DIRECTOR’S
NOTE
Fuelled by hormones, the caterpillar stops eating.
It hangs upside down and spins itself a cocoon or
chrysalis, kick-starting the process of digesting
itself, dissolving into a caterpillar soup and
eventually rearranging itself into a butterfly.
At least, that’s how it goes in my layman’s
understanding of butterfly biology.
The 10 scripts in Intersection 2018: Chrysalis
take a peek inside this cocoon, or in this case,
at a number of complex, destructive, hopeful
and transformative human soups. They peer
in at that unique moment before we’re due to
emerge, bursting into the fully formed adults we’re
destined to be.
Unlike caterpillars, who (I think) aren’t sentient
enough to know they’re about to transform, the
characters in these plays seem to have a sense
that something is coming or, in fact, that they
may already be in the midst of their own soupy-
transition. They’re deciding what to do next,
where to go, how to be and who to be. Some of
them yearn to be different, to go somewhere new,
to be something new. For others, the knowledge
that things can’t stay the same forever isn’t as
easy, the battle of aspiration versus expectation
feeding a desire to stay soupy a little while longer.
In any case, there is no denying that something is
going to shift, and it’s up to them to decide how
they’re going to own it.
When tasked with directing these pieces, I was
initially concerned with how I was ever going to
create a cohesive world from 10 disparate short
plays. And yet, when I sat in a circle of young
playwrights on the final day of the National Studio
in September 2017, I was amazed at how so many
different voices from all around the country could
be both so individual and yet so interconnected.
In Intersection 2018: Chrysalis, we hear young
voices coming together, to find this point of
commonality. This chrysalis feels unique to each
of us, and I’m sure it is different for everyone.
And yet there is something in these individual
explorations that feels inescapably and undeniably
similar. We all stew in the same questions of
identity, sex, belonging and responsibility. It is a
shared experience that unites us, no matter how
painfully lonely it can often feel.
Rachel Chant
CAST
Anika Bhatia
Anika has been a keen drama student
since a young age. Being a Speech &
Drama student since the age of 9, and having taken
Drama for HSC, her love for theatre has continued
to grow. Anika has performed in a variety of roles
including the title role in the NIDA production, The
Pied Piper of Hamelin, being part of a film for the
Australian Ministry of Arts at AFTRS, playing Mrs.
Murphy in Thursday’s Child at Cranbrook School,
as well as chorus roles in Into the Woods and
Coram Boy at Ascham School. Anika performed in
High School Musical 2, a musical stage production
at AIPA and has regularly participated in the
Sydney Eisteddfod, placing 2nd in the Actor’s
Championship in 2015. In 2016, Anika had the
privilege of being a student director, directing a
selection from Jonathan Rand’s Check Please.
Chrysalis is her first production with ATYP.
Ben Tarlinton
Ben is an Actor and Director. Whilst in
high school, Ben and his friends had
their own creative ventures in music, film making,
writing and acting, where he gained a keen interest
in both acting and film making. In 2015, Ben played
the lead in the short film Butterflies and Needles,
Winner of the Blue Mountains Film Festival, The
Blue Shorts Film Festival and a finalist for Short
and Sweet and The Mardigras Film Festival. Ben
auditioned for AIM Dramatic Arts in late 2016. His
acting credits include: Blue Stockings (Will, 2017,
dir. Peta Downes); In the Stars: Romeo and Juliet
(Friar Laurence, 2017, dir. Peta Downes); Bustown
(Punkbird. Dir Kim Hardwick). Film Credits include
Butterflies and Needs Dir. Angus Whalan, The
Ride Dir. Brock Mclean, Directing credits, Carrier,
for the Emerge Festival 2018.
Brenton Bell
Brenton is an experienced and
dynamic young actor. Originally from
Gold Coast Queensland, he quickly developed
an appetite for performance through numerous
plays, musicals, films and television projects.
