI) Award for Best Original Music Score in 1994 for
the soundtrack to Pauline Chan’s film, Traps, and was nominated in the same category in 1996 for the
Dead Heart soundtrack and in 1997 for the soundtrack to The Well. The Traps soundtrack was also
awarded Best Original Music Score by the Film Critics Circle and by the Australian Guild of Screen
Composers.
In 1995, Rae won the Australian Guild of Screen Composers Best Soundtrack Album Award for the
CD recording of the soundtrack to the feature film Mary. In the last few years, Rae has composed for
some significant television shows.
Martin Langthorne
Production Manager
Martin Langthorne graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) with a degree in
Technical Production. In 2000, Langthorne was the Production Manager for a few productions,
including There is No Need to Wake Up, directed by Barrie Kosky at the Sydney Opera House for the
Olympic Arts Festival.
Langthorne was the resident Production Stage Manager for Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus in 2001. Based in
Brisbane, he was the Production Manager for two of their shows at the Brisbane Powerhouse and the
stage Manager for Sonata for Ten Hands for a tour of Regional New South Wales, Victoria and Noumea.
Langthorne joined Performing Lines as Production Manager in 2001 and has toured William Yang’s
shows Shadows and Friends of Dorothy throughout Australia and internationally.
Performing Lines
Performing Lines facilitates, produces and tours innovative Australian Performing Arts to national and
international audiences. Performing Lines nurtures performances in Australia by recognising creativity
and providing artists with access to wider audiences, thus contributing to the enhancement of a
distinctly Australian culture.
Performing Lines has toured over 80 productions to 250 locations in Australia and overseas. Some of
its successes include Nigel Jamieson and Paul Grabowsky’s The Theft of Sita, Wesley Enoch and
Deborah Mailman’s The 7 Stages of Grieving and Hillary Bell’s Wolf Lullaby.
Performing Lines is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts
funding and advisory body.