Cirrus@Austlit

'Would you risk breaking bail for a packet of Mi Goreng? Or snitch on a mate to save your own skin? Around here, ordinary days can turn on you so fast you’ve still got a smile on your face as your hopes die in your hands.

'Yani wants to go to the Easter Show, Kai wants a sense of home, Shanika wants her Mum back, and Lachlan…well, he just wants his bowl of noodles. But when the justice system is all that stands between these young people and what they want, it raises an important question—how do young people grow when the system keeps cutting them down?

'Yuwaalaraay playwright Hannah Belanszky and Kalkadoon director Abbie-lee Lewis bring their exceptional talent to the stage for Saplings, a collection of hilarious and heartbreaking stories born from workshops with young people in conflict the youth justice system, from Marrickville to Moree.

'Set to a rap and hip-hop soundtrack made by young people in the youth justice system, Saplings gives an honest, raw look into the adult consequences faced by some of our most vulnerable.'

Source: Sydney Festival.

'We grow up being lied to. Often for good reasons – so we can believe in something magical, to believe we can be whoever we want to be, or to shield us from pain. This is about those moments. When a lie is told, and the truth is revealed, and in that moment something is discovered, something that will change you forever, something that cannot be unlearned. From global conspiracies to childhood memories to the most personal moments of all. This is how we grow up. This is life!

'Following our critically acclaimed partnership on 2017’s Dignity of Risk, ATYP and Shopfront Arts Co-op join forces once again to premiere The Lies We Were Told. An ensemble of young people aged 8-18 will share personal stories and verbatim texts, investigating the moments when it felt like you grew up in one day, or one hour, or one minute and nothing would ever be the same again.'

Source: ATYP.

'High school outcast and whimsical mega-dork Taylah longs to be the princess in her own fairy tale. Which isn’t easy in Dunburn – a drought-stricken Aussie town struggling for survival, where cool girls and footy hunks lead the pack. But when her hyper-woke, inner-city cousin Maeve comes to stay, the pair join forces on a quest to make their mark on the best night of the year: the town’s annual Debutante Ball. In their search for social redemption and the spotlight, chaos ensues – along with a whole lot of fake tan, lace, and diamante tiaras for ya up-do.

'Conceived and co-directed by the hilarious Hannah Reilly (Winner of the 2019 Rebel Wilson Comedy Commission) with original music by multi-ARIA Award-winning Megan Washington, The Deb is a heart-warming and uproarious coming-of-age story about friendship, courage, and the beauty of coming out as yourself.

'Don’t miss the debut of what will no doubt join Muriel’s Wedding and FANGIRLS in the ranks of beloved Australian stage musicals.'

Source: ATYP.

'Why do you have to go to work? How come adults drink to have fun? Is 50 too old to learn to surf? What was life like before the Internet?