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Category: Productions

The Story of Chi

The Story of Chi

A magical world of body and shadow puppetry, following the journey of a young girl and a teenage dragon

The Story of Chi is a new work of magic realism that follows the journey of a young girl and a teenage dragon. Chi, caught between her Japanese and Vietnamese heritage, finds herself at a crossroads during an unexpectedly turbulent time for her family.

Torn between cultures and traditions, Chi’s world takes a fantastical turn when she meets Mizu, a risk-taking teenage dragon who has been separated from his family. As grandmother, mother and daughter each struggle to balance ancient traditions with their lives today, Chi and Mizu embark on daring adventures but their wish for independence might just separate them from their families forever.

The Story of Chi marks a new collaboration between Terrapin and Contemporary Asian Australian Performance. Written by Hoa Pham, Jeremy Nguyen and Hiroki Kobayashi, this work uses body and shadow puppetry to craft a stunning world that explores love, courage, and the complexities of family.

Credits

Writers Hiroki Kobayashi, Hoa Pham, Jeremy Nguyen
Director Kenneth Moraleda
Puppetry Director Sam Routledge
Production Dramaturg Tessa Leong
Lighting & Set Designer Benjamin Brockman
Costume Designer Rita Naidu
Composer Terumi Narushima
Puppet Maker Danny Miller
Performers Samuel Lau, Eliane Morel, Mayu Iwasaki, Juanita Navas-Nguyen
Development Director Courtney Stewart
Development Composer Matt Hsu
Development Cast Yulan Jack, Meme Thorne

Acknowledgments

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

CAAP is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW and assisted by the Australian Government through the Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.

Terrapin is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia and through Arts Tasmania by the Minister for the Arts

Upcoming Performances

No public performances currently scheduled Check back soon!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“A spirited hour spent in the company of some excellent actors and some very entertaining dragons”
Glam Adelaide

  ”The writers have created a refined, humorous and tender exploration of everything that makes up a life’s story, and all this is uncovered throughout this performance.”
In Review

  ”Perfect for families looking for a thoughtful, magical experience that sparks conversations about tradition, change, and the importance of family.”
KIDDO Mag

Trailer

Previous Seasons

2025

OzAsia Festival
Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
Adelaide SA

Production Stills

The Story of Chi, OzAsia 2024 © Sia Duff

The Story of Chi, OzAsia 2024 © Sia Duff

The Story of Chi, OzAsia 2024 © Sia Duff

The Story of Chi, OzAsia 2024 © Sia Duff

The Story of Chi, OzAsia 2024 © Sia Duff

03/09/2025
Milestone

Milestone

Celebrating the life of the legendary photographer William Yang.

Having reached his milestone 80th birthday, pioneering artist William Yang reflects on his extraordinary life in this epic new performance. Yang’s iconic photographs and captivating stories are complemented by a haunting score performed live with orchestra.

Internationally acclaimed Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin — a long-time friend and collaborator of Yang’s — composed a moving score especially for Milestone, and will perform live on stage alongside the Orchestra for this performance.

Yang is a trailblazing champion of Asian–Australian culture internationally. He documented the birth of Australia’s LGBTQI+ rights movement from the early days of Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras to the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 90s. Unassuming, evocative and honestly examined, Yang looks back on his vast archive of photography, contemplating five decades of social change and the evolution of Australia’s bohemian artist community.

Milestone is Yang’s most ambitious and personal performance to date. Don’t miss this one-night-only encounter with a legend of Asia-Pacific performance sharing his stories of immigration, sexuality, creativity and family..

Credits

Creator/Performer/Co-director William Yang
Composer Elena Kats Chernin
Dramaturg/Co-director Tessa Leong
Orchestrator Lyle Chan
Production Manager Neil Simpson, Aiden Brennan
Lighting Designer Sammy Read
Technical Director Daniel Herten
Producer Fenn Gordon for Tandem
Auspiced by Performance Space

Acknowledgments

Commissioned by Asia TOPA, Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Festival and Contemporary Asian Australian Performance.

Milestone is supported by Playking Foundation and the Robert Salzer Foundation, with additional support from Creative Australia and City of Sydney.

Thank you to Lyle Chan & Jackie Thomas-Piccardi; Jeff Khan, Tam Nguyen & the Asia TOPA team; Olivia Ansell, Rosa Coyle-Hayward & the Sydney Festival team; Sandi Woo & the CAAP team.

