Sooooo much happening – August is when kids’ authors & illustrators are on the move – across Australia – speaking at schools, events and spreading the LOVE of books.

Monkey Baa Theatre is putting on a week of I AM JACK at Darling Quarter Theatre – nearly full houses, but this year I can’t do the post play Q & A as I’ll be speaking at schools. I love doing those Q & A’s with Tim McGarry.

There’s the Benefit for ROOM TO READ – reaching more than 9 millions kids in Asia and Africa. They won’t be all at the Benefit Sat 23 August – ha – but all funds go to building schools and literacy programmes and books.

Launch of my 4th and final BEING JACK – the 15 year journey creating the I AM JACK series.

Treat yourself and see the many amazing authors and illustrators in your schools and bookshops, libraries and events!

CELEBRATE BOOKS & READING!

MonkeyBaa Theatre – www.monkeybaa.com.au

Room to Read – www.roomtoread.org

BOOKINGS for 5 p.m. Sat 23 August. All funds go to Room to Read: monkeybaa.com.au/show/jack-room-read-fundraiser/

The post BOOK WEEK~ Monkey Baa Theatre’s I Am Jack~ Launch of BEING JACK at ROOM to READ BENEFIT appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.

Love being a Writer Ambassador for Room to Read with the coolest writers around – caught up with the brilliant Room to Read team of Mihiri, Jennie Orchard & Wendy Rapee  at The Hughenden Hotel &:-

Jacqueline Harvey famous for her ALICE MIRANDA books

Oliver Phommavanh famous for his THAI-RIFFIC Books

Deborah Abela famous for her MAX REMY SPY super books and GRIMSDEN

Me – famous for my I AM JACK series which advocates for kids &  Room to Read

Hey, we’re a famous lot!! Ha, ha, ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We’re raising awareness at the launch of BEING JACK (4th & final  I AM JACK) in a BENEFIT for ROOM TO READ:-

with a live performance of I AM JACK by Monkey Baa Theatre

When: 5 p.m. Sat 23rd August 2014

Launched by: Christian  Marchegiani  Swans boxing coach and anti school bullying advocate.

Champagne, nibblies and we’ll have a great time

BOOKINGS: – Monkey Baa Theatre Company
Lend Lease Darling Quarter Theatre
Terrace 3, 1-25 Harbour Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Ph : 02 8624 9341 ( Ext 3 )
E: [email protected]
www.monkeybaa.com.au

Tickets: $30 for adults; $20 kids and family tickets

The NRL SUPER SPORTS STARS SHOULD BE DROPPING BY – They say NO to bullying too.

Come along and have a BALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

www.roomtoread.org/australia

The post Launching Launching last I AM JACK ~ at Benefit for Room to Read – 5 p.m. 23 Aug at Darling Harbour! appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.

What a trip – the love, engagement, enthusiasm of thousands of US kids for I AM JACK has been extraordinary.

Tim McGarry who plays 11 characters from JACK to wobbly Nanna to 11 year old Anna …. and more makes you believe he’s all of them.

Sam Johnston, stage manager puts the stage together and all those tech parts – fantastic.

It’s a love fest across the USA and a huge anti bullying campaign with heaps of media.

I have been privileged to do the post show Q & A and media with Tim in Las Vegas at the fabulous Smith Center for performing Arts.

The post Monkey Baa Theatre’s I AM JACK Wows USA appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.

It’s the start of 2014 & it’s drop in time before the crazy life of writing tours, events, festivals , school visits, media …. start seriously.

Where’s the drop in centre? You guessed it -The Hughenden.

I loved catching up with:-

-the award winning Albany (WA) Dianne Wolfer whose Lighthouse Girl & Lighthouse Boy (Fremantle Press) are best sellers!

- Monica Lizama the Chilean-Australian writer who dresses up as her character PAWS!

- Jennie Orchard with Margaret Wilcox from Room to Read who are developing the Writer Ambassador programme to raise awareness of the need to educate the kids of Asaa and Africa. SCBWI is on board with lots of our authors taking on the role of ambassadors.

