Part of our research into developing the story Asmin in this show, led us to a remarkable documentary called ‘Girls of Hope’ created by Delizia Flaccavento and Aysegul Selenga which explores educational challenges for girls from Eastern Turkiye. In a bold move, we asked Delizia, Aysegul and Australian artist Roslyn Oades to collaborate on making a short documentary to sit alongside ‘Ada, Asmin and the Analytical Engine’, exploring a bit more the challenges faced by Asmin. The result is ‘Purple Violets’, a ten minute film work. We invite you to watch the video below and learn a little bit more about what life is like for some girls in contemporary Turkiye, and, if you can, please donate to Plan International Australia so they can continue championing education access for all.
Donate here; https://www.plan.org.au/
You can learn more about Delizia Flaccavento and Aysegul Selenga’s work here http://girlsofhope.com/about.html
Donate here; https://www.plan.org.au/
You can learn more about Delizia Flaccavento and Aysegul Selenga’s work here http://girlsofhope.com/about.html
Creatives
Writers: Sarah Kriegler and Deniz Aslan
Directors: Jacob Williams and Sarah Kriegler
Dramaturgy: Ben Grant
Set, Puppet, Costume Design & Mrs Puff puppet construction: Tamara Rewse (Things of Foam and Wood)
Prop maker & Puppet Maker: Steve Scott
Lighting Design: Bronwyn Pringle
Sound Design: Meena Shamaly & Natalie Jefferies
Set Maker: David Rewse
Costume Maker: Ann Kriegler
Performers
Asmin/Puppeteer: Asmida Aslan
Ada/Puppeteer: Ada Williams Kriegler
Brother/Charles Babbage/Puppeteer: Oz Malik
Lady Byron/Mother/Puppeteer : Fiona Mcleod
Mrs Puff puppeteer : Jacob Williams
Voice Overs: Ben Grant (Mr Davis), Caroline Lee (Ms Walker) & Meena Shamaly (Father)
Crew
Stage Management: Holly Anderson
Production Manager: David Farmer (O2)
Producers: Dans Sheeran and Lauren Eisinger (ParrotOX)
The idea for ADA, ASMIN AND THE ANALYTICAL ENGINE arose when Ada Williams Kriegler was presented a book as a young kid called ‘Ada’s Ideas’. This book explores the amazing work of English mathematician Ada Lovelace and set me on a path to uncover more of Ada Lovelace’s story. As the story unfolded, the maths being described got more and more complex and I was soon out of my depth. It was at this point, I asked my friend Deniz Aslan to help.
Before having to flee her native Turkiye during the 2012 government crackdown, Deniz was an academic, maths teacher and a champion for girls’ education. Deniz and I spent many months talking about maths, teaching, learning and specifically, access to education for girls worldwide. It is through the experiences of Deniz, her daughter Asmida and Deniz’s students that the story of Asmin arose. While Asmin is a fictional character, her story sadly is not and according to Plan International, educational access for girls worldwide has got significantly worse since the pandemic.
Making work post-pandemic continues to be complex for small companies such as Lemony S Puppet Theatre but we are so lucky to have a team of amazing supporters who have rallied behind us and made this possible. We extend our deepest thanks and heartfelt gratitude to the following people for all their support. Andrew Kay and Associates, Riverside Theatre, The Bowery, The Melbourne Fringe Festival, Katja Kriegler and Noel Hanway, Anthony Kriegler, Henry Williams Kriegler, Danis and Ronnie Aslan.
- Sarah Kriegler, co-writer/director.
Cast Biogs.
ASMIN. Asmida Aslan is a Turkish-Kurdish refugee residing in Australia. While born into a family of mathematicians, Asmida has always had a deep fondness and fascination for the arts and performance taking drama classes in Turkey from a young age and was a performance student at ‘House of Muchness’ for many years.
ADA. Ada Williams Kriegler has been involved in performances from when she was tiny, making shows in the lounge room with piles of puppets and a handful of handmade tickets. She has been involved in two Lemony S Puppet Theatre shows in the past, lending her voice to Rosie Podge from ‘Rosie Pogde, the Alien That Saved the Day’ as well as the child voice-overs in ‘Picasso and His Dog’. She has also performed in numerous Chamber Made community shows at The Venny as well as a Chamber Made creative development showing. She was a performance student at ‘House of Muchness’ for many years where she has performed and created many theatrical performances. Recently she played Ariel in ‘The Tempest’ for Secondary school.
