Issue Details: First known date: 2019... 2019 Intersectionality And The Australian Theatre Industry : In Conversation With Candy Bowers
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'After graduating with a Bachelor of Dramatic Arts, Acting degree from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 2001, she rose to prominence as co-creator and performer in the cult hip-hop comedy act Sista She (with Sarah Ward, Kim 'Busty Beatz' Bowers, DJ Jonah and sometimes double bassist Thomas Butt), who toured Australia from 2003 to 2008. [...]Candy has worked as an actor on Australia's mainstages and starred in television sketch comedy shows, but is most well known for her original independent theatre works, including Who's That Chik? (2009), MC Platypus and Queen Koala (2012-13), Hot Brown Honey Burlesque (2013-15), Australian Booty (2012-19) and One the Bear (Arts Centre Melbourne/ Sydney Opera House 2019). Candy is currently a part of the British Council of the Arts INTERSECT UKAustralia peer mentorship initiative, she holds a MentorLA Fellowship interning with Peter Saji, is the showrunner of Black-ish (US TV series) in Los Angeles, and is also in the early stages of her first feature film with Arena Media. In high school, my debating teacher pushed my skills by throwing me in teams with senior students so by the time l was fourteen, I was winning wholeschool public speaking contests against seventeen-year-olds.' (Publication abstract)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australasian Drama Studies no. 75 October 2019 18496337 2019 periodical issue

    'Papers, presentations and workshops ranged across many subjects, including: individual performers and practices; dramaturgies of acting, technology, disability and access; rehearsal and hierarchies of power; acting and ethics; women in the acting and performance industries; diversity on the stage; mainstream and independent work; comedy; physical practices; and wellbeing and mental health. Actresses have been particularly vocal about the need to challenge the gender pay gap, sexism, racism and male abuse of power, and there is a noticeable difference in the numbers of actresses of all ages who are prepared to speak out about the invisibility and marginalisation that too many have endured. The different moods of the actresses in these articles and interviews are also striking: the optimism and celebratory notes evident in Trevor Jones's piece on women performers of musical theatre and the joyously comic anarchy manifest in Sarah Peters' article on the Travelling Sisters are not, for example, sounded by Candy Bowers, who describes a landscape of white supremacy and 'the centring of whiteness' above all, and identifies a major problem with diversity and access to training as well as an unwillingness to celebrate intersectionality and diverse storytelling on Australian stages. Forsyth observes that many women turn to film and television not just because of financial issues and the limited roles that mature actresses are offered on the stage, but also because of the physical wear and tear on the body and mind.' (Mary Lockhurst, Editorial abstract)

    2019
    pg. 46-71
Last amended 7 Jan 2020 13:43:28
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