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Stella Kent

STELLA KENT

  
Nationality:    Australian
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Launceston writer Stella Kent is the author of numerous short stories and articles as well as thirteen plays which include Because, Boz & Co., Conviction, Jocasta, Demon King, Mr Bligh's Third Mutiny and The von Trapped Family for CentrStage, Our Path for Theatre North in the inauguralTen Days on the Island Festival, Demons, Because and A Tale of One Cityfor ABC Radio, and Because for Thespian Tendencies at the Adelaide Fringe. Two of her plays have been short-listed for the Griffin Award (Conviction andBoz & Co., which was joint runner-up). A Tale of One City won an Australian Writers' Guild Award and Our Path received an AWGIE nomination. Until recently Dr Kent was an Honorary Research Assistant at the University of Tasmania's School of Performing Arts where she taught for many years. In 2006 she received funding from the Australian Script Centre to be Playwright in Residence at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and together with her husband Harry was a Visiting Fellow at Jane Franklin Hall in Hobart in 2007.

Research:    http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/1389

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below is a list of Stella Kent's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Because         Becoming Henry         Boz & Co         Conviction         Demon King         Demons         Fair Copy         Jocasta         Mr Bligh's Third Mutiny         New Tasmanians         Our Path         Poxed         Tamar Tidings         Von Trapped Family, The

Because

Synopsis:
Through the life of the controversial poet James McAuley, Because explores how individuals struggle - and often fail - to discover who they are and what they believe in. A chief focus is McAuley's attempt to undermine modern poetry by his invention of Ern Malley. The play traces the effect on those who were duped, as well as raising questions about the nature of poetic inspiration. The other contentious events of McAuley's public life are played against the backdrop of his fanatical support for Australia's involvement in the Vietnam war. In line with its concerns about truth, Because also questions how factual any portrayal can be of a well-known person who has recently died. (Because was chosen for ABC FM's series The Stage of the Nation , a selection of plays from around Australia).

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Earl Arts Centre, Launceston, TAS    01 Mar 1995

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Full-Length 90 mins Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/87656

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Becoming Henry

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Full-Length 90 mins Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Boz & Co

Synopsis:
'Boz & Co' traces the attempt by James Boswell, the eighteenth-century biographer of Dr Johnson, to settle on a single, cohesive identity. The play explores his intimacy with three people: Zaide, the lively, unconventional blue-stocking writer with whom he has a tumultuous relationship, simultaneously wanting to marry her and being prevented by his own chauvinism; Dr Johnson, the wheezing literary sage of the coffee-houses, whom Boswell initially turned to as a father figure, but whom he eventually comes to regard as a pompous old fool; and John Reid, a felon convicted of sheep-stealing whom Boswell defended arduously in the courts, but is finally hanged. 'Boz & Co' suggests that far from being established truths, both history and human identity are created.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Earl Arts Centre, Launceston, TAS    14 Apr 1999

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Full-Length 70 mins Drama Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/87659

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Conviction

Synopsis:
In 1837 Sir John Franklin, Arctic explorer and a man who could not bear to witness the punishment of his own men, arrives as Governor of the penal colony, Van Diemen's Land. Conviction is the story of those unfortunate years. The well-meaning but politically naive Sir John is accompanied by his wife Jane, a vivacious, courageous, meddlesome blue-stocking determined to transform Hobart Town into the cultural capital of the southern hemisphere, and by his friend the reformer Alexander Machonochie. The idealistic Franklins find themselves in increasing conflict with the pragmatic Colonial Secretary, John Montagu, who is implacably opposed to any changes to the system he has been administering for years. An exploration of what happens when people pursue their convictions, the play shows how Montagu becomes a Machiavellian schemer, undermining Lady Jane's plans for reform and engineering the dismissal first of Machonochie and finally of Governor Franklin.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Annexe Theatre, Launceston, TAS    02 Apr 2003

Organisations:
CentrStage

1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Full-Length 90 mins Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/87718

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Demon King

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Rehearsed readings of new Australian performance texts for theatre, film and radio.

1st Produced:
Old Fitzroy Hotel Theatre, Woolloomooloo, NSW    16 Aug 2004

Organisations:
Parnassus' Den

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
reading

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/64395

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Demons

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
ABC Radio National, Australia (Nov 1993)

1st Produced:
showcased by Playworks at Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney    May 1989

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Full-Length 90 mins Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/87654

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Fair Copy

Synopsis:
When plague breaks out in the year 1600, two actors decide to reskill by enrolling in a drama course. But the Drama School is strangely modern, the professor is obsessed with getting sponsorship and life revolves around a temperamental photocopier. Fair Copy gently pokes fun at modern technology and education, but underneath it challenges the very notion of "reality". How can the actors know both the playwright, Will Shakespeare, and the character, Hamlet? Are we in the sixteenth century or the twenty-first? Is "Alfred" a boy or a woman? Or is everyone just in another play?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Berry Theatre, Berry, NSW    07 Sep 2005

Organisations:
Berry Drama Group

1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
50 mins Magical realist comedy

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/87658

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Jocasta

Synopsis:
This reworking of the Oedipal myth focuses on Queen Jocasta who was fated to marry her son. A highly theatrical piece using heightened language and incorporating the wild Furies and the seductive Sphinx, Jocasta revisits timeless themes of free will and determinism, but with a fresh slant in the light of current debates over genetic determinism and the personal accountability of politicians, CEOs and individuals.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Annexe Theatre, Launceston, TAS    07 Sep 2005

