HEMLINES
Dive into the delightful and daring world of Hemlines!
A fresh and provocative piece of devised theatre, Hemlines balances on the razor’s edge between the silly and the serious inviting you to question the threads that weave our lives together and shape our identities. This thought-provoking show will enchant and enlighten you, one stitch at a time.
Directed by Amelia Gilday
Devised and Performed by Alicia Badger, Madison Chippendale and Lana Filies
Development supported through Shopfront Arts Co-Op Open Shop Residencies.
Hemlines premiered as part of Sydney Fringe in September 2024.
“Must see” – Sitchu Sydney
“A wee gem of a piece.” – Theatre Travels
“Imaginative, lively and enigmatic. The team of emerging artists behind it promise great things ahead. So get down […] and see them and you can say you saw them when…” – Disrupting Stages
Alicia Badger
She/Her
Deviser / Performer
About Alicia
Alicia first fell in love with acting was when she was 13 years old and appeared in Dan Mitchell’s short film ‘Canon in D’, which appeared at the Cannes Film Festival that year. Her love only continued to grow throughout high school, leading her to decide to continue her education in university by enrolling for a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Theatre Studies at the University of Notre Dame. It was during her time there that her passion shifted from solely appearing on stage as an actor to also developing skills more on the technical side of things, especially in regards to lighting and sound design.
With the skills she has since acquired in lighting and sound design within live theatre settings, filmed theatre adaptions, and a few short films she has come to realise that what truly captures her imagination and intrigue is the way that lighting and sound can elevate what is appearing on the stage/screen, and how a change in the lighting/sound can affect the audiences perception of what is appearing in front of them. With this in mind, she hopes to have a hand in the creation and development of unique and experimental productions where lighting and sound are utilised in diverse ways.
Having experienced the lack of easy and affordable access to learning and/or further developing skills within the theatre community, she also hopes to be able to provide an avenue for those in the community to gain the requisite skills to develop their careers.
Alicia recently completed a technical theatre diploma at NIDA and currently works for Bondi Pavillion, ATYP and has previously worked as a lighting operator for ACA.
Madison Chippendale
She/Her
Deviser / Performer
About Maddison
Madison Chippendale (she/her) is a performance maker and actor. She graduated from the University of Wollongong in 2011 & was part of the PACT Ensemble show Beguiled the same year. She was the 2013 recipient of the BBM Award for theatre and travelled to the UK and Europe where she interned with Reckless Sleepers (Belgium) and Pacitti Co’s SPILL Festival (UK). In 2017 Madison devised her first solo work to date – Maddie is Hamlet – performing it at Crack Theatre Festival at This is Not Art in Newcastle and again at PACT Theatre in 2018 as part of the PACT Salon Artifice/Interface. In 2022, she was a member of the Shopfront Harness Ensemble, devising and performing in the award nominated Where Shall We Meet? Most recently Madison presented 30-50 Feral Hogs at the Real Festival in Penrith for Q Theatre and has been selected as a participant of the 2024 KxT on Broadway Step Up program for emerging & early career artists. Some of her previous theatre credits include: Audrey in As You Like It with Such Stuff Productions, Agnes in A Dream Play directed by Tim Maddock, Hamletmachine directed by Chris Ryan, Kate in As I Lay Dreaming directed by Catherine McKinnon.
Lana Filies
She/Her
Deviser / Performer
About Lana
Described as ‘The one to watch’ (Theatre Travels) Lana Filies is a South African/ Australian Actor, Writer, Director, Singer, Theatre-Maker, and Choreographer who grew up on Dharawal Country and currently resides on Gadigal land. Her devised practice aims to champion women’s voices and create work that sparks conversation and has a social impact. She graduated from the University of Wollongong in 2018 with a Bachelor of Performance (Acting.) Currently Lana is
the Head Drama Teacher at Shopfront Arts Co-Op, leading Young People in weekly drama workshops.
Currently, Lana is developing ‘Squatchwatch’ (Vaguely Adjacent) ’and ‘Our Hearts Beat’ (Karen Cummings) as apart of the Merrigong X Program. Her Independent works in development are ‘Hemlines’ (Moon Bureau), ‘Wally’ (Moon Bureau/Vaguely Adjacent), ULTRA (Lana Filies and Sammy Read). Lana wrote and starred in her debut play ‘Expiration Date’ (produced by Purple Tape Productions) at Adelaide Fringe (March 2023) and Meraki Arts Bar (April-May 2023).
