Anastasia Ryan

How much am I worth?

What would you do for all my possessions?

Am I the sum of all my worldly goods?

The Australian dream in 2016 seems a little bit closer to a closet full of Gorman clogs than a hardworking man in a pair of thongs.

What’s Yours Is Mine explores ownership and Australian values, ripping at the seams of the Union Jack with perfectly manicured nails. Hotel Now excavates excess through centuries of pop culture: Antiques Roadshow, Pauline Hanson, the Chiko Roll and Ken Done.

What's Yours Is Mine will premiere at The Butterfly Club as part of Poppy Seed Theatre Festival 2016.

|| The Project ||

What's Yours Is Mine had its little seed sown back in April 2016. 

Hotel Now pitched an idea to the artistic panel of Poppy Seed Festival - a devised work inspired by a one-act Chekhov play, investigating what the Australian dream looks like in 2016. Obviously they liked what they saw, because we were lucky enough to be chosen to be part of the 2016 ensemble (along with other amazing companies Attic Erratic, Riot Stage & Three Birds Theatre). 

Fast foward to October 2016, and our actors and director are furiously devising - from Chiko Rolls to the seminal classic Hugh Jackman film Australia, from dog masks to the crumbling edifice of colonialism. The show is diving head first into the swirling spa of Australian aspirations in preparation to welcome you into an otherworldly experience among the kitsch trinkets and treasures of the Butterfly Club.

|| The Company ||

Established in 2013, Hotel Now is determined to challenge the status quo of the arts. A blissfully unconventional company with a reputation for satirical and risk-taking work, our mission is to leave an impact on the psyche of our audience whilst considering their experience from check-in to departure. Hotel Now fosters a daring ensemble of artists with ambition, innovation and tenacity; responding to our environment. 

Because if not Now, when?

|| The People ||

Director, Yvonne Virsik

Yvonne’s directing credits include Bucket's List by Sarah Collins, NZ Tour Award Melbourne Fringe; Darragh Martin's An Air Balloon Across Antarctica and Adam Cass’ I Love You, Bro, which enjoyed a successful season at the Malthouse and a UK tour. In 2014 she was part of the inaugural Women Directors' Program at MTC. Yvonne is also the Artistic Director of Monash Uni Student Theatre (MUST), where she adapted and directed Margaret Atwood's The Handmaids' Tale and pieces such as Spring Awakening, Declan Greene’s Bog and Laugh Out Loud and Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra and has mentored hundreds of brilliant young theatre makers. She is a graduate of Directing at the VCA.

Performer/Devisor,  Hayden Burke

An energetic performance vessel, Hayden is a VCA acting graduate who enjoys collaborating with other creatives. Along with a passion for the screen, Hayden works in all forms of theatre including devised work, existing texts, new Australian writing and immersive theatre. His latest immersive solo work GODLIKE STATUS focused on how your real life identity is becoming secondary to your online personality. Hayden's theatre works include: Stars of Track and Field La Mama (2015), GODLIKE STATUS - CRACK Theatre Festival in Newcastle (2015), Darebin Arts for the TRUE NORTH Festival (2015), Melbourne Fringe Festival (2014), The Little Prince (2013) Victorian College of the Arts, Anton Chekhov’s The Three Sisters (2013) Victorian College of the Arts - about.me/haydenburke

Performer/Devisor, Tom Halls

A performance anarchist, Tom is a graduate of Acting at the VCA and co-founder of Hotel Now. Recent credits include Nothing Special Melbourne Fringe 2016, Cast Party: Dance Magic Dance The Boon Companions 2016; Birdland VIP Hotel Experience MTC 2015; Sad Digger Mad Mary Melbourne Fringe 2015; Bette & Joan: BITCH. SLUT. LIAR. WHORE. La Mama 2016. He was awarded the 2013 Cassidy Bequest, which allowed him to travel to New York and Intern with PS122 on their COIL Festival. SLUTS RULE (2013) revelled in genderf**k performance, an area that Tom believes vital to challenging the status quo of perceived masculinity. You can next see Tom in Sad Digger Mad Mary at La Mama Theatre for Midsumma Festival. www.tomhalls.com.au