LADY BYRON/MOTHER. Fiona Macleod is a performer, voice artist, audio book narrator, facilitator, corporate actor and arts publicist. In her 30 year career Fiona has had numerous roles across stage, film and TV, and she co-founded The Other Tongue Theatre Company with writer Jane Bodie and toured extensively. Fiona has trained with Alec Rubin at the Actors Studio and Jack Walzer in London. Her theatre roles in 'The City' and 'Construction Of The Human Heart' have earned her Green Room Award nominations for best actress. Film credits include NOISE (AFI Award winner), TV credits include UTOPIA, 5 BEDROOMS, BACK IN VERY SMALL BUSINESS, WENTWORTH, OFFSPRING, 7 TYPES OF AMBIGUITY, LAID, PAPER GIANTS 2, FRONTLINE and MISS FISHERS MURDER MYSTERIES.
BROTHER/CHARLES BABBAGE. Oz Malik is Film/stage actor born in Melbourne, Australia. His acting experience was cultivated at the National theatre of Victoria, The Australia Film & Television Academy and Brave studios. Oz Malik has been a theatre and screen actor who has been involved in stage shows, short films, campaigns, TV, voice over works,
Creatives Biogs.
Sarah Kriegler. CO WRITER & CO DIRECTOR.
Sarah is an award winning director, puppeteer, writer, and co director of Lemony S Puppet Theatre. She trained at the V.C.A, School of Drama (Animateuring), and Teatro San Martin Puppet School, B.A. Argentina. She wrote and directed Lemony S’ work PICASSO AND HIS DOG which toured nationally throughout 2019 and was remounted for the Melbourne Festival of Puppetry in July 2021. She was dramaturg and puppetry director on The Flying Fruit Fly Circus award-winning show JUNK and has created works with many other companies including The Malthouse, Chamber Made Opera (CMO), Red Stitch, A Blanck Canvas,Polyglot, Terrapin, Aphids, Arena and Theatreworks. She was an Artistic Associate at CMO for 7 years, where she wrote and directed CAPTIVES OF THE CITY commissioned by Arts Centre Melbourne, receiving two Green Room Awards. She was the co- chair of the Contemporary and Experimental Theatre Green Room Awards Panel and is an alumni of Melbourne Theatre Company Women Directors’ program as well as The Director Lab. Sarah was also Assistant Director/Puppetry Consultant on MTC’s VIVID WHITE. During 2015, 2017 & 2021, she collaborated with La Mama Theatre to present the Melbourne Festival of Puppetry which received a Green Room nomination for ‘Curatorial Contribution’. Are. During 2021, Sarah directed CHARLIE AND THE WAR AGAINST THE GRANNIES for Arts Centre Melbourne and Sydney Opera House and was Associate Director on THIS for the Rising Festival. During 2022 for Lemony S, she created CROW KID and is currently working on two new works for families - ADA, ASMIN AND THE ANALYTICAL ENGINE and LITTLE BLUE DOT.
Awards; Churchill Fellowship, Rotary Young Achievers Award, Gasworks Award (Melbourne Fringe Festival), Best Performance for Children (Helpman Award with the Flying Fruit Flies), Best Children’s Performance (Melbourne Fringe Festival with Alexandra Sangster & La Mama), MTV ‘Best Film Clip’ Music Award, Green Room Award (Best Puppetry) Green Room (Best Design and Realisation)
Television/film credits; Farscape; Horace and Tina; Downtown; Squeak and Boo; Where the Wild Things
Jacob Williams. CO DIRECTOR/PUPPETEER
Jacob is one of Australia’s premier puppeteers and puppetry directors and makers and is the co-artistic director of Lemony S Puppet Theatre. He is a multi-award winning graduate of The Victorian College of the Arts from Melbourne, Victoria. Jacob began his career in Tasmania with Terrapin Puppet Theatre and has since gone on to perform and collaborate with some of Australia's leading theatre companies. He was Head Puppeteer on King Kong-Live on Stage for Global Creatures for which he won both a Helpman and Green Room award. This performing relationship with Global began in 2006 when he starred as 'T-Rex' in Global Creatures international success Walking with Dinosaurs-The Arena Spectacular. Jacob is the co-artistic director of the award-winning company Lemony S Puppet Theatre, whose work has toured nationally and internationally. For Lemony S Puppet Theatre, he has been commissioned by Arts Centre Melbourne to create a new children's work and collaborated with Chamber Made Opera in the creation of the operatic work Captives of the City. Other credits for Lemony S include Picasso and His Dog and Apples and Ladders. He has also worked with companies such as Arena Theatre, Flying Fruit Fly Circus, Black Hole Inc, Malthouse Theatre and is a core artist with Polyglot Theatre. Jacob was Puppetry Director for both Vass Production’s Australian premier of the Broadway hit Hand to God and Seaside Productions feature film Judy & Punch. He collaborated La Mama Theatre to present the Melbourne Festival of Puppetry 2015 & 2017. From 2018 - 2019, Jacob performed on Broadway, NY in the role of ‘Kong Captain’ for the Tony Award Winning musical King Kong where he also received an Outer Critics Award and a Chita Rivera Award for his work. Jacob is currently the puppetry director for BLUEY as well as Windmill Pictures’ BEEP AND MORT.
