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    • Performing Lines at APAX 2026

    WELCOME

     

    Performing Lines has been producing transformative performance since 1982.

    We’re delighted to be attending APAX 2026, and are looking forward to pitching works and connecting with presenters and collaborators looking to be a part of new projects in development or touring throughout 2026-28.

    Our portfolio of artists, projects and sector development programs reflect a rich diversity of artistic voices and forms, and creates a broad range of opportunities to connect with your many different audiences and artist communities.

    Please check out a selection from our portfolio below, and see who’s attending APAX from our team to line up a chat.

    Jump to:

    Pitching at APAX 2026


    LEGENDS (OF THE GOLDEN ARCHES)

    Joe Paradise Lui & Merlynn Tong

    This funeral will be the death of them. A rip-roaring ride plunging two best friends into the depths of the Chinese afterlife, LEGENDS vaults across genres, realities and theatrical convention with an infectious zest. It’s a powerful, deeply personal examination of the Chinese cultural experience and the enduring power of friendship, revealed through a hilarious yet subtly moving lens.

    Genre: Theatre
    Venue: Small – Large
    Status: Available to tour
    Touring Party: 6
    Themes & connections: CALD Communities, Cultural identity and heritage, Friendship, Family and legacy, Heart-warming, Visually immersive

    Producer: Kath Papas
    Kath@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more


    WATCH HER BURN

    Nic Ingram

    Watch Her Burn is a bold, full of sass and emotionally resonant First Nations work by Palawa and Wiradjuri playwright Nic Ingram. It brings audiences into lively family gatherings where stories, history and identity collide. Through wit, warmth and powerful storytelling, the play honours the legacy of Fanny Smith while celebrating resilience, cultural reclamation and family connection.

    Genre: Theatre
    Venue: Small – Medium
    Status: In development
    Touring Party: TBC
    Themes & connections: First Nations, Cultural identity and heritage, family legacy, government politics

    Producer: Sinsa Mansell
    sinsa@performinglinestas.org.au

    Learn more


    BEAT ENTERTAINMENT

    Company Update

    THE FUTURE IS QUEER & BLACK.
    BEAT Entertainment create spaces where more people feel they belong. Since 2015, BEAT have been building a practice that brings new audiences into the theatre. They allow their audiences to be seen, welcomed and experience stories that belong to them. BEAT have created RECKŌNING, AUNTY, HONŌUR and are now creating THE FIZZ.

    Genre: Multi-Artform, Contemporary Dance, Contemporary Performance
    Venue: Small-Medium
    Status: Available to tour
    Touring Party: Various

    Producer: Samantha Butterworth
    samantha@performinglines.org.au

    Producer: Carmen Lai
    Carmen@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    READY TO TOUR

    THE BLOK!

    A Daylight Connection

    THE BLOK! is a wild, satirical battle for creative control. An artist drowning in spiralling ego and crushing writer’s block is visited by a divine Blak Creator who unravels myths of artistic genius, white patriarchal supremacy, and God. Awarded Outstanding Production at the 2026 Green Room Awards, THE BLOK! is performance as rebellion; creation as disruption – radical, Blak, funny as hell.

    Genre: Theatre
    Venue: Small-Medium
    Status: Available to tour
    Touring Party: 5
    Themes & connections: First Nations, satire, comedy, the myths of artistic genius, white patriarchal supremacy, and the singular notion of God

    Producer: Carmen Lai
    Carmen@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    *Talk to us about joining the tour currently in development.

    The Act

    Amrita Hepi & Mish Grigor with Tilly Lawless

    A collaboration between Bunjalung Ngapuhi contemporary dance artist Amrita Hepi, writer and sex worker Tilly Lawless and acclaimed theatre-maker Mish Grigor, testing the transactional limits of art and erotic power. Here, the body is a vehicle for desire and for expression. Together, they explore the hidden parallels between their worlds through movement and intimate dialogue, weighing personal expression against market demands.

    Genre: Contemporary Performance
    Venue: Small – Large
    Status: Available to tour, In development
    Touring Party: 5-6
    Themes & connections: Dance, Labour, Sex Work, First Nations, Queer

    Producer: Thom Smyth
    Thom@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    AUNTY

    BEAT Entertainment

    AUNTY is BEAT Entertainment’s Inter-Indiginational-Kiki – part cabaret, performance and party. AUNTY is a fierce and fabulous party for all LGBTQIA+ folks and is BIPOC led. It is an electric night of dance, music, impromptu vogueing and a kick-ass dance floor to create a truly unforgettable night. Audiences step into their ferocious QUEEN selves and own the dance floor.

    Genre: Multi-Artform
    Venue: Small – Medium
    Status: Available to tour
    Touring Party: 8
    Themes & connections: First Nations, POC, Queer, Cabaret, Line-up Gig, Singing, Voice, Vogueing, Community Engagement

    Producer: Samantha Butterworth
    samantha@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    *Talk to us about joining the national tour currently in development.

