From Thursday 30 September – Sunday 3 October, Crack Theatre festival will unleash a blistering program of performances, gigs, panels, forums, workshops and interventions by an array of Australia’s most creative creatives.

Crack is a national festival and forum devoted to experimental, fringe, cross-artform theatre and performance, taking place in Newcastle as part of the This Is Not Art media arts festival.

The Crack Theatre festival is a launching pad for emerging artists who wish to journey into the festival scene. It provides a platform for artists working in new, experimental and fringe areas of performance to showcase their work, to share skills and to invigorate their practice at the nation’s largest artistic party.

The festival kicks off with a whisper on Thursday, September 30 thanks to Shh’s intriguing latest production. Blind, As You See It is a hybrid performance and exploration into the process of losing one’s sight. A visual, humourous yet delicate feast, the performance explores the memories of a 25 year old woman as she loses her vision. Inspired by Philippe Genty, Romeo Castellucci and Polish Plastic Theatre practitioners, this journey into darkness blends magic, original music, dance clowning, puppetry and visual (black art) theatre - check out footage from Blind, As You See It here.

Friday's program features an array of exciting and informative panel discussions and workshops, including Writing for Space: Using Viewpoints to Devise Theatre and make Group Compositions, a workshop featuring Laura Scrivano which explores the idea of writing and devising theatre using Viewpoints, a physical acting technique developed by Anne Bogart’s SITI Company in New York; Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Literary Management, Programming, New Writing Development and Dramaturgy from Three Artists Who’ve Been There, Done That and Filed the Show Report About It, a spirited panel discussion featuring Van Badham (Finborough Theatre), Chris Mead (PlayWriting Australia), Peter Matheson; and Anywhere but here, which takes a look at the journey of a career in the arts and asks what it means for an artist to emerge, led by Brenna Hobson (Company B Belvoir), Michal Imielski, Jane Grimley and Lowdown's very own effervescent Editor, Jane Gronow.

Saturday promises all the alligators (Up to your arse in alligators), puppetry (21st Century Puppetry: A Roadmap), headphones (The Rise and Fall of Headphones Theatre) and...rimming (Sisters Grimm-The Rimming Club) that you could possibly want, as well as fights, free zines and memorable performances from a variety of musicians, spoken word performers and visual artists at the Goofball #5 zine launch.

There's no excuse to neglect your studies either, thanks to Crack's Study Hall. Every afternoon, Crack’s Grand Lodge will be open for everyone to come and CRAM. Drink wine; prep for all your exams; use and abuse a fine selection of arts and craft materials to construct a corsage for your Formal date or a set diorama for your end-of-semester performance of MacBeth; chat to the friendly careers advisor about how a career in the performing arts can lead to being dressed as an underweight Santa in the food court of a shopping mall in the MIDDLE OF SUMMER; then feel depressed about your future and drink more wine. Cheer up though - there'll be CLAG! Everyone loves CLAG.

Finally if, like myself, you found your Year 12 Formal a bit of a let down, don't despair; for on Sunday night, the Crackhouse will be transformed into the hippest year 12 formal that ever was. Amidst the turbulent maelstrom of music, dancing and carnage, the audience is welcome to become performer, performer to become audience, woman to become man, dog to become bicycle! (Although neither the Crack team nor Lowdown encourage that last one). Let your hormones take over and turn a night out into a nightmare! This is the last night of the rest of your life, so let loose and savour the urine-spiked punch (yummy). BYO vomit or make some when you arrive. And whatever you do, DON'T come stag, lest you find yourself alone when Green Day’s Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) is being drunkenly howled by your weeping History Teacher.

Join Hadley, Spill Collective, Svelt, Dead DJ Joke and every hormone-ridden artist in Newcastle on Sunday, October 3 as they give Crack a rip-roaring send-off with the party to end all parties.

Think that sounds good? That's not even the half of it. Check out the full program at the Crack Theatre festival website, and read all about the festival in co-director David Finnigan's feature article.