Meeting in Moree February 4, 2011

William Yang’s joint collaboration with Noeline Briggs-Smith, Meeting in Moree on February 4 to Riverside Theatres. William Yang meets in Moree with Noeline Briggs-Smith, Kamilaroi descendant, Aboriginal researcher and librarian and 2004 Australia Day Citizen of the Year. Following a chance encounter, they undertook a collaboration - Meeting in Moree during which they exchange stories and ideas accompanied by fascinating images selected from historic collections and the rich lives of these two remarkable people, both leaders in their communities. The result is a funny, fascinating, sometimes provocative but always engrossing journey that traverses the social strata of Australian society: from the Freedom Rides of the 1960s in NSW to Sydney’s gay and arts scenes of the 1980s.

William Yang is a director, photographer and performer. Yang was born in North Queensland in 1943. His grandparents migrated from China to the Top End in the 1880s. After completing a Bachelor of Architecture at Queensland University he moved to Sydney in 1969 and worked as a freelance photographer documenting Sydney's social life which included the glamorous celebrity set and the hedonistic, sub-cultural, gay community. Since 1989 he has been performing monologues with image projection and music in the theatre. These slide shows were a form of performance theatre and have become his favourite form of showing his work. The third one, Sadness, wove together two themes: Yang's discovery of his Chinese heritage and the rituals of dying and death in Sydney. The piece has been extremely successful and like his more recent work has toured all over Australia and the world. He has done nine full length works in all, including China, Objects for Meditation and Shadows. He has won photographic awards and received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters for his services to photography. His pieces tend to be autobiographical and they explore themes of marginalisation looking at subjects like Australian Chinese families and members of the gay and Indigenous communities.

.Meeting in Moree at Riverside Theatres
cnr Church and Market Streets, Parramatta
Dates: February 4 at 7.30pm
Ticket Prices: Adult $36; Conc & Grp $32; 30 & Under $28
Bookings: Riverside Theatres Box Office on 8839 3399 or www.riversidetheatres.com.au