    Sensorium Theatre

    Sensorium Theatre is a Perth-based company leading Australia in original live performance for young audiences with disability, particularly children with multiple and complex disabilities and those on the autism spectrum. Centred on access, care and artistic rigour, Sensorium creates intentionally small-scale, sensory performances and continues to develop impactful touring models through national and international partnerships, exchange and collaboration.

    Genre: Theatre
    Venue: Small – Medium
    Status: Available to tour
    Touring Party: TBC
    Themes & connections: Disability, community, inclusion, interactive, children’s theatre, family friendly

    Producer: Joo Tan
    joo@performinglineswa.org.au

    Learn more

    An Uncertain Time

    Sarah Austin & Co

    An Uncertain Time is an immersive performance for babies and their carers, created by Sarah Austin and Co. The work explores the notion of uncertainty that permeates the first year of a child’s life, for both child and their carers. It ponders the infinite possibility of infancy and the responsibility of caring for new life in an unstable global environment.

    Genre: Theatre
    Venue: Small – Medium
    Status: Available to tour
    Touring Party: 4
    Themes & connections: Babies, Parenthood, High Production values work for babies, Immersive

    Producer: Zadie Kennedy McCracken
    Zadie@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    PREMIERING SOON

    Sampai, Tak Sampai

    Jumaadi & Michael Toisuta

    Sampai, Tak Sampai (to arrive, not to arrive) is a live performance installation by Jumaadi and Michael Toisuta – with previous collaborations at Sydney and OzAsia Festivals. Developed between Indonesia and Australia, premiering late 2026, the work explores migration, displacement and the environment, originally inspired by the Javanese tradition of boyongan where entire communities carry belongings – sometimes whole houses – during relocation.

    Genre: Multi-Artform
    Venue: Outdoor/Alternative
    Status: Available to tour, In development
    Touring Party: TBC
    Themes & connections: Indonesia, shadow play, visual art, migration, diversity, immersive, durational performance

    Producer: Jane Schon
    jane@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    My First and Last Solo Show

    Natalie Rose

    Premiering 17–19 September 2026 at Campbelltown Arts Centre

    My First and Last Solo Show by Natalie Rose dives into three generations – Natalie, Mabelle and Nat’s mum Cheryl – uncovering the joy, frustration, and unconditional love between mothers and daughters. Created by Natalie – a Western Sydney artist, mother and one-third of performance collective POST – the work is deeply funny and revealing, finding vulnerability in the mundane and many moments to laugh out loud.

    Genre: Theatre
    Venue: Small – Medium
    Status: Available to tour, In development
    Touring Party: 4
    Themes & connections: Motherhood, Coming of age, Intergenerational Trauma, Alzheimers Disease, Domestic Violence, Verbatim/Documentary Theatre, Comedy

    Producer: Jane Schon
    jane@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    Kamasutra

    Raghav Handa

    Kamasutra is a dance theatre work by choreographer and performer Raghav Handa that interrogates desire, pleasure and power through the lens of the ancient Sanskrit scripture. With collaborators Nicholas Brown, James Peter Brown, and Justine Shih Pearson, Handa blends movement, voice, and sound to explore the text’s radical philosophy beyond its sexual reputation.

    Genre: Contemporary Dance
    Venue: Large
    Status: In development
    Touring Party: TBC
    Themes & connections: Sex, power, religion, the body, the absurd, sensuality

    Producer: Vanessa Wright
    vanessa@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    IN DEVELOPMENT

    SPHINX

    THE RABBLE

    Premiering 2028

    SPHINX is a cinematic performance investigating the economics and experience of the caregiver. It is part experimental film, community-engaged work and contemporary performance. Set on a slowly turning revolve, a camera captures the details of each act of care as it moves past. Each rotation of the stage is a new scene/ act of care. Epic worlds are revealed as we come to understand each act of care not as something banal, but as an operatic and heroic gesture. This project has received Creative Futures Funding in 2026.

    Genre: Contemporary Performance
    Venue: Large
    Status: In development
    Touring Party: TBC
    Themes & connections: Carers, caregiving, economic experience of care, care systems, those who experience care, epic soundtrack

    Producer: Samantha Butterworth
    samantha@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    Sylvania Waters

    Antoinette Barbouttis

    Premiering 2028

    Sylvania Waters turned one Australian family into an international spectacle and became the world’s first reality TV show. Antoinette Barbouttis’s stage adaptation returns to the Donaher-Baker family with warmth and care. Funny, generous and quietly devastating, it asks what the camera, and the audience, did to them, and what it has been doing to all of us ever since. This project has received Creative Futures Funding in 2026.

    Genre: Theatre
    Venue: Large
    Status: In development
    Touring Party: TBC
    Themes & connections: Reality TV, cultural identity, media ethics

    Producer: Thom Smyth
    Thom@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    The Fire Project

    Andrea Gibbs

    Premiering 2028

    The Fire Project is an immersive audio-visual installation by WA artist Andrea Gibbs, transforming bushfire stories into a shared listening experience. Drawing on interviews with fire-affected communities across WA and SA, First Nations cultural burning knowledge and sound design, it explores resilience, humour and heartbreak. This project has received Creative Futures Funding in 2026.