- Libby Hathorn dropping in with her poetry books and she’s got a new book coming out with HarperCollins on ANZACS.

- Chris Cheng with Bini getting ready to head off to New York for the SCBWI Conference and then Bologna Book Fair  …. and other favourite creators!

And I’m getting my spangles ready to hit Las Vegas for the I AM JACK season at the Smith Center of performing Arts!\

I’m staying at the EXCALIBUR HOTEL, so getting into princess gear … their could be some princes there. or toads!

The post Love, love, love the community of kids’ books!!! appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.

Is this the way to start the New Year?

My VIP list:-

-  get organised for the LAS VEGAS trip where I AM JACK is being performed!

(LOVE Monkey Baa Theatre  www.monkeybaa.com.au)

- finalise the author tour on the West Coast USA.

- seriously organised the SCBWI International Conference 13-16th July at The Hughenden!

- work out the SCBWI website www.australiaeastnz.scbwi.org

-  edit my BEING JACK – where Jack goes from victim to victor to someone who stands beside his mate & family – I LOVE Jack because he’s like all the boys we know – the funny, real, good bits.

And it’s late ….. I’m pooped … and going to join this puppy.

The post From Las Vegas to Pooped! appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.

Susanne Gervay’s I AM JACK with Tim McGarry, Monkey Baa Theatre, Seymour Centre

Love, love, love Courage to Care.

They embrace ‘I AM JACK’ and the evening at the Darling Quarter Lend Lease theatre with I AM JACK was a fantastic night.

Tim McGarry was brilliant as usual performing JACK.

The post author and actor talk was compered by author Moya Simons. It was emotional as Moya and I started our writing careers together.

The brain child of Andrew Havas, Courage to Care brings the message of NO to bullying, social inclusion, harmony and justice to all people irrespective of colour, race, religion.

Courage to Care engages Holocaust survivors with children, and tours to schools across NSW, Victoria and will be reaching 100′s of school in Queensland in a partnership with the Catholic schools this year.

Visit Courage to Care website – www.couragetocare.com.au – and support a peaceful world.

Jason Stevens – an NRL footballer champion who made me cry  from FAT BOY to HERO!

THANKYOU for your support of I AM JACK the movie – advocating for young people and adults to say NO to BULLYING

Opening with the Hon. Justice Michael Kirby who was inspiring – bullying starts in the schoolyard.

THANKYOU to:-

Cranbrook (boys) – Michael Parker , Principal of Senior School

Randwick Primary School (co ed) – Helen Te Rata – Deputy principal

SCEGGS (girls) Darlinghurst – Jenny Ullum – Principal

for your inspirational speeches about the significance of I AM JACK the feature film and how we need to reach young people to create a culture of a safe world.

THANKYOU to the US Consul General Niels Marquardt for his words that linked Australia and the USA in working against bullying from the individual like JACK to world bullying.

THANKYOU to:-

THANKYOU to Stepan Kerkyasharian AO President of the anti discrimination Board who spoke eloquently about the Armenian genocide and the need to say NO to Bullying. I AM Jack begins the journey.

THANKYOU to the brilliant MONKEY BAA directors:-

Tim McGarry, Eva di Cesare, Sandra Eldridge.

Tim McGarry in his one man show of I AM JACK at the LendLease Darling Quarter Theatre had the audience laughing & crying.

THANKYOU to;-

Deborra-lee Furness for her commitment to I AM JACK – who’s a star of the movie.

THANKYOU to:-

LIFE EDUCATION Australia who has always supported I AM JACK and continues to support it

THANKYOU to-

Nadia Tass the Director for believing in I AM JACK

THANKYOU to:

The amazing young people who told their stories of bullying – Katie you made me cry

…. and so many more.

Most of all THANKYOU to the brilliant producer team of Stephan Wellink (producer) and David Whealy (Executive Director) who are driving this production.

JACK will change lives.Let’s change the world!!!!

