__NOTOC__ Ilbijerri Theatre Company, formerly Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Cooperative and also known simply as Ilbijerri, styled ILBIJERRI, is an Australian theatre company based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

that creates theatre creatively controlled by

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

artists.

History

Ilbijerri was founded in 1990 as Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Cooperative by a group of

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

artists galvanised to tell Indigenous stories from an Indigenous perspective. Ilbijerri, pronounced ''il BIDGE er ree'', is a

Woiwurrung language The Woiwurrung, also spelt Woi-wurrung, Woi Wurrung, Woiwurrong, Woiworung, and Wuywurung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin people, Kulin alliance. The Woiwurrung people's territory in Central ...

word meaning "coming together for

ceremony A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin, via the Latin . Religious and civil ...

". Theatre and film producer, director, and writer

John Harvey John Harvey may refer to: People Academics *John Harvey (astrologer) (1564–1592), English astrologer and physician *John Harvey (architectural historian) (1911–1997), British architectural historian, who wrote on English Gothic architecture a ...

was general manager and co-CEO of Ilbijerri with

Rachael Maza Rachael Zoa Maza , also credited as Rachael Maza Long, is an Indigenous Australian television and film actress, and stage director. She is known for her role in the 1998 film ''Radiance'', and worked with Company B and Wesley Enoch in Sydney fo ...

. Dancer and choreographer Daniel Riley worked as associate producer and then creative associate for Ilbijerri between 2019 and 2021.

Notable productions

* ''

Stolen Stolen may refer to: Films * ''Stolen'' (2009 Australian film), a 2009 Australian film * ''Stolen'' (2009 American film), a 2009 American film * ''Stolen: The Baby Kahu Story'' (2010 film), a film based on the real life kidnapping of baby Kahu ...

'' by Jane Harrison, commissioned in 1992 and first performed in a 1998 co-production with Playbox Theatre * ''Jack Charles v The Crown'', about the life of

Jack Charles Jack Charles (5 September 1943 – 13 September 2022), also known as Uncle Jack Charles, was an Australian stage and screen actor and activist, known for his advocacy for Aboriginal people. He was involved in establishing the first Indigenous t ...

, which premiered in 2010 at the

Melbourne Festival Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festi ...

. Charles was nominated for a

Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Play The Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Play is an award presented by Live Performance Australia (LPA) (the trade name for the Australian Entertainment Industry Association (AEIA)), an employers' organisation which serves as the peak body ...

for his performance in the play in 2012, and the play was also nominated for Best Direction of a Play. The show toured across Australia and internationally, and in 2014, Ilbijerri was joint winner of a

Drover Award The performing arts in Australia are an important element of the Arts in Australia and Australian culture. Dance Dance in Australia is diverse, ranging from The Australian Ballet to the Restless Dance Company to the many local dance studios. ...

from

APACA The performing arts in Australia are an important element of the Arts in Australia and Australian culture. Dance Dance in Australia is diverse, ranging from The Australian Ballet to the Restless Dance Company to the many local dance studios. ...

, and Ilbijerri Theatre, toured by

Performing Lines Performing Lines is an Australian performing arts producer and presenter. It was established in 1990 as a successor to the Australian Content department of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, it was established by actress Wendy Blacklock ...

, won the

Helpmann Award for Best Regional Touring Production __NOTOC__ The Helpmann Award for Best Regional Touring Production is an award presented by Live Performance Australia at the annual Helpmann Awards since 2007. The award recognizes excellence in one production that has toured in the previous t ...

. and in the same year * ''Beautiful One Day'', a theatrical documentary about events on Palm Island (co-produced with Belvoir and version 1.0), which also played at London's

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank. It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell R ...

as part of the 2015 Origins Festival of First Nations *''Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country'', a

verbatim theatre Documentary theatre is theatre that uses pre-existing documentary material (such as newspapers, government reports, interviews, journals, and correspondences) as source material for stories about real events and people, frequently without altering ...

work based on historical events at

Coranderrk Coranderrk was an Aboriginal reserve run by the Victorian government between 1863 and 1924, located around north-east of Melbourne. The residents were mainly of the Woiwurrung, Bunurong and Taungurung peoples, and the first inhabitants chose ...

, a former

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Giordano Nanni The Juice Media (TJM) is an Australian company that produces contemporary, human rights, social and political satire. They are known for their Internet series Honest Government Ads and Juice Rap News. TJM's use of the parody "Australien Coat of ...

and

Yorta Yorta The Yorta Yorta, also known as Jotijota, are an Aboriginal Australian people who have traditionally inhabited the area surrounding the junction of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers in present-day north-eastern Victoria and southern New South Wale ...