ACTING/PERFORMING CREDITS STAGE:
THE ANTS (Polyglot, May 2024), A Flea in Her Ear: DEVELOPMENT (Siren Theatre Company, April 2024), SOLACE ( Milk Crate Theatre x Box Of Birds, November 2023), Paper Planet
(Polyglot x Sydney Opera House, September 2023), THE HOOFER (Fondue Set, Night time
Right Time Festival, October 2023), CAMP (Siren Theatre Company, January 2023), WE ARE HERE: ENSEMBLE (2023 ongoing, Emma Saunders), ‘Where Shall We Meet’, (Harness
Ensemble, Shopfront Arts Co-Op 2022) , ‘DUST’ (Milk Crate Theatre X Sydney Theatre
Company 2022), ‘Playpen’ (Dollhouse Collective X KXT 2022), ‘Tiny Universe’ (Shopfront Arts Co-op x Milk Crate Theatre, 2021).
ACTING CREDITS SCREEN:
Home and Away (2017), A Place to Call Home (2016), Heartbreak High: Season Two (2024),
Play Dirty (Filming in 2024)
DIRECTING CREDITS:
‘TENDER: A ORIGINAL MUSICAL’ (Shopfront Arts Co-Op, 2023), TEEN ANGST: AN
ORIGINAL MUSICAL (Shopfront Arts Co-op, 2022), Young Company (Shopfront Arts Co-Op,
MCA GEN NEXT FESTIVAL 2022).
Lana is a proud MEEA Member
Amelia Gilday
They/Them
Director
About Amelia
Amelia is a theatre maker, filmmaker and designer based in Australia. They have a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Theatre from The University of Notre Dame, a Diploma of Music Creation and Composition from TAFE NSW, and completed their Masters of Applied Theatre at the University of New England.
Amelia is currently a Resident at KXT on Broadway and is working with Shopfront Arts Senior Ensemble to develop their new work When I Grow Up. Amelia completed a residency at ShopFront Arts Co-op (2022/23), developing their latest work, Under the Influence, which premiered to critical acclaim and recently won Best Short Film and the Tokyo Governor’s award at Short Shorts & Asia 2023 for their film Pieces of You.
In 2022, Amelia directed Next Step, winning awards at the Festival of Regional Theatre and Short+Sweet Sydney, they devised Where Shall We Meet as part of ShopFront’s Harness Ensemble, and produced Waiting in Soho for Sydney Fringe Festival, worked on Who’s Afraid (2022, Belvoir 25A), and was a producer for PerformanceSpace’s LiveWorks Festival.
Other credits include, directing Good Talk at Adelaide Fringe Festival and Anywhere Festival, Brisbane (2021); devising and directing Illuminated, which toured Sydney (2018), Adelaide and Darwin Fringe Festivals (2019), and Darwin; co-writing and directing Coming Out on Broadway through Open Shop Residencies Sydney Fringe Festival (2019); directing Licence to Succeed (Prime, Cineverse), which received multiple awards; producing Two Quarters Full (Flight Path Theatre, 2019); directing award winning musical HMS Headwind, which won Judges and Audience Choice at Short+Sweet Sydney (2018); assistant directing The Spoils by Jesse Eisenberg at Flight Path Theatre (2019). Wrote and directed Evolution of Me (2017).
Nick Vagne
They/Them
Operator
About Nick
Nick is a queer nonbinary Playwright, Theatre-Maker and Dramaturg from regional New South Wales. A founding member of the performance collective Vaguely Adjacent, Nick’s body of work consists proudly of new work either recently devised or written. Vaguely Adjacent’s debut work ‘Squatch Watch Live:’ is currently in development as a part of the MerrigongX program with Merrigong Theatre Company.
Nick’s writing style showcases work through unconventional writing structures and experimental form, to create a unique theatrical presentation of work that often holds the theme of uncovering tragic elements within comical situations. Nick describes it as “if a warm stranger opened a door for you, and then punched you in the chest as you walked through”. They take most of their inspiration from fringe groups, media personalities and conspiracy theories, they write and create new work for a range of voices presented through different performative styles and camp aesthetics.
In 2023 Nick has been a part of multiple amazing programs to create new work. These include Co-Directing for Milk Crate theatre in collaboration of the Waterloo creative ensemble for Manifesto a performative instillation about the investigation into the creative process and engaging with community about what makes all of us artists. As well as writing another play for young people for the Drama Studio’s Final draft program “Big trouble, Little Putter, an absurd short play about a kid’s birthday party going wrong and dressing adults as gnomes to escape the law.
Images by Jamie Simmons