Deniz Aslan. CO-WRITER, MATHS & CULTURAL CONSULTANT.
Bilge is a Turkish refugee living with her family in Australia. Before the current regime in Turkey, Bilge worked as a mathematician and maths teacher for gifted students. During the 2016 crack down on academics, teachers and artists and further fuelled by her husband’s Kurdish heritage and her involvement in the union movement, Bilge was forced to flee Turkey and seek asylum in Australia. Bilge works as a private maths tutor and as a maths educator for Kumon and has recently finished a Diploma of Education in Community Services.
Tamara Rewse DESIGNER.
Tamara has worked as a director, puppeteer/puppetmaker, singer and performer in puppet and visual theatre since 1997. As a performer and puppeteer Tamara has worked for some of Australia's leading companies creating theatre for young audiences. Most recently these include Lemony S Theatre (Picasso and His Dog, Taking the Waters), Everybody Now (The Inaugural Annual Dance Affair), Arena Theatre Company (Mr. Freezy), Black Hole Theatre (COOP) and is a lead artist at Polyglot Theatre (Tangle, We Built this City and City of Riddles, Tangle Weave, Forest Feast, Mungari Wilcha, First on the Ladder). For over 10 years Tamara has worked for Windmill Theatre making all of their puppets and assisting as a puppetry director, (BEEP, GRUG & GRUG and the Rainbow, Pinocchio, School Dance, Escape to Peligro Island) and performing in many of their most popular shows. (BEEP, GRUG & GRUG and the Rainbow.) She has more recently been working as rehearsal director for the remounting of many of their touring shows notably the 10 year anniversary of GRUG. Tamara is a core founding member of the award winning object puppetry group Men of Steel (Hard Rubbish & Men of Steel), voted 2007 Top 7 shows for Children-Time Out UK & 2006 Melbourne Comedy Festival Directors Award. Her skills also include making props and puppets for film, television and theatre. Film and Television Credits include: The Chronicles of Narnia – Voyage of the Dawn Treader(2009), Fury Road (2010), Eye of the Storm(2010) and Elephant Princess(2009)
Meena Shamaly COMPOSER/SOUND DESIGNER.
Meena is a composer, musician, poet, and radio presenter. As a composer, his work centres around creating music for stories, through the mediums of film, video games, and theatre. As a songwriter and poet, he tells stories of hope, justice, faith, and reasons to love and laugh. He also collaborates with other poets and songwriters in creating stories together, and helps produce and arrange their work to highlight all the best aspects of their art. Meena is one of the creative producers of Slamalamadingdong, Melbourne’s premier poetry slam. He runs workshops in poetry and music, since he is as passionate about igniting and providing space for the creativity of others as he is about creating his own art. Additionally, Meena is the host of the Game Show on ABC Classic FM, where he presents and speaks on the diverse and beautiful music of video games each week to a national Australian (and online global) audience.
Bronwyn Pringle LIGHTING DESIGN
Bronwyn is a Lighting Designer and Theatre Maker based in Melbourne/Naarm. She has worked around Australia with companies such as Pop up Playground, NICA, ArtPlay, MTC, Red Stitch Actors Theatre, Australian Theatre of the Deaf, Arts Projects Australia, Anna Seymour and Collaborators, Black Hole Theatre, JoltArts, Outback Theatre for Young People, Chamber Made, Marruk Marruk and more, working across all genres of performance, on projects ranging from large festivals to community engagement to small developmental pieces in venues that include The Princess Theatre, a London West End Nightclub, Falls Festival in Lorne, a warehouse in Buenos Aires, the Federation Square air-conditioning ducts, The Segerstrom Arts Centre in California, and a woolshed in Glencoe, plus many more conventional and non-conventional theatre spaces
Ben Grant. DRAMATURG.
Ben’s most recent stage credits include My Dearworthy Darling (Malthouse); Hir (Red Stitch) and This (Rising Festival). Other stage credits include his collaboration with Robert Lepage on Ex Machina’s Jeux De Cartes: Coeur; The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland (Ridiculusmus); Circle Mirror Transformation (MTC) and Macbeth (Bell Shakespeare). Ben has created several solo shows including The Rug (La Mama). Screen credits include Paul Cox's Force of Destiny, The Cup and Superwog. Ben received a Green Room Award for Best Performance in Independent Theatre for his role of Alfie in Save for Crying by Angus Cerini. Ben played Picasso in Lemony S' critically acclaimed work 'Picasso and His Dog' and has been dramaturg on 'Captives of the City', "Taking the Waters' and 'Crow Kid'. He also composed the music for 'Crow Kid'. Most recently, he was co writer and composer on LITTLE BLUE DOT.