First Seen: Church Sweet Church by Rebecca Duke

You people love to be victims

Set in a small church community in Tasmania’s North-West, Church Sweet Church is about a tight-knit group of local parishioners who are forced to watch as their church is sold to contribute to the Anglican Church's national redress scheme. Matters are made more complicated when the church is bought by a young lesbian couple, Tash; a boyish and charming music teacher and Cate, a florist who was raised in the town. The couple must grapple with the idea of making their home in a place that represents a complicated past. 

Rebecca Duke

Rebecca Duke is a writer and Arts/ Politics, Philosophy and Economics student at ANU raised in Tasmania. In 2021, She is also finishing off her resident artist term at Canberra Youth Theatre. In 2019, she was involved in both ATYP’s National Studio and CARCLEW’s Writing Place. Both residencies have resulted in Currency Press published anthologies featuring her plays. Right now she is working on two projects for Canberra Youth Theatre; and a commissioned play with the mentorship of Mary Rachel Brown.

Writer:  Rebecca Duke
Dramaturg:  Emilie Collyer

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About First Seen

Ever wondered about the steps a writer takes to develop works for the theatre? Or how new plays and performance works are chosen for upcoming seasons?

The ever popular First Seen: new works-in-progress offers Australian audiences the opportunity to be part of our creative process helping The Street  progress performance works to production-ready stage. First Seen offers a unique insight into development and is a vital part of our planning for future years as we seek to bring original and diverse Australian stories to the stage.

Each writer has a dedicated workshop offering time, space, support, and expertise.  Australian audiences (that's you) are given the opportunity to participate in the development process through the public showings where we open up the floor for a conversation with playwright, director, dramaturg and the actors. By sharing your thoughts with the creative teams you help assist us progress the works to production and get a sneak peek into Australia’s ingenious artistic community.