Glenn Shea is a proud Wathaurong/Ngarrindjeri man and an acclaimed, award-winning playwright. Glenn was the first Aboriginal person to graduate from NIDA with a degree in Dramatic Art. He is a former frontline Koorie youth justice worker from Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative, where he wrote the WEP, a full-time education and development program as well as a ten-day cultural gathering camp around the boundaries of Country for Aboriginal adolescent people who came into contact with the criminal justice system.
After the success of Glenn Shea's acclaimed 2022 An Indigenous Trilogy, La Mama / THE STORYTELLER proudly presents his new work: MI:WI 3027 from November 16 to 26 at La Mama Courthouse.
Inspired by the life of Roland Carter (Service No. 3027), the first Ngarrindjeri man to join the Australian Imperial Forces during World War I, MI:WI 3027 tells the story of Carter's lifelong friendship with Jewish-German ethnologist, Leonhard Adam.
This seemingly impossible friendship is formed after Adam is assigned to study the culture and customs of ethnic prisoners (mostly Muslim) at ‘Halbmondlager’ war camp (Half Moon Camp), where Carter is interned at the time.
Separated after the war, the two maintain their friendship, and in a somewhat uncanny turn of events, Adam is later forced to flee his German homeland in the 1930s as he is confronted by Nazi persecution. He draws strength from the Ngarrindjeri Creation Story told him by Carter - the very story and songs that helped Carter through his own imprisonment some years earlier.
MI:WI 3027 invites an audience to an often-overlooked part of our history - that of Aboriginal servicemen during World War I. The uniqueness of the friendship between the two men is profoundly relevant in today's socio-political climate in Australia.
Glenn Shea won the Green Room Award (Independent Theatre) for new writing for his 2022 play An Indigenous Trilogy: Three Magpies Perched in a Tree. Glenn is an Elder with the Wathaurong Aboriginal Community and heads up The Storyteller.
The cast of MI:WI 3027 includes the talented team from An Indigenous Trilogy - Syd Brisbane, Lucy Payne and Glenn Shea. “Gothic archetypes twist their way through this affecting and confronting theatre trilogy” “Playwright Shea – himself a member of the stolen generations – refuses to turn away from the grim toll of historical injustice and lays bare a legacy of trauma, while setting sights firmly on a new day.” - THE AGE, for AN INDIGENOUS TRILOGY season dates: nov 16 – 26, 2023 Check La Mama’s website for full dates, times & details