ActNow Theatre is a South Australiantheatre company based in Adelaide. The company creates “devised, interactive and issue-based” theatre projects focused on social justice using techniques such as Augusto Boal's Forum Theatre and principles of Community Arts and Community Cultural Development. It has been described as "one of the most innovative, inclusive and dynamic companies in Australia". The company's projects focus on communities of LGBTIQ+, First Nations Australians, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities, including a number of programs in schools or for young people. It has been compared to former theatre companies such as Melbourne Workers Theatre and Junction Theatre Company as an arts organisations working across multiple communities. The company was founded in 2007 by three high school friends, including Artistic Director Edwin Kemp Attrill. The company initially created street theatre performances, on political issues such as the incarceration of Adelaide-born Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks. Initial ensemble members were drawn from the Adelaide branch of Amnesty International Australia and local youth theatre company Urban Myth Theatre of Youth. The company is controlled by a Board of Management and is registered as a charity with Australian Charity and Not for Profit Commission. In 2018 the company established a city based rehearsal studio, office and small arts venue called MakeSpace. Previously, ActNow Theatre were supported by Carclew through a base at Fifth Quarter, a co-working space in Brompton, Adelaide. Initially the company was located in co-working spaces in UrText Studios and Format Collective. Examples of projects include school safety program Expect Respect with the Legal Services Commission of South Australia, anti-racism education program Responding to Racism with Reconciliation South Australia, Queer Youth Theatre workshops, the Game Makers program for kids and dads, and workshop program for culturally diverse artists, the Theatre of the Global Majority. The projects involve participatory theatre techniques, which empower audiences to change aspects of the performances and be active contributors and commentators to broader social movements.
"ActNow creates participatory theatre, not just to engage our audience but also to empower them to be agents of social change within a project and in their own lives. We don’t want our audience to sit quietly in the dark. We want them active as contributors and commentators. Our work finds new ways to engage with our audiences, through technology and a deep relationship between artists and audiences. The simple act of storytelling can engage audiences and create positive social change. As such, our aesthetic is typically paired back and raw, using everyday environments and technologies to create life changing experiences." - Artistic Director Edwin Kemp Attrill
Artists involved in the company include Artistic Director Edwin Kemp Attrill, poet/writer/performer Manal Younus and Associate Director Yasmin Gurreeboo. In 2014 ActNow Theatre received a Governor's Award for Multiculturalism. in both 2017 and 2018, ActNow, together with Reconciliation South Australia, was a finalist in the Australian Human Rights Commission's Racism. It Stops With Me Award, for the programs jointly developed for schools.
