Dr Maryrose Casey
- BA (Latrobe), LTCL, PhD (LaTrobe), Grad Cert Educ (University) (UQ)
- Lecturer
- Postgraduate coordinator
- Contact details
- Full Curriculum Vitae
(PDF)
Background
Maryrose Casey is the author of Creating Frames: contemporary Indigenous theatre (UQ 2004). She was the recipient of the Rob Jordan Prize, 2006, Dwight Conquergood Award, 2006, and co-winner of the Walter McRae Russell Award 2005. In 2004 she was awarded the National and State Libraries of Australasia Honorary Fellowship and in 2005 an ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship. Maryrose has also written award winning fiction.
Research Interests
My research focuses primarily on racialised performances as a site of cross cultural communication and negotiation between communities. Within this focus, I examine the initiation and presentation of public performances framed as cultural representations and the ways in which those representations are read and understood and translated into the historical record and social memory through narratives of culture and race. My interests include both practices within formal performance frames such as theatrical contexts and informal frames such as on the street. In many ways what I am interested in is the dynamic connection between performativity and performance. Extending my work on Indigenous Australian theatrical productions I am investigating the use of notions of ‘authenticity’ as used within the cross cultural reception of Indigenous Australian and American First Nations performing arts - dance, storytelling, song and theatre - since 1800.
The research I am working on within my postdoctoral fellowship examines the role and function of Indigenous Australian public protest actions as a forum for introducing and performing Indigenous self representations and the ways in which those actions are received in the moment and absorbed into the social memory over time.
Selected Publications
Creating Frames: Contemporary Indigenous Theatre 1967-97 (UQP, 2004). This work focuses on the challenges of negotiating representations of Indigenous Australians in the process of producing theatre. The book draws on archival and oral sources to document the history of theatre practice by Indigenous Australian artists in the second half of the twentieth century.
“Creating Frames is a major achievement, providing a unique and valuable history.” Michelle Evans, Australian Literary Studies
The book has been awarded:
- Rob Jordan Prize, 2006. Australasian Association for the study of Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies award for the best book of drama, theatre and performance studies scholarship of the previous 2 years.
- Walter McRae Russell Award 2005. Association for the Study of Australian literature award for the best work of literary scholarship in the previous 2 years (co-winner).
Maryrose Casey & Liza-Mare Syron, ‘The Challenges of Benevolence: the role of the Indigenous Actor.’ ‘Benevolence’, Journal of Australian Studies, No 85, 2005: 97-112. Reprinted in 25th Anniversary Collection Australian Studies Centre University of Queensland (ed) David Carter and Martin Crotty. ASC, 2005: 292-308.
Reproduced online in 2007 (click to view)
The history of Indigenous Australian participation within the Australian creative industries is one of extended struggle for recognition and respect. Given the struggle by Indigenous theatre practitioners to gain and claim space on Australian stages and within Australian theatre companies, the success of these struggles can seem ironic in the face of the problems facing Indigenous artists on the rehearsal room floor in productions written, directed or produced within flagship or mainstream companies. Actors in particular are in a difficult position, a position that arises from non-Indigenous Australian theatre practitioners’ benevolent desire to include Indigenous voices. This article examines some causes contributing to concerns Indigenous theatre practitioners are expressing about cross-cultural theatre work.
‘Referendums & Reconciliation Marches: what bridges are we crossing?’ in ‘Parading Ourselves’, Journal of Australian Studies 89 2006: 139-150.
As we approach the fortieth anniversary of the 1967 Referendum it is useful to examine the event celebrated as the extension or even culmination of the referendum, the ‘People’s walks for Reconciliation’ Corroboree 2000, as part of a reflection on the meaning of the 1967 referendum itself. This paper focuses on the events around reconciliation which include aspects of the Sydney Olympics but particularly focuses on Corroboree 2000 and the ‘reconciliation walks’.
‘Indigenous theatre and the cultural interface of reception’, ‘Whiteness Matters/Il Bianco Al Centro Della Questione’ Athanor: Semiotica, Filosofia, Arte, Letteratura Anno XVII, nuovo series, n. 10 2007
Representations and practices of identity on the street and on the stage are always marked and read on many levels within the tension between self claimed concepts and understandings of identity and imposed external concepts of that identity. These concepts provide the basis for definitions of cultural practice and cultural production that establish hierarchies of authenticity, including and excluding work. Over the last few decades there have been many transitions in the framing of ‘other’ cultures and their artistic work ranging from various forms of multiculturalism through critical frames such as postcolonialism and interculturalism. Paralleling these critical movements has been the establishment of international conventions aimed at protecting and preserving cultural heritages in a myriad of forms. This essay examines the current frames of reception of Indigenous Australian theatre performance and explores possible alternatives as a potential basis for developing a broader and more meaningful way to frame theatre work by artists from minority and colonised peoples.