Bowery Theatre Residency Artists 2026-27

Frying an Egg on the Footpath

Participatory Theatre for Children

Where the Snails Go is a new theatre company that centres wonder, play connection, interactivity with an attention to slow time and the natural world. Founded by Lauren Swain, a proud Dabee Wiradjuri artist and Sophia Derkenne, their work centres care for people and place, informed by a sense of community responsibility and care for Country. It is imbedded in joy, is participatory and allows audience to engage in the way that works for them.

Their residency will support the first development of a new work exploring the phenomena of heat islands in the western suburbs and the affects on young people. Frying an Egg on the Footpath will be a participatory public work that is co-created with children in St Albans including participants from Stevensville Primary School.

Photo by On Vibe Photography

Let's Get Married

Street Dance

Cat Sweeney is a professional dancer, educator, cultural leader and founding director of Jungle City, a hub for street and cultural dance. Offering regular classes in street styles, delivering major events, youth mentoring, camps, tours and festivals, Jungle City builds partnerships with dance crews, major arts institutions and festivals like Moomba and Fringe, to sustain and grow a thriving street dance community.

Their residency will support an intergenerational skills development process in the creative development and presentation of Let’s Get Married, an invitation to street dancers and the broader community to re-ember the importance of ritual and ceremony. The Bowery black box will be transformed into a glamourous wedding reception to wed a cast of street dancers inspired by the rich cultural tapestry that makes up the Brimbank community. Local artist and St Albans resident, Dorothy Soderiou will be our wedding host for the night, so…let’s get married!

This residency is supported by Creative Victoria and is part of the Assemble project

Photo by Kimberly Summer

Miss Australia - The Creative Lab

Drag and Cultural Storytelling

Thomas FonuaMiss Australia - The Creative Lab is an acclaimed choreographer, director and performer whose practice spans contemporary dance, Drag, theatre, television and cultural leadership. Thomas was principal dancer at Australian Dance Theatre, Sydney Dance Company and Akram Khan Company. Thomas expanded into global screen and media platforms as a Logienominated television personality and internationally recognised Drag artist, Kween Kong having recently performed live at Fed Square and will be on The Traitors premiering in August.

Through the Bowery residency, Thomas will be laying the foundations for the next generation of artists to enter performance spaces using visibility as a tool for disruption, celebration and change. Miss Australia - The Creative Lab is a four-week residency bringing together emerging trans, queer and BIPOC artists from Brimbank in a creative development and presentation process. The culmination of movement workshops, mentorship and open Kiki / Talanoa sessions will be an immersive in-studio showcase and discussion that is artistically rigorous and deeply embedded in the Brimbank community.

Photo by TNS Studios

pictureher

Theatre, Music and Dance

Izabella is an emerging theatre maker, performer, creative producer and director committed to storytelling and uplifting female voices. She is a co-founder of Vixen Theatre Company, an Australian indie theatre collective with Iris Warren, Roisin Wallace Nash and Natasha Pearson. Operating under the ethos “By Women, For Women,” the company creates bold, unapologetic feminist work exploring womanhood, identity and social issues.

The residency will support the development and presentation of pictureher, a verbatim work developed through interviews with women spanning retirement home residents, cultural and community leaders, and young women who call the west of Naarm home. Their voices are seen through dancers, a response drawn on canvas, through music, and spoken aloud by an actor — a multidisciplinary work exploring how women are perceived, and society’s presumptions of them.

Photo by Charli Bowers