Urban Theatre Projects

Urban Theatre Projects (UTP), previously known as Death Defying Theatre (DDT), is a theatre company based in Bankstown Sydney, Australia. Urban Theatre Projects re-imagines what theatre can be and who it can be for, finding new ways to tell contemporary Australian stories that show the uniquely personal within the universal.

History

The organisation started as a street theatre company in 1981 by graduates of the University of New South Wales. The project was founded by Paul Brown, Alice Spizzo, Christine Sammers, and Kim Spinks.^[1] Initially, their office was located in the Village Church Centre (VCC) in the Paddington area of the Eastern Suburbs. The company mostly rehearsed outdoors in the nearby Centennial Park. In the late 1980s, the group was based in the Bondi Pavilion.^[2] In 1991, the group moved from Eastern Sydney to the Auburn area of Western Sydney,^[3] and in 1997, the group changed its name to Urban Theatre Projects.^[1]

The group initially emphasized political theatre. The group was instrumental in moderating what constituted theatre practice in Australia in the 1980s.^[3] Early works by the group focused on workers' struggles, such as their 1985 play Coal Town.^[4] Once the grouped moved to Western Sydney, its shows were focused on the story of migrants, such as their 1991 play Cafe Hakawati which focused on the Arab-Australian community in Western Sydney.

Urban Theatre Projects draws upon a 30-year lineage of distinctive new theatre works based on a process of dialogue between contemporary theatre practice and diverse communities. Stories and images of contemporary life are created in collaboration with teams of artists from diverse artistic and cultural backgrounds. A succession of leading Australian artists has enabled the company to remain at the forefront of ground breaking new processes that have led to seminal theatre works, mapping the shifting dynamics of urban life and artistic development over three decades of contemporary Australia.

The philosophy and artists of Urban Theatre Projects have driven an investigation of new forms, new collaborations and new contexts, consistently challenging and reinvigorating art form practice. As a way of reaching a new constituency in its early years, a collective of young performance-makers made work on the streets, later shifting to art in working life processes, placing artists in working sites such as mining towns (Coal Town, 1984) and factories (Behind the Seams, 1988). In the early 90s the company moved to western Sydney and began to make works where communities became the performers as well as an essential part of the devising process, such as Café Hakawati (1991), a collaboration with Arabic-speaking communities at the time of the first Gulf War. In the mid 90’s UTP began creating site-specific intimate spectacles, intersecting community cultural development and contemporary performance practice. Under the artistic direction of Fiona Winning and John Baylis, landmark works included Hip Hopera (1995), Trackwork (1997), Speed St (1999) and Asylum (2001).

This is Urban Theatre Projects’ intimate spectacle: an entire suburban street performing itself… Even better, this is a spectacle that stares back at its audience. Dr Ian Maxwell, Postwest

Under Alicia Talbot’s Artistic Directorship (2001–2012) a new brand of work propelled the company into an exciting phase of growth, extending its profile and reputation nationally and internationally. Talbot shifted the model of community engagement to position community members as expert consultants. As such, they were invited to share opinions and observations about the world as they perceived it. This process grounded Talbot’s projects with an authencity that blurred the line between theatrical artifice and everyday life. om 2006–2012 the Company premiered 4 large-scale works as part of The Sydney Festival; Back Home (2006), The Last Highway (2008), The Fence (2010) and most recently Buried City (2012), a co-production with Sydney Festival and Belvoir Street Theatre.

In addition to the work of the Artistic Director, UTP has a producing relationship with a diverse family of artists in the contemporary arts sector. Years of producing a diverse range of projects varying in scale and location, and informed by multiple art form practices and cultural perspectives, have equipped the company with the expertise to produce guest teams of artists in the creation of new work.

Since 2014, current Artistic director Rosie Dennis has significantly increased the company’s program, expanding to digital platforms (producing the company’s first film Bre & Back), and shifting to a curatorial model while maintaining an artist-led culture and branding work with her distinctive exuberance and sensitivity. Her works as Director include: Home Country (Sydney Festival 2017), Simple Infinity (2016), One Day for Peace (2015), My Radio Heart (2014) and Life As We Know It (2013), while her work as Curator includes BANKSTOWN:LIVE (Sydney Festival 2015).

Latest Projects

Home Country (2017) Presented by Urban Theatre Projects, Blacktown Arts Centre and Sydney Festival. Staged in a multi-level car park in Blacktown, Home Country is a theatrical triptych that explores place, identity, and what it means to be home. With Aboriginal Elder Uncle Cheeky as your host, join us for a communal feast and meet the passionate Ali and Zaphora who clash over cultural values; sharp-witted Pita caught between the old and the new Greek culture and the Blacktown angel, restless in the afterlife. Written by Andrea James, Peter Polites and Gaele Sobott, and directed by UTP’s artistic director Rosie Dennis, Home Country blends the intimate and the universal. Go on the journey as the sun sets over the Blue Mountains.

Simple Infinity (2016) Produced by Urban Theatre Projects Commissioned by Carriageworks A man walks into a bar… Bookended by two texts by Gertrude Stein, Simple Infinity is a play within a play. Interweaving performance and a live string quartet, three unlikely people strike up a conversation that shifts between the ephemeral and the everyday. At times sad and touching, yet framed within an age-old joke, Simple Infinity is a poetic reminder that we all see the world a little differently. Created by Urban Theatre Projects’ Artistic Director Rosie Dennis, Simple Infinity features an installation, build and designed by David Hawkes, new music by composer Liberty Kerr, performances by Vicki Van Hout, Luke Waterlow and Cheng Moy Yeow.

One Day for Peace (2016) In one of the most multicultural cities in the world, One Day For Peace takes us on a journey across the suburbs of Western Sydney to ask: what do you believe? Produced by Urban Theatre Projects, this multi-faith documentary combines everyday ritual with reflections on humanity, impermanence and social justice. One Day For Peace wrestles with some big (and not so big) questions inside homes, prayer houses and from the back seat of a taxi. To make the documentary, Director Rosie Dennis spoke with more than 100 people across cultures, religions and regions in Western Sydney, and interviewed over 50 individuals. The final documentary features 27 people from 10 different faiths, including Aboriginal Spirituality, Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Mandaeanism, Meditation, Orthodox Christianity and Sikhism. One Day For Peace invites us into the daily lives of these 27 different people as they speak openly about what they believe, how and why they practice, their questions and doubts, and their understanding of life, death, divinity and the afterlife.

Members

Paul Brown, one of the group's co-founders, later went on to become a professor of earth sciences at the University of New South Wales.^[5][6]

Julia Cotton, the former Head of Movement Studies at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), worked on productions for the group.^[7]

References