Written by award-winning playwright Alana Valentine
Commemorating 40 years since the closure of Parramatta’s notorious juvenile detention centre, the Parramatta Girls Home also known as Girls Training School, Riverside Theatres will produce Alana Valentine’s powerful play, Parramatta Girls, starring some of Australia’s best known actresses and directed by Tanya Goldberg (Dreams in White, The Story of Mary MacLane: By Herself).
Weaving together the true stories of former inmates, Parramatta Girls reveals a legacy of physical, psychological and sexual abuse endured and told by many who have since given evidence before the current Royal Commission into the abuse of minors in state and federal institutions.
Parramatta Girls is a ribald, funny and deeply moving experience. It is a journey among remarkable women that intersperses songs and story telling with the defiance, endurance and ultimate triumph of eight former inmates who reunite at the Home forty years later. For some it is a way to find healing, for others it is a way to dispel the ghosts but for all of them, it is a way to a share the past and laugh together once again.
Parramatta Girls is performed by Christine Anu, Holly Austin, Annie Byron, Vanessa Downing, Anni Finsterer, Sandy Gore, Sharni McDermott and Tessa Rose.
Producer Camilla Rountree said of the production, “Alana Valentine’s Parramatta Girls is one of the most important theatre works of the past decade and we are proud to be producing it at Riverside Theatres with such a brilliant cast and outstanding director. Few plays could be more relevant to current events and with the anniversary of the closing of the actual home, this is a theatre experience not to be missed.”
As part of the season, a number of additional events will be presented in conjunction with the season of Parramatta Girls including:
· A Q&A session with the cast and some of the real Parramatta girls following selected performances
· A photographic exhibition held in the foyer of Riverside Theatres displaying recent photographs taken of the Parramatta Girls Home by Heidrun Lohr
· An open day at the Parramatta Girls Home on Saturday 10th May which will be hosted by The Memory Project, an arts installation initiative coordinated by the Parra Girls support group. Riverside audiences are invited to attend.
Dates: 3rd to 17th May 2014
Times: Sat 3 May 7.30pm (preview); Thur 8 May 7.30pm (Opening Night); Fri 9 May 7.30pm; Sat 10 May 2.15pm & 7.30pm; Wed 14 May 1pm; Thur 15 May 7.30pm; Fri 16 May 7.30pm; Sat 17 May 2.15pm and 7.30pm
Tickets: Adult $48 / Conc $43 / Youth 30&U $38 / FT Student $31
Bookings: (02) 8839 3399 or www.riversideparramatta.com.au
Venue: Riverside Theatres – Corner of Church and Market Streets, Parramatta