Kurnai The Kurnai () people Aboriginal Australian nation of south-east Australia. They are the Traditional Custodians of most of present-day Gippsland and much of the southern slopes of the Victorian Alps. The Kurnai nation is composed of five major ...

playwright

Andrea James Andrea Jean James (born January 16, 1967) is an American transgender rights activist, film producer, and blogger. Herself a transgender woman, James has been a leading figure in protests against the work of sexologists including Ray Blanchar ...

wrote the play, and it was co-produced with La Mama Theatre, in collaboration with the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. It was performed at the Playhouse at

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

in June/July 2012. *In 2016, Ilbijerri performed a

tanderrum A tanderrum is an Aboriginal Australian ceremony enacted by the nations of the Kulin people and other Aboriginal Victorian nations allowing safe passage and temporary access and use of land and resources by foreign people. It was a diplomatic ri ...

ceremony to open the

* ''Coranderrk'', a recreation of the 1881 Coranderrk inquiry, was co-produced with

Belvoir Theatre Belvoir is an Australian theatre company based at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia, originally known as Company B. Its artistic director is Eamon Flack. The theatre comprises two performing spaces: the Upstairs Theatre and the smalle ...

in 2017. *''Black Ties'', co-written by

and Tainui Tukiwaho , is a story about a cross-cultural relationship between a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

woman and an Aboriginal man. It was first performed for the

Sydney Festival Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney, that runs for three weeks every January since it was established in 1977. The festival program features over 100 events from local and international artists and inclu ...

in January 2020, starring Jack Charles,

Mark Coles Smith Mark Coles Smith (born 1987), also known as Kalaji, is an Aboriginal Australian (Nyikina) actor of stage and screen, sound designer, field recordist, writer, and composer. He is known for his roles in the feature films '' Last Cab to Darwin'' ( ...

, and Lisa Maza, and co-directed by Rachael Maza Long with Tainui Tukiwaho. It then toured to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, and then

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

and

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

in New Zealand in February and March of that year., *''Big Name, No Blanket'', a musical based on the story of the

Warumpi Band Warumpi Band () were an Australian country and Aboriginal rock group which formed in the outback settlement of Papunya, Northern Territory, in 1980. The original line-up was George Burarrwanga on vocals and didgeridoo, Gordon Butcher Tjapana ...

, premiered in January 2024 at the

. It was written by

with

Sammy Butcher Sammy Tjapanangka Butcher is an Pitjantjatjara– Warlpiri musician who formed the Warumpi Band. Biography Butcher was born at Papunya, Northern Territory in Central Australia. His mother's side is from the south, the Pitjantjatjara tribe and ...

and his daughter Anyupa Butcher, and co-directed by

and Anyupa Butcher.

Baykali Ganambarr Baykali Ganambarr (born ) is an Aboriginal Australian actor and dancer from Elcho Island (Galiwin'ku), Northern Territory. He is known for his role as a tracker in the 2018 film '' The Nightingale''. Early life and education Baykali Ganambarr ...

plays Sammy Butcher. The show was also performed at the RISING Festival in

Darwin Festival The Darwin Festival, founded as the Bougainvillea Festival in 1979 and named Festival of Darwin from 1996 to 2002, is an annual arts festival in Darwin, Northern Territory. It celebrates the multicultural aspects of the Northern Territory lifes ...

, and

Brisbane Festival Brisbane Festival is one of Australia's leading international arts festivals, and is held each September in Brisbane, Australia. Its presence dominates the city for three weeks in September and its line-up of classical and contemporary music, t ...

. In October 2024 a slightly scaled-down version of the show was undertaking a tour of 16 prisons, supported by the

Balnaves Foundation Neil Richard Balnaves (5 May 1944 – 21 February 2022) was an Australian media executive and arts philanthropist. His production companies were responsible for bringing '' Big Brother'' and ''Bananas in Pyjamas'' to Australian television scree ...

References

External links

*
ILBIJERRI
on ''

AusStage AusStage: The Australian Live Performance Database is an online database which records information about live performances in Australia, providing records of productions from the first recorded performance in Australia (1789, by convicts) up unt ...

'' {{authority control Theatre companies in Australia Indigenous Australian theatre 1990 establishments in Australia Theatre in Melbourne

History

Notable productions

See also

References

External links