Assoc Prof Maryrose Casey - Researcher Profile

Maryrose Casey

Address

Ctr for Theatre & Performance
Faculty of Arts, Clayton

Contact Details

Tel: +61 3 990 52970

Email: Maryrose.Casey@monash.edu


Biography

Aboriginal theatre in the spotlight

The leading role of Aboriginal performance in Australia’s entertainment history is emerging from the first comprehensive account of Indigenous performances between 1800 and 1949. Historian Dr Maryrose Casey says the contribution of Indigenous performers in shaping Australian culture has often been ignored in public records. Her work is highlighting the stories of the performers and also challenging perceptions of what it means to be Australian.

Maryrose says her research is driven by a fascination with how we deal with each other as humans and see each other as Australians. “The ways in which racialised performances are framed and received carries with it so many premises about how people see Australia and their own identity,” she says.

She spent a decade working in the theatre before she was drawn into the world of Aboriginal performance. “I wanted to explore the fabulous theatre work people were doing all around me that wasn’t being written about.”

A degree in theatre history led to her PhD thesis exploring Aboriginal theatre, which became the subject of her book, Creating Frames: contemporary indigenous theatre 1967-1997. This is when she discovered how little public information there was on the subject. Interviews with performers became a significant part of her research.

She focuses on the stories of the performers, rather than the stories being told through the performances. She says the interviews – with Aboriginal people and others involved in Australian theatre – allow her to introduce Indigenous voices to the historical record, which is otherwise dominated by European accounts.

“Most of my work is seriously indebted to Aboriginal practitioners and friends who’ve been incredibly generous,” she says.

Her experiences have motivated Maryrose to continue reconstructing the history of Indigenous commercial performance. An Australian Research Council grant is funding her research into the period from 1800 to 1949. She has also investigated Aboriginal performances from 1949 to 2011 through her Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship.

Her research is not limited to theatrical performances. It includes the study of how protests, marches, parades, events and other public interchanges influence our preconceptions of each other.

For information on commercial performances between 1800 and 1949 she also relies on newspapers, diaries and journals. Family and oral histories allow her to connect with Indigenous performance of the 1900s and late 1800s. But earlier history is often obscured by misleading accounts. “Every story is fictional. The challenge with cultural history is finding out which particular splinters of truth present something meaningful.”

Maryrose’s research also has implications for understanding racial relations within our society. It reveals that our cultural history appears to be repeating itself.

“I think there’s a very deep level on which white Australians do not accept or deal well with black Australians. I’m finding that there tends to be a movement towards more equity and tolerance, and then there’s a backlash.” Maryrose says she does not have the answers to what is causing this regressive cycle, but will continue with her work to find out.

She also hopes to produce several articles, a book, an exhibition and a digital archive before completing her project in 2012.

Keywords

Australian race relations and cultural history, Australian theatre and performance, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander theatre and performance , critical race studies and post colonialism, theatre, drama, indigenous writers

Qualifications

GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN EDUCATION
Institution: University of Queensland
Year awarded: 2004
PHD
Institution: La Trobe University
Year awarded: 2002
BACHELOR OF ARTS
Institution: La Trobe University
Year awarded: 1983
LICENTIATE
Institution: Trinity College London
Year awarded: 1980

Publications

Books

Casey, M., 2012, Telling Stories: Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander Performance, Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne VIC Australia.

Casey, M., Peterson, W. (eds), 2011, Australasian Drama Studies, Theatre and Drama Program: La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

Casey, M., Peterson, W. (eds), 2011, Transcultural Transnational Transformation, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

Moreton-Robinson, A., Casey, M., Nicoll, F. (eds), 2008, Transnational Whiteness Matters, Lexington Books, Lanham USA.

Casey, M., Crotty, M., Ryan, D. (eds), 2006, Parading Ourselves, API Network, Perth WA Australia.

Casey, M. (ed), 2006, Whiteness & the Horizons of Race, ACRAWSA, Adelaide.

Casey, M., 2004, Creating frames : Contemporary Indigenous Theatre 1967-1990, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, Qld.

Book Chapters

Casey, M., 2011, Tales still to be told: Indigenous Australian theatre practice and the archive, in Scrapbooks, Snapshots and Memorabilia: Hidden Archives of Performance, eds Glen McGillivray, Peter Lang, Bern Switzerland, pp. 29-44.

