Vietnamese Theatre Project

Vietnamese theatre project
• Through Vietnamese Story Exchange in 2009, Fairfield’s Vietnamese community shared their personal stories. This new theatre project aims to build on these stories and skills by drawing deeper into Vietnamese folklore and proverbs, movement and song, to explore cultural values and behaviors across three generations of Vietnamese-Australians.
• For countless centuries, folklore has been used by cultures around the world to create common stories that bind a community, a people, as one. Common to many of the tales in Vietnamese folklore, is an emphasis on the value of family relationships. This project will emphasise that young or old, everyone has stories, experience and knowledge to share, and to learn; and aims to enhance understanding between generations.
• The Vietnamese Theatre project begins with a series of Community Discussion Forums, open to the Vietnamese community, to share stories and ideas that can be explored through theatre. The Forums will be lead by local artists Kim Huong Nguyen, Anh Linh Pham and and Maria Tran, exploring different themes.
• The stories and ideas shared at the discussion forums, will help create short plays that will be performed at the Cabramatta Moon Festival in September. This is a great opportunity for the Vietnamese Community to share their culture and traditions with our local community at the Cabramatta Moon Festival, our city’s biggest festival.

• The dates and themes for the community forums are:
o 27 June: Youth and Family – lead by Kim Huong Nguyen and Anh Linh Pham
o 4 July: Gen 2.0 – Power of Performance in the Vietnamese Diaspora – lead by Logie Award winner Maria Tran
o 11 July: Folklore and Daily Life – lead by Kim Huong Nguyen

• Forums begin this Sunday 27 June 10am-12pm at the Whitlam Library (Gough Room), Cnr Railway Pde & McBurney Rd, Cabramatta. They are open to the Vietnamese community and families are especially encouraged to come along.

• And then if you’re really keen, register for the FREE theatre workshops during
July-August where you will learn skills in acting, movement and comedy, and produce short plays for the Cabramatta Moon Festival in September.
You will be taught by professionals; so no acting experience is necessary!

• Directing the theatre project is film, television and theatre director, Lex Marinos, whose works include the theatre production ‘The Wound’ and television series ‘A Country Practice’.