These all fuelled a strong passion for a profession
as an actor, which inevitably led him to seek full
time training through the Actors Centre Australia.
During his time at ACA he appeared as Austin in
True West, Boss Finley in Sweet Bird of Youth,
Andy in The Star Spangled Girl (NIDA), Claudio
in Much Ado About Nothing and The Judge in The
Government Inspector. He is also an accomplished
singer and dancer. Brenton in thrilled to be joining
the fantastic creative team behind Chrysalis.
Cait Burley
Caitlin is a graduate from the
Actors College of Theatre &
Television (AFTT) and has trained with the Royal
Shakespeare Company (UK), ATYP and the
HubStudio. Since graduating she has been in
American Beauty Shop directed by Anna McGrath
at KXTbAKEHOUSE; Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here
Anymore directed by Fraser Corfield for ATYP;
Flood directed by Charles Sanders at The Old 505;
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll for Epicentre
Theatre Company. On screen Caitlin has been in
numerous short films and music videos including
ads for AUSTAR and GIO, guest roles on Tricky
Business and At Home with Julia and a viral
YouTube series by Neel Kolhatkur that has been
viewed by millions internationally. This year Cait
is excited to be working with ATYP again as well
as joining Bell Shakespeare Company as Juliet in
their main stage education production of Romeo
and Juliet. Cait is a proud member of MEAA.
Claire Crighton
In 2014 Claire discovered Shakespeare
in the Gardens, Eaton Gorge Theatre
Company (EGTC) with whom she played Ariel in
The Tempest and Rosalind in As You Like It, the
latter seeing them tour to the National Botanic
Gardens. Working with EGTC has also seen Claire
play many interactive characters for various
councils, from Alice In Wonderland adaptations to
running around Bankstown as a bogan cockroach
in a series of anti-litter campaigns. Claire has
taken part in various NIDA short courses as well
as being accepted into the Actor’s Studio course
(2016) where she performed in Rausch by Falk
Richter, (dir. Elsie Edgerton-Till). March 2017,
Claire played Kayla in the play Consensual, New
Theatre (dir. Johann Walraven). November 2017,
Sammy in The Unknowing (OCCUPY; TAM).
Clare Taylor
Clare graduated from high school
in Sydney in 2017. In 2018 she has
offers to study a BFA in Screenwriting or Theatre
at the VCA. Her first onstage role was Dorothy
in a NIDA production of The Wizard of Oz, after
which she was invited to play Louise in their
undergraduates’ production of Sunday In the Park
with George. Clare is a published writer, her pieces
mainly feature articles about sexuality, mental
health and identity. She is an award-winning dog-
patter and strongly believes she has the ability
to communicate verbally with small quadrupeds
through a pidgin language she has been developing
over the past decade.
Jeremi Campese
Jeremi was in ATYP’s Oedipus
Doesn’t
Live
Here
Anymore
(nominated for Best Production for Young
People at Sydney Theatre Awards) and Follow
Me Home, both directed by Fraser Corfield; and
Moth directed by Rachel Chant (nominated for
Best Production for Young People at Sydney
Theatre Awards), where his performance was
met with particular critical praise. In 2017, he was
a performer for Griffin Theatre Company’s Martin
Lysicrates Prize and has recently signed on with
Benchmark Creative. Other theatre experience
includes amateur and Sydney University Drama
Society (SUDS) productions in which he has
taken on a diverse range of roles such as the title
role in Hamlet, Freddie Trumper in Chess, Ben in
The Dumbwaiter, Chadwick Meade in Punk Rock,
and SUDS’ major production for 2018, Love and
Information. He’s very excited to start 2018 with
ATYP’s first production, Chrysalis.
