TOO Episode 82: Audio New Play Festival, Justin Tan and Sabina Gerardi's TALES FROM THE ARCADIA

Tales from the Arcadia is set in a Generation Ship dispatched from Earth to ensure humanity’s continued survival. Hundreds of thousands will live and die without seeing their origin or destination. These three short records across time are an incomplete snapshot into how humanity might - with every action - d/evolve into.

Creative Team

Playwright: Justin Tan & Sabina Gerardi

Dramaturg: Steven Gaultney

Director: Justin Tan & Sabina Gerardi

Sound Engineer & Composer: Jack Burmeister

Cast

Captain Michaels: Jing-Xuan Chan

Commander Sol: Alexandros Pettas

Councillor Braxton: Guy Knowler

Councillor Shaheed: Farah Aishah

Newsreader: Kim Anne Tan

Taylor: Rupert Bevan

Ainslie: Jess Lu

Nurse: Sabina Gerardi

Captain Fletcher: Frazer Shepherdson

Leo: Oliver Tapp

Captain Ismail: Abdul Min Muhaimin

Jude: Laura Strøbech

Captain Paris: Stefanie Falasca

Nydmius: Justin Tan

PLAYWRIGHT’S BIOGRAPHIES

Justin Tan is a graduate of Company 2020's BFA Acting course at the Victorian College of the Arts. A Singaporean of Chinese descent currently based in Melbourne and a lover of history, Justin hopes to create work that questions and challenges our understanding of our modern world. This is his first time writing an original work.

At the VCA, Justin has played the titular ‘King John’, Allie in ‘Snore’, and Johnnypateenmike in ‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’. With a background in TV and Radio production, Justin has also provided commentary at the 28th Southeast Asian Games, voiced and edited SAFTI MI’s Corporate Video 2015-17, and hosted the “Throwback Thursday Show” on Radio Heatwave.


Sabina Gerardi is a theatre-maker and actor. She is a 2020 BFA Theatre graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, with additional training in screenwriting, mask, and puppetry. Sabina is a research-led devisor, with a particular interest in political history and social satire. At the VCA, Sabina devised an experimental piece, 'The General Secretariat and I', a marathon, audience-led fake Soviet history writing saga, with Finn McGrath.

Since lockdown, Sabina has been exploring digitally-driven story-telling. She co-devised Detective Attention for Zoom, Jerry for headphones, and Baccarat (by The German Romantics) with both pre-filmed and live online elements. The latter was selected for The Theatre Times' International Online Theatre Festival 2021. Sabina also co-hosts 'Fib: a podcast about lies' with Clare Taylor.

WRITERS' NOTE

Tales from the Arcadia came about from a conversation at a bar, and a shared interest in history and human behavior. Pitched as a highly ambitious epic and scaled-down accordingly, we wanted to explore how past actions shape future societies, and how far might social customs be pushed due to circumstance and decision.

This audio play would not be possible without the dramaturgy provided by Steven Gaultney, the audio engineering and composition of Jack Burmeister, and the wonderfully talented and diverse ensemble cast giving voice to the characters.