Upcoming Performances

No public performances currently scheduled Check back soon!

“Yang has produced a body of work that speaks a universal language, inviting us to forget about those differences that are only skin deep and reflect on the things that are truly important.”
The Sydney Morning Herald

“Milestone is an intimate, often heartbreaking and regularly hilarious portrait of a life as only William Yang could tell it. A truly life-affirming work, Yang creates a beautiful tapestry of both individual and collective humanity with this moving late-career masterpiece of storytelling that’ll have you thinking about all the photos you’re yet to take.”
City Hub

“deceptively simple… casually intertwines personal and familial histories with socio-political movements, including the inception of the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade, the scourge of AIDS, and the fight for marriage equality. In spite of all the pain and grief Yang has been dealt, there’s a great sense of gratitude; he’ll have you enthralled…”
Time Out

Previous Seasons

2025

Sydney Festival
Roslyn Packer Theatre
Walsh Bay, NSW
Conducted by Simon Bruckard

*World Premiere

Asia Topa
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
Southbank, VIC
Performed live by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra , conducted by Benjamin Northey

Brisbane Festival
QPAC, Concert Hall
South Brisbane, QLD
Performed with Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra , conducted by Simon Bruckard

OzAsia Festival
Adelaide Town Hall
Adelaide, SA
Performed with Ensemble Lumen , conducted by Luke Dollman

Seoul Performing Arts Festival
Arko Arts Theater Grand Theatre, Seoul

Images

William Yang Self Portrait #1 1992 (C) William Yang

01/09/2025

Location

Carriageworks
245 Wilson Street
Eveleigh NSW 2015

PO Box 3035
Redfern NSW 2016

Site

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We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, celebrate their continuing culture and the contribution First Nations people make to the life of this region and our country.

Statement of Values

ABOUT BELOW THE NECK

Late at night in a rundown skatepark, Jett and Kai meet for an arrangement: Kai will get $500 if he allows Jett to beat him up for 5 minutes. With violence hanging over them, the two young men must decide whether they’ll go through with it, or if they can give each other something more. Below The Neck explores how men of colour connect to their bodies, to violence, and to each other.

“I am writing this play for the men of colour in my life, the people who raise me and taught me what it means to be a man, and, hopefully, for future generations , to redefine that meaning for themselves.”

ABOUT GOLDEN BLOOD 黄金血液

Two orphans find their own way into adulthood in this moving, high-octane, and often hilarious coming-of-age drama, set amongst the steamy, tropical backstreets of Singapore’s criminal underworld.

In a once-grand apartment, two estranged siblings – 14-year-old Girland 21-year-old Boy – are thrown back together after the unexpected death of their mother. The naive but headstrong Girl elects Boy as her legal guardian. The only problem is that Boy is a fledgling gangster. The audience watches rapt as this unconventional family grows up, gets entangled in a darkly glamorous world of crime and luxury, and comes to confront the ghosts of their past.

Past Seasons
Griffin Theatre Co (2022) *world premiere
Sydney Theatre Company (2024)
Melbourne Theatre Company (2024)

★★★★★ “Bringing with it a strong sense of self, pace, and culture… it’s a remarkable work.”
– Time Out

★★★★ “Effortlessly funny and wonderfully twisty”
– The Age

★★★★
– Cultural Binge

About Azadi

1947 is known to be a pivotal year in Indian history. It is the year that some may say India gains Azadi from the British Rule and is divided in two nations, one for the Hindu majority, i.e., India and one for the Muslim majority, i.e., Pakistan. It’s a violent affair. No one talks about it.

Qala, born in an Indian Hindu household is taught one thing: she cannot marry a Muslim man. Amir, born in a Pakistani Muslim household is taught the opposite: no Hindu women. Their fated love demands Qala to search for answers from her history where she meets her great-grandmother, Sarasvati, a survivor of Partition.

“I am writing this work for the people who belong to the future, especially the people of India and Pakistan. In many ways we are one and the same, but there are great barriers that stop us from realizing this. I want Azadi to be one story, among many, to be a space where those barriers are questioned and hopefully broken.”

We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, celebrate their continuing culture and the contribution First Nations people make to the life of this region and our country.