Margaret Thanos
Margaret has been passionate about
theatre since she was 7 years old. At
her high school, Redlands, Margaret performed
in shows such as 42nd Street, The Wizard of
Oz, Oliver!, Chatroom, Suddenly Last Summer
and many Shakespeare plays. Margaret also
performed in two productions for Ryde Youth
Theatre last year. Over the past three years,
Margaret has the privilege of being selected to do
work experience and be a youth ambassador at
Sydney Theatre Company and Belvoir St Theatre,
and was also a part of the Ambassadors Group
at Griffin Theatre. In 2018, Margaret will direct a
play at the Short and Sweet Festival, and is also
a part of the Three-Up Program. Margaret has
completed training courses at ATYP and NIDA.
This is Margaret’s first play at ATYP.
CREATIVES
Rachel Chant
Director
Rachel is a freelance director and
dramaturg, and festival director for Bondi Feast
festival. With a Masters of Applied Theatre Studies
and a Bachelor of Arts (Theatre/Journalism)
from the University of New England, Chant is the
resident Dramaturg for Red Line Productions’
‘New Fitz’ new writing program and a script
assessor and dramaturg for Playwriting Australia
(PWA). Previously Associate Director at Rock
Surfers Theatre Company (2013-2015), Chant
was the Artistic and Directorial Associate for the
inaugural Festival Fatale, a two-day women’s
theatre festival held annually in Sydney, produced
by WITS (Women in Theatre and Screen).
Previous productions include: The Village Bike
(Old Fitz Theatre), Leaves (Kings X Theatre -
winner Broadway World 2016 Best Director), I
Do I Don’t (Blue Room Theatre, Perth), When the
Rain Stops Falling (New Theatre – winner Best
Direction, Best Design), Decay (Old 505 Theatre),
Blue Italian and Nil by Sea (Site & Sound festival).
Assistant Directing credits include Mortido (dir.
Leticia Caceres, Belvoir and STCSA), The Way
Things Work (dir. Leland Kean, Rock Surfers
Theatre Company), Chain Play (dir. Tim Roseman,
Playwriting Australia), Sweet Nothings (dir. John
Kachoyan, ATYP Under The Wharf).
Tyler Ray Hawkins
Set and Costume Designer
As a 2017 NIDA Masters of Fine
Arts in Design Graduate, Tyler has worked with
Romance was Born, Sass & Bide, Dollhouse
Pictures, Belvior Theatre Co., Griffin Theatre
Co., Opera Australia, Sydney Theatre Co., ATYP
and Underbelly Arts. Previous Theatre design
work includes; Wasted (TKC, Factory Theatre
Marrickville), Watermelon (Underbelly Arts
Festival 2017), Moth (ATYP), A Strategic Plan
(Griffin Theatre), Black Birds (Black Birds),
Midsummer Nights Dream (Sydney Theatre Co),
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Belvoir Theatre), I
Hate you My Mother (Red Line Productions),
#KillAllMen and The Olympians (NIDA), Out of
Gas on Lover’s Leap, This is Our Youth, Gruesome
Playground Injuries and The Wonderful World of
Dissocia (The Kings Collective). Previous Screen
Design work includes; A Chance Affair (Nobel
Savage Pictures), Brown Lips (Nakkiah Lui, Noble
Savage Pictures), Saint Lo (Nick Waterman,
Megan Washington), Eaglehawk (Shannon
Murphy, Dollhouse Collective). Prior to his study
at NIDA, Tyler graduated with a Bachelor of Fine
Arts (Dance) at the Victorian College of the Arts
in 2008. Working as a professional contemporary
dancer independently and for companies such
as Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin Inc and Opera
Australia.
Emma Lockhart-Wilson
Lighting Designer
Emma is a production graduate of the
University of Wolllongong Bachelor of Creative
Arts and holds a Master in Design from the College
of Fine Arts (UNSW). Lighting Designs include
Tribunal (PYT), Forest Unyielding (Self Help Arts),
My Name is Asher Lev and Coming to See Aunt
Sophie (Shalom Encounters) All Good Things, The
Trolleys, A Town Named War Boy and Fight With
All Your Might the Zombies of Tonight (ATYP),
Make a Band and JDIND (Applespiel), Jumping
the Shark Fantastic (Malcolm Whittaker), Out
of Line and Late Night Shopping (Shopfront),
Ragnerok and Carly and Troy Do a Dolls House
(His Three Daughters), Framed (DeQuincy Co.),
Harvest, Beguiled and Unsettlings (PACT) and
Seven Kilometres North-East (Version 1.0).
