Co-producer

Is God Is is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the Author(s)’s rights and actionable under United States copyright law. For more information, please visit: www.concordtheatricals.com

90 MINS (NO INTERVAL)
THIS PLAY PREMIERED AT SOHO REPERTORY THEATRE, NEW YORK CITY 6 FEB 2018
THIS PRODUCTION OPENED AT SOUTHBANK THEATRE, THE SUMNER, MELBOURNE 23 JUN 2023
THE SYDNEY SEASON OPENED AT WHARF 1, SYDNEY 19 SEP 2023

SUPPORTED BY THE STC ANGELS

Marketing image Rene Vaile

A NOTE FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR KIP WILLIAMS

Aleshea Harris is an incredible, original and provocative force in American playwriting. I am thrilled that audiences in Sydney will be finally meeting her work in this coproduction between Sydney Theatre Company and our friends at Melbourne Theatre Company. This is Harris’ debut on the Australian mainstage, but I have a feeling we are going to be see many of her plays on our shores in the years ahead.  

The thing that first struck me about Is God Is is the way it seamlessly fuses multiple traditions and genres of theatre with an unstoppably contemporary vision of the future of storytelling. The result is a work that transcends the moment of its performance, echoing both backwards and forwards in time, whilst speaking directly to the here and now.  

We couldn’t be more fortunate to have the extraordinary directing gifts of Zindzi Okenyo and STC Resident Director Shari Sebbens helming this remarkable production. Anyone that saw their recent, sensational production of seven methods of killing kylie jenner at Darlinghurst Theatre (or on tour) will agree that there could be no other directing duo to take on the artistic odyssey of this work.  

Shari and Zindzi are in many ways just like the twins at the centre of this piece, whip smart, funny, courageous, and on a mission to change the world. Together, they have both brought their formidable years of experience as directors, actors and artmakers to bare on this poetic and deeply complex piece of writing. And what an incredible cast and creative team they’ve assembled to do it with. This is an astonishing group of theatre makers, working on an astonishing new play, together forging a vital and breathtaking night in the theatre. I hope you enjoy what they’ve made and are as powerfully struck by it as I have been. 

Kip Williams, Artistic Director and Co-CEO

DIRECTORS' NOTE: ZINDZI OKENYO AND SHARI SEBBENS

Shari: After reading Aleshea Harris’s script, the theatre nerd in me immediately responded to the typography. The story also fits in with the creative collaborations we have experienced so far, or endeavour to work on. It features characters in a light we haven’t seen before: young Black women in a revenge story on stage.

Zindzi: I was really drawn to all of those things. But also the Greek nature of it. I love Greek tragedies in the way that they deal with epic proportions – of violence, sex, premonitions and fate. And they are always about families and the domestic. For Aleshea to put a Black lens on that is super clever.

The language, the typography, the rhythm and the structure of Aleshea’s writing is really unique. When you read the play, you can really feel it. When the writing is small you get a sense that maybe this person is vulnerable, maybe they are shy or haven’t found their voice yet. Sometimes the letters are all over the page. And that might be a provocation to go into some deep emotional state. Aleshea gives the actors choices – really bizarre, big choices – which you might not instinctively make on your own.

Shari: Aleshea gives a reader as close as possible to a theatrical experience through the page. She encourages the reader to use their imagination. So even after you’ve seen the play, pick up a copy, because that’s another experience in itself.

Zindzi: The play is a mash-up of Western and Greek tragedy, but in a new, fresh take because it features the Black experience. Within those genres, we see the epic nature of violence and death. There’s a showdown, there’s people finding out the truth and travelling for miles in the desert. The way the play draws inspiration from those two genres is really helpful for tone. It tells us that it's not naturalistic and we need to have fun with it.

Shari: It also forces you to question who those stories are usually reserved for – who usually gets to perform those epic genres and stories out on stage? It’s usually white fellas. In this world, Aleshea was very deliberate in putting the Black experience on stage and asking who gets to own the human experience.