    Genre: Multi-Artform
    Venue: Outdoor/Alternative, Small – Medium
    Status: In development
    Touring Party: TBC
    Themes & connections: True Stories, Bushfire, Regional and First Nations Perspective, Immersive, Audio-Visual Installation, Climate Change, Shared Listening & Conversation, Resilience, Regeneration, Hope.

    Producer: Jen Leys
    jen@performinglineswa.org.au

    Learn more

    THE FIZZ

    BEAT Entertainment

    Premiering 2027

    THE FIZZ is a ridiculously CAMP, capital ‘F’ FUN, and DEEPLY silly story for intergenerational audiences about a topic we rarely talk about…death. This new play with songs follows a family with two Mums, Mumma and Mummy, after Mummy’s passing. We follow the two children as they navigate grief in different ways, Jack is angry and internalising, while Bella is controlling everything possible.

    Genre: Theatre
    Venue: Small – Medium
    Status: In development
    Touring Party: 5-6
    Themes & connections: Children and families, intergenerational, LGBTQIA+, queer, rainbow families, grief, loss, connection

    Producer: Carmen Lai
    Carmen@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    SECTOR DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

    Performing Lines has a deep commitment to sector development, having developed a range of short- and long-term initiatives that aim to develop the professional skills of both emerging and established producers and artists.

    Our suite of programs and initiatives continue to evolve to meet the ever-changing demands of the sector, with models that are often adapted to new contexts and locations.

    We welcome discussions about new partnerships, both national and international, that continue to support the sustainability of the sector.

     

    National Producers Platform

     

    A ten-week training programme for emerging producers. The National Producers Platform brings 13 participants from across the country to undertake a series of online learning modules, facilitated by experienced industry guest speakers. In the following year, select participants will also undertake a paid five-week full-time industry placement to consolidate their skills and apply them in real-world contexts.

    Key focus: Emerging Producers, Producer Training, Capacity Building, Industry Placements

    Producer: Jane Schon
    jane@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

     

    TAS Regional Artist Residency

     

    The Performing Lines Tasmania Regional Artist Residency brings artists together from across Lutruwita/Tasmania to explore new ideas, experiment with cross-disciplinary work and enhance their creative practices. Guided by highly skilled mentors with expertise from throughout Australia, each bringing unique perspectives to shape the development of every project and encourage the exploration of new ideas and concepts.

    Key focus: Artist residency

    Producer: Sinsa Mansell
    sinsa@performinglinestas.org.au

    Learn more

     

    NSW Regional Producers Initiative

     

    A new suite of training opportunities supporting regionally-based producers in NSW. The NSW Regional Producers Initiative supports producers (or arts workers in similar type roles) to facilitate a strong producing cohort working within regional NSW. The full Initiative features a mentorship program, bursary program, an online resource centre, and a five day in-person intensive.

    Key focus: Producer Training, Regional NSW, Capacity Building, Mentorship, Bursaries, Resource Sharing

    Producer: Nelson Lee
    nelson@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS

    Performing Lines has a comprehensive International Market Development Strategy and as part of our approach we are currently working on some long-term, relationship-based, reciprocal projects in the Asia-Pacific region. In collaboration with our partners, these new ventures will lead to cultural exchange, residencies and new work across the coming years. Please reach out if you’d like to know more.

    Triangular Rhythms

    Nick Power

    Triangular Rhythms is a Hip Hop project uniting dancers from Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Australia for collaborative creative development and exchange, led by choreographer Nick Power and grounded in partnerships with Force Majeure and Wan Smolbag Theatre (Port Vila). A new full-length work will be ready for presentation in 2028.

    Genre: Contemporary Dance
    Venue: Small – Medium
    Status: In development
    Touring Party: TBC
    Themes & connections: Hip Hop, Breaking, House, Krumping, DJing, Pasifika, intercultural

    Producer: Kath Papas
    Kath@performinglines.org.au

    Learn more

    The Next Normal

    The Next Normal is a long-term, multinational artist residency and exchange initiative centred in the Asia-Pacific, which will invite artists from across the region to engage with the most difficult and urgent questions of our times. Developed through a network of producing organisations, the program positions artists as critical agents responding to global challenges and shifting cultural norms. Performing Lines and Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (CAAP) are the Australian lead partners, working with colleagues across South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and New Zealand.

    Key focus: Artist residency, International exchange

    Producer: Simon Wellington
    simon@performinglines.org.au

    The Team

    Kath Papas
    Senior Producer National

    kath@performinglines.org.au

    Sinsa Mansell
    Senior Producer TAS

    sinsa@performinglinestas.org.au

    Carmen Lai
    Producer Victoria

    Carmen@performinglines.org.au

     

     

    In everything we do, we acknowledge that we live on Aboriginal land and constantly learn from the wisdom of First Peoples.

    Where we are and the history that precedes us informs how we work and how we move forward. 

    Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices and names of deceased persons.