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presents
DORA
June 3 - 14, 2015
@ La Mama Courthouse
Written by Wendy Woodson
Directed by Peter Schmitz
Performed by Phil Roberts and Wendy Woodson
Lighting Design by Suze Smith
Sound Design by Myles Mumford
Stage Manager: Imogen Titmarsh
Scenic Elements: Shaun-Joel Liew
Costumer: Erin Duyndam
Associate Producer: Helen Noonan
Note from the playwright
Dora began during a previous visit to Australia when I came in 2010 to create a video installation
project for the Immigration Museum (Belonging, Reflections on Place) and to present She Turned
on the Light at La Mama, Melbourne. Both of these projects were focused on stories of immigrants
and refugees in Australia, many of whom came here because of different wars, facing formidable
obstacles with real heroism and acts of resistance. These stories led me to an interest in female
resistance fighters (e.g. Nancy Wake), especially during World War II, the generation of my parents.
I didn’t necessarily want to do a piece about any one of these women (or set it in this specific time
frame), but I was certainly inspired by their stories in creating Dora. As I was writing fragments of
text I wasn’t sure why I was calling the piece Dora; it was just a name that just appeared on the
page. At this juncture people asked me if I was writing about Freud’s Dora, something I knew a little
about but had forgotten. So I re-read things about this famous case and a few images from Freud’s
Dora influenced my Dora... but opaquely, and only in some small details. Another inspiration was
the writing of Australian Glen Albrecht, who developed a term called ‘Solastalgia’ defined as “the
pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and that one loves is
under immediate assault - a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at home”.
The sense of a body in crisis, whether it be a landscape or a human body, merged in my imagination
and became the key for finding the voice and shape for the Dora you see tonight. In the process
of writing this piece and developing it in different incarnations, I have discovered that Dora is also
a piece about love and the imagination (for me at least). I hope you will find some of these different
threads and be able to create your own weave with them.
Thanks:
Dora could not have been completed without the invaluable help and patience of my colleague
Peter Schmitz. Peter and I performed Dora in its first version in the U.S. and he generously agreed
to come to Melbourne to direct this version. Thanks also to Phil Roberts for his willingness to ‘take
the jump’ with us without a net; we hardly knew each other when we started rehearsals in March
and I am grateful for the opportunity to share the stage with him.
I would also like to thank the Siena Art Institute for a month’s residency in Siena where the Dora
script was completed, RMIT for a three month residency here in Melbourne to put the Australian
Dora on her feet, Lucy Guerin Inc. for an invaluable rehearsal residency, and of course La Mama
for giving us a treasured place to perform in Melbourne with a dedicated and caring staff. Many
thanks to our production team for coming to the project without knowing the work beforehand with
skill and enthusiasm.
Additional essential support came from Amherst College Faculty Research Award Program and
Present Company Inc..
Special thanks also to Andrew Tetslaff and Verity Hayward from RMIT who have been so generous
in their support of the project, Myles Mumford for our continued collaboration, Helen Noonan
for her help in producing Dora and keeping things animated, Nela Trifkovic for helping to make
connections, Caroline Lyons for her support and treats, Lenore Manderson for bringing me to
Australia in the first place and helping me return. and to my husband Eric Poggenpohl for his
essential and ongoing support forwork and life.
Erin Dunydam (costumer) has a BA in Design for theater and television. Since moving to Melbourne
she has worked with Ubermench Theater Company, Mr. D Theater Company and other theater
companies working as a stage manager, lighting designer and costumer manufacturer.
Shuan-Joel Liew (scenic elements) is an interdisciplinary art-maker (from Singapore) who mainly
works with natural materials in his sculptural works as part of his practice as a spiritual being.
Other than wood and natural found objects, he also works with crystals, minerals and salt. His
creative practice revolves around interconnectivity and esoteric transmutations.
Myles Mumford (sound artist) pushes the envelope of expression in the audio realm. A Composer,
Sound Artist and Record Producer, Myles refuses to submit to genres, engaging in musical
expression wherever he can. From Avant to Classic, Pop to Art Myles explores auditory art with
reckless activity.
Helen Noonan (associate producer) has been performing since her first TV show aged 8, leading
to TV, Film, Musical Theatre, Opera and the creation of new works. Helen now enjoys producing,
writing and still sings.
Suze Smith (lighting designer) is a contemporary theatre maker and somatic movement teacher.
She is a dance artist, writer, director and lighting designer. Her most recent lighting designs include:
Forever City for Riot Stage at the La Mama Courthouse, Sounds From Planet SOL for Charlotte
Roberts at La Mama, and a joint Circus Oz-YGLAM performance Balancing Acts at the Drill Hall.
Imogen Titmarsh (stage manager) is a free Lance stage manger currently based in Melbourne. In
2011 she graduated from Queensland University of Technology majoring in Technical Production.
Since graduating she has worked for Queensland Music festival. Adelaide Fringe Festival,
Melbourne Fringe Festival. She has worked in several independent production in both Melbourne
and Brisbane.
Phil Roberts (actor) was born and raised in England, but has spent the majority of his life in
Australia. His first association with La Mama was in 1999, when he appeared in Elektra AD by
Christos Tsolkias and has been involved with La Mama ever since - as an actor, director and front
of house worker. Directing credits include Speaking, Footfalls, Below and Every Perfect Gift. As an
actor he has appeared in Turnstiler, June...the Place does not Matter, Meet the Darlings, Open for
Inspection, The Object of Desire and Dimboola, amongst others. He has just completed directing
The Crucible for Eagles Nest, which is playing in Brunswick concurrently with this production.
Peter B. Schmitz (director) has been involved in the creative and performing arts for over 30
years. As a professional modern dancer, Peter has worked through out the United States, Europe,
New Zealand, and Turkey teaching, choreographing and performing. As an actor he as worked in
regional theatres through out the U. S. as well as in New York City and has worked in the medium
of film and video. Peter will be teaching in the Dance/Theatre Department of Amherst College for
the 2015 academic year.
Wendy Woodson (playwright & actor) has created 95 works for stage and video presented in the
US, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Dance and theater works have been performed in such
venues as the John F. Kennedy Center, LaMaMa New York City, La Mama Courthouse Melbourne,
the Smithsonian, Jacob’s Pillow, Emerson Majestic Theater, Washington Project for the Arts, Wolf
Trap, PS 122 and at many colleges and universities. She has received numerous fellowships and
grants in choreography, playwriting and video from the National Endowment for the Arts, the
Massachusetts Cultural Council, the D.C. Commission on Arts & Humanities and the Fulbright
Commission, Rockefeller Belagio Institute, among others. Ms. Woodson is the Roger C. Holden
Professor of Theater and Dance at Amherst College, Amherst. MA and Artistic Director of Wendy
Woodson & Present Company Inc..
Office Phone: (03) 9347 6948 | Office Hours: Mon – Fri | 10:30am – 5:30pm
Level 1, 205 Faraday Street, Carlton VIC 3053
www.lamama.com.au | info@lamama.com.au | www.facebook.com/lamama.theatre
Our sincerest thanks to the many volunteers who generously give their time in support of La Mama.
La Mama’s Committee of Management, staff and its wider theatrical community acknowledge
that our theatre is on traditional Wurundjeri land.
The La Mama community acknowledges the considerable support it has received in the past
decade from Jeannie Pratt and The Pratt Foundation.
La Mama is financially assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council – its
arts funding and advisory body, the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria - Department of
Premier and Cabinet, and the City of Melbourne through the Arts and Culture triennial funding
program.