Casey, M., 2009, Indigenous Australian drama: decolonising Australian stages, in Reading Down Under: Australian Literary Studies Reader, eds Amit Sarwal and Reema Sarwal, SSS Publications, New Delhi, India, pp. 193-204.

Casey, M., 2009, Ngapartji Ngapartji: telling Aboriginal Australian stories, in Get Real: Documentary Theatre Past and Present, eds Alison Forsythe and Chris Megson, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire, UK, pp. 122-139.

Casey, M., 2009, Theatre or corroboree, what's in a name? Framing Indigenous Australian 19th-century commercial performance practices, in Creating White Australia, eds Jane Carey and Claire McLisky, Sydney University Press, Sydney NSW, Australia, pp. 123-139.

Casey, M., 2008, Managing resistance: whiteness and the storytellers of indigenous protest in Australia, in Transnational Whiteness Matters, eds Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Maryrose Casey and Fiona Nicoll, Lexington Books, Lanham USA, pp. 19-38.

Moreton-Robinson, A., Casey, M., Nicoll, F., 2008, Virtue and transnational whiteness, in Transnational Whiteness Matters, Lexington Books / Rowan & Littlefield, Lanham USA, pp. ix-xvi.

Casey, M., 2007, Australian drama 1900-1970, in A Companion to Australian Literature Since 1900, eds Nicholas Birns and Rebecca McNeer, Camden House, Rochester New York USA, pp. 207-218.

Casey, M., 2007, Australian drama since 1970, in A Companion to Australian Literature Since 1900, eds Nicholas Birns and Rebecca McNeer, Camden House, Rochester New York USA, pp. 219-232.

Casey, M., 2007, Indigenous theatre and the cultural interface of reception, in White Matters: Il bianco in questione, eds Susan Petilli, Meltemi Editore, Rome, pp. 215-228.

Casey, M., 2006, Alma De Groen, in Dictionary of Literary Biography: Australian Writers 1975-2000, eds Selina Samuels, Gale, Detroit USA, pp. 71-75.

Casey, M., 2005, A compelling force: indigenous women playwrights, in The Doll's Revolution, eds Rachel Fensham, Denise Varney, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, pp. 199-237.

Casey, M., Syron, L., 2005, The Challenges of Benevolence: The Role of Indigenous Actors, in Australian Studies Centre 25th Anniversary Collection, eds David Carter and Martin Crotty, Australian Studies Centre UQ, Brisbane Qld, pp. 292-308.

Casey, M., 2001, Garden of Drama: Talking to John Harding, in Siting the Other: Revisions of Mortality in Australia and English-Canadian Drama, eds Marc Maufort and Franca Bellarsi, P.I.E. - Peter Lang, Bruxelles, pp. 363-370.

Casey, M., 2001, Siting Themselves: Indigenous Australia Theatre Companies, in Siting the Other: Revisions of Mortality in Australian and Enlgish-Canadian Drama, eds Mare Maufort and Franca Bellarsi, P.I.E. - Peter Lang, Bruxelles, pp. 53-68.

Journal Articles

Casey, M., 2012, Bungaree and the grand corroboree: "White fellow sit down all about; black fellow murry miserable", About Performance [P], vol 11, Department of Performance Studies University of Sydney, Sydney NSW Australia, pp. 185-200.

Casey, M., 2012, Colonisation, notions of authenticity and aboriginal Australian performance, Critical Race and Whiteness Studies [E], vol 8, issue 1, Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association, http://www.acrawsa.org.au/ejournal/, pp. 1-18.

Casey, M., Bradley, J., 2011, Aeroplane Dance: Whose story?, Screening the Past [P], vol 31, La Trobe University, Melbourne Vic Australia, pp. 1-7.

Casey, M., 2011, Cross-cultural encounters: Aboriginal performers and European audiences in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Double Dialogues [P], vol 14, Deakin University, Melbourne VIC Australia, pp. 1-10.

Casey, M., Peterson, W.D., 2011, Introduction to special issue, Australasian Drama Studies [P], vol 59, Australasian Drama Studies, LaTrobe University, Bundoora, Australia, pp. 4-7.

Casey, M., 2011, Performing for Aboriginal life and culture: Aboriginal Theatre and Ngurrumilmarrmiriyu, Australasian Drama Studies [P], vol 59, La Trobe University, Australia, pp. 53-68.

Casey, M., Peterson, W., 2011, Transcultural Transnational Transformation: Introduction, Australasian Drama Studies [P], vol 1, issue 59, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 4-7.