Zindzi: In recent history, Sydney Theatre Company has begun programming work that centres the Black experience. I am really proud to be part of this juncture in history in which the theatre industry is finally recognising the vitality and importance of stories like Is God Is. We bring so much of ourselves to the production. 100 per cent dedication, 100 per cent joy and 100 per cent commitment. There’s an energy in the room because of the nature that Black work is not put on very often. I also get to be part of that, because this is part of my experience. As a director, it’s a very new thing for me to be in a room of people who are from the same place as me.

Shari: I feel really proud to be in the room with you as one of the few Blak directors in this country and leading this cast, all from the African diaspora. Our cast have a breadth of experience, ranging from somebody in their second play to somebody doing their twenty-second play. I love seeing the way everyone is learning from each other – because even the most experienced person hasn’t experienced the sense of community in this room, and the empowerment that comes with that.
In this story we meet two young Black women who have been victims of domestic violence, but who get to find a version of empowerment. It might not be one that makes them happy, it might not be the solution. But they get to explore options. It became really apparent to me in our first read through of the script how subtly and cunningly Aleshea decentres whiteness. This is an all-Black world, where whiteness isn’t the centre, but this is also a Black world because whiteness exists.

Zindzi: Plays like this are important for so many reasons. They’re important for artists, they’re important for the future of playwriting and they’re important for African Australian playwrights to see this kind of work. They’re also really important for audiences. Why are we doing this if we’re not doing it to share a story with an audience? I’m really excited for all of the different types of people that will come and see this show. This piece is so purely about humanity and survival and how we navigate the world. Black people will get a lot out of it. But so will everyone. If you have a heart, you will be able to recognise yourself in it.

Shari: I hope audiences can let go of any preconceived notions and go along for the ride. Because it’s also important that we get to extend our understanding of what theatre can be. To see artists creating something Australian theatre hasn’t seen before is extremely exciting

CAST & CREATIVES

ALESHEA HARRIS
Writer

Aleshea Harris’s play Is God Is (directed by Taibi Magar at Soho Rep and Ola Ince at the Royal Court) won the 2016 Relentless Award, an OBIE Award for playwriting in 2017, the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award in 2019 and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. What to Send Up When It Goes Down, a play-pageant-ritual response to anti-blackness, had its critically-acclaimed New York City premiere in 2018 (directed by Whitney White and produced by The Movement Theatre Company), was featured in the April 2019 issue of American Theatre Magazine and received a rare special commendation from the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. The play was subsequently remounted at Woolly Mammoth, A.R.T., BAM and Playwrights Horizons. Her newest play, On Sugarland (directed by Whitney White) premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in the spring of 2022. Her awards include the Windham-Campbell Literary Prize, Mimi Steinberg Playwriting Award, Hermitage Greenfield Prize, Horton Foote Playwriting Award and Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Harris is a two-time MacDowell Fellow and has enjoyed residencies at the Hermitage Artist Retreat, Hedgebrook and Djerassi.

ZINDZI OKENYO
Co-Director

Trained at NIDA, Zindzi Okenyo has performed extensively for most of Australia’s major theatre companies and was a member of Cate Blanchett’s Residents Company at Sydney Theatre Company for three years. Zindzi Assistant Directed Death of A Salesman and Associate Directed A Raisin in the Sun (Sydney Theatre Company); Co-Directed seven methods of killing kylie jenner (Darlinghurst Theatre/Greendoor) and the Melbourne season of Is God Is (Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company), Co-Directed Choir Boy (National Theatre of Parramatta) and Directed Orange Thrower (Griffin Theatre). With Sydney Theatre Company she has performed in a number of productions including Grand Horizons. With Melbourne Theatre Company she has performed in An Ideal Husband and Disgraced and is currently an Artistic Associate with the Company. A much-loved presenter on Playschool since 2012, Zindzi’s television roles include Totally Completely Fine and Wolf Like Me (Stan), Fisk, Wakefield, The Code, Hiding, Janet King, Harrow and Get Krack!n (ABC) as well as Wonderland and Sisters (Network 10). Feature films include Little Monsters and The Very Excellent Mr Dundee. Zindzi also performs her own Rap/RnB music as OKENYO and her kids' project Zindzi & the Zillionaires.

