DIVERSITY SPOTLIGHT: DAN GRAHAM
Neuro-divergent/disabled theatre director Dan Graham is the director of Sam I Am, now playing (April 20–23) at La Mama for the Midsumma Festival. Written and performed by Sam Martin, Sam I Am explores the experiences, memories, and unknowns that a boy from the inner Western suburbs of Sydney must learn to embrace as he accepts and defines his identity. Dan speaks with Kate Hood about spending nine months on a first draft, developing the project in the midst of Covid and navigating his professional work and study locally and internationally.
How did you come to direct Sam I Am?
When I was in New York I was contacted by Sam Martin and arranged to meet up in Sydney when I returned. After chatting with him over coffee I realised he had a universal story as he’d dealt with two things that appeared as major. He had acknowledged his deafness and come to terms with a growing realisation that he was gay. In my role as director and dramaturge I offered to tell his story although he is not a trained actor. We worked on the first draft for nine months and it began to take shape as Sam I Am.
What adjustments had to be made for you, as a neurodivergent/disabled artist, to be able to do it?
None. I am a people-ist and believe in personal lived history as a vehicle for all stories. Many people with some form of disability have a uniquely personal story, which resonates with others who have faced challenges. That is the whole population. The arts should and must be for everybody.
What adjustments did you have to make around Coronavirus?
The initial draft and rehearsal to first performance occurred just before Covid -19. When we decided to develop it further an offer came from Antipodes Theatre Company in Melbourne to present it at La Mama and we decided to go ahead. Lockdowns, crisis and assorted joys of Covid -19, Sam now living in Melbourne and myself and our stage manager living in Sydney, dictated that further development and rehearsals take place via Zoom. Rehearsals and further work have been held since late last year with the able assistance of Brandon Pape of Antipodes as producer.
How long is it since you’ve directed a show?
Fortunately, I’ve had a production of mine in development with Bell Shakespeare, and other commitments to keep me busy in this time of Covid-19. Ironically, I was meant to return to The Globe in London and accompany David Bellwood (Head of Access at The Globe) to Dublin to co-present a forum on Neuro-Diversity in The Performing Arts at The Kennedy Center’s Access / Inclusion Conference in Dublin. Thanks to Covid, more plans hit the dust, but saying this I have an open invitation to return to The Globe once the world goes back to the new normal.
Why did you want to work on this show in particular?
Being Co Chair of MEAA Equity Performers With Disability Committee and an advocate for artists with a disability, (particularly those with neuro — diverse issues) I am always interested in the stories D/deaf and disabled artists have to tell. As a director I am attracted to scripts inspired by and based on personal lived history. We write our own narrative.
What are the highlights of your professional work and study?
I see myself as a work in progress. I’ve much joy in directing plays such as Christie in Love by Howard Brenton, A Kind of Alaska by Harold Pinter, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Wolf Lullaby by Hillary Bell etc. A scholarship enabled a trip to New York where I had a Directing Residency at Atlantic Theater Company. A Create NSW Fellowship took me to London and Scotland where I researched the support given by access departments at theatre companies, venues and schools. This also gave me the opportunity to meet some doyens of directing at companies such as The National in London, The Old Vic, The Globe, The Royal Court, National Theatre of Scotland, many of whom I am still in contact with. This trip also revealed to me how far Australia still needs to go in meeting the needs of performing artists with a disability compared to New York and London.
What’s next for you?
I’ll continue doing what I am doing. It would be nice if I could actually earn a living from my work! Paid employment seems very difficult for someone with a disability even if trained and more than competent. I have a production with Bell Shakespeare to continue developing and some other projects still under discussion.
What do you need to do your best work?
As just mentioned, an income would relieve many stresses! The ability to travel overseas where friends and colleagues do not see artists with a disability as ‘other’ would be wonderful. We have a long way to go in Australia.
How do you see your future in the performing arts in Australia?
I am being encouraged by friends and colleagues in the performing arts in New York and London to move back, but Australia is my home. Over the past four months I have directed a fine actress by Zoom in New York for a showing by Roundabout Theatre Company, which will air in the next few weeks. They fought for me; I was the only international creative involved. Years ago when I was setting out on this path, I wouldn’t have believed such a thing was possible. Being this supported and working for two New York theatre companies. Hopefully such support can spread to other artists with a disability in Australia.
Hard work does pay off.
Sam I Am is playing at La Mama, Carlton Courthouse, April 20–23 for Midsumma Festival Melbourne.
Dan Graham has a long history of collaborating with theatre companies in the UK, US and Australia. Dan is presently collaborating with Bell Shakespeare and is co-chair of MEAA Equity’s Performers with Disability Committee.
Kate Hood had a career as an able-bodied actor, director, singer and writer which spanned more than thirty years. She starred in Prisoner, and performed in many stage shows, including Buddy, Steaming, Pygmalion and Hotel Sorrento. She became a wheelchair user over a decade ago and reinvented herself as a disabled actor, writer and director. She is a founding member of the Equity Diversity Committee and the Performers With Disability committee and sits on the board of Arts Access Victoria. She is the artistic director of Raspberry Ripple Productions.
