Hello Snowy Valleys to Help Unlock Local Stories
Published on 16 June 2021
These Mountains are alive with stories – and this Winter is the time to tell them.
Over the next three months, the award-winning playwright Hannie Rayson and ABC theatre-buff Michael Cathcart are moving to the Snowy Valleys to help locals to unlock the great stories of their lives.
Snowy Valleys Council Executive Director Community and Corporate Paul Holton said the Hello Snowy Valleys! project is a perfect additional element to the region’s Winter Bites Festival program.
“We are incredibly excited to be able to make this opportunity available to the residents of the Snowy Valleys,” he said.
Hannie and Michael will be on the hunt for great stories – be they funny, poignant, sad or uplifting. The pair will be helping each storyteller to craft their tale into a short, powerful performance.
The duo will also be presenting Life Writing workshops over six Sunday afternoons, starting on 20 June where they’ll help to identify resident’s personal stories, develop powerful techniques for writing them down, and help in structuring the stories.
The workshops will be spread across Batlow, Tumbarumba, Adelong and Tumut.
Hannie says, “Most people know that they have a story to tell, but they don’t know how to start. The techniques which we’ve developed are simple, effective and deeply fulfilling.”
Hello, Snowy Valleys! will culminate in the creation of a piece of live theatre about the Snowy Valleys – a tapestry of stories told by the people who live here. There will be three performances at the Batlow Literary Institute over the weekend of 21 August.
The total cost of the workshop series is $120 per participant which includes admission to all six workshops and refreshments.
For more information about how to register visit www.svc.nsw.gov.au/hello-snowy-valleys
This initiative has been partly funded by the Bushfire Community Recovery and Resilience Fund.
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Hannie Rayson began her professional life in community theatre at Theatre Works in 1980. Since then, her plays have been produced throughout Australia and internationally. She works in theatre, film and television and writes a column for The Age newspaper.
But always her passion is to hear the stories of Australia told by Australians. In all their diversity.
“Hearing Aussies tell stories in our rich and colourful vernacular is one of life’s great pleasures. It’s how I met Michael and why we fell in love. We both love this stuff.”
Michael Cathcart is an award-winning historian, theatre director and ABC broadcaster. He is taking 10 weeks leave for the project.
Their mission is to create a piece of theatre about the Snowy Valleys; a tapestry of stories told by the people who live here. This will be a celebration of local life, fuelled by struggle, resilience, wit and tenderness. It is a story told by farmers, butchers, teachers, pickers, timber cutters – local people who are bearing witness to events great and small that have given this place its unique history.
Michael and Hannie are moving to the Snowy Valleys region for the duration of this project.