SHARI SEBBENS
Co-Director

Shari is a Bardi, Jabirr Jabirr person and one of Sydney Theatre Company’s Resident Artists. Shari has recently directed Fences for Sydney Theatre Company, seven methods of killing kylie jenner (co-director) at Darlinghurst Theatre Company, and City of Gold with Sydney Theatre Company and Black Swan State Theatre Company, and The 7 Stages of Grieving with Sydney Theatre Company. In 2020, Shari directed Superheroes for Griffin Theatre. Her credits as an actor include: Sydney Theatre Company: A Cheery Soul, Black is the New White, The Bleeding Tree (with Griffin Theatre Company), Battle of Waterloo. Other Theatre: Belvoir: Back at the Dojo, Radiance. Griffin Theatre Company: City of Gold, The Bleeding Tree, Hoax. QT: An Octaroon. Black Swan State Theatre Company: Our Town. Her film credits include The Sapphires, Top End Wedding, Australia Day, Teenage Kicks, The Darkside. Her TV credits include The Office, Black Comedy, Redfern Now, The Gods of Wheat Street, The Heights, Little J & Big Cuz. She was Sydney Theatre Company’s 2019 Richard Wherrett Fellow. Her awards include: 2013 Logie for Most Outstanding Newcomer (Redfern Now), 2020 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Mainstage Production (City of Gold). Shari studied at NIDA and WAAPA.

HENRIETTA ENYONAM AMEVOR 
Anaia

Sydney Theatre Company: Hubris and Humiliation, A Raisin in the Sun (as Understudy). Other Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company: Is God Is (with Sydney Theatre Company). Outhouse Theatre: The Rolling Stone. Bomtom: The House at Boundary Road Liverpool. Tinderbox Productions: Claudel. As Community Engagement Team Member: Darlinghurst Theatre: seven methods of killing kylie jenner. As Creative Associate: Green Door Theatre Company: Chewing Gum Dreams. TV: Bump. Pronouns: She/Her.

CLARE CHIHAMBAKWE 
Angie

Sydney Theatre Company: Debut. Other Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company: Is God Is (with Sydney Theatre Company), The Heartbreak Choir. Michael Cassel Group: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Arts Asia Pacific: Avenue Q. Live Theatre Productions: Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. Glynn Nicholas Group: Eurobeat. Jacobsen Entertainment: Dirty Dancing. The Production Company: Sweet Charity, 42nd Street. ODTC: Goldilocks. Film: includes Late Night with the Devil, Better Man, Goddess, Happy Feet Two, Knowing. TV: Utopia, Love Me, Mustangs, Barracuda, Packed to the Rafters, Home and Away.

KEVIN COPELAND 
Man

Sydney Theatre Company: Debut. Other Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company: Is God Is (with Sydney Theatre Company). New Theatre: Boys in the Band. Zenith Theatre: Six Degrees of Separation. Film: Muriel’s Wedding, Welcome to Woop Woop, Gabriel, Infini, The Osiris Child. TV: Power Rangers – Beast Morphers, Heartbreak High, Water Rats, Farscape, On the Beach, Rake, The Lost World. Training: University of California, Los Angeles School of Theatre, Film and Television.

MASEGO PITSO 
Racine

Sydney Theatre Company: Debut. Other Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company: Is God Is (with Sydney Theatre Company).Redline Productions: Chewing Gum Dreams. ATYP: M. Rock. As Assistant Director: Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta: Choir Boy. Awards: 2022 Sydney Theatre Award for the Best Newcomer (Chewing Gum Dreams). Training: The University of Notre Dame.