Casey, M., 2009, Disturbing performances of race and nation: King Bungaree, John Noble and Jimmy Clements, International journal of critical indigenous studies [P], vol 2, issue 2, Indigenous Studies Research Network QUT, Brisbane Qld Australia, pp. 25-35.

Snow, P.C., Casey, M., Grant, S., 2009, Do theories and events deliver: A tripartite meditation on social dramaturgy, About Performance [P], vol 9, Department of Performance Studies, The University of Sydney, Sydney NSW Australia, pp. 15-44.

Casey, M., Gallagher, J., 2009, Lygon street limbo: the disabling myth of the new wave, Double Dialogues [P], vol 2, issue 11, Double Dialogues, Deakin University, Burwood Vic, Australia, pp. 1-9.

Casey, M., 2008, Review of Vivienne Cleven, Wesley Enoch, David Milroy & Geoffrey Narkle, Jane Harrison and David Milroy, Contemporary Indigenous Plays, Journal of Australasian Drama Studies, vol 52, issue April, Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies, Bundoora VIC Australia, pp. 203-204.

Casey, M., 2007, Carnivalising sovereignty: containing indigenous protest within the white Australian nation, About Performance, vol 7, Department Performance Studies Sydney University, Sydney, pp. 69-86.

Casey, M., 2006, Colour, movement and jostling in public, Parading Ourselves (JAS), vol 89, issue 89, Australian Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, Perth WA Australia, pp. 1-3.

Casey, M., 2006, Referendums and reconciliation marches: what bridges are we crossing?, Journal of Australian Studies, vol 89, issue 89, Australia Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, Perth WA Australia, pp. 139-150.

Casey, M., 2006, Whiteness and The Horizons of Race, ACRAWSA e-journal, vol 2, issue 1, ACRAWSA, Adelaide, pp. 1-6.

Casey, M., 2005, Indigenous drama in the classroom, Australian Drama Education Magazine, vol 0, issue 10, Drama Australia, Queensland, pp. 5-10.

Casey, M., Syron, L., 2005, The Challenges of Benevolence: the Role of Indigenous Actors, Journal of Australian Studies, vol 1, issue 85, Australian Research Institute, Perth, pp. 97-112.

Casey, M., 2003, After Mabo: What's at stake?, Australian Screen Education, vol 1, issue 32, ASE, Melbourne, pp. 107-111.

Casey, M., 2000, From wings to centre stage: a production chronology, Australian Drama Studies, vol 0, issue 37, Australian Drama Studies, Brisbane, pp. 85-98.

Casey, M., 2000, Nindethana and the national black theatre: interrogating the mythology of the new wave, Australasian Drama Studies, vol April 2000, issue 36, Australasian Drama Studies, Brisbane, pp. 19-33.

Conference Proceedings

Casey, M., 2011, Aboriginal performance and the economy of authenticity, Proceedings of the 2011 Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association and Indigenous Studies Research Network Joint Conference. Directions and Intersections., 07 December 2011 to 09 December 2011, Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association, http://www.acrawsa.org.au/files/pdf/ConferenceProceedings2011.pdf, pp. 36-53.

Casey, M., 2011, Performative moments: Authenticity, white actors and Australian race relations, Transcultural. Transnational. Transformation.: Seeing, Writing and Reading Performance Across Cultures 2011 Conference Abstracts, Monash University, Melbourne Vic Australia, p. 29.

Casey, M., 2010, Interpreting Romeo and Juliet Chooky Dancer Style, Stripping Bare...! Conference Abstracts, Australian National University, Canberra ACT Australia, p. 48.

Casey, M., 2008, Do theories and events deliver on their promises? Perspectives on notions of social dramaturgy, Re-imagining Sociology, 2 December 2008 - 5 December 2008, University of Melbourne, Melbourne Vic Australia, p. 23.

Casey, M., 2008, Embodied cultures and representations: whiteness and colonial histories, Re-orienting Whiteness, 3 December 2008 - 5 December 2008, University of Melbourne, Melbourne Vic Australia, p. 23.

Casey, M., 2008, Performing Indigenous sovereignty: nineteenth century Indigenous Australia commercial theatre, Turangaawaewae: A Sense of Place, 30 June 2008 - 3 July 2008, University of Otago, Dunedin NZ, pp. 23-24.

