Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Monday 18 July
6:30 PM - 7:30 PM
About
Looking for Alibrandi broke new ground with its honest and empowered portrait of an Italian-Australian teen coming of age in 1990s inner Sydney, speaking authentically about systemic racism in Australia from a migrant perspective. For generations of teens, the beloved novel (and later cult movie) is a foundational story. Its exploration of family, womanhood, first love, identity and othering still resonates with readers today, 30 years after its release.
Now, Melina Marchetta’s novel has been adapted for the stage. In this special collaboration between the Wheeler Centre and Malthouse Theatre, Marchetta joins playwright Vidya Rajan, director Stephen Nicolazzo, and the film’s star Pia Miranda to discuss Looking for Alibrandi’s journey from page to screen to stage, the art of adaptation, and the enduring impact of this Australian classic. Hosted by Brodie Lancaster.
Presented in partnership with Malthouse Theatre
The bookseller for this event is Hill of Content Bookshop
Illustration by Megan Herbert
The bookseller for this event is Hill of Content Bookshop
Illustration by Megan HerbertFeaturing
Melina Marchetta
Melina Marchetta is an internationally bestselling and award-winning author in more than twenty countries and eighteen languages. Her seventeen books range from beloved young adult fiction and fantasy through to contemporary and crime fiction, and works for younger readers. Her much-loved Australian classic Looking for Alibrandi swept the pool of literary awards when it was published, and was also released as a film, adapted by Marchetta, winning an AFI Award and an Independent Film Award for best screenplay, as well as the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award and the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award. In 2009 Marchetta won the prestigious Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association. Her most recent novel is The Place on Dalhousie. She lives in Sydney.
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Pia Miranda
Pia Miranda is one of Australia’s best loved and critically acclaimed actors. Since bursting onto the big screen in the much-loved film Looking for Alibrandi, Pia has become part of Australian film and television history and a ...
Stephen Nicolazzo
Stephen is a theatre maker, director and co-founder of queer theatre company, Little Ones Theatre. He is also co-artistic director of Western Edge. Upcoming: Looking for Alibrandi (Malthouse Theatre, Belvoir). Recent Credits include: Loaded (Malthouse Theatre), Considerable Sexual License (Joel Bray Dance), Merciless Gods (Arts Centre Melbourne, Griffin Theatre Company), Abigail’s Party (Melbourne Theatre Company), End Of. (Griffin Theatre Company, Darebin Arts Speakeasy), Judith Lucy and Denise Scott’s Still Here (Token Entertainment), The Happy Prince (Griffin Theatre Company), The Moors (Red Stitch), Daddy (Joel Bray Dance, Arts House, Arts Centre Melbourne, Brisbane Festival, Perth Festival, Darwin Festival) and Meme Girls (Malthouse Theatre). He is a Green Room Award winner for Best Director. His productions have received 12 Green Room Award wins and a Sydney Theatre Award. Stephen was also the recipient of the Besen Family Artist Award (2009) and was a member of the 2019 Lincoln Centre Theatre’s Directors Lab.
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Vidya Rajan
Vidya Rajan is a writer and performer currently based in Australia working across screenwriting, theatre, comedy, and digital space.
A former writer-in-residence at the Malthouse Theatre, graduate of the VCA, and a recipient of Screen Australia’s Developer Program, her work has often been described as surreal, inventive, and darkly funny.
Recently, her sketch writing as part of the The Feed (SBS) won the 2022 AWGIE award for Best Comedy Writing, and her digital interactive experience In Search of Lost Scroll took home Best Experimental Artwork at the 2022 Melbourne Fringe awards and was shortlisted for the International New Media Writing Prize.
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Brodie Lancaster
Brodie Lancaster is an author and essayist from Melbourne. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, Vogue Australia, the Guardian and New York magazine. Her first book, the pop culture memoir ...