- Elohim – a small school offering hope to the children of the dust in Arequipa Peru – Susi Prescott - you are a light

- Room to Read bringing education to the children of the developing world – Jennie Orchard -you are a light

- 40K building schools and reducing poverty in India – my cousin Les Szekely - you are a light

- Rotary Sydney Cove -bringing services to the Solomon Islands- Thomas and Megan Gervay – you are  a light

- Cambodian Children’s Trust – breaking the cycle of poverty of children in Cambodia -Tara Winkler – you are a light

- Monkey Baa Theatre – bringing theatre to indigenous, disadvantaged &  young people across Australia & the world – Tim McGarry, Eva Di Cesare, Sandie Eldrige - you are a light

www.elohimschool.org, www.roomtoread.org, www.40k.com.au, www.sydneycoverotary.com, www.cambodianchildrenstrust.org, www.monkeybaa.com.au

-

Love Monkey Baa Theatre

Love Monkey Baa Theatre.

Did you hear that?

Love the talented trio – Directors Eva DiCesare, Tim McGarry and Sandra Eldridge.

Love the whole team of Monkey Baa lead by the GM Penny Watts and the International Theatre Manager Vicki Middleton.

Vicki is presenting I AM JACK at the IPAC showcase in Philidelphia in January 2013.

Monkey Baa’s ‘Hitler’s Daughter’ by Jackie French will be touring the USA February -April 2013 – a moving production.

THANKYOU to the Monkey Baa Directors who adapted my I AM JACK into an outstanding play which will be having another season March 2013 at the Lend Lease Darling Quarter Theatre.

THANKYOU to the Monkey Baa Directors for their reading of the film script “I AM JACK’ which amalgamates my three JACK books – they were amazing and brought me to tears.

LOVE YOU ALL.

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Room to Read endorses I AM JACK www.roomtoread.org

Innovative, extraordinary, fabulous, exciting – what am I talking about?

READING, READING, READING!!!!!!

The National Year of Reading 2012 has taken author ambassadors all over this beautiful country

- from the outback to the capital cities.

It has brought my much loved writing organisations together as they celebrate the power of reading to open the way to personal fulfillment, community, literacy and fun and love.

Partners include:-

SCBWI – www.scbwi.org

Room to Read – www.roomtoread.org

Monkey Baa Theatre – www.monkeybaa.com.au

Books in Homes – www.biha.org

and more

As one of the ambassadors, I have had the privilege of

-speaking to 1000s of kids, teachers, librarians, parents, grandparents

- bringing the message of NO to School bullying through ‘I Am Jack’ from the ocean to the desert

- sharing my refugee background through the joy of  finding home in ‘Ships in the Field’

Having so many adventures and I’m going to shed a tear on 12th November when I go to Canberra to farewell this extrordinary year of reading.

THANKYOU to the wonderful librarians of Australia for a remarkable year.

ww.love2read.org

Showing now at the Ensemble Theatre Kirribilli -a must see play.

by Jeffrey Hatcher

Artistic Director Nicole Buffoni

Cast: Danny Adcock, Sharon Millerchip

Reviewed by Susanne Gervay www.sgervay.com

Emotionally and intellectually gripping, The Ensemble Theatre’s production of Jeffry Hatcher’s ‘A Picasso’ opens in an underground bunker in Paris October 24, 1941. The sound of Nazi jackboots set the scene for a potent, thought provoking confrontation between Pablo Picasso and Miss Fischer from the German Cultural Ministry on the power of art, war and ideas.

Pablo Picasso has been brought in for interrogation.  The young female Nazi official Miss Fischer enters the colourless bunker, in her harshly cut suit and German-like precision. Pablo Picasso is flamboyant, opinionated, a huge fluid presence like his art. She must obtain an authentic Picasso for the Nazi exhibition of ‘degenerate art’.