Performer/Devisor, Simone French

A passion fuelled live wire, Simone French is a co-founder of Hotel Now and recently smacked audiences in the face with her original work Nothing Special for Melbourne Fringe. A VCA Acting graduate, she directed a sell-out season of Bette & Joan: BITCH. SLUT. LIAR. WHORE. at La Mama Theatre (2016) and wrote, performed & produced Hersteria for Fringe (2015). She also has extensive training in singing and dance; choreographing 80s dance films and flashmobs, teaching Biomechanics and touring South Africa with Scooby-Doo Live! Musical Mysteries. This year Simone starred in Slug at the Melbourne International Film Festival and she will be returning to the Butterfly Club over summer to direct a vagina love story The Adventures of Yoni 1 & Yoni 2. www.simonefrench.com

Designer, Owen Phillips

Credits for Owen include set and/or costume design for I’ll Eat You Last starring Miriam Margolyes (MTC) and Egg (MTC/Terrapin Puppet Theatre), Sisters Grimm’s The Sovereign Wife and Arthur’s The Myth Project: Twin (MTC Neon), Little Shop of Horrors and Sweet Charity (Tinderbox Productions/Luckiest Productions), Master Class (Left Bauer Productions), The Dust and Us (Human Animal Exchange), Wael Zuiater: Unknown (Creative Nonfiction/Next Wave), Bock Kills Her Father (She Said/Melbourne Fringe Festival 2015), Psycho Beach Party for Little Ones Theatre, Funny Girl, Jerry’s Girls, La Cage Aux Folles and Pirates of Penzance for The Production Company and Gaybies (Darlinghurst Theatre Co.)

Producer & Stage Manager, Anastasia Ryan

Anastasia is an emerging arts manager with experience in producing, production/stage management and administration. She has worked with independent companies and artists including Sisters Grimm, Attic Erratic, Mama Alto, James Welsby and Quiet Little Fox and produced work for festivals in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne. She has held administrative roles at Melbourne Festival and Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and is a recent graduate of the Master of Arts and Cultural Management (2015) at Melbourne University. Most recently she produced CONVICTION written by Zoey Dawson and directed by Declan Greene for Darebin Arts’ Speakeasy program.

We are insanely lucky to have the financial support of Poppy Seed Festival behind us for this show, as well as in kind support from so many other places including our other Poppy Seed ensemble members, Monash Uni Student Theatre, VCA & Howard Fine Acting School. Additionally our fabulous venue The Butterfly Club provides us with marketing and rehearsal venue support. However, we all know how tough it is to make art in the current climate, and we still have a team of 7 wonderful artists giving their time and effort for a tiny sum of money.

So, down to the numbers. Our overall budget (excluding our in-kind support) looks a little something like this:

28% is a significant chunk of the budget - the difference between our actors standing on stage in jeans and a t-shirt with fluorescent lighting, and our audience truly being transported into the world of our show.

So what exactly will your money be spent on?

By donating to our Pozible campaign, you will be directly supporting our artists practice by providing a small fee for all of our creative team. You'll also help us bring the show to life through our amazing costume design, to add to our wonderful Butterfly Club space with set dressing and props, and to allow us to add a kick-ass sound design as well!

Devising theatre can be an overwhelming task due to the many unknowns in the initial stages of the process. You start with a concept and then make a work from that based on research, exploration and what already exists inside your mind. The challenge of this is taking all the wonderful and exciting ideas offered by the ensemble, and distilling those into a meaningful and topical product. We are confident that with director Yvonne Virisk on hand, to mould and push the devisors into exciting territory and the combined experience of the ensemble in making devised work,  that What's Yours Is Mine will dissect key issues facing Australia today.

The Butterfly Club has a wonderful backdrop of crazy kitsch, but one of its unique points is that it always holds multiple performances per night. This means any set pieces need to be setup and packed down in about 15 minutes, and there is no room for any large or bulky pieces. Therefore our designer Owen, needs to not only think creatively about the space but also come up with ways to initiate the audience into a fully realised world - that can be packed up and down in 15 minutes.

The obvious challenge is pursuing any kind of creative work or career in this environment of harsh financial austerity. Each of our hard-working team members is rehearsing & preparing furiously in every spare moment around a multitidue of other committments. It is truly a passion for all of us to bring this project to the stage, and to all you potential audience out there.

We reject the idea that arts and artistic work is frivolous or 'extra', and instead champion the fact that a healthy artistic community contributes essentially to society - and invite you to become part of this artistic community by donating!