CESSALEE STOVALL 
She

DARIUS WILLIAMS 
Scotch

Sydney Theatre Company: Fences. Other Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company: Is God Is (with Sydney Theatre Company). Sport For Jove: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Theatre 180: I and You. ATYP: M.Rock, Intersection, The Voices Project. Perth Theatre Trust: A Wonderful Life. QTheatre: Leda and the Swan. WAAPA: Hamlet, The Cherry Orchard. New Voice: Eli. Film: Transfusion, Don’t Go Below, My Pet Dinosaur, Dinosaur Island. TV: includes Deadloch, Home & Away. Audiobooks: Gemini Falls, Vincent and the Grandest Hotel on Earth. Awards: 2020 Vice Chancellor’s Shakespeare Award for Best Actor. Training: WAAPA. Pronouns: He/Him.

PATRICK WILLIAMS 
Chuck Hall

Sydney Theatre Company: Debut. Other Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company: Is God Is (with Sydney Theatre Company). Malthouse Theatre: Strangers in the Night. Ensemble Theatre: The Sunset Limited. fortyfivedownstairs: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre: Prayer Machine. BBJ Productions: Bad Boy Johnny. Everyday Productions: The Buddy Holly Story. E,H&W Productions/Auckland Theatre Company: Hair. J Nicholls Productions: Oh! What a Night. GFO: An Officer and a Gentleman. J Frost & Co: The Bodyguard. Film: Foe, Woody Woodpecker II. TV: The Kettering Incident, Wanted, Rosehaven, Fires, Laid, The Librarians, True Story with Hamish & Andy, My Life is Murder, Five Bedrooms, Riptide, Deadloch. Performances with: INXS, Hunters & Collectors, The Models, Tina Arena, Renee Geyer, Kate Ceberano, Stephen Cummings.

GRANT YOUNG
Riley

Sydney Theatre Company:Debut. Other Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company: Is God Is (with Sydney Theatre Company). Antipodes Theatre Company: Passing Strange. Film: Wanda and Sully. TV: Single Out. Short Film: Not an Animal.Training: Swinburne, VCA, NIDA.

RENÉE MULDER 
Designer

Sydney Theatre Company: Julia (with Canberra Theatre Centre), Grand Horizons, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Triple X (with QT), Banging Denmark, The Torrents (with Black Swan State Theatre Company), Black is the New White, The Bleeding Tree (with Griffin Theatre Company, presented by STC), Hamlet: Prince of Skidmark, Orlando, Battle of Waterloo, The Effect (with QT), Perplex, The Long Way Home, Dance Better at Parties, Mrs Warren’s Profession, Mariage Blanc. As Costume Designer: The Importance of Being Earnest, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Playing Beatie Bow, The Harp in the South: Part One and Part Two, Saint Joan, Top Girls, Chimerica, Endgame, Children of the Sun, Vere (Faith) (with STCSA). As Set Designer: Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness (with La Boite). As Associate Designer: Cyrano de Bergerac. Other Theatre: As Designer: Queensland Theatre: First Casualty, Family Values, Boy Swallows Universe, Return to the Dirt, Mouthpiece, Nearer the Gods, An Octoroon, Sacre Bleu!, Fat Pig. Melbourne Theatre Company: Is God Is (with Sydney Theatre Company), Prima Facie, Home, I’m Darling, Arbus & West. Griffin Theatre Company: Dogged, Prima Facie, The Bleeding Tree, Rice, The Boys, A Hoax (with La Boite). La Boite: As You Like It, Ruben Guthrie, I Love You, Bro. Positions: Design Director at Queensland Theatre (2021). Sydney Theatre Company Resident Designer (2012– 14). Awards: Sydney Theatre Awards for Best Stage Design of a Mainstage Production for The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Best Costume Design for Top Girls. A Green Room Award for Outstanding Design for Costume for Home, I’m Darling, Matilda Award for Best Design for Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness and First Casualty. Training: NIDA, Queensland College of Art.