‘From now on we are going to wage a merciless war of destruction against the last remaining element of cultural disintegration.’ Adolf Hitler, 18 July 1937

Picasso’s life and the political events of the time are brilliantly interspersed with witty, quick dialogue in the interrogation. In a roller coaster of ideas and conscience, values and humanity, ‘A Picasso’ reaches into the role of art in politics.  Picasso fights for his art, claims it is not political, he is not political. The question of politics and art culminate in Miss Fischer’s challenge to Picasso that he hid in France under the protection of art, while his country Spain burned, as the Spanish Civil War tore it apart. She breaks down Picasso’s certainty, as he screams, but there is Guernica.

On 26 April 1937, the German Condor Legion, in a bloodbath of bombing destroyed the quiet village of Guernica in support of the Spanish Civil War and to test their blitzkrieg. Picasso’s Cubist masterpiece Guernica, is one of the world’s greatest anti-war paintings. It is political.

Art is ideas and the Nazis needed to destroy ideas. Miss Fischer’s role was to gain a Picasso painting, to destroy it.  Picasso’s role was to fight for art’s survival.  They both change, breakdown, as power moves between them.

Picasso runs 90 minutes with no intermission as ideas, clash and change, and tension escalate in this play about war and art and conscience. Powerfully performed by Danny Adcock who plays Picasso and Sharon Millerchip who plays Miss Fischer, ‘A Picasso’ is a play that needs to be seen more than once.

Ensemble Theatre, Sydney www.ensemble.com.au  showing NOW!

Another brilliant play dealing with the impact of Nazism is Hitler’s Daughter by Jackie french at Darling Quarter Theatre Darling harbour

www.monkeybaa.com.au

A beautiful sunny Sydney day

- the largest playground in Australia in Darling harbour

- delicious canapes, Guylian chocolates

-kids, balloons, music, writers, actors, community

- Lend Lease, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner…

gathered to launch the first Australian dedicated youth theater with resident theatre company MONKEY BAA THEATRE!!!!

The hilarious Bugalugs Bum Thief had kids and adults rolling in the aisles.

Shows for 2013:-

I AM JACK – NO to School Bullying – by Susanne Gervay with actor Tim McGarry 11-16th March

NIT BOY – hilarious story – by Tristan Bancks 19-27 June

EMILY EYEFINGER – much loved books in a wild & woolly romp -by Duncan Ball 9-11 October

Creative Directors of Monkey Baa theatre are the brilliant team of  Tim McGarry, Eva Di Cesare, Sandra Eldridge

Patrons of Monkey Baa Theatre: Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman and Susanne Gervay

Bookings 02 8624 9341 www.monkeybaa.com.au

Monkey Baa Theatre’s I AM JACK is back:-Starring the brilliant TIM MCGARRY

ONLY 10 shows – so it’s first in – love you to come along

Booking:-

2013 School Season :11–15 March 

At Lend Lease Darling Quarter Theatre 

Terrace 3/1-25 Harbour Street 

Sydney NSW 2000

 Tel: (02) 8624 9341 Fax: (02) 8209 4977

email: [email protected] 

www.monkeybaa.com.au

Monkey Baa Theatre has its own theatre in the heart of Darling Harbour, Sydney!!!!!

It was goregous, arriving with the lights sparkling, the harbour dotted with boats, street performers juggling balls, families, young people, old people, everyone enjoying a glorious autumn day in Darling Harbour.

Lend lease Darling Quarter Theatre is such a commitment to Sydney and Australia – offering a beautiful theatre venue to our kids and families to see the best in youth theatre by Monkey Baa Theatre – www.monkeybaa.com.au

As a preview, I was in the family and friends performance to the 1st show ever performed at this theatre – ‘Tim Winton’s ‘The Bugalugs Bum Thief’ .

The kids were rolling in the aisles as the 3 boys went on a mad romp to find their stolen bums. The rollicking songs, the choreography tapping through stage and into the audience, kids and parents were in stitches.

It’s wonderful to see the best in theatrical direction, performance, stage craft …. used in theatre for young people.

Go and see it. Take your kids, your parents, grandparents get along there – it’s a romp.

