“Thousands of teenagers perform an HSC monologue every year, written by an older writer reminiscing on what being a teenager felt like. The Monologue Collective puts teenagers at the forefront of telling their own stories.”
~ Laneikka Denne, creator of The Monologue Project.
What sprang from an original desire to support peers and having struggled herself to find age appropriate and indeed the lived experience of the diverse culture that is ‘young people’, Laneikka posed the question more widely through social media. It would seem there was an avalanche of need. Young people wanted guidance for the writing and making of these unique and yet very personable performance monologues. In their voice.
This process stretched into a program of writing workshops and along the way dramaturgical support and other expertise to garner the voices of 12 distinctive young story-tellers. This project’s reality would rise throughout the 2021 Covid lockdowns and beyond to find performance season in 2022. First at the KXT space and then in the Shopfront Theatre at Carlton for a brief return in December, where I first encountered the work.
Right at its inception Laneikka wanted to see a production of the work. She had been working with bAKEHOUSE @ KXT (Kings Cross Theatre) as an associate artist and lo and behold a purposeful project was realised in these very early imaginings and she developed the project through the support of the bAKEHOUSE residencies 2021.
I was also able to interview one of the young teenage writers who chose to perform their own work for the project. Not only that, but Jesse chose to perform this work as their own HSC drama individual performance in 2022. Jesse Phillips, artist writer and performer, is a seventeen year old half Irish, half-Vietnamese trans man from Western Sydney who is passionate about writing, film, and theatre. He has been a member of the Fairfield PYT Pilots for almost two years now,
helping direct and act in group performances done with his fellow pilots, such as a theatre competition where he directed and for which he also wrote work.
Speaking with Jesse makes it clear the work is for someone just like him. He is keen that others might have access to the words of his creation. Now that PlayLab have also taken on the publishing plan. He also acknowledges that the process was paramount. The work really did expand through many generations from the original pitch idea. This was really Laneikka’s vision. That the unique pitch of each artist whose story she shortlisted would find their own way through the process. In the final adventure two writers could not see their work taken to performance by others (their choice), although they stuck with the writing project. Two (including Jesse) chose to perform as well as write. The writers had final say on the actors who sent their tapes for the final selection process.
Nisrine Amine who was the director of the first project, makes mention that the collective was what drew her to be attached. Her encouragement is that the space to tell these stories, the movement of the characters in their space is a clarifying tool. I witnessed that on stage at Carlton’s performance season. The performers playing at times more than one of the monologues and the final Q&A post show allowing the reveal of their new self-belief. Both the writers and the performers. It would seem a collective is something that can really work for these individual performance makers. As a drama teacher myself I see such great promise in all their self-belief that has come from such a project whereby each has supported each other so well. Jesse mentioned this about the face to face in person workshops sharing. The build of the trust circle. Bouncing ideas around.
Laneikka is a young person herself having only graduated from High School with the class of 2019 (she thinks). Laneikka is an unstoppable theatre creative maker. From her bio, she wrote her debut play DEAD SKIN at seventeen, which was awarded the State Theatre Company and Flinders University Young Playwright’s Award and premiered at Kings Cross Theatre in 2021, published by Australian Plays. Her next project sees her own writing, the play FEMINAZI successfully accepted as first up in the Belvoir 25a season as soon as next month. Written and produced by Laneikka. I hope such endeavours continue to find traction and support. If Laneikka has a say in it, they will. She is a prolific creative. Writing, making, producing and all non stop. Such an inspiration.
So where to from here? Beyond Laneikka’s hopes for a regional tour keeping the original team together, she also has dreams of a refined process that in its next iteration will be tighter and shorter with just as terrific outcomes and for an ongoing access for young writers through a program that could potentially be produced by other young people. She has been invited to run a workshop for drama educators. She has a terrific amount to say and share and encourage. She wants to see, hear and encourage the younger generation to be the now generation whose ideas, stories, voices are valued and explored. No one should have to wait to get old for their story to be told.
She has very big imaginings, I think she might very well change the world.
To keep up to date on instagram or Facebook @themonologuecollective
The Monologue Collective is being published by Play Lab and you can pre order a copy here:
https://playlabtheatre.com.au/shop-publications/digital-publications/monologue-collective/
Arts on Tour are also working with Laneikka to begin structuring a 2024 tour of The Monologue Collective around regional NSW. If you would like more information fill out this google form and they’ll get back to you
https://forms.gle/QqVWJurVRZNdC2nH8
Laneikka’s next project is FEMINAZI – https://belvoir.com.au/productions/feminazi/