JENNY HECTOR 
Lighting Designer

Sydney Theatre Company: Debut. Other Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company: Is God Is (with Sydney Theatre Company), The Dream Life of Butterflies. Lara Thoms and Samara Hersch: Please Stand. Aphids: Class Act. Chunky Move/Restless Dance Theatre: Rewards for the Tribe. Kamila Andini/AsiaTOPA: The Unseen. Guts Dance: The Perception Experiment.  Sydney Chamber Opera: The Howling Girls. Balletlab: Miracle. Black Sequin Dress: Madeleine. As Set and Lighting Designer: Jo Lloyd: Overture. Jacob Boehme: Blood on the Dance Floor. Jodee Mundy: Imagined Touch. Awards: Green Room Awards for Best Lighting for Miracle and Madeleine, 2016 Green Room Award for Technical Achievement.

JOE PARADISE LUI 
Composer & Sound Designer

Sydney Theatre Company: The Torrents (with Black Swan State Theatre Company). Other Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company: Is God Is (with Sydney Theatre Company), Bernhardt/Hamlet. Black Swan State Theatre Company: Barracking for the Umpire. As Writer and Lighting Designer: Elbow Room: Enlightenment. As Director: The Blue Room Theatre: The Ugly and Salome Delta. Black Swan State Theatre Company: Unsung Heroes. Positions: Founding member of Renegade Productions. Awards: Winner of the 2013 Spirit of the Fringe award.

KUDA MAPEZA
Assistant Director

Sydney Theatre Company: Debut. Other Theatre: As Actor: Michael Cassel Group: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Essential Theatre: Emilia. Sophia Braus/RISING: Invisible Opera. Polyglot Theatre: When the World Turns. As Support Artist/Assistant Director: Western Edge Youth Arts: Time’s Ticking, Distortion. As Creator, Dramaturg and Performer: Darebin Arts/Darebin Council: YUKYUH. Awards: Recipient of the John Bell Scholarship in 2017(Bell Shakespeare).

LYNDALL GRANT
Fight Choreographer

Sydney Theatre Company: Così (with Melbourne Theatre Company), Lord of the Flies. Other Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company: Is God Is (with Sydney Theatre Company), My Sister Jill, Is God Is, Sunday, As You Like It, Berlin, The Lifespan of a Fact, The Architect, Torch the Place, The Lady in the Van, Astroman, Macbeth, Straight White Men, Lillith: The Jungle Girl, Minnie and Liraz, Melbourne Talam. Disney Australia: Beauty and the Beast. GWB: Death of a Salesman, 2:22 A Ghost Story. David Venn Enterprises: Cruel Intentions the Musical. GWB/Australian Ballet: An American in Paris. Malthouse Theatre: Nosferatu, Looking for Alibrandi, Atlantis, The Return, Because the Night, Cloudstreet. As Actor:Michael Cassel Group: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Positions: Accredited teacher with the British Academy of Dramatic Combat and a member of the Society of Australian Fight Directors. Founding director of Captivate Action. Teaching positions at Victorian College of the Arts, 16th Street Actors Studio and National Theatre Drama School. Training: ArtsEd London School of Acting.

AMY CATER 
Intimacy Coordinator

Sydney Theatre Company: Debut. Other Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company: Is God Is (with Sydney Theatre Company), Jacky, Cyrano, Sunday, My Sister Jill, Bernhardt/Hamlet, Fun Home, As You Like It. Michael Cassel Group: &Juliet. GWB Entertainment: Death of a Salesman. TV: Love Me, The Twelve, The Newsreader, Bad Behaviour, The Clearing, Safe Home, Swift St, Human Error, Gold Diggers. Film: The Rooster, Better Man, Sleeping Dogs, Slant. Positions: 20 years’ experience working with sexuality, embodiment, consent and intimacy; specifically, within the adult industry, client therapy and education spaces. Director/Senior Photographer of ethical erotica for four years. Qualified Psychosomatic Therapist, Sexological Bodyworker and Somatic Sex Educator.