The Darling Quarter Theatre, opening on May 5, is part of Lend Lease’s new development at Darling Harbour, which includes two eight-storey office towers for the Commonwealth Bank and a giant children’s playground.

The theatre is the only purpose-built performance space for children in Australia and the first major addition to Sydney’s arts infrastructure since Carriageworks, which opened in Redfern in 2007.

The Sydney lord mayor, Clover Moore, said Monkey Baa was one of Australia’s flagship theatre companies and would be a great addition to Sydney’s cultural life.

Monkey Baa is planning four productions this year and hopes to attract 15,000 children and their families to the shows.

The Bugalugs Bum Thief opens on May 5.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/monkey-business-aims-to-put-bums-on-harbourside-seats-20120417-1x5ne.html#ixzz1sOTOtPSw

Patrons of Monkey Baa Theatre – Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman and Susanne Gervay

Looking forward to a year where we can be part of a world community promoting literacy in developing counties like Room to Read – www.roomtoread.org or in Australia like Books in Homes www.biha.org.au

It’s the National Year of Reading which is launched February 14 in libraries across Australia. Call your library and find out how you can celebrate.

I’ll be at the State Library in Macquarie Street Sydney as an Ambassador for the National Year of Reading.

The Cancer Council’s Relay for Life is a community celebration of those living with cancer and working towards its eradication. Join in – walk the circuit, barbecue those sausages, enjoy the bands and festivities in your local area.

Writers can pursue their inspirations – participate in your Writers Centre, Children’s Book Council,  SCBWI – see the meetings across Australia.

I’ll be running the SCBWI events at The Hughenden Hotel in Sydney and am Festival Director of the Kids and young Adult Literature Festival 30th June at the NSW Writers Centre – come along.

Support the brilliant Monkey Baa Theatre which adapts the best in Australian children’s literature – www.monkeybaa.com.au

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation working against school bullying – love them.

So many fantastic things to do, enjoy and celebrate.

Let’s make 2012 count.

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By: Susanne Gervay, on 12/9/2011
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By: Susanne Gervay, on 12/5/2011
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JacketFlap tags:  MONKEY BAA THEATRE, Charities, May Gibbs Trust Fellowship, The Hughenden Hotel, Room to Read. www.roomtoread.org, Life Education Australia, Australia Day Ambassador Susanne gervay, The Alannah and Madeline Foundation, Ships in the Field by Susanne gervay and Anna Pignataro, Books in Homes www.biha.biha.com.au, Making A Difference Susanne Gervay, NSW Writers Centre www.nswwc.org.au, SCBWI www.scbwiaustralia.org, The Cancer Council www.cancercouncil.com.au, www.amf.org.au, News, Add a tag

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By: Susanne Gervay, on 11/15/2011
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By: Susanne Gervay, on 10/31/2011
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By: Susanne Gervay, on 10/29/2011
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By: Susanne Gervay, on 10/28/2011
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By: Susanne Gervay, on 10/13/2011
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By: Susanne Gervay, on 9/27/2011
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Susanne Gervay's I AM JACK with Tim McGarry, Monkey Baa Theatre, Seymour Centre

Monkey Baa Theatre’s I Am Jack’  just returned from the Ipswich Festival of Children’s Literature where it was the feature event, performed to 1000′s of young people and adults.

Tim McGarry performs the 11 characters in a brilliant one man show.

JACK’s having a return season at the Seymour 24th October to 4th November.

From: Adam Kronenberg – Artistic Director Outback Theatre for Young People

In the finest tradition of the one person show Tim McGarry gave a stunningly good performance. It was like watching Billy Crystal for school kids: terrific range of characters, excellent direction, simple in terms of no need for pyrotechnics and yet so sophisticated in terms of requiring the audience to invest a great deal of belief and understanding of the theatrical devise of the one person show.  

Contact: Monkey Baa Theatre

Bookings: [email protected]

PH 02 9351 7938

FAX 02 9036 7037
www.monkeybaa.com.au

 

 

 

 

 

 

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By: Susanne Gervay, on 9/17/2011
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