First Nations Writers Retreat

Nathan Maynard
Country Arts SA was honoured to tour Nathan’s award-winning production, The Season, in 2018 and he is offering a unique opportunity for emerging writers to develop and share their own stories. Nathan Maynard is a descendant of the chief of the Trawlwoolway Clan and of the whole of the North East Tasmanian Indigenous peoples. The Season is a loving portrait of a Tasmanian Aboriginal family who return each year to Dog Island in the Bass Strait for Mutton Bird Season, a tradition that endures and thrives despite two centuries of colonisation. Nathan is eager to share his experience and knowledge from his 17 years’ experience as a dancer, performer and writer. He was the recipient of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Artist of the Year Award in 2006 and 2013, and recently won the Green Room Award for Best New Writing for The Season, his first full-length play.

Alexis West
Alexis West has worked as a dancer, choreographer, performer, writer, theatre­maker and filmmaker over the past 20 years. As a Birri Gubba, Wakka Wakka South Sea Islander and Caucasian woman, Alexis is passionate about First Nation people’s voices as well as the stories of people with disability and people from diverse backgrounds. She has worked as an artistic director, writer, and facilitator for organisations including the Karrikarrinya Theatre Collective, SA Writers Centre, Spirit Festival, Our Mob, Art Gallery SA, and Adelaide Fringe. Alexis has devised and directed new works for No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability since 2008, and worked as AD, co­-writer and performer for State Theatre Company SA. She was Co­-Curator of the 2017 Australian Theatre Forum, with colleague Steve Mayhew. Worked with ActNow Theatre and been the artist in residence at Vitalstatistix. Most recently Alexis worked as an actor in BUKAL the story of Aunty Henrietta Fourmile-Marrie written and developed by Andrea James and Henrietta which toured remote communities in Far North Queensland.