Veronica Wnuk

SWEET POTATO PRODUCTIONS is Melbourne's fresh face in theatre production. Founded by Tim Frazer and Veronica Wnuk in 2012, SWEET POTATO PRODUCTIONS has been sown to produce quality shows, sprouting opportunities for performers and harvesting their talents on the stage.

THE SHOW

Told from a child's perspective, DANI GIRL is the inspiring and humorous story of a young girl's battle with a life threatening disease. 

When Dani, a precocious nine-year-old, loses her hair to leukaemia, she vows to get it back. Convinced that the key lies in discovering the reason for cancer's existence, she embarks on a magical quest to answer the question "Why is cancer?" 

Together with her teddy bear, movie-obsessed hospital roommate, and shape-shifting guardian angel, Dani journeys through the realms of fantasy and reality, searching for the answer and battling a personified Cancer along the way. 

Simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking, DANI GIRL is a tale of life in the face of death, hope in the face of despair, and the indomitable power of the human imagination.

THE RUN

DANI GIRL will be performed at Revolt Melbourne Artspace, Kensington opening on Thursday, 14th March 2013.  There will be 7 performances over two weeks as follows: 

Thursday, 14th March 8PM

Friday, 15th March 8PM

Saturday, 16th March 8PM

Thursday, 21st March 8PM

Friday, 22nd March 8PM

Saturday, 23rd March 2PM & 8PM

To keep up to date with all upcoming DANI GIRL news please 'like' the SWEET POTATO PRODUCTIONS Facebook page or follow us on Twitter

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DANI GIRL is a Profit Share Agreement. We encourage potential Official Major or Minor sponsors to contact us for a more detailed break down of the shows budget via Facebook.

A little bit more about the show...

As told to Karen Wada from CULTURE MONSTER

“We were initially very nervous about how people would respond to it,” Dimond tells Culture Monster. “It’s not what you usually see in a musical.”

Dimond wrote “Dani Girl” after his younger cousin Danny's battle with cancer. "I wanted to tackle exactly what was going on in this character -- who I changed to a girl -- in this girl's mind.” He also wanted to offer a look at the world of "Danny and a lot of the kids he became close to in the hospital, kids who live more than I ever would."

The result is neither weepy melodrama nor bleak tragedy. “It's about a girl’s fantastical quest to get her hair back when she loses it to chemotherapy, to cancer. It’s about a girl who, through her imagination tries to cope with the reality of a serious situation. As kids often do, she does so in unexpected ways.”

Kooman, who composed the music, and Dimond, who wrote the lyrics and book, have tried to tell Dani’s story in unexpected ways as well. “When you are writing a musical about pediatric leukemia, if it’s what people expect it to be it would be a really awful experience to sit through,” Dimond says.

So they set out to create a piece that is surprising, and surprisingly funny, with a score that has “an upbeat pop-y feel. This play deals with very dark themes and ideas but there is a lot of levity and joy in it.”