Ground Zero Artist Announcement

Brand X in association with WorldPride and supported by the Wales Family Foundation, presents Ground Zero, a brand-new program designed to celebrate and propel queer artists who identify as disabled, d/Deaf, hard of hearing, and/or neurodivergent during WorldPride.

Limited to two super charged nights, Ground Zero is the culmination of a two-week creative development residency at Brand X. A curated program consisting of five 10–15-minute accessible performances, the program champions the importance of accessible queer storytelling.

Created for and lead by LGBTQIA+ artists and creatives who are disabled, d/Deaf, hard of hearing, and/or neurodivergent, Ground Zero is committed to inclusion and accessibility. The program is a new initiative of LGBTQIA+ theatre director Dan Graham and Brand X, “We strive to create a space where all involved will learn, create, connect and model true representation and inclusion for the wider Australian performing arts community and beyond.”.

Following a call out conducted at the end of 2022, we are pleased to announce the artist that will be performing at The Flying Nun with Ground Zero. The exciting line-up of artists include:

Artemis Muñoz

Artemis Muñoz (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist living and working on Wurundjeri land. Their practice spans across cabaret, theatre, music, online video, sketch comedy and more. Artemis completed their Bachelor of Arts (Acting) in 2016 at Fed Uni’s Arts Academy in Ballarat and their Master of Theatre (Writing) with the VCA in 2021. Notable recent works include their solo cabaret show Artemis: Utter Mess (The Channel - Arts Centre Melbourne 2022, La Mama HQ 2022, Butterfly Club 2019), the queer physical theatre show for kids Unsorted (Theatre Works 2022, Bluestone Arts Space 2021), the autistic family drama play Breeders (La Mama Courthouse 2021: Green Room Nominee - Best Independent Theatre Ensemble) and mass-ensemble online work The People of Cabaret Variety Spectacular (Online 2020: Green Room Award Winner - Best Cabaret Ensemble). Artemis is proud to be a working queer, bi-racial and disabled artist and they are passionate about making the arts better for their communities. They hope that by creating work that is informed by their lived experience and also occassionally consulting (such as with Arts Centre Melbourne, Arts House, La Mama, St Martins Youth Arts Centre, Footscray Community Arts Centre and more) that they get closer to that goal.

Christopher Bryant

Dr. Christopher Bryant is a Griffin Award nominated playwright (Home Invasion, 2015), performer, and NIDA graduate (Master of Fine Arts (Writing for Performance), 2014). He has worked with a range of companies including fortyfivedownstairs, Malthouse Theatre, the State Library of Victoria, Wheeler Centre, ATYP, La Mama, and the Emerging
Writers Festival. He has taught with tertiary institutions around the country, and completed his Ph.D. (2020) in theatre inclusion at Monash University, under the supervision of Jane Montgomery Griffiths.

Robyn Reynolds

Robyn Reynolds (UK) is one of Australia’s hottest emerging comedians. In 2022 she was nominated for Best Comedy at Sydney Fringe Festival, and shortlisted for the Emerging Writer Award (NIDA). Reynolds is a natural raconteur, finding the funny side in the darker moments of her life. Her new show, Cake, deals with a chronic illness diagnosis, and her family’s survival of the Holocaust, yet still manages to be absolutely hilarious.

Sarah Carroll

Sarah Carroll (she/they) is a Rotuman/Australian queer writer, performer and producer working on Dharug Land (Western Sydney). In 2022, Sarah debuted their sold-out one woman show Cherry (KXT Bakehouse) which went on to win the Sydney Fringe Festival Tour Ready Award and NIDA Best Emerging Actor Award and have an encore season at Everything But The Kitchen Sink Festival (Flight Path Theatre) and Melbourne Fringe. Sarah performed in the Originate ensemble at Q Theatre (dir. Shy Magsalin) and participated in AFTRS Talent Camp and Midsumma Pathways (mentored by cabaret artist Victoria Falconer). They were also selected by Antipodes Theatre to develop a new theatrical work Sorry Not Sorry with Marissa Saroca as well as debuting their second show Unkissed as part of Shopfront Western Sydney ArtsLab to rave reviews. Currently, Sarah is involved with The Writing Zone as part of Western Sydney University Writing and Society Research Centre and an outreach coordinator/producer for Fruitbox Theatre. Sarah strives to champion for underrepresented voices to be heard and create works that uplift and engage audiences in new and exciting ways - usually with lots of sparkle and sass!

Saskia Ellis

Saskia (they/them) is a queer, neurodiverse, freelance artist, currently based on Gadigal Land. Saskia is a performance artist, choreographer, and facilitator of dance education and movement accessibility. Their practice presently inquires of illimitable womanness, queerness, vulnerability, orthogonality, and curvilinear time, in poetic physiological encapsulations. Their process curates specificities of ambiguousness, and experiential embodiments of consciousness in boundless expansion. Saskia pertains a multidisciplinary approach to accessibility and intersectionality through
inquisitive emulations of language, movement, improvisation, installation, and theoretical embodiment. Saskia’s work features throughout theatres, museums, on film, and in tangibility. Their recent work “flesh concealing scaffolds of dreams” featured in the 2022 Season of AUSTI. uNCOILEd eXposed. Saskia’s presented movement amongst; Museum of
Contemporary Art, Carriageworks, Riverside Theatres, IPAC, Critical Path, and Brand X. Saskia is a graduate of Sydney Dance Company’s PPY.

Ground Zero will be premiering at Brand X’s Darlinghurst venue, the East Sydney Community and Arts Centre (ESCAC) on the 17th and 18th of February from 7pm.

Joining the artists will be two Auslan interpreters available for both performances.

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Image credits:

Darren Gill (image of Artemis performing in Artemis: Utter Mess at La Mama HQ)

Sarah Walker (image of Christopher Bryant)

Grant Gibbins (image of Robyn Reynolds)

Mansoor Noor (image of Sarah Carroll)

Wendell Teodoro (image of Saskia Ellis)

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