Four years ago, ActNow Theatre (then titled ActNow Theatre for Social Change) was founded by
Edwin Kemp Attrill (newly appointed Artistic Director of the Adelaide University Theatre Guild) and a small group of socially conscious young people to create a street theatre performance about David Hicks and Guantanamo Bay. Three main stage performances, over a dozen street and small DIY performances, several creative developments, a 24 hour theatre challenge, two theatre for social change conferences and a forum theatre performance in over 30 schools later, ActNow Theatre has appointed Sarah Dunn as the new Artistic Director, after her service on the Board of ActNow for two years.
Dunn, 23, was appointed by the youth-led board in March, and has been working from the ActNow office at Format in Peel Street, as well as working at Vitalstatistix Theatre Company and Urban Myth Theatre of Youth.
As an actor, Sarah has worked with State Theatre Company, Patch Theatre Company, Steven House, the ABC, and various other independent companies, including ActNow Theatre, in their critically acclaimed, sell-out season of An Enemy of the People, under the directorship of Edwin Kemp Attrill.
She recently devised, directed, and performed in several forum theatre workshops with ActNow Theatre and the Legal Services Commission about rape, sexual assault and domestic violence, ExpectRespect, which toured both locally and regionally.
Sarah has directed the 2008 season of Out of the Boot for Urban Myth, her own play, Opiate, and Rough For Theatre II, a play by Samuel Beckett, with the new theatre company Go Begging for the 2009 Adelaide Fringe Festival. She also wrote a short play, X, which was performed in the 2009 Out of the Boot season for Urban Myth, and was also performed by Canberra Youth Theatre later that year.
Dunn is hitting the ground running, beginning work on the new theatre in schools collaboration with ShineSA and Marion Youth, Speak Out, examining homophobia in schools.
“I feel completely honoured to be working with such an exciting young company, and particularly one that so highly values what young and emerging artists can offer our culture,” says Dunn.
“Particularly exciting is the new work that we are devising with prominent health organisations, to address homophobia in secondary schools. I am working with a very exciting team, and am feeling very positive about the success of the piece.”
Sarah is working alongside Sophie Bruhn, who will work as ActNow’s publicist. Bruhn has worked in the media in a variety of roles, and is a respected Adelaide arts blogger and commentator. She has had numerous articles and reviews commissioned and published internationally, and wrote a weekly column on aussietheatre.com throughout 2010. She currently works as a Red Carpet ambassador at State Theatre Company of South Australia, as well as recently having been selected as an Arts Blogger for the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Greenroom program.
Always eager to further develop the relationship between social networking and the arts, she has live blogged and live tweeted season launches, productions and conferences, including State Theatre
Company of South Australia’s 2011 season launch, and most recently Vitalstatistix’s BossLady.
She joined ActNow Theatre as part of the organisational board for RightAct10 and is delighted to be
continuing her work with the company.
“We’ve got the talent, the drive and the ideas to contribute something really worthwhile to Adelaide arts”, says Dunn, “now all we need is some ongoing funding to cement our place in
Adelaide and Australia as an innovative, exciting and passionate company.”
ActNow will be hosting a small event to welcome Sarah Dunn and launch their new logo on Friday the 13th of May, 5:30pm. Interested members of the media can RSVP via email.