PLAYWRIGHT

In an earlier chapter of her working life, Jane Harrison was an advertising copywriter. She began writing for the theatre with the commission by Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Co-operative of Stolen.

Writing STOLEN over a six-year period also coincided with a personal journey to connect more with her Aboriginal heritage. She is a descendant of the Muruwari people of NSW.

STOLEN centres on five children, who were removed - from their families, and all they knew and loved - and then institutionalised. STOLEN premiered at Playbox Theatre, Melbourne in 1998, and has productions every year since - in Melbourne and country Victoria, Sydney, Adelaide, and Tasmania, the UK (twice), Hong Kong and Tokyo, along with readings in Canada and New York (in 2004). Jane was the co-winner, with Dallas Winmar, of the Kate Challis RAKA Award 2002. STOLEN has been on the VCE English list since 2002.

Her most recent play, RAINBOW'S END, set in the 1950s around three generations of an Aboriginal family living on the riverbanks, had a season in early 2005. Her script for a musical theatre adaptation of WALKABOUT will also be produced in 2005, by Chamber Made. She contributed one chapter to MANY VOICES, REFLECTIONS ON EXPERIENCES OF INDIGENOUS CHILD SEPARATION, a book that evolved out of the BRINGING THEM HOME ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, published by the National Library, Canberra in 2002. Another project - still in draft form - is a teenage fiction novel, FINDING KIRRALI JONES, about a young Koori girl seeking answers regarding her identity, and discovering those answers aren't what she expected.

As well as writing, Jane teaches Cultural Studies to Indigenous Performing Arts students at Swinburne University. She is (quietly) passionate about the education of young people. 'With knowledge comes understanding, with understanding comes empathy, and these are the stepping stones in the healing process'. She lives in Melbourne with her two (gorgeous) daughters.