Brett Smith
Sound Designer
Brett’s recent theatre works include:
Black Swan State Theatre Company: The
Eisteddfod, Lighthouse Girl, Perfect Specimen,
Venus in Fur, The House on the Lake. The Last
Great Hunt: Fag/Stag, The Advisors, Elephents,
Old Love. Riptide Youth Theatre: Queen Leah,
Some Kind of Disaster. Red Ryder Productions:
Grounded. Recent dance works include: Chrissie
Parrott: The Man. Michael Whaites/Laura Boynes:
Hanging Space. Rhiannon Newton: Circle Dances.
Isabella Stone: Mouseprint. Shona Erskine: White
Matter. Emma Fishwick: InBetween. In 2015 Brett
undertook an internship with Cirque du Soleil
Las Vegas on Mystére. A 2011 WAAPA graduate,
Bendat Family Trust Scholarship recipient, 2014-
2015 BSSTC emerging artist, a participant in the
2016 PIAF emerging artists lab and 2017 AUSCO
professional development grant recipient. Brett’s
first installation and performance work When
you’re here, I’m nowhere was curated in Proximity
Festival 2015 at AGWA. As a musician, Brett has
toured nationally and internationally and currently
performs with Methyl Ethel, Benjamin Witt and
The Mace Francis Orchestra.
Rebecca Blake
Assistant Director
Rebecca is a director and producer
with a focus working in new works and puppetry.
She holds a Bachelor in Communications (Theatre/
Media) from Charles Sturt University, Australia,
where she was the recipient of the 2013 Blair Milan
Memorial Scholarship. After graduating Rebecca
moved to London to form theatre company
Cicada Studios and in 2016 was a Resident Artist
with the Barbican Centre and Rich Mix. Rebecca
has trained with various companies including
Frantic Assembly, Little Angel Puppet Theatre,
The Young Vic and Improbable Theatre Company.
Rebecca’s theatre credits include Intersection
2018: Chrysalis (ATYP), She Rode Horses Like the
Stock Exchange (Rocket Productions and KXT)
Blood & Bone (VAULT Festival/ Cicada Studios)
Miss Sarah, Pigeon – short film, (Cicada Studios)
Doomed Resistance (Royal Theatre Plymouth/
Etcetera Theatre/ Falling Pennies) Dreams In
White (Griffin Theatre Company), Pip and Pooch
(Terrapin Puppet Theatre) and The Genius Project
(Left of Centre Theatre Company).
Karina McKenzie
Stage Manger
Karina’s previous stage credits
include: for Griffin: Strange Attractor, Angela’s
Kitchen, The Bull, The Moon and the Coronet
of Stars, The Turquoise Elephant, Rice; for
Australian Shakespeare Company: Richard
III, The Taming of the Shrew, The Wind in the
Willows; for Big hArt: Hipbone Sticking Out; for
Critical Stages: 4000 Miles, Boxing Day; for
Darlinghurst Theatre Company: The Knowing of
Mary Poppins; for Ensemble Theatre: Bear Hunt,
Halpern and Johnson, My Wonderful Day, Ninety,
The Shoe-Horn Sonata and A Year With Frog
and Toad; for Pacific Opera: La Sonnambula; for
Penrith Performing Arts: Daisy Moon Was Born
This Way; for Seymour Centre: 2071, The Hansard
Monologues (A Matter of Public Importance, The
Age of Entitlement), Transparency; and for True
West Productions: RU4Me. Karina also works on
events across Sydney including Sydney Writers’
Festival and Sydney Film Festival.