🌖 Sunday Night In #27
Your weekly hyper-local wrap of what's on in the world of books and theatre
Hello friends!
Welcome to Sunday Night In. There’s been a big influx of subscribers in the last few weeks so I thought I’d take a quick minute to (re)introduce myself and the workings of Sunday Night In. I’m Tracy Crisp, a writer and performer (and funeral celebrant, but that’s not especially pertinent to the subject of the newsletter) and I spend about one day each week searching and gathering events and happenings, then shaping them into this little newsletter to land in your inbox.
A quick overview in dot points:
Sunday Night In started monthly, but now I’m collating and sending it out mostly weekly. It’s a simple listing and is hyper-local. Its focus is on South Australian artists, companies and audiences.
As a self-produced, independent artist I know how hard it is to let people know about your work. As a reader/audience member/general participant in the arts I know how hard it is to find out what’s on. And the huge shifts in social media and algorithms and media generally are making it even harder to for artists and audiences to connect.
We have a rich and vibrant arts culture. But we don’t have many publications that focus solely on the arts and that give artists and overviews a comprehensive overview of what’s happening. Every little bit makes a difference.
This current focus is on books, readings, theatre and performance, but I’m also trying to learn more about visual arts and music so that I can include them too.
It’s a simple listing of things I’ve come across during the week. I use a bit of editorial discretion, but there’s no advertising and no sponsored listing.
I’d love to expand the scope and reach of the newsletter over the next six months, but I’m just working out a way that I can afford to put more time into it.
And finally why is it called Sunday Night In? A few years ago the ABC announced that it would cancel state-based Sunday night news bulletins. I obviously didn’t intend to replace a full news bulletin, but it did highlight to me the continuing decline in local news. It was the final prompt for me to stop thinking ‘someone should … ‘ and just get on and do it. The ABC quickly reversed that decision, but by then I’d already started this newsletter with this name and I like the name so I kept it.
It does take me a full day every week to put the newsletter together, so I do appreciate every like, every comment, every email.
And I especially love when you share it with your friends and encourage them to subscribe. This is the biggest and best way to support Sunday Night In and to help connect artists with audiences and audiences with artists.
You can always get in touch either by replying to this newsletter or sending an email directly to me at sundaynightnewsletter@gmail.com
It’s lovely to have you here!
Tracy x
This last week (or two) in South Australia: The State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) granted planning consent for a very tall building to be built on Festival Plaza; South Australian Erin Phillips was one of two women and three South Australians inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame; and we wondered all over again what was happening with the submarines.
And coming up in the arts: The Cabaret Festival continues; there’s some great community theatre; and there’s a beautifully analogue opportunity for poets.
Let’s get started …
Theatre and performance
💃 AC Arts dance and technical production and design students present a collaboration with Australian Dance Theatre to re-mount The Third. “The Third looks at the body as an archival tool and how we hold memories both personally and collectively.”
🎤 State Theatre Company’s next Tangent Talk is for their upcoming production Dear Son: Letters and Reflections from First Nations Fathers and Sons. You’ll hear from Robert Jeffrey, Gavin Wanganeen and Tirritpa Ritchie.
🚘 Laconic Commodore-enthusiast Kel Balnaves headlines the Adelaide Comedy Showcase.
🎭 Bookings are open for Stirling Player’s next production, Almost Maine.
🎭 Bookings are also open for Therry Theatre’s Come From Away.
🎭 At Holden Street Theatres, you can see the black comedy A Stretch of the Imagination by Jack Hibberd opening in a few weeks.
🎭 The National Play Summit includes some good online opportunities if you can’t get to it in person, including the Write Together, Rise Together session where you can “sit alongside another playwright (virtually), get some bloody writing done, and have a chat at the end.”
Social media has worked really well for the arts for many years. But now? Who has any real idea where it’s heading? Local news is getting harder to find, local news about the arts harder still. Sunday Night In connects South Australian artists with audiences and South Australian audiences with artists. Share this newsletter with anyone you think might be interested. Suggest they subscribe … it’s full of great information and it’s free!
Books, readings, storytelling and writing
🗞 Paroxysm Press will be publishing a new zine in October. It’s beautifully analogue, and you’ll need to submit your poem in print or hand written hard copy by going along to one of their upcoming open mics.
🍸 The Ern Malley bar has a literary feast coming up with readings, a lecture series, and a Bloomsday extravaganza.
🎤 It’s the monthly tenx9 storytelling this week. The theme is Magic, and it’s held in the gorgeous, glittering The Jade, perfect for a winter’s night out.
Enjoying Sunday Night In? Share it with a friend … it’s another way to contribute to a vibrant local arts scene.
In the regions
✍️ The Gawler & Adelaide Plains Festival of Words will run from 24th to 27th July. Organised by the Adelaide Plains Chapter and Verse group, this is a long-running long weekend with workshops, writing sessions, a pop up book stall and lots of social opportunities.
Festivals
🎩 The Cabaret Festival is in full swing.
🌳 The Adelaide Hills Council Winter Words Festival is back for 2025. The program has lots on offer from slam poetry to family memory to nature poetry to embroidered histories. There’s some really experienced writers and facilitators like Rachael Mead, and beautiful venues like Fabrik. A most excellent way to spend a cosy winter’s afternoon.
🌱 Registrations for The Nature Festival are open. The festival is from 26 September to 12 October and the registration deadline is 31 July.
A Little Bit of This and That That Isn’t Books or Theatre or Readings or Performance
🎬 The AFTRS course Introduction to Producing and Screen Business is presented in Adelaide in partnership with the Mercury Cinema. A weekend-long course with a 30 percent discount for Mercury members.
Know someone who might like to have Sunday Night In delivered straight to their inbox? Share it with them now. It’s free!
Opportunities!
Jobs, funding, residencies, fellowships, competitions, and calls for expressions of interest
✍️ Applications have opened for the Arts Leadership Program run by the Adelaide Festival Centre. A wonderful professional development opportunity for arts industry workers “who see themselves as future leaders.” Held over four days, applications close 4 August.
🎪 A new Chief Executive Officer needed at Festival City ADL.
📣 Tutti Arts is looking for a Creative Technologist (I had no idea what a creative technologist is, so I looked it up and now I want to be one! Though I wouldn’t want to describe it, because I might get it wrong.)
Thank you for reading!
That’s your hyper-local wrap of books, readings, theatre and performance for another week. I’ll be back next Sunday. Until then: Read books! See theatre! Listen to music! Be part of a vibrant, thriving culture of arts in South Australia.
Talk soon
Tracy xx
The small print
A disclaimer: I take a lot of care to make sure I’ve got details correct, but I’m often working on my phone or uploading things from word to substack and I spend a lot of time in places with terrible internet connections. So mistakes will happen. Please double check all of the details about events before you head out.
Get in touch: sundaynightnewsletter@gmail.com
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