Organisations:
CentrStage

1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
tragedy 80 min

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/87719

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Mr Bligh's Third Mutiny

Synopsis:
In 1809 David Collins, Governor of neglected Van Diemen's Land, is astonished to hear that Governor Bligh is sailing up the Derwent, seeking a haven from the recent Rum Rebellion against him in Sydney. Collins, staunch in his support for Bligh, immediately moves out of Government House so it can be occupied by Bligh and Mary, his recently widowed, self-absorbed daughter. Initial relations between the two men are excellent. But the volatile Bligh cannot help interfering with the administration of the colony and disapproves of Collins' sixteen year-old mistress. And when Collins finds himself in the impossible situation of being instructed by Sydney not to provision Bligh, relations between the two deteriorate so rapidly that the little colony actually finds itself on the brink of civil war. This story is the kernel for an exploration of a crucial dilemma we increasingly face today as our inner voice struggles to make itself heard above the voices of our education, and of the organisations for which we work. The terrible cost to Collins of finally living by his own values is to find himself cast in the role of a mutineer, a realisation which destroys him.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Annexe Theatre, Launceston, TAS    15 Sep 2010

Organisations:
CentrStage

1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama, Historical 110 min

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/87721

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New Tasmanians

Synopsis:
New Tasmanians tells the poignant, humorous and uplifting story of the Europeans who migrated to Tasmania after the second World War. In exploring the universal journey of the migrant, it presents numerous iconic moments: the voyage out, the migrant camp, initial misunderstandings in the school and workplace, and the transformation the migrants themselves make to the character of Tasmania.

Notes:
Originally written as an adjunct to a museum exhibition, NEW TASMANIANS is easily adapted to performance in any space, with a cast that can range in size from 3 to 30.

1st Produced:
[reading] Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery Lawn, Launceston, TAS    19 Mar 2006

Organisations:
The Australian Script Centre

1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
drama 50 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/87720

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Our Path

Synopsis:
Our Path celebrates the Federation of Australia and Launceston

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Cataract Gorge Grounds, Launceston, TAS    29 Mar 2001

Organisations:
Ten Days on the Island Limited

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
community

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/1026

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Poxed

Synopsis:
Mr Colley Cibber, flamboyant actor-manager and - by his own admission - the worst Poet Laureate ever appointed, has one aim in life: to become the hero of one of the most remarkable women of the eighteenth century, poet and writer, Lady Mary Montagu. But Mary has other concerns. Her lover Remond is threatening blackmail and waspish poet Alexander Pope who formerly idolised her, is now publishing poisonous verses about her. Furthermore, when a smallpox epidemic sweeps through London, Lady Mary whose own fabled beauty had been destroyed by the pox, determines to have her daughter inoculated, using the unheard of procedure she witnessed while living in Constantinople. Thus she becomes the reluctant champion of inoculation in the west, facing the hysterical prejudice of those who scorn a proven method simply because it is practised by old women in Muslim Turkey. By deliberately blurring the boundaries between character and actor and between past and present, the play suggests that eighteenth century xenophobia and misogyny foreshadow our own. Poxed explores masks in their many guises - wigs, wit, stays - exploring the necessity of the persona but also the dangers of a narcissistic identification with the outer shell. Above all, however - although the play is full of humour - the story is a metaphor for the battle between the great opposing forces of contagion and inoculation, of destruction and creativity. The poison spread by smallpox and the South Sea Bubble are triumphed over by those of good heart like Mr Handel, whose music suffuses the play. And as Cibber who narrates events to the present-day audience tells us, Lady Mary's courage is finally acknowledged when the United Nations declares smallpox eradicated in 1979 and singles her out as the forgotten hero who saved millions of lives.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Post-modern historical comedy-drama 80 min

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Tamar Tidings

Synopsis:
A theatrical extravaganza presented on a moving barge as it makes its way from Launceston to Low Head with theatre/dance/music groups on a floating stage.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Annexe Theatre, Launceston, TAS    29 Oct 2007

Organisations:
CentrStage

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
community

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/73788

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Von Trapped Family, The

Synopsis:
In The Sound of Music the von Trapps are portrayed as the happiest family in the world. The Von Trapped Family, however, explores the darker side of the family spoken of by the real von Trapp children in their later years. Sweet postulant nun Maria actually had an explosive temper, whereas their father Georg - portrayed by Hollywood as a stern martinet - was in fact a loving, gentle father. The play shows how Maria's initiative and will-power save the family after the 1932 bank crash and later when the family, fleeing from Hitler, arrive as refugees in America, but these very qualities which save the family, also trap them. Maria isolates the children, desperate to keep them as voices for the family choir which provides their income, and to work from dawn to dusk on their farm. Thus one daughter, Ingrid, is in her forties before she even enters a grocery store and another, Renata, is forced to elope when Maria locks her up. Set against some of the most shattering events of the twentieth century, Trapped explores the continuum of exile, belonging and entrapment on a personal and political level as individual members of the family seek their place in the family and in America where they live in Amish-like isolation. The more poignant moments of this story are balanced by the play's boisterous, non-realistic style, by adult or young adult actors playing the parts of even the youngest children, and by humour.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
comedy 100 min

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  8            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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