Chris Dickins – December 2 2018

International Day of Persons with Disabilities – December 3

Chris is a playwright, theatre director, artistic director and teacher. He holds a Bachelor of Education, Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, and has taught drama in secondary schools for many years. A prolific playwright, Chris has written approximately 90 plays over a 40 year career. His plays have been produced Australia-wide and internationally and have been used as teaching resources at universities and NIDA, and studied as part of the VCE Drama curriculum. In 1993, Chris represented Australia at the Five Writers From Five Nations ASSITEJ International Congress (the children’s theatre branch of UNESCO) where his theories on theatre were adopted into ASSITEJ archives. Currently, together with his partner, Annette Walker, Chris is developing Tribes (Theatre and Education), a small business designed to sell his plays, develop youth theatre, offer schools’ packages and offer support to theatres. Chris’s other plays include Judy and Punch, a quartet of short plays dealing with issues related to women which turns the age-old puppet plays on their head to ‘put Judy first’; Sunrise-Sunset, which focuses on ageing and dementia; and Sanctuary, based on the stories of the Forgotten Australians – the thousands of children institutionalised in the Australian ‘care system’ throughout the 1900s.

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The Mysteries of Rufus Bummings
Australian Script Centre, 1994;
80 minutes; 0 female, 1 male (performs several roles of both genders)
Cast age 16-18, 18+; Audience age: children, teen, young adult, adult
This is a play for one actor. The play tells the story of Ruth, a girl with Down Syndrome, from the perspective of her favourite toy, Rufus. Rufus is one of five toy soldiers hanging from a mobile toy. The play begins with Rufus sitting in a garage waiting for the sale taking place the next morning. As he waits Rufus recalls Ruth’s life, the devotion of her parents, her life-loving friends from school, her brave attitude to life and her ability to love. The play is suitable for professional performance and can be useful as a dramatic resource in the classroom.

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peter panman
Australian Script Centre, 1993
80 minutes; 3 female, 5 male
Cast age: 12-16, 16-18, 18+; Audience age: teen, young adult, adult
peter panman is set in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne in the 1950s. ‘peter’ is the son of the local night watchman or ‘panman.’ He is dyslexic and has a club foot and is tormented by bullies at school. But in his dreams he becomes Peter Pan, eloquent and surefooted. ‘peter’ befriends Christine, an English immigrant girl who is abused by her aunt and uncle. ‘peter’ talks regularly with his dead mother, Sylvie; particularly after being bullied by his chief tormentor Brian Cook (Captain Hook in ‘peter’s’ dreams). By the end of the play ‘peter’ becomes more like his dream character and finally starts to write his name using capital letters. The play is suitable for performance by professional theatres, Theatre in Education companies, youth theatres and secondary school students.