Casey, M., 2008, Repositioning the interface for cross-cultural reception of Indigenous Australian theatre, Being There: After. Proceedings of the 2006 Conference of the Australasian Association for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, 4 July 2006 - 7 July 2006, University of Sydney e-scholarship, Sydney NSW Australia, pp. 1-9.

Casey, M., 2007, Lygon street limbo, Enter the New Wave, 26 - 28 September, 2007, Creative Arts Melbourne University, Melbourne, p. 6.

Casey, M., 2007, Performative consensus of race and nation: what is being performed?, Extreme States Issues of Scales: Abstracts, 3 - 6 July, 2007, School of Creative Arts Melbourne University, Melbourne, pp. 7-8.

Other

Casey, M., Craigie, C., 2011, A Brief History of Indigenous Australian Contemporary Theatre, Australian Script Centre, Hobart Tas Australia.

Casey, M., 2011, Hanging around, Play script, Silkworms Ink, East Sussex, UK, pp. 44-58.

Casey, M., 2009, Hilary Glow and Katya Johanson, 'Your Genre is Black': Indigenous performing arts and policy, platform papers, Australasian Drama Studies, vol 55, The Australiasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies, La Trobe University, Bundoora Vic, Australia, pp. 167-169.

Casey, M., 2007, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander guidelines for Drama/Theatre Education, Drama Australia, Brisbane, pp. 1-20.

Casey, M., 2007, Indigenous performance, Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, Coulmbia University Press, New York, pp. 78-79.

Casey, M., 2007, Indigenous playwrights, Comlumbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 79-80.

Casey, M., 2007, Penny van Toorn, Writing Never Arrives Naked: Early Aboriginal cultures of writing in Australia, ACRAWSA e journal, vol 3, issue 1, ACRAWSA, Adelaide, pp. 1-2.

Casey, M., 2007, Review of Downing, John and Husband, Charles, Representing 'Race': Racisms, Ethnicities and the Media, Media International Australia, vol minorjourn, issue 124, University of Queensland, Brisbane, pp. 180-181.

Casey, M., 2007, Women playwrights 1980-1990s, Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, Columbia University Press, New York, p. 78.

Casey, M., 2005, The Doll's Revolution, Appendix, Production details, Australian Scholarly Press, Melbourne, Vic, Australia.

Casey, M., 2004, Out of the shadows, Weekend Australian, The Australian, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Current Supervision

Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
ANTI-ANTHROPOCENE: a new way of looking at ethical contemporary performance practice.
Supervisors:
Grant, S (Main), Casey, M (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Aboriginal Visual Histories: Photographing Indigenous Australians.
Supervisors:
Bradley, J (Main), Casey, M (Associate), Russell, L (Associate).
Program of Study:
(MASTER'S BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Adaptation and the dramatic form.
Supervisors:
Casey, M (Main), Snow, P (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Apollonian and Dionysian Dynamics in the Contemporay Musical Play.
Supervisors:
Grant, S (Main), Casey, M (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Attending the Song: the 'use of self' in song writing and performing original works.
Supervisors:
Grant, S (Main), Casey, M (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Blocks to the Creative Process in Deviloping Theatre Performace: A Phenomenological Investigation.
Supervisors:
Snow, P (Main), Casey, M (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Oriel Gray: Women playwrights then and now..
Supervisors:
Casey, M (Main), Griffiths, J (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Space, place and the Australian cultural psyche in performance writing.
Supervisors:
Casey, M (Main), Peterson, W (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Talking histories: an exploration of reported speech - an experimental text.
Supervisors:
Casey, M (Main), Bradley, J (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
The contribution of choir singing and choir music towards reconciliation in Australia.
Supervisors:
Bradley, J (Main), Casey, M (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
The theatre of articulation project: theatre-based training methodologies and students with intellectual disabilities.
Supervisors:
Casey, M (Joint), Snow, P (Joint-co).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
To tell: narration in contemporary theatre.
Supervisors:
Casey, M (Main), Griffiths, J (Associate).

Completed Supervision

Student:
Golding, D.
Program of Study:
Being White: Art, Writing and Performance making by Vietnamese and Korean Transnational Adoptees. (Masters) 2010.
Supervisors:
Peterson, W (Main), Casey, M (Associate).
Student:
Maloney, N.
Program of Study:
LOCATING PLOT: AN ANALYSIS OF PLACE IN DRAMATIC NARRATIVE. (Masters) 2009.
Supervisors:
Casey, M (Joint), Snow, P (Joint-Co).