THEATRE NETWORK NSW
Jenevieve Chang A Day In My Life … In The Not-Too-Distant Future
I
t’s just past 6am, and there’s a discernible breeze coming in from my open window. My day starts like any other day. I pull on my sneakers and make my way along the track leading to the Cooks River. Greeting my friends Clare, Donna, Dan and several other neighbours, we begin to trace-with our bodies- the passage of waterway through Wangal, Gadigal and Gameygal Country as choreographer Aunty Vicky leads us through a meditative ritual of reflection and remembrance. This has been the bedrock of my morning routine for years…it must’ve been not long after Prime Minister Stan Grant adopted the Uluru Statement, when local councils formally restored custodianship of the waterways to their traditional owners. After a shower, strong hit of coffee and a quick morning news scroll on Tik Tok (which has been going from strength to strength since its Murdoch takeover and network dump during the Great K-Pop Revolution), I head over to pick up my e-bike from Reverse Garbage. As a proud inner westie, I cannot be more chuffed about this local artist driven superstore which has become an engine of Australia’s economic renaissance since the indefinite cessation of our trade relationship with China. Half an hour later, I’m cycling through Hyde Park and stop off to check out the new work-in-progress statues being erected along Distinction Drive. I make some minor notes to take back to the sculpting team: Anh’s paintbrush needs a tad more texture, Deng’s gavel needs more weight. But Yassmin…Yassmin is perfect. Arriving at the office I’m greeted by my stressed out EA, Robert. Apparently, there’s been a technical glitch over at the theatre in the old David Jones site. And it’s only 3 hours before showtime. Robert used to be CEO of one of the country’s biggest banks, before the great Creative Occupation of Martin Place, so he’s not always the sharpest tool in the Arts Cabinet. But he did come to us as part of the Artsmaker program for Corporate Layoffs, and what he lacks in experience, he makes up for in enthusiasm.
www.tnn.org.au
Jenevieve Chang is a multi-hyphenate creative with 20 years of experience working across disciplines. As an actor, dramaturg and director, she has worked with The National Theatre, Young Vic and Yellow Earth Theatre in the UK; and Bell Shakespeare, Griffin and Monkey Baa in Australia. As a dancer, she has toured and performed in Berlin, Montreal, Cardiff, London, Ljubljana, Vienna, Beijing and Shanghai. Jenevieve’s memoir, The Good Girl of Chinatown, was published by Penguin Random House in 2017. She's currently working as a story developer for film and television, and working on a new play with Monkey Baa Theatre about a young Chinese boy's journey to the Australian goldfields.
Anh’s paintbrush needs a tad more texture, Deng’s gavel needs more weight. But Yassmin…Yassmin is perfect.
Jenevieve Chang
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