2021 Achievements

Programs

A woman in a wolf costume smiles at the camera

Actorvate

  • Delivered the final 2 modules of our Actorvate ‘train the trainer’ program funded by artsACT. Rebus Artistic Director Robin Davidson and Creative Programs Director Ali Clinch created a year long program to up-skill local theatre practitioners in applied theatre techniques.

Pandemic Players

  • Delivered a program for +65 year olds to devise a play about their experiences of COVID-19 in partnership with Council On The Ageing ACT. The program culminated in the performance of an original work Titanic 2020.

Re-Emergence

  • Began work on a project that explores the experiences that people with disability in regional towns have had of drought, fire and pandemic. The company’s most ambitious project to date, Re-Emergence faced some challenges due to COVID-19 restrictions but has been postponed until lockdowns have ended. 

Flair

  • Continued our Flair program in which a cast of people with differing abilities devised and performed an original work, The Beauty Thief, to full houses at the Belconnen Community Theatre. The play featured dance scenes from Canberra Dance Theatre’s CD Tribe and received rave reviews from the Canberra Critics Circle and City News. The Beauty Thief also received a mention in the Canberra Critics Circle award for Theatre Rebus received at the Annual ACT Arts Awards.

Inclusive Drama at The Hub in Phillip

  • Wrapped up our 5 year partnership with L’Arche Geneseret and the Hub in Phillip delivering weekly drama classes for people with intellectual disability, and took over administration of the program. These classes guide participants through the process of writing, rehearsing and performing a play each term. 

Speaking Role

  • Continued our Speaking Role program a free program aiming to enhance communication and social skills for volunteering, employment and participation in community, through the medium of theatre – after receiving a private donation to continue the program beyond the grant funding.  

Acting Out

  • Received further funding from the The 2020 Chief Ministers Cultural Fund to run a 4-day intensive school holiday film program for LGBTQIA+ young people entitled Acting Out: On Screen

Other Performances, Awards and Grants

Three men and two women smile for the camera

What If Scientists Ruled The World

  • In March 2021 Rebus was approached by The Australian Academy of Science to produce a Forum Theatre performance exploring the challenges of science communication. The project was funded by the Falling Walls Foundation in Berlin, as part of the launch of a new science communication hub in Canberra.

Canberra Critics Circle Award for Theatre

  • Rebus Received the Canberra Critics Circle Award for Theatre at the 35th Annual ACT Arts Awards in 2021 for our body of work that year including The Beauty Thief and What If Scientists Ruled The World.

Systems of Sanity

  • Funding from ACT Health to run a ground-breaking theatre project asking the hard questions about mental health and the mental health system over 2022/2023

Workplace Training 

two women on stage

Open Doors Open Minds/Access All Areas: Community 

  • Commissioned by the ACT Mixed Tape Chorus and Toastmasters to remount Open Doors Open Minds under its new title Access All Areas: Community performed at the Ainslie Football Club.