LISA DALLINGER
Voice Coach

Sydney Theatre Company: Debut. Other Theatre: includes La Mama: To Lonely, with Love. La Mama Mobile/ Girls Act Good: Ladies of the Bay. Brunswick Arts Space: The Medea Project. CLOC: Jersey Boys. Owl and Cat Theatre: The Violet Sisters. Always Three Sides: She said, She said. Film: includes Three Sisters, Something Has Died in the Forest. Other: Lisa currently tutors in voice at VCA and Federation University. Lisa is a core ensemble member of the collective ‘Girls Act Good’, in which she creates, performs and coaches regularly. Training: VCA: Post-Graduate Diploma in Voice Studies, University of Melbourne: Masters of Teaching (Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching Shakespeare), Federation University: Bachelor of Arts (Acting). Pronouns: She/ Her.

AMANI DORN

Accent Coach

Sydney Theatre Company: Fences, A Raisin in the Sun. Other Theatre: As Dialect Coach: American Players Theatre: The Royale. Cleveland Playhouse: Moriarty. Savannah College of Art and Design: School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play. Virginia Commonwealth University: School Girls. Syracuse Stage: Tender Rain. Australian Tour: Tina the Musical. ACT: History of Theatre. Tritone Paradox Productions: Lysistrata of Aristophanes, An African Version. Moving Theater Institute: Freedom Hair. Utah Shakespeare Festival: Intimate Apparel, The Greenshow, Cymbeline, Ragtime, Trouble in Mind, The Sound of Music. Royal Manitoba Theatre Company: The Mountaintop. Persephone Theatre: The Mountaintop. Royal Wales Department of Music and Drama: Sweat. Southern Methodist University: Hurt Village. Capital Classics: Victory. Theatre Latte Da: Jelly’s Last Jam. Obsidian Theatre: Is God Is. Training: Certified in Knight-Thompson Speechwork and Fitzmaurice Voicework. MFA U.C. Irvine.

CO-Producers: MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY

At Melbourne Theatre Company, we’re for stories. The stories less told, the stories told before and the stories yet to be told.

As Victoria’s state theatre company and a department of the University of Melbourne, we deliver an irresistible annual program of live performance and related activity at our Southbank Theatre home and as resident theatre company at Arts Centre Melbourne. With MTC Digital Theatre our productions can be streamed at home, around Australia.
 
Over 70 years we have presented more than 850 productions and been at the forefront of groundbreaking new work that has shaped artists, audiences and the country.

Artists are at the heart of this future and we are proudly artist-led. Our artistic success rests on the understanding that the highest quality theatre is only possible when all artists – regardless of race, sexuality, faith, ability, age or gender – are given the same opportunities to flourish.

Discover more at mtc.com.au

Executive Director & Co-CEO Sally Noonan
Artistic Director & Co-CEO Anne-Louise Sarks

CORPORATE PARTNERS

Sydney Theatre Company celebrates the support of our valued corporate partners. Find out more about our current partners.

OUR DONOR COMMUNITY

Thank you STC Angels for your unwavering commitment to our work.

Anita Belgiorno-Nettis AM & Luca Belgiorno-Nettis AM
Jane & Andrew Clifford
Alan Joyce AC & Shane Lloyd
Gretel Packer AM
Rebel Penfold-Russell OAM
Ruth Ritchie
Rosie Williams & John Grill on behalf of the Serpentine Foundation

Thank you to our donors at all levels, who support a bright future for STC.

If you would like to help STC continue to be one of the largest employers of artists and theatre-makers in Australia, please make consider making a tax-deductible donation.

SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Alan Joyce AC (Chair)
Ann Johnson (Deputy Chair)
Anita Belgiorno-Nettis AM
Brooke Boney
Mark Coulter
David Craig
Anne Dunn
Heather Mitchell AM
Gretel Packer AM
David Paradice AO
Annette Shun Wah
Kip Williams

See Sydney Theatre Company’s full staff list.